From Zach
Today was my day to die on "The Patriot." We spent most of the day shooting wide angle shots of Mel running up a hill beating the crap out of several people and once he reaches the top, he pulls his pistol and shoots me in the chest. Before he reaches the mark to shoot, he has to punch a stunt guy several times. The first take everything was perfect. The second, he lost his pistol in the fight and the director yelled cut. The third time around, he lost it again and proceeded to pull this rubber tomahawk from his belt and run at me screaming and hitting himself in the head with it. Once he got to me, he daintily touched me on the hat with it like a fairy godmother and I promptly fell like a sack of potatoes, laughing all the way. He was a great guy and I had the more fun on this film than on any project I've ever done.
A New One From The Highlander.
We were filming the Cowpens Battle one day when the temp. was around 25 degrees. All of the Militia were standing in line. The crew were all bundeled up in coats, hats, and gloves. We were wearing just our costumes and we were freezing. I was wondering if I would ever get the feeling back in my fingers, and toes. Mel came walking down the line to get to his starting mark. Glen, who was standing beside me said " Hello Mel." Mel said " Hi guys. How are you doing?" To which I replied "Cold!" Mel said "You're d--n right it's f-----g cold!" He walked a couple of steps further, turned, came back and said "You know what you guys should do? You should take off all of your clothes, and run around." We gave him a look like "Yeah right!' He said "You've got to mess with these people's heads. Keep them off balance." then he walked away.
I was standing there thinking " If Mel Gibson took off his clothes and ran around it would be very funny". Not to mention a great oppurtunity to get a picture that the tabloids would pay a fortune for. "But, if we extras were to take off our clothes, we would be fired, and escorted off the set."
From The Highlander
During the filming at the Fort Carolina location there was a scene where Mel and Jason confront each other as Mel is leaving the fort. Mel has walked in under a flag of truce so, Jason can not harm him. Jason tries to provoke Mel into striking him first by saying a line that went something like this: " You! So, you're the ghost are you? I recognise you from that farm, and that stupid little boy. Did he die? I hope so!" They did several takes of this scene. After about the 5th or 6th take, Jason walks up to Mel and says "You! So you're the ghost are you? You know I don't usually go for the lads, but you are a dashed good looking fellow." Mel, and everyone within earshot cracked up.
While we were filming the Cowpens battle the militia, and colonial soldiers had to run up a very steep hill over and over again. We ran up the same hill every day for over a week. As a result of all the running the grass on the hillside became very slick. The boots and shoes that most of us were wearing had slick bottoms with no tread whatsoever. People would try to run on "action" and have to slip and slide while trying to get traction. On one take I am running up the hill when I hear someone to my right exclaim " F- - - this S - - - !" I look over and see Mel, who has slipped and stumbeled to his knees. He got up, turned and walked out of the shot. A few seconds later "cut" was called. We all got a break for a few minutes before the next take. When Mel returned something about his boots looked odd. It turns out that wardrobe had cut the soles out of the boots, and Mel was wearing the boot tops over a pair of hiking shoes. The supporting actors didn't get treatment as special as that. They all had sand paper glued to the bottom of their boots. As for the poor extras, we had to continue slipping.
From Chuck
Martin's Militia running from the British charge dives to the ground in front of the American line. The Continentals fire into the British and then instead of yelling "prime and load" which is the appropriate command, the actor Chris Cooper yells "lock and load" (which is OK for Platoon). Later in the same scene, the Americans are charging up the hill behind Ben Martin into the British. On one take as we run up the hill, the directors yell their now famous "Cuuuuttt, cut, cut...". We stop and somebody to my right asks why we were stopped so fast. I reply that maybe we got there too quickly. Someone to my left says "No...I forgot to go!" I turned my head and right beside me was Mel. He had simply forgotten to run.
At the Yorktown set, George Washington enters the fort with his entourage of mounted officers. A camera is set up on a dolley on a track and as it rolls down the track the soldiers on the ramparts are to follow the camera which is seeing Gen. Washington's viewpoint. One of the crew tapes a dollar bill on to a pole and then holds it above the camera. Everybody then watches "George" go by.
