Left: Rachel Bown-Williams, right: Ruth Cooper-Brown
Ruth Cooper-Brown and Rachel Bown-Williams are the founders of RC-Annie, the UK’s leading dramatic violence company, specialising in training, fight direction and intimacy direction for stage and screen. They hire out guns and swords (not to just anyone!) They are also purveyors of fake blood; thick or thin, “splat or spurt”, depending on your needs.
When creating a fight, Ruth and Rachel like it to look real and messy and painful, and in our conversation we talk about good and bad fight scenes, and why so many films show great unarmed combat, but are absolutely terrible as soon as the actor picks up a weapon. We also talk about sex, or rather what intimacy direction is for, and the difference between the ways sex and violence are portrayed on screen.
Here’s a showreel of some of the fights RC-Annie have directed:
For more on intimacy direction, you can also listen to episode 9 with Siobhan Richardson.
RC-Annie’s website: https://www.rc-annie.com/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqBl-eaYxK0KN5b_j_RZ8Aw