Grégoire Canlorbe

David Worth

A conversation with Alan Delabie, for Bulletproof Action

A conversation with Alan Delabie, for Bulletproof Action

by ·

Alan Delabie is a French director, screenwriter, actor, producer, and martial artist. A black belt in karate shotokan, he is also trained in full contact and kickboxing and won the Nunchaku European Championship. In the movie field, he is notably known for the Borrowed Time trilogy, the last installment of which he co-directed with the man who mentored him in his cinematic adventure, David Worth.

  Delabie has won awards at several film festivals, including the Los Angeles Films Awards, the Los Angeles Actors Awards, as well as festivals in Istanbul, Tokyo and New York. He also received an award at the famous Gala Action Martial Arts Magazine in Atlantic City. In 2023, he played the role of a vampire in The Last Nosferatu, for which he received the award for best actor. Still the same year, he played Alex Lapierre in thriller Shepherd Code.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Please tell us about The Last Nosferatu.

  Alan Delabie: I fell in love at a very young age with two movie genres: action, and horror. One of my challenges has been of directing a werewolf movie, so I wrote a werewolf screenplay. I ended up turning to a vampire movie’s project as it was too hard to find the money for a werewolf movie: at least, one that can compare favorably with Stuart Walker’s Werewolf of London and John Landis’s An American Werewolf in London.

  The Last Nosferatu tells a story that has nothing to do with that in Murnau’s movie; but the Nosferatu is not some unique character, it is a type of vampire instead. There is no action in The Last Nosferatu, which is all about horror with a special emphasis put on characters development and makeup. I wanted the process of my character’s transitioning from human to vampire to be as convincing as possible, both psychologically and in terms of physical changes.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you assess Klaus Kinski’s vampire in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu?

  Alan Delabie: Klaus Kinski, quite a personality—truly a madman, just as much a great actor! I love his work, as well as that of his daughter, Nastassja Kinski, the panther in Paul Schrader’s Cat People. Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu and Klaus Kinski’s vampire portrayal in the latter are certainly great. I nonetheless prefer the original Nosferatu movie, which Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s directing—and Max Schreck’s acting and makeup—make an unsurpassable classic. The fact it is silent, and black and white, only increases the mystery and horror…

  Grégoire Canlorbe: What is your assessment of contemporary horror movies?

  Alan Delabie: Today many of those horror movies with spectacular visuals just forget that they should have a good screenplay. Conversely many independent horror movies have a creativeness and crafty screenplay that are counterbalancing their lack of technical, financial means. That classic that is A Nightmare on Elm Street, which frightened me while I was a child, was already made with a budget only of $1.1 million (what remains relatively low, even in the 1980s). Yet it could rely on Wes Craven’s brilliant writing and directing, not to speak of Robert Englund’s legendary interpretation. A blockbuster remake of Nosferatu, as dazzling as its CGI would be, could barely hold a candle to the 1922 movie, no more than the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street can compare with the original Freddy movie.

  Over the course of one of my stays in Los Angeles, I was surprised to notice how the house that “acted” as that of Heather Langenkamp’s character, Nancy Thompson, and the house that “acted” as that of Johnny Depp’s character, Glen Lantz, are really standing in front of each other.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: It seems turning a Hollywood dream into a reality is what the “borrowed time” of your life path is being spent notably.

  Alan Delabie: Living the Hollywood dream was a childhood dream, which I would never give up. I had already performed many stage demonstrations on French and Belgian television, and acted in TV movies and series like À tort ou à raison [Rightly or Wrongly], when Jalal Merhi offered me that I be part of his TV program Master of the Arts (aka Road to Hollywood). I would later write and film, and act in, my first feature, Eight Hours, a psychological thriller that would end up being projected in San Diego. Then I would start acting in a number of short movies and web series in America, and have the idea of the Borrowed Time web series. The unexpected fruit of that idea would be a movie trilogy.

  You know, it is an illusion to think that you gonna become a Hollywood actor just because you proved your worth as a martial artist. A martial artist who wants to be an actor, but who is no good actor, just a good martial artist, can hardly impress Hollywood and get a role in some major production. By contrast a good, charismatic actor, if he is no martial artist, can still end up in a Marvel production in which he will have doubles carrying out all (or some of) the stunts and fights.

  Assuredly a good way of challenging, proving my actor abilities was through venturing into the horror genre as I did with The Last Nosferatu, Meosha Bean’s MVB Films Halloween Horror Stories Vol II, or even with Chris Power’s Bloodslinger, a Canadian feature that is nicely interweaving horror and western.

