Unit 11: I’m going to compare 3 different types of staged combat directors.
Bob Anderson is one of histories most famous fight choreographers and he’s had a huge impact on Hollywood and its films. Bob Anderson worked on several major titles such as Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, all of the Zorro films and the Lord of the Rings trilogy to name a few. Bob Anderson is a fencing specialist but he can use a variety of different techniques and styles, the main example of this is during the Lord of the Rings films, he had to make different sword styles for every single race throughout the films.
“Bob Anderson was a Royal Marine and British Olympian who went on to become one of the most sought-after fencing choreographers and film fight directors” – (Independent.co.uk, Martin childs)
Like Bob Anderson, Yuen Woo-ping choreographed an amazing film, the Matrix. Yuen Woo-ping is a kung fu master, he choreographed all the Matrix films. For the Matrix films the decided to use Chinese martial arts, hence why they hired Yuen Woo-ping however it takes years to learn Chinese martial arts and even longer to master it. And they had months to learn it. Then they decided to hire a stunt actor for Keanu Reeves, and they found a good stunt actor they wanted to hire. And they were shooting at Australia, the stunt actor was currently working on a show so he couldn’t go to Australia however Keanu Reeves had gotten a neck injury and after a couple of months of recovery the stunt actor was free to go to Australia and work as keanu’s stunt actor, which is what he did. During the dojo scene for the film they used a trick with a wire to allow Keanu Reeves and his stunt actor (Chad) do, during this scene there is a part where Keanu Reeves runs up a pole/pillar and then does a backflip off the pole while he is running up the pole you can slightly see Keanu’s hand grasping the wire. It is said that “For most stunts, you get five takes, maybe ten. But to show that Keanu and the actors were doing their own moves, the Wachowskis didn’t want to do a lot of cuts. It wasn’t weird to do 20 to 30 takes” – (south China morning Post, Havis)
Renny Krupinski is an extremely famous fight director for theatres in the UK, he’s directed/choreographed Zorro the musical at hope Mill theatre, Wizard of Oz at Leeds playhouse, and The Duchess of Malfi at tramway Glasgow to name a few. Renny Krupinski is talented in many different types of fighting styles, boxing, aikido and wrestling are all fighting talents he has, and knowing how to use modern and historical bladed weapons keeps him at the top of the game. Renny Krupinski is further described as “one of the most experienced fight directors” (rennykrupinski.com, renny krupinski)
“Renny is particularly well-known and respected for his gritty realism and the ability to achieve what some consider impossible in terms of punches and slaps.” – (rennykrupinski.com, renny kruprinski)
Renny Krupinski explained that the most ‘challenging’ part of working on Zorro is about choreographing and really big sword fight in a small space. Unlike Tv and film, in theatre you can’t cheat the game or the angles, it’s all pure and raw so a lot of work needs to be done to ensure that the fight is the best it can be without putting anyone in danger. Renny then goes on to say that “it shouldn’t be dangerous at all. There shouldn’t even be half a percent of danger involved.” – (rennykrupinski.com, Renny Krupinski)
Compared to film this was much harder to choreograph. Bob Anderson was the fight director for the first three star wars films, and according to Mark Hamill, the actor of Luke Skywalker “Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting” – (theguardian.com, Mark Hamill) says it was supposed to be kept a secret but wanted to give the man who put so much work and effort into his work some recognition. Without this knowledge from Mark Hamill we would never have known that it was Bob Anderson himself that did the fighting instead of David Prowse (Darth Vader). By doing this Bob Anderson was able to bypass the most difficult part of fight choreography which is the teaching itself, since this allowed him to do the piece himself. Ordinarily this would not have been possible (or easily accessible) but since Darth Vader wears a helmet it was an easy task to pull off since you can’t see the man under the helmet.
