Luigi: Week 2

7th April

Today, our intrepid team are rehearsing and blocking a bunch of group scenes., some set in a cave, some set and we also rehearsed the ending. Of course, I’m not going to give you too many details about the story, but I can tell you that there are many great gags in this script, and some genuinely moving and dramatic moments.

By the way, Jana (pictured, left) is hilarious, tells marvellous anecdotes, generally prefaced by ‘I don’t speak English’ - such as the time at Heathrow when she told a horrified HMRC officer that instead of food she intended to eat later, she said she had a foot in her bag she was going to eat…

⬆️ L-R: Jana (Véra) and her grandson, Tadeáš, played by Miki. Just out of shot, the rest of us are seated with them around an imaginary campfire at night. Actors, eh? (pic by Adam Struhala)

⬇️ Not our fault if you get hit by rocks. Gravity’s a bitch. (my pic)

8th April

Gorropu Canyon. Deepest canyon in Europe, so deep you could fit the Empire State Building in there. Oh. My. God. I have never attempted such a strenuous and physically demanding hike in my life. My knees are howling silently on the way down.

Down to the Oasis, the incredibly beautiful area before the Canyon proper, which is a mélange of huge rocks and pools formed by the creek running though the valley. It’s here that we are rehearsing and blocking the scenes before we enter the canyon.

I get the chance to do a bit of physical comedy at this point - hiding behind a bemused and unwilling Véra to avoid being seen by someone. This was great fun!

The difficulty of the yomp down into the gorge is surpassed by the hike back up the other side. I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the Land Rover waiting for us. Knees, thighs, calves, all screaming.

I wonder if anyone else can hear them.

9th April

Day off.

⬇️ L-R: Me, Fra, Benny, Jana. (pic by Peter Kočiš)

10th April

We are rehearsing in a car park on a cliff overlooking the canyon. At this point in the story, our band of misfits is coming together: Fernandel (played with comic panache by Benny), an irascible French pensioner with unexpectedly limitless energy; Tadeáš and his grandmother Véra, and of course, Bob (me) - all led into all sorts of scrapes and dramas, by a chancer called Luigi (Fra).

Benny is an acrobatic cyclist by profession. He’s very funny, a brilliant phyical comedian - and ready to help in every situation.

Miki plays Tadeáš. He’s a fizzing bundle of energy, bouncing everywhere like a cross between Tigger and Spider-Man. He’s a damned good actor, too. The lovely Véra, we’ve already met.

And the star of the film, Fra, plays Luigi. Fra is serious and charismatic and generous and takes direction and adapts instantly.

I try.

11th April

We are in a smaller gorge, at Cala Fuili, just down the coast from our base of operations at Cala Gonone. We practise a number of scenes here, one of which involve me being tripped over and having someone fall on me. Benny is on hand to show me how to fall with no, or in my case, minimal damage. Just a small bruise on my thigh, nothing serious. I hiss with a sharp intake of breath, like Spartacus.

Gorgeous (my pic)

12th April

We’re back in the car park. It’s surprisingly cold. We are joined today by Jeanine and Virginie, who play Fernandel’s sisters, Louisa and Effy, two guides from the canyon, who play two guides, and one of Bob’s colleagues, Bern (played with great enthusiam by Maynard). All the scenes we rehearse today are linked, and they link and run together like a piece of promenade theatre.

⬆️ L-R: Two guides (One called Roberto, the other I can’t remember, but they were both really nice), Fernandel, Effy, Louisa, José, Alián (probably spelt that wrong), Eliška, Adam. (my pic)

13th April

This is it, the first day of actual filming. Amazing. Fra is filming in the morning, and we catch the end of his shoot (it’s very dramatic and funny) as we are being driven to our location, which is perishing cold and on a very bumpy road.

Bob and his three colleagues from an English school in Tuscany, are set to hike through Gorropu Canyon as part of a team building exercise - but there’s something that is not quite right. Intriguing, eh?

Thanks to Monika, Barbora and, of course, the powerhouse that is Krystýna, for keeping us all wrapped up warm (when not filming) with blankets, a sleeping bag and hot ginger tea!

L-R: Adam, Eliška, me, Corey (Erik), Cheick (Matthew) and Maynard (Bern) (pic by Maynard Floyd - well his phone, at least)

Finally, here’s a poem I wrote, musing on luck and winners and losers and being in the right place at the right time. It’s called Bagatelle. Click on the link to read it, and as always let me know what you think.