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His assignment: going over all the chess moves you see onscreen to confirm they made sense.
Scott went more or less with what Walter had written in the novel in the script, Pandolfini said.
So I read through all that and made sure the moves actually matched the scenarios that were going on.
In fact, many more positions were created beyond the essentials, because you want to have the ambience.
Other players, even actors off camera, are doing things that are logical.
As many as 350 total positions were brought on, and that wasnt just myself.
Youll notice Bobby Fischer is not mentioned, Pandolfini said.
Walter didnt want to mention him.
Benny is kind of like him, but a little sexier.
Bobby wouldve been a rival [for Beth] that mightve thrown it off in a way.
He worked closely with the actors before and during filming on how to best imitate actual professional chess mannerisms.
Anya was quite adept at it.
She picked up all kinds of nuances.
Which was, obviously, all the films that are already out there.
He didnt want it to be like anything else.
In some, the focus stays on the competitors faces, or on the time elapsing on the clock.
In others, the focus is on the movement on the pieces over the board.
Youre running, running, running, and then youre stopping to digest and take it in.
They have their metrics that say, hey, you really cant go past an hour.
Preferably, you want to go under an hour.
Thats when you stop playing and come back the next day and you cheat.
Both sides, Pandolfini said.
We had to verify the game had an adjourning point.
Kasparov found one that was reasonable.
Then he came up with some moves that were intriguing and different and had real brilliance to them.
It makes for a very dramatic scene.
