MOVIE NEWS – Henry Cavill went through an emotional crisis during one of the most cerebral scenes in The Witcher…

 

 

There’s a lot about The Witcher that’s hard to explain to those who haven’t seen it. For one thing, the complex, labyrinthine mythology of the series, involves portals, alternate worlds and the politics between humans, elves and other non-human beings. But even harder to explain is how funny The Witcher can be when it wants to be

For a high fantasy series starring the ever-stoic-looking Henry Cavill as the legendary monster hunter Geralt of Rivera, The Witcher still finds time to occasionally throw in gags that are more reminiscent of a Dungeons & Dragons parody than Game of Thrones.

One of the most memorable comic scenes in the series happened in the first season. Geralt was confronted by a mythical aquatic creature called Selkiemore. Viewers don’t actually see the Selkiemore, but we do hear a man talking about it in a local pub. The man is covered in blood and filth and begins to break down as he speaks, overcome with emotion after witnessing the Witcher being swallowed alive by the monster before his eyes. Just then, Geralt walks into the pub, alive but looking like he’s been bathed in the monster’s guts. Geralt then sits down for a stiff drink, as emotionless as ever, while the locals around him sing “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher” as he remains in stinking monster piss.

 

The Witcher’s Selkiemore scene was challenging to film due to an emergency

 

The Selkiemore scene is memorable not only for the audience, but for Cavill as well – though not for the reasons you might expect. At WitcherCon 2021, the actor spoke about an unfortunate accident that left him worried about his American Akita dog Kal during the slimy shoot. “That day Kal ran out of my trailer,” he recalled in a conversation with Josh Horowitz. “And there [were] these metal stairs outside the trailer.” The stairs were apparently designed with holes to prevent rain from collecting on them, but instead of preventing the slipping hazard, Kal ended up injured.

“One of Kal’s claws got caught in it when he jumped off, and all I heard was that he had lifted me up,” Cavill recalled at WitcherCon. “And I was like, ‘Oh, he landed badly on his shoulder or something’.” It turned out the injury was much more severe; the poor creature had actually “torn his claws off a bit”. Cavill found this out as he walked up to Kal and noticed the pup “looking shy and holding his paws up”, and was simultaneously called into the shoot. Luckily, his longtime assistant, Leah Gyimah, was able to help get Kal to the vet.

But when it became clear that the Akita would have to be put under anaesthesia to remove the damaged nail, the vets warned Cavill that some dogs don’t wake up from surgery.

 

Kal survived – and has a new friend

 

Needless to say, Kal eventually recovered, but the Selkiemore scene was apparently filmed in the midst of a high-stress emergency. So Cavill was thinking of his poor puppy during that silly, disgusting scene. As Cavill recalled:

“I get a phone call while they’re getting messed up, and Leah says, ‘Okay, the vet says he’s going to be okay. They’re just going to remove the nail. And they have to put him down. And the vet just gave me a warning and said, look, the dogs that are being put to sleep might not wake up”.

Cavill describes that day on set as a “particularly difficult moment” and notes that he “sat there thinking that I would never see my dog again”. To make matters even stranger, he was slathered with yoghurt and fruit, painted to look like offal and other viscera, and eventually turned steaming from the heat of the shooting lights during the “ice cold” day. “And here I am on set, and I’d rather be doing this,” the actor recalled at WitcherCon. Luckily, Kal’s surgery went well, and the dog has been a regular guest on Cavill’s Instagram ever since.

The actor even got a tiny French bulldog named Baggins, who he posted a picture of alongside Kal in July.

When The Witcher returns with season 4, Liam Hemsworth will take over the role first embodied by Cavill. The actor said goodbye to the character this summer in a strangely anticlimactic final episode. Fans will undoubtedly miss the man who made Geralt both a larger-than-life hero and a surprisingly comic figure. Hopefully, he’ll be able to spend more time with the puppies these days.

Source: TVProfil.com