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Ext. Fort - La Mola
8:00 a.m.
The La Mola Fort is basically empty. With so few people around, the set
is silent - a silence accentuated by the fact that we are on the tip of
the island of Menorca, enclosed by the Mediterranean on three sides. We
are here early this morning to see the "big bang," or the explosion of
the cannon. A few people are trickling in slowly with us through the
door to the courtyard of the fort, where the crew is setting up. The
sounds in the courtyard are a mere murmur compared to the activity
mid-shoot yesterday, or any other day on the set of the action-packed
Horatio Hornblower II. A few Spanish extras stroll in already decked out
in full costume and makeup. Some redcoats are wandering about the fort's
courtyard, and Sean Gilder (Styles), Jamie Bamber (Kennedy), and the
director Andrew Grieve are among the first to arrive. The misty sky is
holding the sun at bay, and the crew is happy for what they know is only
a brief respite from the intense heat. A red tent on the ramp of the
fort and a row of water coolers, jammed with ice and bottled water,
await the arrival of more of the actors. When Terence Corrigan (Wellard),
his kerchief is immediately attended to by a costume assistant.
8:35 a.m.
It's just half an hour later, and the sun's heat already feels
full-blown. Sean Gilder and Terence Corrigan make their way up to the
shooting location for first rehearsals. Assistant director Robert Fabbri
says, "Quiet, please." Someone translates: "Silencio!" The cameramen set
up their equipment (and crack jokes), while the actors rehearse. When it
comes to the last rehearsal before the actual shoot of the explosion, a
little ripple of excitement travels through the set. The director calls
the scene to begin, Paul Copley (Matthews) says his lines, and the
cannon explodes. The loud bang goes off without a hitch. Everybody is
declared safe and sound, despite a little ringing in the ears. The
extras break out into cheers and applause, and it's on to the next
scene.
Ext. Fort - Courtyard
3:30 p.m
As filming continues at La Mola Fort, we take a few minutes out to catch
up with John Mollo, who is the costume designer for the Horatio
Hornblower movies. The new movies have meant some differences for Mollo,
primarily because this time the setting is the early nineteenth century
instead of the late eighteenth century. The 300-some costumes for this
movie have been rented from a company, which made the garments for the
first Hornblower movies. Some of the costumes, particularly those for
the extras, are the same ones used in the first set of movies, but many
have been updated for the new time period, and some have also been
created anew, particularly for the principal actors. John Mollo, who
also designed costumes for Star Wars and Gandhi, works with about eight
team members to keep everyone clothed. The costumes break down along
color lines: red, blue, and white. The naval officers wear blue
uniforms. The marines are in red. (Mollo doubts the legend that red was
worn to hide the blood: "I think that's just an apocryphal story
really," he says.) The marines wear two belts, which hold a bayonet on
the left and ammunition on the right. They also wear haversacks for
rations and a water bottle. The sailors, who also wear red, have a
little white strip of cloth around their sleeves to differentiate them
from their enemies, who often wore similar uniforms and colors. The
Spanish are in white, and the slaves wear "a sort of terrible mishmash
of bits of uniforms and straw hats," says Mollo. The worst part of
shooting, Mollo says, was the storm scenes at night. "We had fire
hazards and God knows what. Everybody got soaking wet. All the
principals were on deck having water thrown over them. We did this for
three nights. That's always our worst thing-getting the clothes dry the
next morning. It was a nightmare. That in mind, scriptwriters shouldn't
be allowed to have either rain or blood in the scripts!"
6:00 p.m.
The day is winding down, and the cast and crew are milling around the
set. It is the Fourth of July, and some of the few American expats are
planning celebrations. For the British cast and crew, it's just another
night, but Ioan Gruffudd knows that that C.S. Forester gave his
character Horatio Hornblower the ironic birthday of July 4. Ioan says
he'll celebrate with a glass of rum.
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