THE HURT LOCKER, FINAL CUT, MARKETING CENSORSHIP, DIRECTOR’S VISION AND RELATED ISSUES

Very few directors have final cut. It’s great that Kathryn Bigelow protected her vision by demanding and receiving the coveted I Did It My Way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE HURT LOCKER tensely depicts the heroism of a bomb squad and through it reveals our adrenaline fueled addiction to war. Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s film must surely joins the ranks of Best Modern Combat Movies of all time. The first to set a standard was ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was a  ground-breaking addition, which should have won Best Picture. And contending at this year’s Oscars is INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino’s extraordinary alternative universe homage to World War Two movies. (See…Cinema can end wars.)

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However for each of the iconic titles there would be a dozen others that never got the attention they deserved. Feisty B movies that were taut, hard hitting, with a big look despite slender resources. Like THE SECRET INVASION, Roger Corman’s low budget GUNS OF NAVARONE/DIRTY DOZEN precursor shot in Yugoslavia. Or George Montgomery’s WARKILL shot in the Philippines, directed by Ferde Grofe Jr. No poster is available which makes me worry that the film may be lost. George Montgomery made several WW2 movies in the PI during the sixties. A lesser one was THE STEEL CLAW. We all have our lists of neglected gems. Of the 5 war themed movies I have made, my personal favorite is  THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA. Doesn’t hold a candle to HURT LOCKER, but I’m fond of it for the adventure of its shoot, the scale of it for $1.6M, and the things it has to say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Namely: wars are fought by brave, well intentioned people on both sides. Politicians always betray soldiers. But the principle theme of the picture - war and reconciliation - was subjected to marketing department censorship. My director’s cut - in the version currently available - was in fact a flashback between two bookends - set 15 years later. We see desperate boat people sighting land at last, one older man in particular. We hear R. Lee Ermey commence the story’s narration: “They won the war, but they sure as hell lost the peace…” We discover Lee, the now retired Sgt. Major Haffner, working at the UN Refugee Processing Centre at the Manila docks. We learn from his voice over as he surveys the latest group to arrive, that he could not handle life back in the US as a civilian. Asia was the only place he felt real. Haffner spots a face in the crowd that he dimly recognizes. His expression clouds as memories flood back. The movie you see carries on from there. Where the film currently ends, I cut back to the Refugee Processing Centre. Haffner walks through the crowd towards the man we now know led the Viet Cong forces against his firebase during the 1968 Tet Offensive, a battle in which Haffner lost his closest friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also know that the two men recognize each other. Will Haffner give in to anger? No, he says “welcome” in Vietnamese, and extends his hand. The final image was of the handshake, one forearm bronzed, the other displaying a marine tattoo. OK. Subtlety is not my strong point. But somehow, in context, the moment worked emotionally. It was cathartic for the audience after the relentless slaughter to feel a glimmer of hope. But the marketing department decided that there was too much emphasis on ” the gooks”, reconciliation and forgiveness were not patriotic, the American audience just wanted to see the heroism and sacrifice of the Americans. They were very happy with the rest of the film but they demanded the bookends be cut. This was a blow. But, as I was in LA doing the extensive looping when the axe fell, I was able to expand Lee Ermey’s voice over with additional material like “I guess we’d do the same if Charlie invaded South Carolina.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These additions to the soundtrack, after the picture was locked, went some way towards supporting the concept of reconciliation. My changes were discovered too late to be removed. Ha! Nice to get the last word. FIREBASE has amassed some fans, particularly among veterans, since its original token 1989 theatrical release - in LA, as the bottom half of a drive in double with RED SCORPION. LA Times critic Michael Wilmington said it should have been the top of the bill. It has never been released on DVD, except as grainy bootlegs from the VHS, without subtitles for the Vietnamese dialogue. Horrible. Perhaps the eventual inheritors of the MGM library will see the profit potential of releasing a DVD with cast interviews and commentary from Lee Ermey and myself. Every marine would buy a copy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, in the interim for fans in the US, a beautifully remastered SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA is available streaming from NETFLIX. FIREBASE is not perfect - HURT LOCKER is perfect - but remains 22 years later an interesting genre cocktail. My inspirations were BEACH RED, THE ALAMO, and ZULU. There’s an earlier blog of reminiscences in the archives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stills for this blog were all taken by Mark Neely, who played Murphy. Still an excellent actor, Mark remains my friend despite my having him bayoneted to death in FIREBASE, and having his severed head grouch at Christine Taylor from a toilet bowl in NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2. The things we do for art…How many Oscars THE HURT LOCKER will receive remains to be seen. But would a marketing department-controlled film have been so insightfull and garnered so many nominations and awards?

