"...every fine fisherman has a few fancy stunts that work for him and for almost no one else." - Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

The Shadow Cast. (1) Ready to cast. (2) Make a Galway "backcast," (3) turn to your casting arm and make a Pendulum Cast, (4) add a Climbing Hook to the end of the Pendulum. After the Climbing Hook, turn your arm again and move to step 1. Repeat until the rainbows rise....

Before Robert Redford's 1992 film adaptation of A River Runs Through It was released, only those who had read Norman Maclean’s novella understood the mechanics and meanings of "shadow casting."

Paul [Norman's brother] "cast hard and low upstream, skimming the water with his fly but never letting it touch. Then he would pivot, reverse his line in a great oval above his head, and drive his line low and hard downstream, again skimming the water with his fly."

Such was Norman’s description of the mechanics of shadow casting, Paul’s signature technique. Norman used the literary aspects of the cast to amplify and express the beauty and identity of his beloved brother. As he remembered Paul cast, Norman conjured up such descriptions as "a halo," "candlelight flickering" and "images...disappearing into the rising vapors."

Translating Paul's poetic Shadow Cast to film was a process that began in a Los Angeles city park (by John Dietsch, the film's fly-fishing production coordinator) and ended (by committee) with the call of "action" on the banks of Montana's Gallatin river. The final cast employed three different real-world casting techniques: the Galway Cast, the Pendulum Cast and the Climbing Hook.

The film-ready Shadow Cast required the line to be held aloft for an extended period. In addition, the forward portion of the cast was meant to rotate and then hang in the air. As a result, it did not really assist much in loading the rod for another backcast. The Galway Cast (also called the Reverse Cast) answered the distance/loading problem, allowing for a strong forward stroke in both casting directions without double hauling.

The next element involved skimming the line low over the water’s surface with a Pendulum Cast. This low-angle portion of the Shadow Cast was assisted by a large boulder in the river that served as the casting platform. In addition, the elevation provided by the boulder allowed for easy rotation of the cast to form a better "halo." The close-up shots of Brad Pitt (playing Paul) show the pendulum being made with a strong, forehand-style delivery. In the long shot of me finishing the cast, the pendulum becomes more of a broad, sideways sweep of the arm, which is a fairly stressful casting maneouver. When demonstrating and teaching the Shadow Cast, I prefer to use the stronger forehand-style pendulum that allows for a great deal of controlled leeway in the pathway of the rod-tip.

The last element of the Shadow Cast was a Climbing Hook (cast). It was tacked onto the end of the Pendulum Cast and gave the line some extra loft. That loft also provided more time in which to make a decent Galway-style back cast. With the forehand style pendulum discussed in the previous section, it is possible to have loft that varies from none to nearly vertical.

For me, performing the Shadow Cast in the film was both a fulfilling and a poignant moment. Like Norman, much of my familial interaction and youthful development had been interwoven with fish, flies and water. Sadly, Norman had passed on before the filming had ever begun and I would never get a chance to ask him if he felt that those of us involved had done his beloved brother justice. I can only hope that his answer would have been, "It was beautiful."

For more on the film's production, see A River Runs Through It-Bringing a Classic to the Screen (Richard Friedenburg. 1992, Clark City Press), Shadowcasting-An Introduction to the Art of Flyfishing (John Dietsch and Gary Hubbel. 1999, Clinetop Press) and Shadow Casting: The Making of A River Runs Through It (Montana State University). Quotes from A River Runs Through It and Other Stories (Norman Maclean. 1976, University of Chicago Press).

MORE ABOUT FLY CASTING IN "RIVER"

There are five key casting/fishing scenes throughout A River Runs Through It (plus ancillary scenes and the closing montage). In addition to the principle actors (all of whom could fly cast), John Dietsch, Jerry Siem and I appear as on-screen fly-casting/fishing doubles at various points during those five scenes. While there is far more "back-story" to those scenes than I will discuss here, what follows should still give you a good idea of what you are seeing when you watch the film. The scenes are listed in chronological order:

Breaking Free: Here is where Paul really becomes his own caster, moving away from his father's teachings. In this scene, the three principle actors (Brad Pitt (Paul), Craig Sheffer (Norman) and Tom Skerritt (the Reverend)) all cast at once, each with their own unique style. Paul, however, is on his way to becoming an artist with a fly rod. As he wades upstream, away from his family, he begins to stretch his casting out, reaching beyond anything that his brother or father might have thought possible. The casting is long, smooth, and powerful — and it is done by Brad's double for the scene, Jerry Siem. Jerry's seemingly effortless casting helps to create a sense of Paul's journey toward art and grace.