During the filming in the millet field in September, the American and British lines advance towards each other amid explosions and then fire at each other. After one particular take, we turn around to go back to our starting point and regroup. I take off my cocked hat and notice that there are white flecks on it. I brush them off and am puzzled by how they got there. The special effects guys repack the explosion pots and we do the next take. As we move towards the British line something streaks just over our heads, hits the ground about 50 feet ahead of us, tumbles another 20 feet toward an explosion pot, and then the pot blows up. WOW! The effect was spectacular but we were startled. We still moved forward and fired at the British and then we heard "cut". We started talking excitedly about the thing that flew over our heads. As we walked back to the starting point again, I found "the thing". It was the remnants of a bag of Gold Medal flour. Apparently, the special effects guys were firing bags of flour out of the cannons to give the effect of billowing smoke. This particular bag of flour just didn't completely disintegrate. One of the special effects guys gave us a wry smile and said "Aw, it wouldn't hurt you if it hit you". Right!....let him get hit with one.
In November, we got to watch some of the "dailies" which were raw footage of various scenes. In one, the camera is on the long boom and it moves in front of the British line as they advance across the ground. Very impressive until you see one British soldier fall right on his face, get up, and then immediately fall on his face again. This time he stayed down. Hillarious!
From our own Darklord
In this scene Mel is talking to Joey and some guys are loading a wagon right behind Joey. Mel tells Joey that he can't pay for the stuff and Joey says pay what you can when you can. Meanwhile Heath and Lisa are over to Mel's left talkin and making gaa gaa faces at each other. Heath being Mel's son, Joey says "He sure takes after you" or something like that and they Joke about something. Then Mel says something about time to go and looks over to Heath and says "Corproral, take your time." Then the kiss scene will be inserted and Heath runs and jumps on his horse. It was kinda funny on one take Mel has a little trouble getting on his horse and then Heath comes runnin over, steps up on a stone step, then up onto the hitchin post and jumps right up on his horse. Mel looked over at him and said f--- you. hehe.
I can relate to the blooper that Chuck sent. In that take I was working the cannon second from camera left. The guys to my left shot the bag of flour. As I recall it hit or almost hit one of the Blue Dragoons horses. I think the guy got a little hot about it, but hey, we didn't pack 'em, we just shot 'em. We did have a good laugh about it though....... Then I think we went to sleep for a day or two.
Another something that was quite amusing: a lack of *facilities* if you get my meaning. The nearest porta john was quite a hike away, so during the course of the day people would turn around and take a few steps out into the field and do their business. And makeup /wardrobe /some reenactor women just walking around. I guess if ya gotta go.......
From Libertyboy
While we were preparing to film the scene when Mel rides onto the field with the flag to encourage the defeated American troops...Mel waited on his horse in front of our company. Listening to his 'small-talk' with a horse-handler was very amusing! "This F--king horse won't move!" , and "These F--king stirrups are F--king uneven!", he stated as he smoked a Marlboro.
The same day, just before lunch, Mel grabbed a bullhorn to address us ( soldiers) while out on the set. [ In the reinactor camp the supply of firewood had run out. We were afraid to go into the swamp to get wood because some quicksand had claimed the life of one of the cowboy's horses in September. There were a few other complaints, including the lack of porta-potty breaks. In general, there was increasing signs of a mutiny in the Continental ranks. Guys all around me were starting to bitch and grumble about unfair treatment.] "I hear you guy's are still out of firewood in camp, and have been pissing your pants while in the ranks because you're not getting enough breaks!" he acknowledged, and continued..."well, I'll make sure everything is taken care of. I also want to announce that tonight in basecamp in the catering tent, we are going to show you guys a screening of some completed scenes, including the battle we shot in Setember! The scene where the soldier's head is shot off by the cannonball is F--KING COOL!!! I would like to thank you all for participating. You are a very important part of this movie."
