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The Duellists (1977)
Directed by Ridley Scott.
Directed by Ridley Scott · Shot by Frank Tidy · Music by Howard Blake · 100 min
How it was made
- Budget constraints led Scott to shoot the film as a series of tableaux marking chapters of the story rather than a continuously flowing narrative.
- Scott deliberately emulated the lush, naturalistic-painting cinematography of Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon for the film's visual style.
- Leads Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel insisted on using real, un-dulled 1798-pattern light cavalry sabres, rather than blunted stage weapons, for the sword-duelling sequences.
- The winter retreat-from-Moscow scenes were filmed in the Cairngorms of Scotland, while the final duel was shot at the unrestored Château de Commarque in France.
- Paramount required Scott to cast his two leads from a shortlist of four studio-approved actors in order to secure financing, after his first choices, Oliver Reed and Michael York, proved unavailable.
- Albert Finney, though outside the film's budget, agreed to appear as a favour, shot his scene in a single day, and took a case of champagne as his only payment.
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Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Ridley Scott
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