 Vietcong on a lunch break

STUNT ROCK - 32 YEARS ON - STILL MAKES THEM LAUGH AND GASP…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good crowd showed up for the Midnight show, a few more than the July screening. Show of hands indicated about 75% of the audience had not seen it before, and came because of the recommendation of friends or internet reviewers. They got all the jokes, they gasped at the stunts (catapult, high wire, human torch, leopard smack - in particular), and I saw toes tapping to Sorcery’s driving rhythms. The majority were kind enough to stay for the Q&A, with myself and Dick Blackburn (the oily agent), moderated by Grindhouse Releasing’s Brian Quinn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was great to watch today’s audience revel in the gear-grinding segues and the in-your-face juxtapositions, and put a post modern eye on a late seventies/foreign indie/Hollywood time capsule/death defying Acts/rockumentary/mockumentary … ( I was once asked for a short definition of STUNT ROCK’s continuing appeal. That was the best I could do).

Among the audience were director Kurando Mitsutake and producer Chiaki Yanagimoto, whose SAMURAI AVENGER, THE BLIND WOLF is a festival hit and selling well across the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To those who have bought DVDs, I recommend STUNT ROCK as a group experience. Get a bunch of friends together for a STUNT ROCK PARTY. Serve Chinese take-out, Sorcery’s after-show meal. (Peking Duck, perhaps?) Encourage hot chicks to dance during the concert sequences. A good night will be had by all…

Click here for the Sorcery website. I’d like to turn STUNT ROCK into a Vegas show. Any deep pockets out there?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For fans of Grant Page, I recommend all Stunt Rockers, particularly those in Australia, pick up a copy of Grant’s memoirs MAN ON FIRE, A Stunt Of A Life, published this holiday season. Full of photographs and amusing anecdotes - I wrote the foreword - it’s a great read. Grant’s recollections also capture the spirit that fueled the pioneering days of the Australian film industry renaissance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My message to Mankind this holiday season: If you’ve only seen INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS once, catch it again while it is still on the big screen. It’s richer the second time round, particularly the oscar worthy performance of Christoph Waltz as the evil Landa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I anticipate nominations for original screenplay, best actor, best cinematography, best director. There should be a special category for best World War Two Ending Ever.

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & BEST WISHES FOR 2010!!

CREATIVE VISION REWARDED - PAST AND PRESENT: PLUS STUNT ROCK SCREENS THIS FRIDAY MIDNIGHT @ NEW BEVERLY CINEMA

For a filmmaker, a Hollywood Happy Ending is when your last film gets you the next one. Here’s the face of a happy man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He is Kurando Mitsutake, writer/producer/director/star of SAMURAI AVENGER - THE BLIND WOLF, which won Best Film and Best Special Effects at the recent Fantastic Planet Sydney Science Fiction Fantasy Film Festival for which I was one of the judges. This satirical genre homage is a clever piece of work and dserved the accolades. I was told later that Kurando was a fan of my early work and bought some of my DVDs released by Madman in Australia, while he was there. He was kind enough to send me this happy snap. As a result of the great response to his film, he is off to Japan next month to direct a series of Yakuza movies. It’s great when a passionate filmmaker gets recognized and rewarded.

One of the DVDs in his hand is STUNT ROCK, released in the US by Code Red. And by coincidence, STUNT ROCK will play its second Midnight Show on Friday December 4th at the New Beverly Cinema, Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. It’s my wry love letter to stuntmen and late seventies metal glitter rock, 90 minutes of laughs and gasps and OMG. In particular it’s a showcase for Australia’s king of the stuntmen, Grant Page, who is still setting fire to his pants in his seventieth year. Click on the artwork for a little taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STUNT ROCK was shot in 15 days in 1978, going from 6 page treatment to stereo answer print in 5 months. Grant Page and Monique Van Der Ven starred. I was Grant’s manager at the time and created this vehicle to launch him into the international arena. We could not afford a SAG cast, so I chose a number of actors from The Groundlings, including the young Phil Hartman (What a tragic loss his murder was). Also a splendid turn from future director Dick Blackburn as an oily agent. I was lucky to have Marty Fink as a very supportive producer who connected me with a gallery of below the line talent at the start of their careers, lensers Bob Primes and Rene Villalobos, production experts Chis Pearce and Ann Strasburg, editors Robert Leighton, Earl Watson, Chis Lebenzon, to name but a few: names you might recognize from the credits of subsequent big studio pictures. Costume designer Margaret Rose who has designed for many Vegas topliners, did an amazing job with a loose change budget. Thanks, guys and girls. it was a great introduction to Hollywood.

