Dan Laustsen - Running Free (1999) |
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Running Free, 1999Hoofbeats was the pre-release title.The StoryIn 1914, the foal Lucky is born aboard a ship bound for Namibia - his mother is being shipped there from Germany to work in the copper mines.During the disembarking - the horses swim from the ship to the coast - Lucky becomes separated from his mother. Fortunately, an orphan stableboy named Richard takes care of him, and arranges for Lucky to live in the stables of the mine boss' thoroughbreds. 
Caesar, the black stallion, does not like Lucky - particularly when Lucky strikes up a
friendship with Beauty, Caesar's daughter.One day Lucky's mother is close by and hears Lucky's voice, and runs to him in the corral. It does not please Caesar to see a common horse in his corral, so he attacks her, and she later dies from her injuries. One day, Richard takes Lucky for a romp in the desert outside town. They meet a bush-girl who teaches them about finding water, and she ties a ring in Lucky's mane. While in the desert, Richards sees planes flying towards the town to attack it - World War I has spread to Africa. He rushes back to town - it's being evacuated, and Richard is forced to leave without Lucky, who is alone again. Lucky goes into the desert and finds the mythical lake. Later, he returns for the herd of abandoned horses in the town, vanquishes Caesar and becomes the leader of the herd - with Beauty at his side. Years later, a man in a small airplane lands near the lake. It's Richard who has come back to see if he can find Lucky. He recognises Lucky because of the ring in his mane. And that might be the explanation for the herd of wild horses roaming the red sand dunes of the Namibian Desert. Written by Jean-Jaques Annaud (The Bear) and Jeanne Rosenberg (Black Beauty). Annaud also produced the movie. Annaud is returning to Namibia to film "Beyond Borders", a love story starring Angelina Jolie, with Namibia standing in for Ethiopia. More details about his movies on IMDB . Behind the Camera"Laustsen is particularly attracted to and challenged by working under extreme conditions, as when he filmed "Heart of Light" with Jacob Groenlykke in Greenland and "Running Free" in Namibia."Dan Laustsen: "In the desert, during the day a lot is changing. In the morning it's just low, low sunrise, and after an hour and a half it's standing 90 degrees over the horizon. It's really rough." "In the morning we had fog, and it was so cold some days. In the middle of the day, it was so hot you weren't able to breathe." 
Running Free had three film units: First Unit - DP Dan Laustsen Second Unit - DP Allen Smith Wildlife Unit - DP Roger Vernon. The Wildlife Unit consisted of Roger Vernon, director of photography and naturalist and conservationist Tommy Hall. They put 14,000 kilometers on a Land Rover gathering footage across the desert. Often gone for weeks at a time, the unit's task was to go out into the desert and try and capture the animals in their natural environment, as well as the beauty of Namibia. Five different foals were used to portray Lucky, and 5 horses portrayed him as a colt and an adult. Chase Moore's favorite was Nisha (young Lucky), which he got to name himself. Other horses used for Lucky as a colt include Socks (a Chestnut Boer Perd), Aladdin (a Welsh cross Arabian), Rex (a part-bred Arabian) and Jibber Jabber (a part-bred American Saddler). A single adult horse, Macho (a part-bred American Saddler), delivers the majestic performance of Lucky as a 10-year-old stallion. Ceasar the imposing black stallion bore the very un-impressive name Fat Albert! Head animal trainer Sled Reynolds regards "Running Free" as the most difficult horse movie ever made: "When it got down to the emotion and the acting of these animals, we pulled every trick in the book .... and a few new ones too. This film allowed us to be inventive - to do a lot of things we've always wanted to do. Locations: Filmed in a constructed mining town at the Roessing mountain outside Walvis Bay. The ActorsChase Moore plays Richard, the orphaned stableboy.Born in Cape Town, South Africa. According to IMDB, "Running Free" is the only movie he's ever made. 
Jan Decleir
plays Boss Man. From Belgium.More details about his movies on IMDB. Maria Geelbooi plays !Xika (Nyka), the Bush girl. According to IMDB, "Running Free" is the only movie she's ever made. Arie Verveen plays adult Richard. More details about his movies on IMDB. Lukas Haas narrates the story as Lucky's voice. More details about his movies on IMDB. The DirectorSergei Bodrov Born in Russia.More details about his movies on IMDB. "When this script was first proposed to me, I really loved it. I am always looking for universal stories, and I wanted to shoot a movie in Africa". "When you're shooting a movie in Namibia, it's unknown, new territory. But it was absolutely the right place for our movie." "We used this wonderful contry. We shot when it was really hot; we shot in the morning, night, sunset, dusk. It's beautiful contry. We just didn't expect Africa to be so cold!" "To work with the horses, you need a ot of patience and a lot of luck. Sometimes it took us a day to get 15 seconds of action. But we lliked it. What I saw in our dailies was really incredible material. It was interesting to make a movie without big movie stars. In this movie, nobody asked which horse will open the movie." "We found Chase in South Africa. He's so natural and so wonderful. He was perfect with the horses. I just love him." Things to buy ....
The DVDSoundtrack album on Varèse Sarabande, 2000 'Varèse VSD-6152 Music by Nicola Piovani. "The Hunt" written by Sikiru Adepoju, Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Airto Moreira, Babatunde Olatunji and T.H. Vinayakram. "Dance of the Hunter" written by Sikiru Adepoju, Airto Moreira, Babatunde Olatunji, Flora Purim and T.H. Vinayakram. Both performed by Mickey Hart / Planet Drum Reviews:"Horse sense"Awful narration almost ruins the ghostly, gorgeous Running Free The moody, feverish images that fill Running Free are so exquisite, they almost make up for the film's disastrous auditory misstep: the decision to cast Lukas Haas as the voice of Lucky, the chestnut foal that narrates this unusual adventure story." "In Danish cinematographer Dan Laustsen, Bodrov has found an ideal collaborator. Winner of three Danish Academy Awards, Laustsen reveals an eye not only for color and texture but also for rhythm and emotion. The barge gliding down the fog-enshrouded river has a haunted, melancholy beauty that touches the soul. A shot of a locomotive steaming across the endless desert, silhouetted against a crimson sky, takes the breath away." Jean Oppenheimer, Dallas Observer, june 1, 2000 Read more Running Free reviews at Rotten Tomatoes |