As Renny put it “You have to build a fight on a technically solid framework so that any nerves, any heat of the moment, any unexpected or unwanted emotions or movements are not going to change the fight. You can’t improvise in a fight.” – (rennykrupinski.com, Renny Krupinski) this is a rule that theatre must follow for a good fight sequence, however in film you can always do another take and once you have that fight down and solid you never need to do it again because it’s already caught on film, in theatre they do the fight again, again, and again because its a live performance. This enhances their understanding of the fight and of stage combat as a whole.
Like Bob Anderson, Yuen Woo-Ping works on films and directed the fight choreography in all of the Matrix films and like star wars, the Matrix has a lot of effects for the staged fighting/ choreography to piggy back off. However Yuen still incorporated the “physical wire work techniques he used in Hong Kong” – (South China morning Post, Havis) but this was a bit of a different scenario. Because Matrix is a Kung Fu film, and none of the main actors knew Kung Fu. So Yuen decided to teach them Kung Fu in a warehouse before shooting… this process took over 4 months. This was unusual to Yuen since in Hong Kong everyone already know a decent bit of Kung Fu, however this time he had to teach them from scratch. Doing something like this was crazy at the time. And could have very easily been a failure of a film as how it turned out to be a massive success. If attempted to do the Matrix in theatres it just wouldn’t have worked. It’s too reliant on special effects and to be honest. It’s got that going for it. The Matrix is an extremely unique film with sci-fi and martial arts. The film worked so well because Yuen has an expertise for Kung Fu and because he can use wires to suspend actors to give the impression that they are flying. And that exactly one of the things he did with the Matrix. In the dojo fight scene Neo runs up a pillar and you can just barely catch a glimpse of the wire Keanu Reeves was holding at the time, the wired allowed him to run up the pillar and do a backflip off it. Both theatre and film have their own advantages. But at the end of the day you can cheat a lot of things with film lime how they did with the Matrix and Star Wars, but you get a spectacular block buster film by doing that, and with theatre plays like Zorro it’s more raw and exciting in a sense since its all happening in front of you. And is harder to perform because it HAS to be perfect every time.
While theatre is mire raw and you get to see the action in person and not through a screen it is more dangerous and more prone to injuries and depending with what weapon you’re using in this scene. Of course if there is a lot of rehearsals there should not be a single hint of danger or injuries but there’s all ways a possibility of that happening. If one of the actors on stage forget the choreography then they must improvise on the spot and pick up the choreography later on. This is dangerous because as an actor you’re expecting a certain movement and you must keep up the pace, and energy which can be dangerous since the actors on stage need to have very fast reflexes. Of course a scenario like this is quite rare but not impossible. Meanwhile with film you can always do another take and try again, there is still a lot of choreography you need to learn but it is definitely more dependant on SFX (special effects) and sound like bam sounds whenever anyone is hit to add more flare. In other words tv and film is much more forgiving and safe than theatre. Adding more, with theatre the acting must be powerful enough so the audience can thoroughly imagine the scenario and the world this play is set in, while TV and film sometimes use green screens to make the world around.
Childs, Martin (2012) BOB ANDERSON: FENCER AND FIGHT ARRANGER FOR BOND AND STAR WARS
last opened 22/03/22
Havis James, Richard (2022) HONG KONG MARTIAL ARTS CINEMA: HOW THE MATRIX’S YUEN WOO-PING SHAPED THE TRILOGY WITH HIS ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY
Last accessed 22/03/22
Krupinski, Renny (2020) UK FIGHT DIRECTOR RENNY KRUPINSKI IS A UNIQUE TALENT
last accessed 22/03/22
Krupinski, Renny (2020) ABOUT RENNY
Last accessed 22/03/22
Krupinski, Renny (2020) ZORRO THE MUSICAL – CANAL STREET ONLINE
Last accessed 22/03/22
Press, Associated (2012) STAR WARS SWORD-FIGHT MASTER BOB ANDERSON DIES AT 89
Last accessed 22/03/22
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