STUNT ROCK was a somewhat eccentric hybrid for its day; part concert film, part documentary, part mockumentary (I like genre cocktails. Both shaken and stirred.) Response from the late night screenings so far indicate the movie’s sense of humor has finally found its audience. I shall start booking it round the country next year.

So post modern genre geeks of Los Angeles, make a date: Midnight at the New Beverly, Friday December 4th.

P.S. For DEAD END DRIVE-IN fans, here’s a link to to a reviewer who gets it.

Recognition 25 years later. I’m getting a warm glow…

Why Make Movies? Part 1

One day, in a parallel universe, when President Palin declares martial law (now there’s a movie…) I shall probably be indicted for my 39 (and counting) Crimes Against Cinema (I’m an enthusiastic recidivist). The Prosecutor will inevitably ask me the question: “When did you first decide to make films?” I remember that night well…

We lived in the small English village of Odiham in Hampshire. 3000 people, 7 pubs, one picture palace - The Regal. I was 13 years old, and for the first time I was allowed to go to the movies on a winter’s night by myself. (My mother, bless her, was a little over-protective, hence my later flirtation with stunts.) To get to the Regal on the outskirts of town, I had to walk through the cemetery of the Norman era church. Dark shadows. Wisps of fog. Knowing I was going to see a film crafted by a director dubbed the Master of Suspense made the graveyard all the spookier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VERTIGO was on its re-release, making its way through the secondary circuit of British cinemas that played two double bills, three days each, per week, then a pair of older re-issues on Sunday evening. Hitchcock’s richly atmospheric story of obsession had not been a critical or commercial hit in America, so here it was paired with a Rory Calhoun B western FOUR GUNS TO THE BORDER!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I arrived well in time, to ensure that I saw all the trailers for the upcoming double bills. Trailers - trail blazers being the derivation - intrigued me. Why did they choose that bit? I would often wonder. Then I would see the film in question, and see which elements had been emphasized out of proportion, which aspects had been disguised (Current trailers give far too much away, and should be limited to 30 seconds in my view). I forget which trailers were played that night, but my interest in promotional image manipulation ultimately bore fruit in a parallel career, making over 100 of them in the UK, Australia, and the US.

FOUR GUNS was passable. Little did I know that in 1980 I would take a course in acting from one of the 4 GUNS cast, Nina Foch (pictured below). Barry Manilow was in the class too, displaying a flair for comedy. But that’s another story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even a dull western in color was better than those on monochrome TV. (”Color?” the experts said in the 20’s “It’s just a fad.”) I loved “going to the Cinema” as it was called in middle class England of the day, however my Cinema education was limited to reading occasional copies of PHOTOPLAY, but I was beginning to notice technical things like back projection. Didn’t look real. The lighting difference when studio desert sets were intercut with actual desert photography…Why didn’t they shoot it all out of doors? The reason I was asking myself such questions did not coalesce till that night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When VERTIGO began with the stunning Saul Bass title sequence propelled by Bernard Herrmann’s score, something took hold of me. I had seen films before, but this time I was transported into a new universe, rich in color, dark in motivation. My first encounter with an anti hero. And who better to confuse your loyalties than the inherently sympathetic James Stewart. Check out the dream sequence by clicking the photo below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, at age 13, some of the moral dilemmas and sexual undertones escaped me, but the film took me on an emotional thrill ride. I loved the way it made me feel, and I knew then and there that I wanted to make other people feel that way too. Thus my ambition was born. Luck and persistence gave me opportunity. My pleasure became my vocation. Obviously, I am no Hitchcock. I am no fencing champion either, but I still compete.

To summarize Hitchcock’s greatness as a film maker, perhaps there are no better words than his obituary in the NY Times (click the photo below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently an hour long interview with Hitchcock, long thought to be lost, was posted on YouTube. Wearing his dead-pan basset hound expression, Hitch offers a range of insights into his art, while having wry fun with the listener.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every aspiring filmmaker should study the Master’s films, ignoring the limitations of earlier technology, instead focussing on how he sculpts the drama. Every shot has a purpose, sometimes two. Low angle Tony Perkins and taxidermy from PSYCHO for instance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revisiting Hitchcock’s work encourages a director to think deeper. Take a look at the re-mastered DVD of his World War 2 survival afloat melodrama LIFEBOAT. And yet it is so much more than that. Part allegorical history lesson - we see through the polyglot cast how Hitler manipulated the divisions within Europe to his own ends. Part moral debate on the justification for taking life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More on Hitch another time.

