Jim Caviezel: One time actually Kevin comes up to me and we were trying to get this scene down first time we shot it and he's like 'come on goys, you know, we've got to get this right. It's the last shot of the day and everything, you know, just keep it real, keep it real'. And so we started rolling, and there was one point where I did this lunge and it was supposed to come under his arm. I missed his arm slipped and caught him on his side. And Guy never said anything except the next day, I came up to him and I said, I know I got you pretty good. And he said, yeah, and he showed me. And he says, "No worries, mate" So he just had a hard time breathing for a couple of weeks.

Q: Kevin, as Jim mentioned, can you confirm that this was all for real and as hazardous [as Jim says] from your perspective?

Kevin Reynolds: Well it was. I mean, one of the things Jim didn't mention is that he's left-handed. In the picture he does all this fighting right-handed, which was doubly difficult. My criterion for the sword fights was I wanted them to feel real, 'cos I hate these sword pictures where yousee guys playing swords up here or down here [moves his hands up and down]. It doesn't look like real sword fighting. I've always felt that sword fights of old must have really looked like, it's probably closer to like Olympic fencing, theres a lot of dancing on toes and suddenly strikes, you can barely see. So the challenge was, how do we make it look real like there's a real sense of jeopardy here, but at the same time keep it safe. And the only way to do that is to know what the move of the other guy is, but not to show that anticipation. So working with Bill Hobbs, you know, we planned it out a lot, particularly the first fight you see in the Mondego mansion. The fight at the end of the picture was very different, that's why there are two styles were very different because we had such a short rehearsal period, and we came back to re-shoot the ending, we didn't have time to learn the whole thing, so we had to break it down really into like five or ten second segments, and get one piece and learn that, and then shoot the next and the next and the next. So the style of the two fights are extremely different.

Q: Why couldn't he have been left-handed? Would it have mattered if you'd [Jim] been left-handed [in the film]?

Jim Caviezel: Well, Guy was right-handed it's kind of like a boxer. You get used to fighting a guy who jabs with his right, you don't really switch that around. But you know, if that ever happened, and I got wounded so bad on my right I could just switch.

Q: Jim and Kevin, this film reminded me of films I'd seen with my father as a child. Do you think this is a return to the old-fashioned adventure movie as opposed to the blood soaked action movie we've become used to?

Kevin Reynolds: I just think the business is cyclical, and you know, you go through periods where a certain type of picture appeals to an audience and right now we're in a period where, it seems anyway, that this kind of picture is what people want to go and see. And that's why they're making a lot of them, and undoubtedly within a few years people will tire of this, and they'll want to see contemporary comedies or whatever. That's why there's a re-make every eight to ten years, whatever it is. Comes back into fashion again.

Q: Thoughts on that, Jim.

Jim Caviezel: I think good movies are always in. what usually happens is I would see a film like this and I think a lot of studios would start saying these kind of movies are in and they start making them. But good films are always in. When Dances with wolves or Unforgiven came out, those were great westerns then a bunch of Westerns were made. And then they'd say, well, they're not in to them anymore. I think the very heart of a film is if it's great, people will come and see it, no matter if it's a western, action film or what.

Q: Dagmara, it's been said they don't make them like they used to. Is this very different to the material that you've been offered before? And are you aware of any kind of change in terms of the material [scripts] that's filtering through?

Dagmara Dominczyk: I'm not at that stage in my career where things are offered. You know, I have to work for the things that I want. It's very hard for me to pick - choose the things I want, especially being a young actress, you know - in Hollywood where there's kind of stereotypical roles for women in the beginning of their careers. You know, it's like do a blockbuster and make money, and then you can get the really good scripts. And you can go that round, or you can say, well, I don't want to do a blockbuster, I want to wait - do smaller things in the meanwhile, and wait till - you know, in Hollywood it's like you work if you're a name, but how do you get to be a name? By working. And so where do you slip in? And you slip in with the help of people like Kevin and the producers at Touchstone that will risk and say, this is a young talent, and she's unknown, but she can do this role, so why not? And those are the people that you hope to meet and you hope to work with, and those are the people that are really instrumental in forging your career early on. 'Cos there's a lot of temptation to do a lot of, you know, movies that your heart isn't in, but it's just to get money.

Q: As an actress you are aware of the scripts floating around so are you aware of other period pieces, or is this a one off as far as you are concerned?

Dagmara Dominczyk: Right now? No - I love, you know I was trained in theatre, so while I - most of the things that you did was classical, you know - Shakespeare, Molière and Chekhov. Those are the things that I grew up with, and the things that I loved. I loved the fact that they're historical and they have intricate plots, but they don't sacrifice their characters, and yet the characters feel the things that we feel today. So that's why they're classic.

So I'm always keeping my eye out for a period piece, you now. And the only reason I would stay away from period pieces is that sometimes the women are painted in a very stereotypical weakling kind of wall flower way, and that's something that I - I don't want to do. I want to be correct in portraying a woman of her time - I didn't want to make Mercedes a feminist, because she was - you know, aware of another existence. But I do want to show strength in the woman I play, and a journey of some sort. And I think this journey that Mercedes goes on runs the gamut.

Q: There was a very cheerful disregard of anything resembling a French accent. The cast seem to have very pronounced English accents. Because the French are very proud of their literary classics, how do you think it will play over there?

Kevin Reynolds: Well, the accent thing is really - it's always difficult. I mean, whenever I do a feature we always have an accent problem. Even though, The Count was actually a French project, made for an American audience, so you can't have characters speaking in French. And it was either about having him speak in a false French accent or assuming a European accent for an American audience. That's what we chose to do, because it was the sort of accent where, if we could draw from a great deal of British actors, and it's also easier for American actors to adopt an accent which is more mid-Atlantic or British, somehow. And it passes for the audience. I mean, Jim's access, I guess you could call it mid-Atlantic. That's what we tried to go for so it doesn't really stick out, but somehow, subconsciously, the way everyone was speaking fels of the period somehow. I'm sure that this problem works less so for a British audience, but for an American audience you get away with it .