Ridley Scott — LATEST POST — Moments Parfaits

And action! Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite ready for my close-up. Strike 1: the casting directors were calling for women with long hair. Strike 2: the shooting would last three weeks and include the early part of March, just when I was planning to be in California. I (almost) could have been a contender.

The calm before the storm? Sarlat is so lovely –and quiet– in February.

The announcements came through my Facebook feed and it was a welcome change from cat memes and sponsored ads urging me to book a snow vacation in the Pyrénées. The production company was looking for no less than 800 figurants for a big-budget film set in medieval times. The shoot would take place at various locations around Sarlat in the Dordogne.

More information about the film started to leak online: titled The Last Duel, it would be directed by Sir Ridley Scott. You may have heard of him: his credits include Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator and, more recently, The Martian. Grosse pointure…

The old tobacco plant becomes the art department

I’ve been a fan of Ridley Scott since The Duellists, his very first film (1977) starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, sporting handlebar mustaches and funny braided hair. For that period piece set during Napoleonic times, Scott had chosen to film in and around Sarlat. Obviously, the Dordogne brought him good luck: he walked away from Cannes with the award for Best Film Debut. No wonder he wanted to come back here! After more than four decades, it must have felt like a pleasant retour aux sources. And there is that duel theme again…

For that reason alone, it would have been fun to be part of the cast and to have stories to tell. Such as “keep your eyes peeled during the market scene: I’m the third peasant woman on the left!” Oh, I’m so sorry you blinked….

A four-star hotel, privatized for a full month

It would have been fun to be on the set and rub elbows with some bona fide actors: the meaty parts are going to Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Ben Affleck, and Jodie Comer (yes, Villanelle from “Killing Eve.”) Instead, I have to rely on local media to find out what the stars have been up to. So here we go. Matt and Ridley had dinner at La Couleuvrine, a restaurant in the old town; Ridley ordered “something with truffles” (yeah!) while Matt had a burger (what???) Jodie was spotted at the Sarlat market: she was not wearing dark glasses or make-up but was radiant and friendly. Adam took his family to visit Lascaux IV and –can you believe it– he simply booked his reservation for this excellent prehistoric experience online, just like any of us would! At this very moment, inquiring minds want to know if Ben will finally arrive: there hasn’t been an Affleck sighting yet.

I realize this sounds like your typical fluff segment on Entertainment Tonight but, in our defense, nothing ever happens here in winter: tourists are scarce, most shops stay close until April, many of the ubiquitous restaurants in Sarlat are taking their congés annuels… While this is not the first time that a movie production settles in the area, the scale of this film is unprecedented and it is expected to be most expensive film of the year.

Crows always seem to be flying around Beynac

Most of all, it would have been fun to be close to the action and just observe how a film gets made. There are sets to build, costumes to fit, animals to handle, and food to cater! Would you like chicken or pasta? Some truffle omelet, perhaps?

Since I would not be part of the cast or crew, I decided to do the next best thing: location scouting. And boy, do we have the right locations for the story Scott wants to tell! The year is 1386. Jean de Carrouges (Damon) is a Norman knight who returns home from the war. His wife Marguerite (Comer) accuses his best friend Jacques LeGris (Driver) of raping her. No one believes her accusation and a court ruling favors LeGris. De Carrouges appeals to King Charles VI who sentences the two men to fight in a duel to the death. God will be the judge: if de Carrouges prevails, it means Marguerite was telling the truth. If LeGris is the victor, she will be burnt at the stake for making a false accusation. The film is based on true events and this was indeed the last legally sanctioned duel in France.

The Dordogne is rich in medieval castles, fortified towns, and old villages that provide the perfect setting for a story unfolding in the 14th century. Your intrepid reporter checked out the specific locations that Scott selected and they are indeed compelling. Although Sarlat itself is only used as a production base, I was curious about visible signs of unusual activity; I visited a few days before the start of the shoot. At the southern edge of town, several trucks were parked at the site of the tobacco processing plant that shut down a few months ago. Bright orange signs confirmed that the sets and props were being built and stored there. A little further down the road, more signs pointed to the old Boîte à Clous: the former home improvement center served as a giant cabine d’essayage for the extras chosen during the casting calls. Several men sporting disheveled hair and bushy beards walked into the building, presumably to try on their costumes.