Roll Casting: This is the scene where Norman returns from Dartmouth and the two Maclean brothers decide to go fishing. Shortly after they arrive at a "good hole," Paul is into a fish. The quick cut-away shot is a silhouette of me doing some furious reeling upstream of a big boulder. What you don't see is John Dietsch and couple of other members of the "fish crew" hiding behind the boulder, assisting with "trout wrangling." Norman then begins to roll cast, but he is, as Paul notes, "rusty." Paul suggests that his brother, "Cast [his] line into the current," in order to give him "a better base, add some distance." Norman does not exactly appreciate the "encouragment," but once Paul goes for a walk upstream, Norman gives it a shot. Norman's first roll cast here is a "warm-up," and my arms do the doubling during the cast. Satisfied with the results, Norman takes a look around and spots a lee behind a mid-stream rock. As he prepares to cast, Jerry's arms come in, and then all of Jerry (from the back) steps up to make two serious roll casts across the river. Norman may have been away from fly fishing for a while, but he certainly remembered how to cast again in a hurry! (as the scene progresses, see if you can spot the differences between arms, reels and the way the rod is gripped).

Shadow Casting: This has already been discussed in-depth above, and it is the scene immediately following Roll Casting. When Norman sees his brother on the rock, he realizes that in his absence, Paul has become an "artist."

Here's a little piece of movie trivia for you before we get to the next fishing section. In the "speakeasy" scene (at approximately 50:38 into the film), Jerry Siem has a cameo as a gambler who exchanges a "look" with Paul from across the bar. I have always thought that Jerry was perfect for the part, and that his little smirk at Paul spoke volumes about their past (and potentially future?) interactions.

Bunyan Bug: This is a long scene with the Reverend and the two brothers, but there is only one brief section — where Paul first crosses the river — where a double (me) was used (and only for wading). This is, however, where Norman out-fishes Paul by matching the hatch with a "Bunyan Bug Stonefly Number Two," and where he tells Paul that he is going to marry Jesse.

Final Fish: Also known as the "Big Swim" or "When John Almost Drowned for the Camera." The footage for this scene, which is continuation from "Bunyan Bug," was actually shot at two different times — August of 1991 and March of 1992 — and used two different doubles. The scene really gets going when Paul (Brad) wades out into the river (in August), having spotted a perfect eddy on the far side of a raging rapids. As Paul casts, the film becomes a blend of Brad's own casting, images of line loops (some shot elsewhere), and a brief clip showing my arm from the Roll Casting scene. The individual elements become apparent when going frame-by-frame, but it all works well in the dramatic build of the movie proper. Once the huge rainbow takes the fly, Paul has to follow it down the rapids. The next minute or so sees a mix of Brad, John and myself. The first part of that mix shows Paul struggling against the fish and the river. The rod bends this way and that, the reels screams and the figure of Paul contorts as he tries to stay in control. A number of the close-up shots (that are not of Brad) were actually filmed in March, using a skeleton crew and one very frozen double (me). If you look carefully, you can see a slight lighting change on the March clips. I have never been as cold in my life as I was during that shoot, but I didn't have to drown for the camera; that was John's duty. Skipping forward in the scene, but back in time to August, Brad took his plunge through the rapids, followed by John's disappearing act — a full-on "fly-fishing stunt." To get the final footage, John took some pretty good rides down the chute, ending up upside-down and totally underwater at one point. Despite a few unwanted gulps of river and a temporarily lost rod, John got it to all work out well in the end (John talks much more about this scene — and others — in his book, Shadowcasting - An Introduction to the Art of Flyfishing). The pieces of film came together and Paul hoisted his last trophy for the world to see.

Of course, a film can only be so long, and much of the casting and fishing (doubled or otherwise) did not make it into the final cut. In addition, there was a tremendous amount of "behind-the-scenes" fly-fishing work done for the film over many months by many very talented people. The contributions of all involved helped to make the casting and fishing in A River Runs Through It a realistic, integral part of the story. It was a pleasure to work with those people, and to be a part of the whole River Runs experience. Even now, when I watch the film, I am transported back to those summer days, telling a Montana story, in a Montana river, under a Montana "big sky." Perhaps the movie poster was right; perhaps some perfect things do last forever in our memories....

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