Fencing Lessons
Hello again! This is
Dean Collins from
The War at Home. This week's episode is called "A Bitter Pill to Swallow." My character decides to take up fencing to escape the influence of his father. This particular episode was probably my hardest week on the show. Before this episode began production, I received a call from our creator and executive producer,
Rob Lotterstein. He told me that he had pitched the idea of my character learning to fence to the Fox network and they thought it was great. He told me the basic story, in which my character develops an interest in fencing. I told him that it sounded like a lot of fun and I would love to do it, but then he mentioned that in order for me to look like a proper fencer, I would have to take a week and a half's worth of fencing lessons. This sounded like a fun experience and I was ready to take on the challenge.
Over the weekend, I went to the Warner Bros. Studios to begin my training with my fencing instructor, Anthony De Longis. The first lesson was two hours long and after this session ended I began to realize how hard this was going to be. Over the course of the next few days I received five hours of fencing lessons. Although it was really hard and exhausting, in the end it was a rewarding experience. If I'm ever walking down a dark alley way and some vagrant attacks me, I will whip out my fencing sword and use all the moves Anthony taught me. When we finally filmed the episode I was more than prepared to execute the required fencing moves. This week I also went to the movies with Michael and Kyle. We saw
Zodiac, and it was really good.
David Fincher is one of my favorite directors. I loved
Se7En and
Fight Club, so
Zodiac was really exciting to see. It was a really long movie, but it maintained my interest throughout. After the movie, Kyle, Michael and I all went to Sweet Lady Jane's and ate cake. They have some of the most amazing cakes in Los Angeles. I highly recommend it. So, be sure to watch
The War at Home this Sunday at 7:30 pm/ET so you can see me hit
Michael Rapaport with a big sword. Thanks for reading this blog, and I hope you enjoy the episode.
