LondonNet’s Cinema and Film Guide

Mythic Vision: The Making of the Movie Eragon
Excerpt from the book:
Arya, Guardian of the Dragon Egg

"As with all the performers, Sienna Guillory immersed herself in the lore of Alagaesia and the backstory of her character, Arya. " The idea is that elves live for hundreds of years and are very much the guardians of the land," Guillory explained. "Arya represents the heritage of the egg and what it means to the people, the hope the egg has for everybody. Galbatorix has lived for so long that most of the county has forgotten where he came from, that he killed all the Dragon Riders and now wants complete power. So Arya's duty is to protect this last dragon egg."

Costume designer Kym Barrett helped the actress transform into Arya. It was an exciting experience for Guillory, who had spent years in the fashion industry and intuitively related to how the costume design could bring out the character's inner qualities. "Kym and I had the same ideas about Arya. I think practically, and if Arya has been living in her clothes and ridding with this egg for God knows how many weeks or months, she was not going to be spotless. So everything [about her outfit] is worn and soft, the handmade boots are spotted and speckled and aged. Kym is an extraordinary designer, the shapes and fabrics she uses, the exquisite way they move and fold."

Guillory's affinity for horses was one of the serendipitous discoveries that often happen on a production. "Sienna would hop on her horse and was galloping faster than half our stunt people," Godfrey recalled. "That's just one of those wonderful things when you cast somebody and you discover talents and you didn't know they had that play perfectly to the movie."

"I love horses and have ridden them my whole life," Guillory explained. "For me, its just as beautiful seeing a magnificent horse in a film as it is seeing a dragon. They had this horse for me, specifically for the rearing scenes, and they had sort of schooled him before I got on him."

The horse, however was too wild and dangerous for the actress to ride-at least, that was what everyone else thought. "[The horse trainers] wouldn't let me go on him because he was supposed to be difficult. He had a marvelous brain and character but [at the beginning] was an absolute pig to ride- everything you asked him to do, he'd do the opposite. And as soon as he did something you wanted him to do, he'd try to bolt off with you or buck you off afterward. And I just begged and begged to work him because I thought he'd be great in all the scenes even for the galloping, because he had this tremendous character. So I had four five sessions where I changed his bit and saddle, I massaged his legs and hosed him with cold water. I worked and worked and got him to understand I wasn't going to hurt him or ask him to anything he didn't want to do. And he turned out to be wonderful. And we had to do this shot with the helicopter and the horse guys were like, 'He's going to go mad, we should put a high gag on him and a big, heavy bit.' I said, 'Just let me ride him around for a bit and relax him and tell him it's fine.' And he was a kitten. I mean, he's such a show-off. A normal horse would see that helicopter and be like. 'Oh, what's that? It's going to eat me!' But he was as cool as a cucumber." "

Extract taken from Mythic Vision: the Making of Eragon by Mark Cotta Vaz. A Doubleday paperback, 2006. Trademark and copyright © Twentieth Century Fox Film corporation, 2006. Reprinted by permission of Random House Children's Books.