Page "Paul Scofield" Paragraph 9

According to the DVD extras documentary for the movie The Shooting Party ( 1985 ), in the very first shot of the very first day of filming, all the male lead actors, including Paul Scofield who was playing Sir Randolph Nettleby, were to come into shot on a horse-drawn shooting brake driven by the well-known film horse-master George Mossman.

However as they turned the first corner, the plank that Mossman was standing on broke in two and Mossman was hurled forward and down falling between the sets of wheels, taking the reins with him.

He was struck by a horse's hoof and concussed.

The horses then shied and broke into a gallop.

Rupert Frazer admitted that he was the first to jump off, landing safely, but bruised.

Now out of control, the horses turned to the right when confronted by a stone wall causing the shooting brake to roll completely, catapulting the actors into a pile of scaffolding that had been stacked next to the wall.

Robert Hardy stood up and realised to his amazement that he was unhurt.

He looked across to see Edward Fox stand up, " turn completely green and collapse in a heap ".

He had broken 5 ribs and his shoulder-blade.

He then noticed that Paul Scofield was lying very still on the ground " and I saw that his shin-bone was sticking out through his trousers ".

As the film takes place in October during the partridge-shooting season, the filmmakers had to make a choice whether to delay filming for a year or re-cast.

Fortunately James Mason had just finished filming Doctor Fischer of Geneva for the BBC and the schedule was changed to allow him to take over the part of Sir Randolph Nettleby six weeks later.