yarrr, ye scurvy boy-king, halt ye whinin'

Anyway, the whole idea is that this scene slams you into the present, giving the audience a feeling of a real Con in the works. Of course, if things go well they might not realize that straight away.

[Rian] Johnson and I talked about this being an Indiana Jones staple. You know, starting the flick at the tail end of some big adventure that makes you kind of feel that a great movie just happened before the story you’re about to see. Bond does that as well. Starts you off running as it were.

Brody was visibly nervous before the take went up. He asked Johnson if he could cut the scene early himself if he didn’t feel it, as they maybe had two takes worth of squibs and wardrobe and it’d be a lengthy reset.

Johnson had a tough line to walk here because by this time the bookcase will be on fire. In the end it was decided that if Brody didn’t feel it early enough on, he could call the cut himself, but there was a point of no return after the book case was lit.

So, everybody got their final touches done. Final checks on the squibs, final checks on hair and make-up, final camera checks and the pyro guys made the wooden bookcase and rows of fake books extremely flammable.

Two cameras. A is the main camera, getting the close up on the bookcase, pulling back to a medium shot of Brody when the time comes. B camera was wider, but both tracks were set right next to each other.

The shot goes up. The slate is clacked, action is called and Brody throws himself past the lens and the guys are late lighting up the bookcase. A quick cut is called before the flames begin and everybody immediately resets for the second take.

Action is called and Brody flies past camera… a beat… and then flames jump across the bookshelf. A beat later and Brody’s back in frame, a little blood on his lip from the punch. He laughs and belts out this line: “He gets the scarab, you get the money and I get the girl! So in the end, everyone gets everything he wants!!”

He delivers the line perfectly, just over the top enough to make it fit with the ridiculous surroundings, but just straight enough to make you think this could possible be taken seriously.

From the set of The Brothers Bloom, here!