Dan Bradley, 2nd Unit Director: "I write most of the action that I shoot"

See here

Not sure I like the idea that anyone other than Spielberg concocted the action in an Indy pic. Who thought up Ford being dragged into the car in the college chase scene, for instance? In my head, it's Steve every time.

Michael Moore may have thought up a few shots which made the truck chase better, but he didn't write it.

In my opinion its a process. Steven/George come up w/ an idea for an action setpiece, they give it to the writer who does as he best he can to write some structure and substance to the scene (action sequences are always the hardest to write), the scene gets taken to the pre-viz guys who work it out w/ Steven, Steven shows it to the stunt team, who then add their ideas and suggestions, while working w/ them Steven probably throws in a few more ideas. Overall, unless you're really good, action scenes are pretty hard to come up w/ every connecting element, so it makes sense that, while working off of Steven, the stunt guys would 'write' their own material and ideas into the sequence. Just my two cents, but I think its plausible...

He puts his own stamp on the scenes he shoots, that's it, I'd say. And I suppose it depends on the director, team and actors he's working with (and how knowledgable and experienced they are) to what degree he's able to change the more or less scripted and pre-vis-ed action. As mutt wrote, it's a collaborative effort.

‘I’m always saying to my crew, I want to feel like we were lucky to catch a glimpse of some crazy piece of action.

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Mmhhyeaah. That's pretty much how I felt during the action scenes of the overall pretty good Quantum of Solace: I was lucky if I caught a glimpse of what's actually happening. I think I just didn't care anymore what was actually happening after the first half of the boat chase was over.
His approach indeed sounds quite interesting, though. And I really liked the opening car chase.

torao said:

I think I just didn't care anymore what was actually happening after the first half of the boat chase was over.
His approach indeed sounds quite interesting, though. And I really liked the opening car chase.

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Really? I felt everything from the boat chase on made the movie. The first ten or fifteen minutes is where I didn't care for the film.

But yeah, I would say it depends on the director. Someone like Spielberg is very knowledgeable when it comes to these things as opposed to Marc Forster.

No no. I gave up all emotional investment into what was happening in that boat chase because I didn't have any clue what was happening anyway (same goes for other action sequences in the film), that's what I meant. (I was a bit unclear in my post above.) But I was at most times well caught up in the basic plot of the movie.

torao said:

No no. I gave up all emotional investment into what was happening in that boat chase because I didn't have any clue what was happening anyway (same goes for other action sequences in the film), that's what I meant. (I was a bit unclear in my post above.) But I was at most times well caught up into the basic plot of the movie.

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True: the boat chase was muddled and hectically choreographed. Other than that, though, I felt Foster handled the action admirably for a relative initiate. The clock-tower tussle, the aerial attack and, especially, that thumping, terrifying car chase far exceeded the achievements of Spielberg's in Skull. The jungle chase, in particular, was less action set-piece and more slapstick family s(h)itcom, the bike chase, bar Indy's entrance and exit from the car, was passe, while the Hangar 51 sequence felt bitty and oddly edited.

torao said:

He puts his own stamp on the scenes he shoots, that's it, I'd say. And I suppose it depends on the director, team and actors he's working with (and how knowledgable and experienced they are) to what degree he's able to change the more or less scripted and pre-vis-ed action. As mutt wrote, it's a collaborative effort.



Mmhhyeaah. That's pretty much how I felt during the action scenes of the overall pretty good Quantum of Solace: I was lucky if I caught a glimpse of what's actually happening. I think I just didn't care anymore what was actually happening after the first half of the boat chase was over.
His approach indeed sounds quite interesting, though. And I really liked the opening car chase.

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i really hate that approach to action sequences. well, i hate how far QoS took it

The Man said:

that thumping, terrifying car chase far exceeded the achievements of Spielberg's in Skull.

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Of course, the great irony here is...not if we hold it to the same standards and criteria by which KOTCS was judged over the summer.

Case in point, what did the critics think of the two directing styles?

KOTCS: 76% (61% Top Critics)
QOS: 65% (33% Top Critics)

And if Indy's second weekend drop of 50% was deemed disastrous, what are we to make of Bond's steep 60% decline- especially given that he had no competition at the time?

What we make of all this is exactly what was argued- and dismissed- back in May: This stuff is all highly subjective. We can't write off Spielberg's directing as inferior simply because it was more family-oriented. By his own admission, a family-oriented adventure film is exactly what he was trying to achieve.

Btw, the only reason I included the Top Critics score, is because you seemed particularly influenced by it over the summer. If I recall, you implied that a 60% grade wasn't anything to write home about. Indeed.

As a tidbit, the Flying Wing fight scene was made up as they went along.

James said:

Btw, the only reason I included the Top Critics score, is because you seemed particularly influenced by it over the summer. If I recall, you implied that a 60% grade wasn't anything to write home about. Indeed.

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Hmmm. So, because a handpicked number of critics gave Solace a low rating, I should reconsider my opinions..?

The very reason RottenTomatoes was brought up between the two of us was because you, then as now, believe that a 76%* rating from a select group is a vindication of Skull's inescapable craptitude - something I could never sanely agree with.

Let's be fair: before Quantum's release I suggested it would have a polarised reception.

Influenced by it? Err, no. How about you?


*Oh, and again you've used the more disengenuous percentage...

It doesn't bother me.

To be honest, I am willing to say Crystal Skulls jungle chase scene requires more stunts than Temple of Dooms. In which a lot of the stuff were models anyway.

James said:

And if Indy's second weekend drop of 50% was deemed disastrous, what are we to make of Bond's steep 60% decline- especially given that he had no competition at the time?

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Was it deemed disastrous -- surely a $100m opening weekend is bound to have a large dropoff?

QoS on the other hand was IMO a total disaster and has single-handedly killed my interest in the Bond franchise. I loathed it, it was a horrible... I hesitate to call it a film.