Luigi: week 3
20th April
Today we are treated to a ride in a 4x4 Land Rover Defender as far as the vehicle can carry us - and then it’s across and down and up and down on the hillside trail to the Oasis, which is the rather picturesque bit before the Gorropu Canyon proper. We’ve been here before, rehearsing the scenes we’re going to film today. It’s great fun, and there’s a real ensemble feel to the core cast.
Then it’s back up the other side to film a scene that involves Bob revealing a little bit of his life story to an indifferent Luigi (he’s trying to send an important text message to his friend, Marco)…
…and while we were rehearsing and waiting for the crew to finish some stuff down at the entrance to the canyon, Michael (2nd Assistant Director) took this pic. Actors, eh?
The cast enjoying their orange segments. (pic by Michael Přibil)
21st April
We’re back in the Oasis today, basking on the rocks like lizards - and my word, the sun is beating down!
On the way down, because Jana has been teaching me Slovak, I try to return the compliment by teaching her ‘a Yorkshireman’s advice to his son’, which goes ‘See all, hear all, say nowt. Eat all, drink all, pay nowt. And if ever tha does owt for nowt, allus do it for thisen,’ I’m not sure how succesful this experiment is.
There are a number of iinterlinked scenes at this spot in the Oasis, and it’s quite complicated and time-consuming, with the camera in various different positions, and various retakes and shifts of perspective - and even though I’m being covered and recovered in sunblock by Jiřina (hair and make-up) and someone is always shading me with an umbrella and I’m drinking plenty of water, I manage to succumb to heatstroke and everything goes a bit grey and wobbly, and I’m told by Benny afterwards that my face was not its usual colour.
Everybody is pretty concerned about me, but thanks to green tea, mint-infused water and Ayurvedic breathing advice from the always wonderful Head of Production Kristýna, soluble paracetamol from onsite medic Nicola and some rest in the shade, as prescribed by the lovely Eliška, I’m back on my feet, ready to film our first scene in the actual Gorropu Canyon! There is a lot of whooping and cheering and dancing on high rocks and it’s great fun!
Petr (Gaffer) reflecting in the Oasis. (pic by Enora Colas)
22nd - 24th April
So, understandably, I’m off the following day to give me a chance to get over my funny turn - I have introduced the informal verb ‘to skive’ to my European chums.
Ali and I have a little bit of time for ourselves. We have a spot of breakfast in Retrovino (great food and coffee) and a spot of paddling in the Tyrrhenian, then an afternoon drink in Baby Luna (lovely people - and the best French Fries in Cala Gonone), followed by a nap and up to Base for tea.
The atmosphere at Base is strangely muted, and we soon discover why. One of the cast has managed to break their ankle, ironically while rehearsing a fall.
They were airlifted to the local hospital, and meanwhile the directors and the production team are regrouping, planning their next move.
The future of the shoot is, well, fluid, and we might be finishing a sight earlier than anticipated - returning later in the year to film again. Scenes that are doable without the injured cast member go ahead the following day (these are all Luigi’s scenes - I’ll not tell you about them, because it would spoil the story). Meanwhile, the rest of us are free for a couple of days. After the intensity of working in the canyon, the inactivity is a bit unsettling, and it’s not easy to relax. But we do our best.
Me, not being Cnut (King or otherwise), but being Bob - wonderful! (pic by The Lovely Ali)
25th-26th April
The show, it is clear, shall and must go on!
Provision is being made to film around the injured cast member, and so Saturday night in nearby Dorgali sees us all going to a festival in honour of a beatified local nun, Maria Gabriella Sagheddu.
This involves a whole team of horses (a collective noun there for you, Kristýna), bell-harnessed, with riders bearing religious standards, and many, many people from the surrounding villages, either in traditional dress, or dressed up smartly for the occasion. We follow the townsfolk to the main square, where there’s wine and cheese and meat and bread and then there’s dancing to a local folk band until the early hours…
…a slow, slow Sunday follows. Ali and I spend some time souvenir hunting and have a lovely lunch at Retrovino, then bump into Eliska, Veronika, Kryštof and Fra, and have an unexpected ice cream with them. Eliška confirms that we’re going to be shooting until the 10th of May and then returning in July (by then the injured cast member will have healed), then finally wrapping up filming in Czechia in September or October. It’s all very fluid, so this may change again!
L-R: Veronika, Monika, Bára, me (stealth photobombing), Kristýna, Enora at the festival. (pic by Enora)
27th April
Ali was only ever going to be staying for a couple of weeks, but seeing her off the premises today is still a wrench. I know I’ll be seeing her again in a couple of weeks, but it’s rare that we’re apart for more than a few days.
We’ve had an amazing time here together (to be fair, I still am), and we’ve made some lovely new friends, who we look forward to seeing again, both here and back in Portugal.
Anyway, this morning I’m in a café looking out over the harbour, drinking excellent Americanos and putting the finishing touches to this here diary. Then there is gnocchi for lunch at Base, and a lovely chat with Veronika.
Tomorrow, it’s back to work!
L-R (foreground): The Lovely Alison, me (facial enhancements by Enora); everywhere else - many Sardinians. (pic by Enora)
To close for this week, I wrote a poem inspired by the Mistral, a cold wind from the Gulf of Genoa that can change the weather in Sardinia. It’s called, appropriately enough, Something Rattles in the Mistral. I hope you like it.