FANTASTIC PLANET SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL

I know how hard it is to make a movie, especially when the budget is the smell of an oily rag. So I bring that perspective to this new role, a judge at a film festival, FANTASTIC PLANET SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL to be precise. All the films I screened were daring concepts and noble efforts. Here are my thoughts on a few of them.

STREGOI

“Do you have any other symptoms, other than hunger, insomnia, and wanting me to stick my finger up your ass?” A vampire movie with dialogue like that certainly gets my attention; one of many dead pan lines in this Rumanian black comedy of the undead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A man returns from Italy to his Rumanian village, which roils with distrust, old emnities, shifting loyalties. He gets caught up in a land theft/murder conspiracy when his name is forged on a death certificate, and bodies keep re-appearing. Rumanian vampire folklore has intriguingly different rules to the Bram Stoker model, and the script layers in plenty of Rumanian issues: corruption, communism, gypsies, 20th Century ghosts, the EU. etc. Writer director Faye Jackson correctly stages the comedy for dry humor, realistic responses amid absurd situations. The mystery unravels at a measured European pace. The tone is understated. The gothic elements are more creepy than icky and shocking. Good prosthetic work though. This is a Euro-Comedy of Manners between vampires and their victims. Perhaps also it is a political allegory for what has happened in Rumania in the 20 years since the Ceausescus were executed. Plus ca change…? Catalin Paraschiv makes an engaging hero. The well chosen local cast perform in English. This will deservedly ensure a wider audience, though the accents occasionally obscure key words. I wonder if they shot a Rumanian language version for local release at the same time. In a way, I would probably have enjoyed such a subtitled version more. I am a sucker for subtitled movies. (SUSPERIA has a much smarter script if you see it in any language other than English.) But hats off to first timer Faye Jackson for her mature approach to delivering the thinking person’s vampire movie. It’s a worthy follow up to LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Best vampire movie ever). Hopefully every culture will put its own unique spin on the genre. Tasmanian Vampire Movie, anyone?

SAMURAI AVENGER - THE BLIND WOLF 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike STREGOI, frequent extreme gore is the point in Kurando Mitsutake’s loving homage to the Samurai genre subset exemplified by the LONE WOLF AND CUB & HANZO THE RAZOR series. The fake opening title, in both Japanese and English, posits that this print is the full version of the classic movie, with all the shots originally censored for extreme bloodletting restored.  Long thought to be lost, it continues, these shots, worn and scratched though they are, have been re-instated.  As SAMURAI AVENGER unfolds, whenever geysers of blood erupt and body parts fly, the grossest shots get the GRINDHOUSE emulsion scratch treatment. It’s a wry aside to us Samurai genre geeks. We know we are in good hands. (BTW: Remember the restored WICKER MAN. …the cut scenes re-mastered from an old print. And, since we’re on the subject,  why did they remake it? With Nicholas Cage?! Aaagh! And change it? Grrr… WTF! ) It’s OK. I’m calm now… The movie is well shot in striking desert locations. A lot of fun is had at the expense of classic Samurai plot cliche’s. My only complaint: I wish all the swordplay was up to the standard of the role models it is satirizing. KILL BILL is a pretty hard act to follow, admittedly, but writer/director/star Kurando Mitsutake nonetheless delivers some outrageous moments -  like the topless - and subsequently armless! - swordswoman.  I loved the cut between the frontal shots of her breasts being exposed to the profile close ups of the nipples standing out like threatening weapons. On guarde! (I know, I am a sick and wicked puppy, but I fenced epee for three hours today…)  This movie will ship a lot of DVDs and be a favorite on the midnight circuit. Kurando Mitsutake deserves full marks for quite an achievement on an obviously slender budget.

ERASER CHILDREN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When George Orwell was asked what he thought the fate of humanity would be, he replied: “Imagine a boot stamping a human face…for ever.” The anger that seethed under that prophesy is certainly at the heart of this Orwellian update to the corporate fascist future. Slavery looks good in a suit, indeed. This film takes Terry Gilliam’s dystopian satire BRAZIL and ramps up the comedy playing. I wonder whether playing it straight and letting the natural absurdity of the situations get the laughs might have been a better approach. To be fair, I saw an unfinished screener alone on DVD. My response might have been different if I had attended the sold out festival premiere. Movies are best in a group experience. What I liked was the complexity of ideas the film was trying to put across, and director Nathan Cristoffel’s visual and editorial inventiveness in expanding what were obviously slender resources. Fionn Napier Quinlan is good as the hapless protagonist. This film should become a webisode series. There are so many serious social, industrial, technological issues this concept could debate with humor and insight. Then, how do you get sponsorship for a piece so anti-consumerist? Orwell’s warnings need to reach a generation that scarcely reads. This kind of micro-budget production is perhaps the only way to get these ideas out there.