The Last Nosferatu – makeup, and practical effects

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Two cases of a filmic intertwining between horror and action that come to my mind: George Romero’s Land of the Dead, and Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 with its iconic shootout in the hospital…

  Alan Delabie: I am an admirer of George Romero’s work, which The Walking Dead and its slowly walking zombies, who cannot get killed unless they’re shot in the head, have been massively inspired by. My favorite movies by Romero are Night of the Living Dead, and Dawn of the Dead. Land of the Dead is a good installment in Romero’s Dead series though.

  You do well to mention that unofficial sequel to Night of the Living Dead that is Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2, as Fulci is one of those brazen masters of horror who’ve left their imprint on my filmic sensibility. The scene of the hospital shootout, or that of the eye, or that of the shark, they highlight how Fulci was willing to push the limits of what can be shown onscreen. Joe D’Amato—just think of his Anthropophagus—is another of those cheeky pioneers who were afraid of nothing.

  You must know that Catriona MacColl, who extensively collaborated with Lucio Fulci, acts as Franck Denard’s mother in Borrowed Time. She is my spiritual mother in the movie field actually. We did a short movie together, Mourir d’Aimer [Dying of Loving].

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Speaking of Franck Denard, how did you have the idea of that character? Is he a projection of you in some other timeline?

  Alan Delabie: No, Franck Denard is completely opposite of me. While I was in San Diego on a rainy, gloomy day, I decided to spend time writing and then came up with the idea of a short web series about a man who, while leaving prison and suffering from a brain tumor, establishes himself as a vigilante.

  After I made a few capsules, and a friend of mine in Los Angeles, Meosha Bean, discovered those, she suggested to me that the idea should be developed into a feature. Anatomy of an Antihero: Redemption (aka Borrowed Time), with she standing as a director and me as a writer, would be launched shortly after. Although the end of Borrowed Time implied a collapsing Franck Denard, shedding tears of blood and refusing to continue to take his medications, was about to die on the beach, a producer would express interest in launching a sequel. I proposed that we work instead on a prequel dealing with Denard’s stay in prison and what happens between his release and those ulterior events related in Borrowed Time. The producer agreed, and I started writing Denard: Anatomy of an Antihero (aka Borrowed Time 2), which I would direct as well.

  It was too hard to get the authorization to film in a jail, so the prequel, which I first planned to contain a large segment—half of the plot—set in a prison environment, would end up with only a few custodial scenes, all in the form of flashbacks. The success the second installment would meet on streaming platforms would arouse the launch of Borrowed Time 3: Falling Apart, which I would co-direct with David Worth. When working on Anatomy of an Antihero: Redemption, I could hardly imagine there would be any additional installment; but I now believe a trilogy is what Borrowed Time had always been destined to be.

Eric Roberts, Alan Delabie, and Merrick McCartha

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Two climactic moments in the saga are respectively your fight with Abdelkrim Qissi, and the training montage featuring you alongside Mohammed Qissi.

  Alan Delabie: Yes, and you can discern some inspiration from Abdel’s fight at the end of Lionheart. I somewhat regret that Abdel and I didn’t find time to rehearse our choreography as thoroughly as we should have. David, who was kind enough to check the editing of the training montage, gave me some helpful advice.

  Besides Abdelkrim and Mohammed, the Borrowed Time have assuredly allowed me to collaborate with a variety of other great actors: to name but a few, Eric Roberts, Costas Mandylor, Louis Mandylor, Patrick Kilpatrick, Matthias Hues, or Bob Wall, legendary opponent of Bruce Lee.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Did those contracts you made with producers ask you to cede the copyright on Borrowed Time?

  Alan Delabie: No, I could keep the copyright.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How both of you came to codirect Borrowed Time 3: Falling Apart is a high moment in that adventure that has been your mentorship by David Worth.

  Alan Delabie: It’s been more than thirteen years since I’ve been in touch with David. I had the audacity to reach him, and to introduce him to the early tentative steps of my work in the movie field. Since then, indeed, he has been mentoring me, and following and assessing my modest achievements.

  The first time I would meet David physically would be in 2013 in Los Angeles. At the time, he was teaching in San Francisco and doing several rounds trips between L.A. and San Francisco. When meeting we felt a time would come when we would do some movies together. A few years later, I would write Borrowed Time 3 and then submit the screenplay to David, who would see some potential in it. That is when I asked him whether he would agree to take charge of the L.A. part, while I would personally take care of the Europe part. David accepted my offer, and we would have much pleasure working together on the movie. After the filming was complete, David let me know that, whenever I would have a new project situated in L.A., he would be there to help me.

