Lord of the Rings' fight styles designer knocks out Tufts

When you think "Barnum 008," you probably don't think "epic battle scene." At 7:30 p.m. on Monday night, however, the biology lecture room was transformed -- at least in the mind of Fight Styles Designer Tony Wolf -- into just that.

"I'd set up a cowboy-style brawl, starting at the top of the steps, followed by a roll down the stairwell," Wolf said, demonstrating that specific environments and settings -- yes, even Barnum 008 -- can infuse fight scenes with unique character. "Then some back-and-forth, using the chair and the table, maybe swinging the lectern as a weapon."

At Monday's lecture and question and answer session Wolf, who designed fight scenes for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and for numerous other films and theatrical productions, addressed an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 60 students.

Throughout the event, which was sponsored by Tufts' Department of Drama and Dance and the Tufts Lecture Series, Wolf shared information about his artistic development, insights into his profession, and anecdotes -- often humorous ones -- about his experiences.

A native New Zealander, Wolf was drawn toward his vocation at a very young age. An avid fan of superhero comics as a child, Wolf sent away for a "Superpowers Made Simple" kit that offered -- among other things -- "invisibility goggles".

The young Wolf was met very quickly with disillusionment, however, when the kit never arrived in the mail. "I learned the lesson... that becoming a superhero wouldn't come through the mail," Wolf said. "I realized that I had to do it myself."

In his quest to become a superhero in his own right, Wolf studied martial arts, dance, fencing, and wrestling. At one point, the petite Wolf said he "was New Zealand's smallest professional wrestler." It was in designing, coordinating, and teaching fighting styles, however, that he found his calling.

According to Wolf, growing up in New Zealand, a country with only four million citizens, was both a benefit and a detriment to his ambitions. New Zealand's small size and isolation enabled Wolf "to segue right into the [theater and film] business -- if you were talented enough to be working in the theater in New Zealand, the film roles would come your way."

This isolation spurred Wolf to independently develop a system for choreographing and teaching fight styles. "By force of circumstance, I developed my own system, based on Bruce Lee's philosophy of 'Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is your own,'" Wolf said.

Wolf's system, titled the "Reaction Course," views fight choreography as "physical theater" rather than simply a sequence of disparate moves strung together. At the time that he introduced this concept, it was considered very radical by the industry.

"Previously, specific styles were taught as a series of techniques, in a sort of classroom style," Wolf said. According to Wolf, that method -- while valuable -- can translate into stiltedness on screen and "lead to laziness and [seem] generic in terms of action."

"If a fight scene is purely a demonstration of a style, the actors will look like two mannequins," Wolf said. By contrast, Wolf said, the Reaction Course method seeks to create unique, original action by "beginning with something basic and universal and then building on that based on the character's... story."

"As I'm working with groups of actors, their physical strengths and weaknesses are incorporated into the fight scene," Wolf said.

Throughout his career, Wolf has taught and applied the Reaction Course throughout the entire industry, working on ballets, operas, TV series, and feature films. His most well-known work, however, was done between 1997 and 2000 on director Peter Jackson's Rings trilogy.

When Wolf, who had worked with Jackson previously on the movie Braindead, heard that Jackson was taking on the trilogy, he contacted the director, and was given the title of "Cultural Fighting Styles Director" on the film.

His role was to create different culturally based fighting styles for each of the distinct races of the world of Tolkien's Rings. To accomplish this, Wolf drew on his past television and theater experience in the fantasy genre. He also looked to Tolkien's books, "though they weren't too specific."

Through synergy with the other creative departments and looking at sketches, models, and costumes, Wolf sought to determine what he termed "the central aesthetic" of each race of characters in the film.

Wolf described his development of the Orcs' fighting style to illustrate this process. "The Orcs are these insane, cannibalistic, animalistic creatures, so it wouldn't make sense for them to have a uniform fighting style," Wolf said. "They react like baboons or hyenas -- they're not trained, but they have strong survival instincts."

In addition to the Orcs (which he split into three differently nuanced styles of aggression), Wolf also developed unique fighting styles for the movies' elves, goblins, Rohanians, Gondorians, and ring-wraiths. For legal reasons, however (the third installment of the trilogy has not yet been released), Wolf was not able to discuss his Rings experience in greater depth.

There's a great deal that I can't talk about," Wolf apologized. "We all had to sign legal documents." In response to one audience member's question, however, he admitted, "Yes, I met Orlando Bloom -- I can say that because it's already on record."

The students attending the event, though disappointed not to hear more Rings details, were impressed by Wolf's vast experience, willingness to answer questions, and sense of humor.

"He was really funny," sophomore Adrienne Poon said. "And I didn't realize how much variety there was in being a fight styles designer -- that you can go from designing fight scenes for an opera to a fantasy movie and back again."

"[Wolf's] insight on different cultural styles was fascinating to hear," sophomore Dave Kramer said

Freshman Nick Jandl concurred: "[Wolf] really opened my eyes to a very little-known field of work in movies," he said.