The Italian Job

The Romanian shoot for Cold Mountain was logisticallycomplicated for all concerned, and was "often uncomfortable," accordingto director Anthony Minghella. (See the BFCAcoverage for more on the Cold Mountain shoot, and see the November Millimeter ormillimeter.com for WalterMurch's account of editing the film.) DP John Seale, however, saysit didn't bother him much, and he credits a hearty "band of Italians"for making his job easier during production.

The grueling Romanian shoot for Cold Mountain was made easierby the Italian grip crew, according to DP John Seale.

"The Italians" are a freelance coalition of Italian grips whopreviously helped Minghella and Seale shoot The English Patientand The Talented Mr. Ripley in Europe, and worked on MartinScorsese's Gangs of New York shoot in Rome. Led by key gripTommaso Mele, this group was crucial in every way to getting the jobdone in Romania, according to Seale, so much so that the DP eveninsisted on a guarantee he could hire Mele's team before agreeing to dothe job.

"These guys are more than traditional grips, because they do thingsa bit different in certain parts of Europe," says Seale. "Theybasically are a group of guys who helped us get done whatever it was weneeded to get done. We told them we needed a car in front of the housewhere we were shooting, and they didn't tell us the car was at basecamp and it would be an hour. They had one there in a couple minutes.When I said I needed to shoot from a tower, Tommaso didn't scratch hishead trying to find one and get it to our location. He went around theback of the house, and 20 minutes later, his team had erected a 20-foottower. He had one lying back there in case we needed it."

Seale raves about this "self-contained lot," and says that whenproducers at first asked him why he cared which grip crew he hired, heresponded by declaring, "I wouldn't make the film without them. Theyare the best grip crew I have ever seen in my life."