2 B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about Geo-Ethical Nanotechnology, Trans-Humanism, and Personal Cyber-Consciousness for bold ideas in futurology? These are at the core of this art house Sci-Fi entry, originally entitled TRANSBEMAN. If you google The Terasem Movement you will learn more about the philosophy behind this movie, which is consequently something of a thesis play, proposing the death of death. OK. I’m interested. Given the challenge of such an enterprise, full marks to writers Eric Nadler and Richard Kroehling for getting these ideas across as coherently as they have. The film opens with a quote from Robert Heinlein: “Everything is theoretically impossible till it’s done.” Applies to low budget film making too. But director Kroehling covers the paucity of his budget and restrictive settings by flooding backgrounds with primary colors, choosing good angles, and playing with narrative structure. It’s good that actors with visibility like James Remar and Kevin Corrigan were prepared to tackle complex subject matter like this. Special praise to Hayley Dumond (Mrs. Keith Carradine) for her cameo as a right wing pundit Fembot. She nails the Nancy Grace (today’s Madam Defarge?) self righteous narcissism perfectly. Former Miss Teen Georgia Jane Kim is a knockout as Remar’s created being, genetically swept of human failings. 2 B is more brain food than classic Sci-Fi entertainment. But it’s great that someone had the courage to back it. Sci-Fi should be about ideas first, and not dependent on spectacle and VFX to get our attention. Not that I mind spectacle and VFX…Can’t wait for AVATAR.

1 AND ONLY

1 and 0nly represents more brain food, and is even more festival/arthouse/experimental in its treatment. A scientist, environmentalist, genius, lives alone, isolated on an uncharted island 189 nautical miles from the mainland. He blindly focuses on what is important - the final stages of his plan to unleash a device that will destroy all human DNA…But this is not like any mad scientist picture you have seen. Director Martyn Park makes excellent use of fever dream music to propel nicely shot well edited montages that slowly unravel the mysterious premise of this cautionary tale. Certainly too slow for middle of the road Sci-Fi fans. It’s hard to do metaphysical allegory on this budget level and hold the attention at feature length. But I was intrigued. Just before my patience began to thin, it all made sense thanks to Christopher Baker’s extraordinary lengthy monologue to the camera. That is an amazing JCVD performance moment. Poignant and utterly truthful. In a mainstream movie he would get a nomination.

CRYPTIC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What if you called your old phone number, and found yourself speaking to your old self, on the day of your mother’s apparently accidental death 8 years ago? Throw in a bit of FREQUENCY, RUN LOLA RUN, and RETROACTIVE. Sounds like a J-Horror premise, but CRYPTIC avoids special effects and J-Horror stylistic flourishes and opts for a measured, somber telling of the tale, grounded in the emotional reality of the characters. Jadin Gould as Jesse aged 10 and Julie Carlson as Jesse at 18 are a good match for each other and deliver heart tugging performances that engage you immediately. The plot develops slowly, perhaps a little too slowly for the ADD generation, but suspense builds with each communication between the two Jesses, and the plot is never totally predictable. Personally, I would have used a more mobile camera style to create a brooding momentum, and more punch in the set pieces, but that’s just me. This writer director team clearly know what they are doing and have a good career ahead of them if they build on this standard.

Thanks to FANTASTIC PLANET for having me on the judging panel. It’s great that Australia now has its own Sci-Fi and Horror Film Festivals, giving new talent a chance to be noticed in a noisy and crowded marketplace. I hope these annual events can grow in importance and influence.

DON’T YOU HATE INFOMERCIALS? HERE’S A HALLOWEEN TREAT!

Director Adam Green sent this full-blooded infomercial to the Masters of Horror circle. I thought I would pass it on. I laughed, but then I am a sick and wicked puppy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam Green and Paul Solet have interesting IMDB profiles. They are determined fellows. Watch them rise.

SEEING IS BELIEVING IN ACTION SCENES: A HAIR’S BREADTH ESCAPE - BIKES RULE!

For those budding action directors out there, I offer some thoughts to spark internal debate.

