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Sharpe's Peril
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"Yeah, the director, Tom Clegg,
says ‘stand here’, and I’m thinking ‘hang on there’s
some bloody semtex about to go off’ and he’ll say ‘you’ll
be alright’. It’s not even tested, you don’t rehearse
it...We’ve always been like that on Sharpe, just chuck ourselves
in. Daragh O'Malley (who plays Patrick Harper) will always say to me
before we start filming a stunt ‘God Bless’ and I’ll
say ‘you too’..." |
Quotation |
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Origin:
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"Interview - Sean Bean is Sharpe" from: www.sharpefilm.com/peril/the-cast/sean-bean/ --2008 -- rg/04.11.2008 |
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Sharpe's Peril
in England on TV:
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Adam, can we use these fotos? - Adam: "...Of course... just mention www.95thRifles.com - the only re-enactment regiment associated with 'Sharpe Film'..."
Lynn (Chief Executive and Treasurer of the 95th Rifles): "...I have been told ... that the Riflemen who attended (Chris Shaw, Tony Wilks, Steve Day, Dodge and Daniel Smith) did a magnificent job and were congratulated for their contribution to the evening by those involved with the film - both cast and crew. - but we would expect nothing less from 'The 95th'..."
Adam: "...Sean Bean and me representing the Armoury...."
Daragh O'Malley arrives, proudly protected
from the 95th Rifles....
Oooooh - Simmerson - how does he do it? Always coming back - and a beautiful lady in his arms! :-)
Sharpe's Peril is screened on English
Televison, ITV1, Part One: Sunday, 2. November 2008, 21:00 h, and Part
Two: Sunday, 9. November 2008, 21:00 h. Not to be missed - or, to give
Adam the last word: "...The screening
was brilliant.... you won't be dissapointed..."
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Sean Bean
and Adam from the 95thrifles.com, April 2008, India |
...Ah, we didn't think, this day would come - after all the infos that did fly around on different boards in the autumn of 2007. It seemed then, that due to financal reasons Picture Palace and Celtic Films wouldn't - or couldn't do another Sharpe Adventure. Much to the chagrin of fans worldwide.
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Hey, and at the same time Sharpe came out on DVD in Germany, the whole original series in a nicely done limited edition - which was sold out within 10 days (!) Signs? Signs... I think, Sharpe is becoming - or is already being - Cult.
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And we can need heroes like him - unconventional, always endangered in his rank, and life. In every episode opposed by a formidable enemy - and a beautiful woman never far away. And not to forget the "Chosen Men". The unit of Sharpshooters that so sadly diminish from episode to episode. Good, that at least Sgt Harper survives all the perils, the writers invented for the Riflemen. Now we are again in India, where also Sharpe's Challenge played. |
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I really liked in Sharpe's Challenge: Simmerson, the exotic surroundings, Daragh O'Malley as Harper, the cliffhanger in the middle of it and Toby Stephens in the role of Col William Dodd, an enemy par excellence for Sharpe and Harper, a former British soldier with a sharp intelligence and cold ruthlessness, who like Sharpe in the early episodes, despairs of the restrictions in a class system that won't give him a chance. |
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What I also liked were the little hints regarding getting older... Hell we all do... and isn't it good to see, that the old foxes know still all the tricks - and a few new ones? I can live with this Sharpe, who is definitely not anymore in his 30s, and it wouldn't matter for me at all, if Sharpe would still march when he is 60 - as long as the filmmakers allow him to grow older with some decency. One of the strongest points of the whole Sharpe Saga is it's authenticity. As long as the new episode handles that with care, why shouldn't it work now and also in the future?
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| The whole babyboomer generation, my generation, is now of Sharpes or actors Sean Beans and Daragh O'Malleys age. And no - I don't think we want "John Rambo" or "Rocky VIII" (or was it "IX"?), characters who can't go on in time and seem to be imprisoned forever in their high time from years and years past. It's nice to have a glorious past, but now is the present and it's good to be here, and it's even better to have a future. | ||||
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There is also something deeply satisfying in watching the older triumphing over the younger - outwitting and overwhelming him with exactly the advantages a few more years in life will give.
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Apart from that and coming back to Sharpe's Challenge, I found there only two things missing: 1) Where, please, was Sharpe's romance? Come on! Two beautiful women and only one nearly chaste kiss?? No, no, that is not believeable - or are we now even in Sharpe becoming so p.c., that he can't have a juicy love affair anymore? No, no, that will not do... 2) There remains in the end this one sorrow: Where are they, our Chosen Men? Tongue, Cooper, Perkins, Hagman and Harris, I must say it, we do miss you. Not only your highly individualistic, battered figures but also the perfect balance you gave to Sharpe. Fighting against his enemies, a rigid class system and his fate, Sharpe had on the other side his comrades, like him from the rank. He was their officer, yes, but it was always clear from the start, that their leader he was due to their mutual consence. And that gave Sharpe in the end this last edge that made his character unforgetable. And it's absence is perhaps what is felt in Sharpe's Challenge as making him a little bit tamer and less colourful than in the original series. |
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| ...And when in the end all is said and done, apart from all good and bad points, there remains actor Sean Bean with his amazing ability of becoming the character he is playing, and never more so than in Sharpe. So, may he live long and may he come out of all Perils, this is to him : hip hip hurrah - hip hip hurrah - and hip hip hurrah. | ||||
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more actual informations on the Site of the Sharpe Appreciation Society: www.southessex.co.uk |
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| Bildherkunft |
Background picture official PR-foto"Sharpes Challenge", 2006, from website www.sharpefilm.com and www.compleatseanbean.com
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update rg/24. Oktober 2008
---- upload rg/04. February 2008
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