Some of the things I found interesting in this 60-minute behind-the-scenes "documentary" about the making of the film, "The New World."
They built the fort and village from scratch, using the wood and trees from the area: a monumental task. Built the houses as they would have built them 400 years ago.
People really had to learn how to walk and stalk like the Indians back then. No easy feat, physically.
It took eight months to find the right woman to play Pocahantas. They went all over the world looking and she was right there in Los Angeles all the time.
The actors playing the Algonquin tribesmen from Virginia were Indians from all over the U.S. and it wasn't easy for these Native Americans to have to do things they never would do in real life. For example, the Algonquin people shaved half of their head so the long hair wouldn't get in th way of their arrow-smith prowess. In some tribes in which these actors belonged, shaving your head in this manner was only done when a close relative died, so it took "a lot of soul searching" for them to do look this way in the film.
The most challenging scenes to shoot were the boat scenes. Getting three ships positioned properly in a narrow river, and getting all the support ships out the way" is easier said that done.
The heat, humidity and rain shooting in the summer in Virginia was tough, too. Cameras would constantly fog up, for example. The rainfall in the six months they shot was one of the highest in Virginia's history, it was said. Colin Farrell, who played John Smith, was amazing, having to rehearse for hours in that heat with almost a full suit of armor on his body. The actors who played the colonists said they couldn't believe how brave those men were to come into a totally new world and have the hardships they had to endure as settlers. This documentary made me appreciate them, too, and the actors for the long hard work these people do under sometimes-very adverse conditions.
Note: Just about everyone on this film crew was interviewed at one time or another, but director Terrence Malick was never shown or heard from on screen.