Every morning in base-camp we were rudely awoken by fife and drum at 3:15 a.m. Seldom did we get more than four hours sleep each night after working 14-16 hour days. When we were through makeup, everyone hung around the catering tent drinking as much hot coffee as possible. Besides being extremely tired, some mornings dipped to 25 degrees F., and we froze our butts off! It was necessary to get as much caffeine pumping through our veins as possible. Several 10 gallon plastic coffee urns were drained by us every morning. After a two mile hump to the Cowpens Battlefield set, most of us (500-800 soldiers) had to 'go to the bathroom' really bad! The nearest porta-johns were over two hundred yards away, set up behind the camera lines. So as you might suspect, we just walked about 30 feet behind the battle line formation and emptied our swollen bladders onto the field. At any one moment, there were at least a half dozen guys whizzing into 'the wind'. A few female P.A.s bitched about it, but we told them we didn't have much choice--the porta-johns were to far away. We apologized, and told them they weren't required to watch, anyhow! None of us gave it much thought, besides, several officer's horses added gallons of additional 'waste-water' and mounds of crap where ever they pleased! When it was time to film the first 'take' of the day, the stunt coordinator went down the ranks to pick Continental soldiers who were to fall down as casualties after being over-run by the British, and forcing us to retreat up the hill. He picked me to be one of them, but I made up an excuse. There was no way I was going to lay on the urine-saturated field behind us! After 'action' was called out, and on cue, I broke and began running up the hill. And wouldn't you know it...I tripped over an FX detonation wire, and fell flat on my face onto the 'wet' grass! All I could do was to laugh quietly over my misfortune. When 'cut' was called, I sat up and reminded the 'casualty' next to me what we were laying in. "Oh, Shit!" he responded. I corrected his choice of words by replying...."No, it's PISS!!!!!
From Brenton
There was a funny moment on the set, When Heath and Mel were walking and Mel says "where did you learn that riding and shooting," and Heath says "from my father." Well Mel messed up his lines and said "where did you learn all that riding and SHITTING,(instead of shooting) and then added "and how to screw up your lines?" Heath cracked and couldnt continue. It was pretty funny that day.
There was also one part where Jason was on his horse and they were filming one scene and the horse had to go so..you know it did! It was hilarious, Jason said "Hollywood or not, when you gotta go, you gotta go!" Just thought I would share those with you. Well thanks everyone.
If anyone has seen the blooper reel they have seen this, but we were filming the scene for the Cowpens battle scene they were using me as part of the hero band I think thats what they called it. It was supposedly a group of soilders who had shown great bravery in the war, anyway we were marching up the hill and there was a camera over head, one of the DA's come by and told us it was the same camera used in Godzilla, well when we were marching in the middle of the shot they swung it by us and someone hollered "Run!! Its Godzilla" so we all started running back down the hill. Everyone cracked up and just couldnt stop laughing, In fact I could have swore Roland cracked a smile.
Hey Annie, well we all have picked on Mel and Jason about their bloopers but you wouldnt believe the things that happened to the extras. One day we were filming a scene at the Continential camp and Mel and Roland were viewing shots on the director's screens and Roland said he wanted to redo one scene and just left Mel hanging, I was standing as close as I could, you know its not everyday you stand by a legend like Mel, well if you remember we were told not to say anything or talk to them before a shot and they told us that we could get in trouble for it, well Roland walked off and Mel looked around and said "Well what am I supposed to do?" And this one extra standing by him slapped him, and I dont mean lightly, this guy wacked him on the arm and said, "stick with me man I'll show you what to do", Mel just kinda grinned and walked off, you should have seen all the DA's and everybody crowd around that guy and blessed him out, I dont think he ever came back. Boy gives you an idea of all real brilliant ones we had out there.
From Carolina Fifer
Another View of the Godzilla Crane Camera (you can find a picture of this camera on Bob's site "The Making of the Patriot") On Roland's birthday, the Continentals were asked to joke with Roland by recreating a scene from Godzilla. We were asked to march down the hill until given a cue ("Godzilla", I think, was the cue). Upon hearing the cue we all turned and looked up at the camera with arms held over our heads like the scene in Godzilla and ran away screaming. Roland got a big kick out of it saying something like "What is this? This is not what I wanted." Then, the Panther cheerleaders came out and gave him a birthday cheer. The British added their own humor by "mooning" everyone on the hillside.
During the early part of the filming of the Battle Of Cowpens (before the British were drawn down the hill past the ruins into the trap set by Martin) Mel ended one take of him riding up to the line on horseback by stating that he hated horses. He then took the rubber musket and held it by his teeth, held the tomahawk in one out-stretched hand and a knife in the other. I hope that someone took a picture of that as it really looked cool and broke some tension that was building on the set. Sometime during that sequence of shots, I had one of my Mel moments. Mel was walking from the set to where Roland and the set monitors were. I was playing a tune on my fife with my back to Mel when one of the guys in the Hero company (a company of Continentals all shot up and covered with bandages) told me to look out. I looked over my shoulder and stopped playing as I saw Mel poised with his tomahawk ready to bury it in my back. He said, in a Braveheart/Patriot voice, "I don't like that music" and raised the tomahawk higher. I replied "I am sorry, I didn't know that the music bothered you". Mel patted my shoulder and said "Actually, I think it sounds cool" and walked over to where Roland was. Unfortunately, I can't find anyone who may have taken a picture of that.
