Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon wanted to film epic Nuremberg scene in one day
Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon have revealed they wanted to film an epic courtroom scene for their new movie Nuremberg in just one day and it turned into a "verbal gunfight".
Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon wanted to film Nuremberg's epic courtroom scene in just one day.
The Gladiator star plays Adolf Hitler's henchman Hermann Goring in the historical drama opposite Shannon as Robert H. Jackson - the US lawyer who helped prosecute Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg Trials - and the actors wanted the four-day shoot to be condensed into one and it became one of the "most challenging" experiences Crowe has ever had onset.
He told Deadline: "“[It was] probably one of the most challenging, thrilling and resonate days I’ve ever spent on a film set.
"Michael and I knew each other from [Superman film] Man of Steel ... The courtroom scene was originally scheduled to be shot over 4 days. Michael and I discussed how there didn’t seem to be natural stopping points. The scene was written like a duel, a fight sequence with concepts and philosophies as weapons ...
"We had a chat with Jamie [director James Vanderbilt] and put forward the suggestion that we could play it as written. Seventeen pages in a day ...
"No responsible production company is going to sensibly plan to hit a page count like that in a single day.
"As excited as he was about what we were suggesting, I think Jamie made some joking remark about how 17 pages in a day 'isn’t humanly possible'.
"I deadpanned in return: 'Michael and I are from [Superman's home planet] Krypton'."
Shannon went on to reveal the pair didn't even rehearse before going for their first take, adding: "The thing about a scene like that is that we’re both trying to catch each other off guard.
"So there’s an advantage to not knowing entirely what the other person’s going to do beforehand ... So I think it’s a perfect opportunity to not rehearse and to let people kind of live and die in the moment."
Director James revealed they were running 25-minute takes with four cameras to capture the court room scene and he credits the hard-working actors with making it work.
He added to the publication: "[It] would be a challenge if you don’t have Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon experiencing the ebb and flow. It became this verbal gunfight."
Nuremberg - which also features Rami Malek and John Slattery - is due for release in November.
