Jeremy Boreing and the crew of the live-action adaptation of Stephen R. Lawhead’s The Pendragon Cycle novels shared a behind-the-scenes video of real-life Spanish bull leapers doing what they do best against a dozen Spanish bulls.
A bull leaper jumps over a bull behind-the-scenes on The Pendragon Cycle (2024), Bentkey
The bull leapers were brought on set in Italy to adapt the bull dance in Lawhead’s first novel in the series Talieisin.
In the novel, the bull dance begins with the male and female dancers entering the arena, having water poured over their heads and drinking out of a bowl of wine. From there “the dancers performed a series of intricate acrobatic figures, twisting and spinning as they flew over one another in high, graceful arcs.”
A young bull is then released into the arena and charges at the dancers. However, “the dancers spun away, leaving the confused animal standing alone in the center of the arena.”
That’s when two female dancers “took advantage of the animal’s confusion to vault across its back, while a male dancer grabbed its tail and tugged. The animal bellowed and whirled, but not before another pair of dancers leaped high over its back. This went on for some time, the dancers having fun with the young bull, warming to their art.”
Bull leapers jump over a bull behind-the-scenes of The Pendragon Cycle (2024), Bentkey
After the young bull flees the arena a giant black one is released and takes on the leader of the dancers. “But the dancer stood unafraid and as the bull closed on him, simply raised his foot and stepped onto the careening animal’s forehead, allowing the beast’s momentum and the toss of its head to propel him up and over the broad back. … Before the bull could charge again, two more dancers came running from either side to handspring across its flanks. The bull swung its head this way and that, but the dancers were already gone.”
Clearly, these stunts and those like them will be difficult to adapt. However, based on this behind-the-scenes footage it appears the production has managed it.
Executive Producer Dallas Sonnier detailed how they filmed some of the scenes for the bull dance, “We’ve got our Hungarian stunt team with our incredible action director Balázs Farkas at the helm, our lead actress Rose Reid, and finally real Spanish bull leapers. They jump over actual, dangerous wild bulls that will kill you in a second. They are not wearing wires. They are not wearing protective pads. These jumps are going to be 100% real.”
Series creator and Director Jeremy Boreing also shared how dangerous these stunts are, “These are not trained animals. In fact, you only get about 20 minutes in the ring with them, with each animal before it’s burned forever. After about 20 minutes the bulls start to learn the tricks. They’re very smart animals. That’s when things get particularly dangerous because the bull starts anticipating your moves.”
A bull on the set of The Pendragon Cycle (2024), Bentkey
Spanish bull master Luis Miguel Arranz Villareal commented on how he loved the idea of the set piece and it’s likely one of a kind, “When they told me about the project, I was in love. These things with the bulls is I think is the first and probably the last one.”
He later added, “This is something you never forget.”
Bull leapers prepare to leap a bull on the set of The Pendragon Cycle (2024), Bentkey
The official description for Lawhead’s The Pendragon Cycle states, “rawing heavily on Britain’s Celtic history, Lawhead paints a colourful and convincing picture of the Arthurian legend, set in a land that you will want to revisit again and again. Told from exciting and unexpected viewpoints, each chapter stands alone as a landmark of Historical Fantasy.”
It continues, “Start the tale in post-Roman occupation Britain, where we meet the mystical bard Taliesin, father to Myrddin Embries–the Merlin of legend. Follow through to the rise and fall of Arthur the King, and read the surprising conclusion to the series–AVALON. Set in modern-day Britain, this bold coda was considered too politically subversive to print in Britain on its immediate release.”
Taliesin (2008), Harper Voyager
What do you make of The Pendragon Cycle’s team efforts to accurately adapt the bull dance as described by Lawhead in the first book of The Pendragon Cycle series, Talieisin?