I’m in favor of quick cutting, but against turning a fight scene into a blizzard of telephoto images. My cinema brain likes to process fast, but in order to maximize my enjoyment of the sequence, my information organizer needs to be reminded regularly of the spatial relationships between participants. The framing must also take into account that invisible proscenium arch through which we tend to see our daily lives. We need to step back, if only for a flash, to the standpoint of the witness. The prevailing wisdom is to keep the audience inside the action for maximum involvement. I believe this only works with the support of interwoven images that show the participants head to toe engaged in a brief dynamic movement across the frame. The close quarters style has been in vogue for a while, perhaps geared to capturing the attention span of gamers. But I think audiences sometimes can be just as riveted by a sustained action being depicted in one shot. Take a look at this duel between a road bike on the freeway and a police car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not the outcome the Skycam team expected, and all in one shot. Leaving aside issues of common sense and endangering law enforcement officers, let’s just focus on how we would consider staging this scene if it was on tomorrow’s call sheet. If Eastwood, Scorcese, Spielberg or Cameron told the studio that they would shoot it all in one shot, the studio would say fine. Wonderful. Any way you want.

And a Oner could be great. Particularly if the star could match the speed of the miscreant road biker while peddling neck and neck with the cop car - looks about 35 miles per hour. (My son Eric can, but it takes months of training). A helicopter shot would start framed on the biker and the car viewed from in front. Dialogue would take place between the cop and the rider, proving that it’s REALLY THE STAR ON THAT BIKE. Then the camera would pull back to the wide angle we see in the news clip. When the star’s bike disappears behind the truck, a stunt double would seamlessly take his place, having got up to speed like a relay runner hidden by the truck. The baton of illusion thus passed, the stunt double takes on the most dangerous riding, escaping by a whisker as the big rig causes the unfortunate police officers a mountain of paperwork. The chopper cam homes in on the rider’s face. VFX then replaces the green mask on the stunt rider’s face with the digitally captured face of the star. Big gasp from the audience. It looked like the star REALLY did that!

The studio would probably say to a neophyte director offering such a shot, “Nah, probably won’t work. Safer to cover it, then we’ll decide in editing.” (Note the “We’ll decide..” btw). It’s a valid point of view. But if you cover it merely functionally, they won’t vote in favor of the master shot approach because it is obviously more dramatic. Likely as not, they’ll use what you give them and regard you as unimaginative. So you better give them coverage up the wazoo. Every conceivable angle. Camera platforms on the bike forward and backwards. (See BMX BANDITS) And so on. Once you get into detail, you find, more and more, you have to show cause and effect. Your shots have to reveal the “Why” of things. Like why was the big rig driver distracted and failed to see the cop car coming before he turned? A cell phone argument with his ex-wife? An invasion of killer bees? Or zombies…Now, you’re talking. (Personal clue. “The nature of Monkey was irrepressible.”) Anyway, this is the smotherage approach. Both could be equally impactful in different ways. Which do you favor? I am about to start the “where to use the wide shot?” debate with myself as I start editing ARCTIC BLAST next week.
This clip was sent to me by my son Eric. (You saw him at the end of the BMX Mall chase sequence getting hooked on bikes.) Forgive a moment of parental pride. Film and Family are my equal passions. I greatly admire Eric’s commitment to a green economy. To interested customers at Wheel World in Culver City, to which he bikes 9 miles each day, he advocates replacing the car with the bike for short journeys. Good for your cardio vascular, good for your savings, good for the environment. Last week, two customers felt motivated to post nice reviews of their shopping experience on line at YELP.COM. Here’s one.

“Wheel World Is A Spinning Sensation!!!

So I’ve never felt compelled to ever right a review for a business before (nor for that matter, ever engage myself in so shamelessly cheesy and rather embarrassing phrasing that is that above tagline) and never thought I ever would. However, that being said, I’d never been as impressed with service than I was today and just have to give a shout-out, so here it is:

I walked my sad little flat bike into Wheel World today to get a tube for the rear tire. And right away, I became more blown away than my tire with the WW crew! … Namely a super-bright cyclin’-savvy associate named Eric. He not only led me to what i needed for the repair, but he went out and fixed it all up for me, thoroughly and enthusiastically showing me every step along the way. It was like a crash-course in biking by what can only appear to be the Yoda of cycling himself! I mean, this guy really knows his stuff - giving me tips on biking, safety, repairs, and tons more useful details. And even more so appealing than his down-right geniusness, he was so passionate about it. It’s so refreshing to go into a business and not only get beyond-belief customer care, but encounter someone who is not only an expert, but really and trully loves and cares about their field.
Prior to today, I was the cycler that was counting the days till I could afford a car and chuck the bike (even fantasizing about how it would feel to back over the thing seven or eight times in a gleeful psychotic rage prior to setting it ablaze in a massive fire). Now I gotta say, if bike-people are marginally close to being half as cool as Eric, I just may take it up as a hobby and forget the car. Hey, I’ll save a bit of the ozone and get some exercise while I’m at it. … Hmm maybe that’s why they’re so chill … the endorphins or something?…
So in closing - two wheels up to Wheel World (and esp my guy Eric!)!! And a call to all you bike people, and even the bike haters out on the congested freeway spitting out emissions as we speak (formerly yours truly). Get out to Wheel World and on the road as a part of what I’m calling the “out-with-four-on-w/-two-wheel” revolution!