  David has been checking my work since even before he codirected Borrowed Time 3. You can easily imagine how stressed I am whenever the man who directed Kickboxer and made the photo for two Clint Eastwood classics is judging my way of filming, editing, and acting. His criticism is always constructive though.

  Here are two things he taught me, which I would like to convey in turn. Firstly: no matter how you edit it, if that footage you’re working on is bad, you cannot fix it. Secondly: it’s better for that footage you’re working on to have a good sound and average picture quality than have an average sound quality and good picture quality. Sound is really what gonna allow you to stand out.

David Worth (on the right), and Alan Delabie

  Grégoire Canlorbe: You used to be compared to Jean-Claude Van Damme.

  Alan Delabie: I indeed used to be compared to him, and to personally find inspiration in him. I am just being myself today. Jean-Claude’s charisma is unique, and unsurpassable. He has a warrior face that is cute, angelic at the same time. Whenever he acts as a dark character, he doesn’t shine really. JCVD is clearly at his best when he acts as a light-hearted, combative character, one who may go through sadness and anger, but in all circumstances remains cheerful and gentle and never stops fighting. It is something David Worth could capture beautifully.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: A contemporary horror movie that was made from a modest budget is Damien Leone’s Terrifier. The latter and its sequel, Terrifier 2, were respectively made from $35 000 and $250 000. Both movies are great, and have been successful financially and in terms of buzz. Do you believe an independent action movie can be as fortunate nowadays?

  Alan Delabie: Two remarkably well chosen examples. Damien Leone has managed to create a clown character who is truly terrifying and catchy, and who rivals with Stephen King’s It. I prefer the first Terrifier installment, which I find to be more effective and original.

  Yes, an independent action movie can be just as “fortunate,” both “financially and in terms of buzz,” but it is harder. You must know that, nowadays, an independent action movie with a budget exceeding $300 000 is never gonna be able to recoup its costs most likely. It is something I learnt through Don “The Dragon” Wilson, who is accustomed to acting in action movies with a budget situated between $300 000 and $500 000. The reason is situated at the marketing level. An independent action movie just cannot compete with all those action blockbusters that can put dozens of millions of dollars into their communication and advertising.

  True, your movie may still create a buzz with a modest marketing budget (or even no marketing budget at all), but a buzz is something way easier to arouse with a horror independent movie than it is with an action independent movie. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey had a fun, original concept that caused a sensation. Anyway all independent movies, when it comes to breaking even, face a same problem at the level of distribution. Given the public at large is increasingly relinquishing both the movie theaters and physical supports, it is increasingly unlikely for an independent movie to be offered a release other than just on a streaming platform. Yet that type of release is less rentable.

Don « The Dragon » Wilson and Alan Delabie

  Grégoire Canlorbe: You’re acting as a French professional killer, Alex Lapierre, in Shepherd Code. It seems you’re inscribing yourself in the lineage of Alain Delon in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï…

  Alan Delabie: Alain Delon with his stern face and cold, stoic interpretation was perfect as Jeff Costello. I would love to meet him someday. To me, he is a lion, so are Jean-Paul Belmondo, Lino Ventura, Jean Gabin, and Michel Constantin. Alex Lapierre is a role that would fit Van Damme better than Delon though.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How was the Shepherd Code project born? What is its spirit?

  Alan Delabie: At first, while there were three of us to be willing to invest into a new movie project, I wanted to direct a sequel to The Last Nosferatu. I planned my character to be chased by an equivalent of Van Helsing, whom I wanted to be played by Silvio Lumac. As my makeup artist wasn’t available at the time, I turned to another synopsis of mine, one about a hired killer who wants to make his last mission before retiring.

  I developed a screenplay from that synopsis, and then had the project launched with Don Wilson cast as the backer of my character’s last mission and David Worth attached to the project as an assistant producer. I also cast Silvio Lumac as a rival assassin, whose relationship with Alex Lapierre is similar to that Antonio Banderas’s character is having with Sylvester Stallone’s character in Richard Donner’s Assassins. I codirected Shepherd Code with Lh Chambat, who had edited The Last Nosferatu. We shot in L.A., Bristol, Lisbon, and Paris.

  Shepherd Code isn’t only about suspense and action. The introspection Lapierre finds himself proceeding with as he is carrying out what is supposed to be his last mission, the way he becomes aware of the source of his troubles, it is something I also wanted to stand at the core of Shepherd Code.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Are there a few scenes of Shepherd Code you would like to tease?

