![]() As I remember it, a series of smallish explosions were to go off beside the boat, followed by a larger explosive that was so powerful, it was placed deep underwater at the bottom of the tank. Jack Purvis, Eric Idle and I were seated in the rowing boat behind Angelo Ragusa (John Neville’s stuntman), who sat astride a large Arabian horse. One took place in a rowing boat, which was placed in a giant tank of water to mimic the sea. There were many subsequent scenes in which explosives were used. Sarah Polley as Sally Salt alongside John Neville’s Baron Munchausen. There’s nothing I can do.” And so I ran the gauntlet of explosives again. But when an assistant director came over to say they needed another take, my father said, with genuine remorse: “I’m afraid they have to do it again, love. I sobbed in my father’s arms in between takes and pleaded with him to intervene. It took a long time to reset the take and while Terry didn’t show any frustration about the delay, he also didn’t seem to notice how scared I was. It didn’t seem possible that this could have been the plan, that things hadn’t just gone terribly wrong. ![]() “What happened?” he asked, as though I had just run screaming from a slow-moving merry-go-round. I ran, terrified, straight into the camera, tripping over the dolly tracks. The gigantic blasts continued and shook everything around me. A log I was to run under was partially on fire. Blasts of debris exploded on the ground around me, accompanied by deafening booms that made me feel as if I myself had exploded. After Terry yelled “Action!” I began my run as instructed. I was given two cotton balls to put into my ears in case the sound was too loud for me. It would all be perfectly safe, I was told. I was told there would be explosives going off as I ran, but I wasn’t concerned. As we were about to shoot a sequence involving explosives, Terry led me down a route I was to run through – the set of a bombed-out city. There were many special effects in the film scenes of battle, exploding bombs, space and moonwalking. I would overhear the crew complain that plans, months in the making, would suddenly be replaced at the last minute with wild, ambitious impulses that put enormous pressure on the crew, the budget and the schedule. Terry was erratic, a dreamer, someone who didn’t live in the world of “logic and reason” – just as the Baron himself didn’t. As we rehearsed, Terry’s insane hyena giggle would greet me whenever I said or did something he found funny.Īs we went into production, things quickly began to fall apart. The cast included Alison Steadman, Bill Paterson, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed and a 17-year-old Uma Thurman, who was appearing as Venus in her first major film role. This glamorous life we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of was a shock to our family’s system, although not an unwelcome one. My siblings all came over on first-class tickets. We had at our disposal a driver and a stretch-limo Mercedes. We went to the Pantheon, the Colosseum, Piazza Navona. Almost every night, my mother and father and I ate dinner in the same small restaurant courtesy of my per diem. ![]() Our apartment in Rome was in a tiny little square called Largo dei Librari, just off the Campo de’ Fiori. I began counting down the days until my departure. Production would begin in three months’ time in Rome, primarily at the legendary studio Cinecittà, where Fellini had made his movies, as well as two locations in Spain. The pinnacle of my success, and of my father’s pride, had been reached. I had been cast in a movie directed by Terry Gilliam, in which Eric Idle, another former Monty Python member, would also perform. I witnessed in my father a pure, unmitigated elation, which was simultaneously exhilarating and daunting. When my mother got the phone call that I had got the part, I saw her cover her mouth in what looked like a mixture of shock, excitement and fear. He reminded me of the kind of disobedient, unregulated child I had avoided in school in order to keep out of trouble. The collective blood pressure in our house almost exploded over my getting the chance to meet Terry, let alone a chance to work with him. He was auditioning girls all over the world for the part of Sally Salt, the Baron’s trusty sidekick. In 1987, when I was eight and already a child actor, Monty Python member Terry Gilliam came to Toronto to do a screen test with John Neville for the title role in his new fantasy-comedy film, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. ![]() He reminded me of the kind of disobedient, unregulated child I avoided in school ![]()
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