A genuine statement of thanks, not a plant. It’s the sort of thing that gives me hope for the future of my son’s generation as they face the increasing problems of our planet. I am lucky enough to feel passionate about what I do. I hope everyone can find something to be passionate about in what they do. That’s not easy in the sales and service industries in which so many people work to satisfy an often disgruntled and impatient public. The key is always to seek out the positive in the experience, magnify it, disregard the negative as much as possible. And recognize the essential nobility of service even when it’s not appreciated. I try to apply those principles to the film making process. So to all those at the lower end of the pay scale: the PAs and ADs, the camera dudes, grips and electrics, locations, set dec, make up and hair, catering and craft service, and so on - thank you for working so hard to make ARCTIC BLAST such a successful shoot.

 

GO SEE QUENTIN TARANTINO’S WRY TAKE ON WORLD WAR TWO - “INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS”. IT’S GREAT FUN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am about to start shooting ARCTIC BLAST starring Michael Shanks on Monday. Preparations are in high gear, but I am taking the time to enjoy a second viewing of INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS this weekend and watch a Tasmanian audience enjoy it. Recently El Q presented my Vietnam war movie THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA double billed with THE LOSERS at Cinemapocalypse in Austin, Texas (video). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why MGM won’t release FIREBASE on DVD is a mystery to me. They would sell a lot of copies to the Marine Corps just for openers. Plus R. Lee Ermey! FIREBASE fans should call MGM and ask…

CUNNING STUNTS, (no Spoonerism intended), A CUNNING STUNT MASTER, ROCK AND ROLL, AND THOSE WILD AND WACKY DAYS OF ‘OZPLOITATION’ MOVIES THAT WERE ” NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD”…

Here’s the opening scene from a screenplay for a World War II movie…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXTERIOR CLIFF TOP SUNDOWN

Superimpose title: CRETE, GREEK ISLANDS, 1941.

A Messerschmitt strafes an Australian Army truck as it hurtles up a steep wooded incline towards the cliff edge 200 yards away.

The bullets strike the gas tank and the back of the truck explodes in a fiery cloud.

The driver, a gallant Australian Warrant Officer, an army pack slung round his neck, dives from the vehicle. In the same shot, the truck smashes into a tree, exploding again many times from multiple angles.

The AWO picks up the precious pack. It contains the ‘Macguffin’, the secret key to Allied victory in World War II. He must get it to the commando waiting in a Zodiac, riding the waves at the base of the cliff ahead. He quickly scales a tree to avoid detection by the pursuing Germans.

A Wehrmacht motorcyclist and a machine gunner in the side car pause beside a tree, scanning for their target. AWO drops down out of the tree, chops and kicks them out of their seats, then guns the bike up towards the cliff, smashing through bushes.

Platoons of German infantry are rushing up the cliff in pursuit, their schmeissers blazing.

Bullets chew up the nearby ground as the AWO lays down the bike to skid to a halt inches from the cliff, where his abseiling rope is tethered ready for the final stage of his escape. He snaps the rope into the karabina on his body belt with a single loop and positions himself for his slide down the cliff.

Suddenly, a German soldier with a flamethrower runs out of the bushes. A cloud of napalm hits the AWO in the back, lighting up his army greatcoat as he freefalls 300 feet down the rope.

The plume of flame is huge, but the air rush keeps the flames from spreading onto his skin as he reaches a velocity of thirty miles an hour, with the rocky shore below fast approaching. Grabbing the rope with padded gloves, he decelerates just in time.

Wham! Still a hard landing. AWO shakes off the pain, sheds the blazing overcoat then takes the precious pack to the water‘s edge. Just a few feet away, the getaway Zodiac is riding the current, piloted by a lone commando.

As AWO prepares to jump, a shark’s fin slowly cuts through the water between him and the waiting vessel…

OK, so jumping the shark is a little over the top, even for me…

But I offer this amalgam of favorite WWII action clichés as being representative of the range of challenges, creative and industrial, that a director of action movies faces. Precision driving, leaping from a blazing vehicle, martial arts combat, extreme motorcycling, abseiling while a human torch–these are many chapters in the stuntman’s handbook. To realize them all on the screen would normally require the director to select a team of stuntmen, each a specialist. And each one would have to be a passable double for the hero.

