By Stunt co-ordinator Vladimir Furdik was full of glowing praise for Witcher star Henry Cavill as he was interviewed at a movie festival in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. Furdik, who recently played The Night King on Game of Thrones, also had some interesting comments about Netflix and the show in general – and it fits in nicely with his previous hints as to what Geralt of Rivia’s fighting style will be.
Cavill will have plenty of action scenes as Geralt, and it sounds like he left quite the impression on the veteran stunt performer. “I don’t know any actors who are as good with sword and fight scenes overall as Henry is,” Furdik said, suggesting that the Mission Impossible and Man of Steel actor has once again brought his A-game. In fact, Cavill was picking up fight choreography for scenes in just two hours … something the 49-year-old Furdik, who has worked on Skyfall, Game of Thrones and Robin Hood has never seen before.
Redditors /u/Wortasyy and /u/Sidhgaming have transcribed the interview, and we’ve included a subtitled video too, if you’d like to see the man himself! Make sure you turn captions on.
Interviewer: Right now you are working on The Witcher on Netflix. How is it going to be?
Vladimir Furdik: They have the ambition to reach GoT levels and one day even go beyond. I think Game of Thrones is more about acting and drama, the story was very good and the actors did a great job. When it comes to our action scenes I can vouch for their quality and from what I have seen of the actual footage they are very good. It’s hard to know whether the fans will like the acting and the dramatic elements, whether the show will be a hit or not. Some fans like Henry as Geralt, others are against him so it’s a very delicate situation and Netflix are taking a huge risk.
Interviewer: What about Henry Cavill?
Furdik: He is excellent, without him they wouldn’t be able to do it, I can guarantee that. I don’t know any actors who are that good with a sword and fight scenes overall as Henry is. I have never met anyone who could learn fight choreography [for a scene] in two hours.
Interviewer: So he is better than Kit Harrington, right?
Furdik: I wouldn’t say that he is better, but Kit maybe didn’t have do such complex moves in his fight scenes.
So, what kind of complex moves are we talking here? Well, Furdik has given us an indication of what we might expect. He did so during a panel at the East European Comic-Con in Romania.
Talking about the show, Furdik said: “They made a very good decision to give this role to Henry … he’s a very good fighter. So I didn’t have a lot of difficulties teaching him anything.
“His style… I tried to give him a kind of style which is more like dancing – like, easy. He’s going gong through the fight like he predicts what everyone is doing. He knows three seconds before he kills someone how he will kill them. So we’ve been trying to include this.”
The Witcher’s fight scenes will be one of the most make-or-break elements of the show, so every bit of info is worth scrutinising. A combination of director Alex Garcia Lopez, Furdik, and Cavill will get the mouth watering … but only time will tell. Or, perhaps, in a teaser released at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con. (We can but hope!)
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