You may find a story behind one of the pictures (Mel Gibson Pictures # 25) on your web site interesting. The picture shows Mel standing in front of a close-up camera as seen through a couple of Continentals, who, by the way, were members of the Hero Company. When given the cue "Mel, Action", Mel, at first, did nothing. After repeatedly doing nothing after being given his cue, Mel finally asked "What action? What do you want me to do?" It appears that the directors placed Mel without telling him what to do. I took a picture of the scene which looks almost identical to the one on your page.
During the filming of the Battle of Camden in September 1999, the human needs of the reenactors and extras (water, bathroom breaks, a chance to sit down out of the shade) were almost totally ignored. It took a couple of medical emergencies before the production assistants were instructed to "water us down" between every take of a scene that we were doing.
Prior to the medical emergencies we were moved from one spot to another repeatedly so that the directors and producers could visualize camera angles. We were moved to one spot. "No that doesn't look good - try another spot. No that didn't work - go back to the first spot." After being moved about over and over again, while dreaming about water, the reenactors and extras began referring to themselves as "BIOPROPS".
From The Bear
Another view of the "Godzilla Crane Camera" A pratical joke that the directors pulled on Mel Gibson and the French General (Chucky), was a scene we had practice numerous times of us walking up a hill and we formed ranks. Mel Gibson and the General would ride up the hill on horses and form up with us. Well after we had practiced it and had it down, Mel and the General were down the hill waiting for the scene to start. One of the assistant directors came over to all of us and told us that the director had done "GODZILLA", and he wanted us to do the following. He told us that there was a boom crane camera behind us approximately 30-40 feet off the ground and that when Mel and the General came up to form ranks, they would yell out "GODZILLA LIVES". He wanted the whole rank to turn look up at the camera like Godzilla was going to eat us. He wanted us to scream, throw our hands up, etc. Well we formed ranks, Mel and the General come through on there horses and just when Mel is ready to say something, you heard in the background "GODZILLA LIVES". Annie, it was great and all of the reenactors did a fantastic job of screaming, yelling, etc.and everyone including Mel got a good laugh out of it. Hopefully they will have it at the end of the movie as an out take.
A couple of funny stories from Bill " The Dragoon uniforms were, to be precise, green and red. They were concerned that the audience would not know the difference, so they made the uniforms red with large green lapels. They kinda looked like Christmas Elves. In fact on several occasions when they would ride past us, the infantry would break out into singing Jingle Bells, it was quite comical.
Bill Speaking of Jason Isaacs
He also knows how to have fun on the set. In one particular scene we were filming, Tavington is sitting on his horse while Martin (Gibson) is pleading with him not to order the hanging of a continental soldier. Martin pleads "Please, by the rules of war you cannot..." At this point Tavington is supposed to draw his pistol and point it at Martin and ask "Would you like a lesson in the rules of war?" But just as he draws and points his pistol, the horse he is on turns its head and now Jason has the pistol pointed right into the side of the horse's head. Without missing a step, Jason exclaims "Now see what happened? You've got me so pissed off I'm gonna shoot my own f***ing horse!" That absolutely brought the house down!! It took a solid 5-10 minutes for everyone to regain their composure!!"
February 2, 2000... A new anonymous scooper tapped us on the shoulder and told us this: "The wrap party for the North Carolina shooting crew of The Patriot was held two Fridays ago, January 21, 2000. It was held in a night club in Charleston, NC.(I can't remember the name). (pssst...... tell this guy it's SOUTH CAROLINA!!!!) Supposedly the editing crew edited together a 15 minute blooper reel that they showed to the cast and crew that night. The first blooper was a slow motion shot of Mel Gibson running with the revolutionary flag and then tripping up... the huge flag slowly fluttering down upon him.
You all know about my "passion" for this movie..*L*...I was the same way at work, where I met a LOT of the public. While they were filming "The Patriot" here, everyone who darkened our door knew about my "passion" and my love for the one and ONLY Mel. Everyone was so nice to me, and contributed to my photo album very generously. One day a friend who works at the newspaper came in. In a VERY secretive voice he told me he had a picture I just HAD to have for my collection. It was sooooo great that I just have to share that picture with all you.
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