HIGHLANDER WORLDWIDE WORKSHOP: SWORD CHOREOGRAPHY WITH F. BRAUN McASH, ADRIAN PAUL AND PETER WINGFIELD

By: Abbie Bernstein
Date: Saturday, February 26, 2005

Swordmaster F. Braun McAsh and actors Adrian Paul and Peter Wingfield conduct a panel on the sword choreography for the episodes "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" and "The Modern Prometheus," both of which featured MacLeod and Methos.

McAsh assesses how things usually went on the HIGHLANDER set: "I choregraph a fight Adrian changes it."

"Absolutely," Paul agrees. "Give me a sword." He instructs McAsh to "Be me." McAsh executes a series of moves, which Paul then replicates, adapting them to his own method of movement.

"Who knows better how to fight like MacLeod than the man who plays MacLeod?" McAsh says rhetorically.

Paul asks Wingfield how much swordfighting he'd done prior to HIGHLANDER. "I'd actually done loads," Wingfield replies, "but I came in and played a pacifist after that first fight [until Season Five]."

McAsh recalls that he and Paul seldom had any time off, even when they weren't filming: "You and I were working fights every bloody weekend for four months."

On the episode "Duende," which guest-starred actor/swordmaster Anthony de Longis as Ottavio Consone, McAsh and de Longis worked together on what would eventually be played by de Longis and Paul. "Tony and I spent ten days choreographing those swordfights before Adrian saw one blow," McAsh relates.

The climactic fight between MacLeod and Consone went from day to night, not because it had been envisioned to go that long in the storyline, but rather because it took so long to film. "It usually takes four or five hours to shoot a swordfight," Paul says.


Wingfield observes that sometimes actors who have no skill with weapons are saved by shrewd editing: "People who really can't do it at all it looks great, because you have to cut it it looks jagged and edgy. Whereas people who can do it, the camera just sits there."

All agree that fight scenes resemble straight dramatic scenes: "It's exactly the same as you approach a scene of dialogue," Wingfield notes. "Where are the pauses? You need a reason to run around the back of that table."

McAsh compliments Paul on his abilities: "Adrian's the fastest fight person I've ever seen. He can learn a fight just by watching me do it."

Even someone with Paul's prowess is subject to injury, though. Paul got cut on a few occasions during HIGHLANDER's six years: "You know, the weirdest thing is when you see a blade coming and you can't get out of the way." On the episode "Modern Prometheus," directed by Paul, the actor sustained a cut to the face. Paul recalls having to get stitches without benefit of anaesthetic: "I had to get back to the set to finish the fight."

A volunteer is brought onto the stage. Paul directs him in a series of fight moves, then executes the moves himself.

It can be tough even for experienced physical actors to work with costars who are unfamiliar with blades. "If the actor is afraid of the fight, the eyes are vibrating," McAsh observes.

Wingfield agrees: "You can see in their eyes they aren't there."

To be continued...