The whole concept of fight scenes and love scenes might need to be rethought in the post-COVID-19 era of filmmaking, according to Warner Bros. Television – producers of the Arrow-verse shows, Riverdale, and more. In a closed-doors conference call between the company’s presidents and its various showrunners (as reported by Variety), ideas were shared about “a roadmap for our return” to filming that’s grounded in “medicine and science.”
‘We believe we’re going to need a plan for limited physical contact between actors,” studio co-President Susan Rovner reportedly said. “[And] intimate scenes may need to be reimagined or even reconceived.”
According to Variety, co-President Brett Paul said that stunts that are “hand-to-hand, face-to-face, requiring physical contact” for fight scenes would likely need to be removed, however stunts from six feet away “may still be OK.”
“Now we want to be really clear, no one is dictating that the Flash should now talk down bad guys from his bedroom via Zoom. That would be a terrible, terrible episode of The Flash,” Rovner is quoting as saying. “But we are saying there are going to be very real challenges ahead, and it is not business as usual.”
“Our focus is on making the most of what we can do, while respecting the whats and whys of what we can’t,” Paul reportedly added, noting that some WB TV employees have already contracted COVID-19. “And in our minds, one loss is simply too many, especially if we can prevent it, or help prevent it.”
Warner Bros. Television produces numerous show for CW, Netflix, DC Universe, HBO, HBO Max, and others, including The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Riverdale, Lucifer, Westworld, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Doom Patrol, Batwoman, Katy Keene, Stargirl, and Superman & Lois.