Old Town Sarlat was virtually empty that day, as it usually is in February. Although the weather was mild and sunny, only a handful of people were sitting at the café terraces. I could have crossed paths with a movie star or two if I had set up camp in front of the hotel where they were staying but who wants to be an obnoxious paparazzo? Thinking you could nurse a glass of Bergerac at the bar while waiting for someone famous to enter? Fogettaboudit (with apologies to Monsieur De Niro…) The four-star Plaza Madeleine has been privatized for a whole month.

A week later, I drove to Beynac during the shoot. As expected, access to the castle was restricted but large yellow arrows pointed to the set, the parking areas for the crew, and the “trailers basecamp.” Fenced off with green tarps secured to wire panels, a large parking lot by the river was home to about 15 trailers and an assortment of vehicles with heavily tinted windows. They probably didn’t have a good view of the Dordogne below but the sight of the fortress on top of the cliff is inescapable. Château de Beynac is a jewel of the region. Built in the 12th century, the large square-shaped keep dominates the valley. It stayed in French hands during the 100-year war while Castelnaud, on the other side of the river, fell to the English. The village below stretches along the narrow road that follows the Dordogne with many houses being attached to the rock. Major scenes of the film take place inside and outside the castle, in the village, and in the church for a wedding. Reports indicate that period furniture was brought from England.

Who was he? Will need to watch the credits…

The restaurant at the base of the village –where the main road intersects with the one leading to the castle– seemed to be the place where the cast waited to be picked up by the cast pool vehicles. One actor, dressed in a long black velvet coat and wearing several gold bands on his fingers, stood at the corner with an assistant carrying additional clothing packed in a dry-cleaning bag. After a few minutes, they were whisked away on the castle road by a shiny black mini-van. From the look of his costume, I figured he probably played a noble or a clergy person.

I drove to the bastide of Monpazier, a fortified town built in the 13th century. It’s a charming village of 500 souls that was developed around Place des Cornières, a large square lined with stone houses and arcades. It’s remarkably well-preserved but definitely has that “old look” to it.

Lifting up and securing a wooden balcony

Sometimes, it’s just not old enough. For instance, Renaissance fenêtres would look out of place in a 14th-century setting. The crew was not filming in Monpazier that day but a large team of local artisans was busy building wooden doors and balconies to make sure all architectural details were period-specific.

Painters were aging metal hardware and wood surfaces.

Fake medieval windows were built and installed over more recent ones.

The cats will have to play somewhere else

The shops under the arcade will also be brought “down” to date.

The shopkeeper of the Casino grocery store was watching the activity in the middle of the square with as much interest as I was and didn’t seem concerned about the potential of lost sales. This Thursday and Friday, a medieval market scene with 200 extras will be filmed in Monpazier. The amount of crew and cast will probably exceed the local population.

The third local site to be used in the movie is the château de Fénelon. This medieval fortress is located a mere 5 miles from our house so I might just claim that part of the film was shot in my backyard! No interior scene here but the grounds around the castle were covered with artificial snow and studded with large tents and banners to recreate a military camp.

Fénelon is fully furnished and open to the public

Production will move to a couple of other areas in France. Casting calls took place in Carcassonne for scenes to be shot at the Abbaye de Fondfroide, a splendid 11th-century abbey with the Pyrenées as the backdrop. Finally, they will be headed for Mâcon in Burgundy.

Fénelon sits on a hill that dominates the Dordogne valley

I’m always tickled when I watch a movie that was filmed in places I know well; this one will be even more special because I was there for the shoot, kinda… I’m sure that some of you will recognize those locations as the Dordogne is a well-traveled region: Beynac, in particular, is extremely popular with tourists. For others, perhaps this post will serve as an introduction to a beautiful area of France.

That’s a wrap!

P.S. The Last Duel will be in theaters in January 2021, with a limited release on December 25, 2020; obviously a move to qualify for the Academy Awards. I’m wondering whether the hashtag #MedievalMeToo will be trending by then...

Vocabulary
Le figurant: extra (actor)
La grosse pointure: lit. large shoe size; big shoes to fill
Le retour aux sources: lit. return to its (river) sources; back to its roots
Les congés annuels: yearly vacations
La cabine d’essayage: dressing room
La bastide: fortified town with a center square and streets intersecting at 90º angles
La fenêtre: window

Visit Château de Beynac
Visit Château de Fénelon