Antwerp, Belgium

Crazy first days in Antwerp, Belgium - figuring everything out. Jet lag was no big deal. Flew into Brussels and drove my own rental car about 30 minutes to Antwerp while the rest of the crew went to scout a site for a shoot two days away. GPS navigation on the iPad is the only way to survive over here. Skinny streets and one way everywhere. Drove directly to the hotel winding through the city with no worries.

First day of shooting was in this cool underground restaurant - a converted underground sewer system from 500 years ago. We ate lunch there later - haha. This was an early morning shoot, very cold morning - started around 5:30. The crew is getting the scene set up here. It depicts a part of the process Tyndale used to smuggle translated bible documents from one place to another. He would have helpers role the documents around a stick, wrap it in a cloth and stuff it into a sack of grain for transportation. This was set in a warehouse in England. So we just shot in the corner of one of these old windowless walls of the restaurant.

The next scene was right across the street, (one car width street) above a 12th century monastery in an anxient building converted or remodeled as a home. Very very cool place. So the actors are packing the illegal translated bible documents into the sacks of grain - set in another part of England. This scene was shot in the master bedroom of the home - camera set up on a track system next to the bed.

The images posted to the blog will not likely include anything I intend to use in the book - for a number of reasons, mostly because I need to spend a good amount of time tweeking and editing before throwing them out there. So you won't see anything here that I consider to be my best stuff. I think the blog images will mostly be shots taken during setup that may include equipment or crew but convey the atmosphere of the scene.


After lunch in the sewer (very good) we headed across town to another location for the scene depicting Tyndale's arrest.







Unfortunately, one of the cast members never showed and I was abducted as substitute constable guy (the outfit wouldn't fit anyone else). It was fun and easy enough (no lines) but kept me from getting all the shots I wanted. What I shot, while in costume, will work but I would have liked to have more to choose from.







The following day was at the University of Leuven in the near-by town of Leuven where we shot 4 or 5 scenes with some 40 extras acting mostly as angry rioting peasants. Costuming is a big job. This photo is the street preacher scene where our preacher (Antwerp Ward Bishopric first counselor) is talking about how the people need an english bible they can read and understand.

Sunday was easy and brought needed relaxation. I took piles of photos of the city. This is Antwerp town center at dusk. Cathedral and many buildings here were here in the 16th century when William Tyndale lived here - photographed the home he lived in. Weird how old things are here.







Monday we shot in a museum in the city center which included a Printing shop used on occasion by Tyndale to print pamphlets and other literature. This is a central courtyard in the museum building - 15th century construction.



















Tyndale and associate working on translation. Can't remember the associate character name but the actor could be Gene Wilder's brother or something - looks just like him. Very fun scene to shoot.