On the other hand, you could just hire Grant Page. He’d even fight the shark for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see a lot of Grant’s work on display in the imminent Magnet release NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD, opening in various theatres across the USA on Friday July 31st.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a Furiously Fast mordantly Funny Fantastic 100 minutes. Quadruple F’s on my dial don’t come every week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s about big screen movies, so try to catch it on the big screen It rocks. Click here for the trailer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Los Angelino gluttons for genre punishment, you could try a Grant Page Friday Night Double.

First go to the Nu Art on Santa Monica. See NQH. Its writer director Mark Hartley will be on hand for Q & A at the 7:30 and 10:00 PM screenings on both July 31st and August 1st.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s Mark and I having WAY too much of a good time at last year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin. Then, it’s hard not to have a good time at Fantastic Fest.

Then you could hop across town to the New Beverly Cinema on Beverly Blvd. and attend the Midnight Show of STUNT ROCK, my tribute to stuntmen in general and Grant Page in particular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regrettably I will not be there. I’ll be in Tasmania getting ready to shoot my next epic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However Grant’s STUNT ROCK co-star Margi Gerard (AKA Margaret Trenchard-Smith Ph.D) will introduce a sparkling brand new 35 mm scope print. Click on the DVD sleeve for the trailer.

Enjoy!

Bicycles, Testicles, and French Nicole Kidman…

Bicycles, Testicles, and French Nicole Kidman…the rush of speed on the senses, the power of the pedal on the environment. Movie trivia from the genre trenches.

Is an homage a rip off or a celebration? I prefer to think of imitation as the sincerest form of flattery. All genre directors try their hand at a range of standard set piece sequences on widely differing budgets, with varying degrees of success. If the result is still engaging an audience on DVD and Cable channels 26 years later, that’s gratifying, but a genre director really gets his rocks off when one of HIS films gets imitated!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember my Nicole Kidman starrer BMX BANDITS, in which I had a go at comedy bicycle chase scenes. (It did not hurt to have future Academy Award winner John Seale behind the camera either.)

As a warm-up, here’s a BMX BANDITS trivia collectible: Nicole’s first scene in the film is taken from a French language print.

It kinda plays better in French, don’t you think?  Did the actress in the Paris dubbing studio know she was French-voicing a future Academy Award-winning star? Did she do Nicole’s voice in other French releases? Did it grow into a good living? I wonder about things like that. How often does one of the invisibles of our celebrity obsessed trade become the recipient of windfall good fortune? Over to you, French Showbiz researchers.

OK. Now take a look at this. A 30 second Australian TV commercial for BMX BANDITS that played Christmas 1983. The film was such fun to make. Perhaps it shows.

Please note the 2 year old kid at the end. We’ll get back to him in a moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here’s a BMX KUNG FU sequence from LADY IS THE BOSS produced by Hong Kong’s Shaw Bros., directed by Chia-Liang Liu.

They even imitated the costume design. Good for them! I wish I had included a martial arts fight in my building site chase sequence.

Now, back to the kid in the picture, with that expression on his face of uninhibited joy as the bikes fly past him down the escalator… He actually said “BMX Wow!” when we shot it. (For the TV spot they dubbed in a girl‘s voice for clarity) Well, that’s my son Eric, and 26 years later his enthusiasm for bikes is unabated. Here he is, doing some flatland. His bike will ride into shot after 12 seconds. Click this pic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eric has a license but does not want a car. He bikes to work, in order to reduce his carbon footprint. I am proud to have a son who follows through on his principles. It’s one thing to talk the talk, it’s another to pedal 9 miles each way and save on all that carbon monoxide. We should all seriously think about using bikes for our short range travel. Walking’s good too.

The Dutch city of Groningen sets a great example by creating a bike friendly environment. Their view is that cycling is the life blood of the city, and have prioritized urban planning accordingly. Look at the space saving in this bike parking lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bicycles and pedestrians rule the medieval-era city hub, cruising along on car-free dedicated pathways and short cuts. People also commute on bikes in large numbers from suburban housing spread out around the city to downtown jobs, via a ring-and-spoke network of paths.  Population 185,000. A recent survey counted 150,000 bike trips per day.

Bicycling is also good for your health. For those in the LA area, I recommend WHEEL WORLD in Culver City as the best place for a reliable purchase. Ask for Eric.

My son introduced me to some real life footage of bike messengers racing through the streets of New York. Check out this video. The audio has been removed for copyright reasons, just jog forward to 50 seconds. I think it will pique your interest.

Those guys (and gals) have big brass balls.

If you are in the mood for more, this time with musical accompaniment, here’s one of Lucas Brunelle’s hair raising adventures in urban traffic across the world.

Now there’s a Stunt Rocker!

Guess what? There was even a bicycle film festival in San Francisco….

http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/

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