The Bloody Lady of Cachtice(Gasp!) : PRaxis - 003

From:
PRAxis
To: Jan
Subject: Gaspar
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:31:37 +0200
Attachments:

Jan,

Latest from the film front. On Saturday, I was driven to the village of Velke Losiny in northern Moravia (a 3-1/2 hour trip) where I stayed in a lovely inn and then the next morning at 6:30 a.m. went to the base camp of my newest Czech film project filming in the 18th century chateau outside the village. Spent an incredibly hot day in a wool jacket and legwarmers (see photo). On the various sets inside the chateau it was cooler, but we spent mu ch time waiting around outside sweating. The first scene we shot was a conference of the Hungarian nobility, discussing what could be done about the murders being committed by Countess Elizabeth Bathory and her accomplices.

My favorite line was when one of the nobles noted, "As a member of the nobility, she does have the right to kill her subjects." I felt like I was in the Oval Office with Rumsfeld, Cheney and Wolfowitz. I was pleased to discover that my character had now been given a name (Gaspar), and the director felt bad that I had nothing to say in the scene gave me a "line": "NO!" (which I leap to my feet and exclaim when one of the nobles wonders whether they shouldn't just let her get away with the murders).

I did enjoy another chance to work with K Roden, the most internationally famous Czech actor working today (Rasputin in "Hellboy" and the go-to actor for portraying Eastern European bad guys in western films these days). It's ironic that he plays villains because he's such a sweet guy.

Cheers,

Steve