him to move to New York saying, "he would do well there". He took her advice. On his first day in New York MacNicol stopped by Brown's office to tell her he was now a Manhattan resident. While there, he heard the loud voices of actors coming from Brown's audition room. He asked Brown if there was anything right for him in the project. She responded with a smile, "Well...actually, there is." An hour later, MacNicol was the front runner for the role of Galen. He was flown to England along with Caitlin Clarke for a screen test. Within a day or two, Paramount and Disney had said yes, and he was renting a flat in Chelsea. MacNicol had grown up riding horses—his first paid job was on a ranch near Arlington, Texas—so the young actor knew how to ride, even jump hurdles without a saddle but during his pre-filming he needed to learn to ride the type of trooper-style saddle they were using in the movie. And because he'd have to ride on camera during action sequences his riding skills had to be stress-tested. "They took away my stirrups, they took away my reins and whipped the horse, and then they told me to windmill my arms and turn a complete circle in the saddle. Then they took away the saddle!" The young actor had already worked for two years in classical repertory theater, and was highly trained in voice production. Nevertheless, a voice coach was hired to achieve the mid-Atlantic sound the role required. Having studied stage combat at the University of Minnesota (two years of classes in tumbling, foil, saber rapier and dagger) he was eager to do as much of the fighting as they'd allow. The role also required some juggling and magic tricks. For this he was mentored by British prestidigitator Harold Taylor, who had previously performed for the British royal family. Caitlin Clarke was initially hesitant to involve herself in the film, as she was preparing to audition for a play in Chicago. Her agent insisted, though, and after doing an audition tape, was called back for more tests. Clarke failed them, but managed to pass after doing another test at Robbins's insistence. She got along well with Ralph Richardson, and stated that he taught her more in one rehearsal than she had learned in years of acting classes. Set design Elliot Scott was