:26:00
that Niall MacGinnis and Eric Berry
had to do their own climbing.
:26:04
And even if the close-ups were done
:26:08
under, perhaps,
reasonably controlled conditions,
:26:12
a shot like this
is truly breathtaking.
:26:14
Getting the shots of the anxious
watchers in the boats
:26:18
was very difficult indeed:
They weren't shot at the same time.
:26:22
As the days, weeks, went by,
:26:24
Powell was getting
increasingly worried
:26:27
about finding the right conditions
to shoot the men in the boats,
:26:30
which was essential for
the construction of this scene.
:26:33
It wasn't until they'd left Foula
and returned to Lerwick
:26:38
that he managed in one epic day
:26:40
to shoot almost all these images,
:26:43
knowing that they would intercut
and produce this remarkable sequence.
:26:47
He tells in his book
just how difficult and how dangerous
:26:50
the final section
of Eric Berry's climb was.
:26:53
This really was putting
an actor at risk.
:26:59
(Day-Lewis) Eric had to climb up
through the waterfall.
:27:02
I decided this was not
spectacular enough.
:27:04
Sid organised a dam crew
:27:07
and at the word "Camera!" they let
a ton or two of water over the top.
:27:12
We all got wet, but the scene
undoubtedly had more punch,
:27:16
especially when small boulders
came over into Eric's open mouth.
:27:22
The rest of the climb
was shot on various locations
:27:24
between Hoevdi and the Sneck.
:27:26
The method was simpler than it looks.
On bad days,
:27:30
I scrambled around
and found nasty spots
:27:33
that were effective on the screen.
:27:35
Eventually we all arrived there,
I demonstrated the climb,
:27:39
Niall said to himself
"Where he can go, I can."
:27:43
Eric, fortunately, was short-sighted
:27:45
and I do not believe to this day
that he knows half of what he did.
:27:49
The only thing that put him off
was the surf below him.
:27:53
To his eyes, without glasses,
it was a dizzy white gulf,
:27:57
full of noises, far below.
:27:59
He was not far wrong, either.