![]() ![]() “We’re creating millions and millions of BTUs in an instant,” Gauthier notes. The Dragon’s Breath creates an enormous amount of heat, as it shoots several hundred gallons of liquid propane at 200 pounds-per-square-inch through two three-inch nozzles, throwing fire 175 feet. “By the time I got to Ireland, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do, and then we put it together – namely, the Dragon’s Breath apparatus.” “I’ve done several projects of this scale, but knowing Rob and the kinds of things he likes to do – and how big he likes to get – I did a little research before coming to Ireland,” continues Gauthier, who had previously served with Bowman on “The X-Files” television series. He had two missions for me: to give him as much practical fire on the set as we could handle, and to make it all safe. “Rob called me up in the middle of the night – 2:30 in the morning – and asked me to take the job. ![]() “My involvement on this show has particularly been with the fires on the set – the real fires,” notes Dave Gauthier, special effects supervisor on the film. I didn’t mind it, and I don’ t think Matthew did, either.” I was dazed for a few seconds, but it’s all there in the movie, and obviously, it’s better because it’s real. And there was a head butt – Matthew headbutted me for real, and everybody said it echoed on the castle walls and sounded like a watermelon being smashed. “Matthew and I really went for it, and we clocked each other a couple of times. “I have all the heart in the fight, but Van Zan has all the skills,” says Bale. In the fight sequence, McConaughey and Bale fought for themselves. Matthew, Christian, and Izabella are all pretty physical.” “We make it safe for the actors to do their own stunts and only use doubles if it’s absolutely necessary. “But for the most part, I try not to use doubles,” Gillard continues. “They’re the best guys to get – they’ll always give you 100%. “Two of them were ex-SAS (Special Air Service) soldiers – they had jumped out under combat conditions with weapons,” Gillard notes. The stunt doubles for the sequence were prepared for their work. We also had a little parachute inside his helmet, so if he got into trouble he could take off the helmet and throw the camera away, and it would come down safely. “The cameraman wore a surgical neck brace, just to keep him from breaking his neck from the weight of the camera when he pulled open his parachute. But ‘Reign of Fire’ is shot anamorphic, so our cameraman had to wear the 35mm camera with a 40mm anamorphic lens on the head.” The cameras were enormous and extremely heavy. ![]() “Normally, when you shoot an aerial sequence, you shoot it with 16mm film and then ‘blow it out’ to 35mm. ![]() The film’s central sequence, it follows several members of Van Zan’s group as they jump out of a helicopter to try to kill a dragon. This included the production design team, headed by Wolf Kroeger the Special Effects team, headed by Dave Gauthier and Nick Gillard’s stunt team.Ī 25-year movie stunts veteran who has recently coordinated the stunts for such high-profile action blockbusters as “Star Wars” Episodes I and II and Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow,” Gillard faced an all-new challenge on “Reign of Fire” as he prepared for the Archangel sequence. Besides the visual effects team creating the dragons, several groups were responsible for presenting a vision of a world destroyed by dragons as true-to-life as possible. ![]()
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