  Alan Delabie: Yes, one in the desert with a white car whose trunk is being opened. Another one I would like to tease features two characters—the one played by Michael Morris and mine—shooting at the same time. Both scenes clearly have a Tarantino vibe. There is still another scene I would like to tease, which features David Worth doing a cool cameo.

Michael Morris, and Alan Delabie – Shepherd Code extract

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Both Shepherd Code and Borrowed Time 3 had parts shot in Los Angeles. L.A. is reportedly a good place for filming, with great urban landscape for action.

  Alan Delabie: Honestly L.A. is a nightmare for movies. You cannot shoot there without any license. If you start filming in the street without any delivered authorization, you soon end up getting stopped by the police and finding yourself with a fine. We were lucky that we could rent locations for the filming in L.A.; but, frankly, the urban landscape isn’t especially nice there.

  Most of those scenes featuring a shootout in the streets of L.A. are actually filmed in a studio nowadays. That is because insecurity and violence are now reigning in L.A., and you can be easily mugged or have your equipment stolen whenever you’re filming there. It happened on Shepherd Code’s set. Our boom operator had his boom mic stolen just in front of us, but we could get it back fortunately. It is no wonder that many companies delocalized their filmings from L.A. to Atlanta. Anyway we could capture some strong visuals in L.A., especially that scene on a building’s roof. What we shot in the desert is just as impressive.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Does the way Paris was shot in John Wick 4 resonate with you?

  Alan Delabie: I like the three previous John Wick movies very much, but that fourth installment left me somewhat disappointed. It is as if the magic, including in the Paris segment, had vanished. It was nice to see Scott Adkins being offered an original role (in the Berlin segment) though. To me, his best movies are Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (aka Boyka) and its sequels, as well as Avengement and The Debt Collector and its sequel.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Do you believe the sound, visual quality is something you can achieve even with modest technical means?

  Alan Delabie: A few months ago I was with David Worth, who had just bought a new iPhone. We did some videos tests with his iPhone, and we witnessed how it could shoot in 6K not less than in slow mention. With two iPhones (at least, that model or one comparable), two tripods, and a lavalier microphone, you’re perfectly in a position to shoot something that is quite good in terms of sound and visuals. David suggested to me that I watch Tangerine, a feature that was shot entirely with three iPhones. I must say the movie isn’t bad at all.

  I positively react to the fact that, in a sense, it is now increasingly easier to get the technical means to make one’s movie, and even to have one’s work released. If you cannot have your film rendered available on a streaming platform, you can still post it on YouTube, which remains a way of getting your work known. But beware: if you want to make a (good) movie, you must be able to proceed with a team job and, accordingly, to delegate some tasks and to respect, listen your colleagues. Also, you must be ready to be held to account whenever you’re getting your funds through a crowdfunding or some directly reached investor or sponsor.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you feel about The Last Kumite?

  Alan Delabie: Quite a cool project. I am somewhat disappointed that Émilien De Falco wasn’t part of the adventure, as he would have been perfect as a lead character. It obviously remains a great cast with people like Matthias Hues, Billy Blanks, Kurt McKinney, Cynthia Rothrock, and both Qissi brothers. I heard there was a fight between Billy and Matthias, which I obviously look forward to discovering. I collaborated with Animal King, a capoeira master who fights in The Last Kumite. I must say he is very talented.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: You’re regularly involved with the score of your movies. Would you be ready to collaborate with Goblin band, who composed the soundtrack of many Dario Argento and other Italian horror classics?

  Alan Delabie: I love Goblin’s work. To me, they reached their summit with the soundtrack of Luigi Cozzi’s Contamination. Yes, I would be ready to collaborate with them, as well as with Fabio Frizzi, the composer on Zombi 2 and many other Lucio Fulci classics.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Thank you for your time. Is there something you would like to add?

  Alan Delabie: It was quite sympathetic. I may be the conductor whenever I am alone to direct a movie; but I would be nothing without my collaborators. I may do my best to deliver a good movie; but my work could hardly shine if it weren’t for the talent of each of my actors, and that of each of my technicians. That’s why I attach special importance to bringing to light my collaborators and their credits, and to carrying out an authentic team job in a spirit of gratefulness.

That conversation was initially published on Bulletproof Action, on 3 October 2023

A conversation with Michael Bornhütter, for Bulletproof Action

A conversation with Michael Bornhütter, for Bulletproof Action

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Michael Bornhütter is a German sensei, stuntman, fight/stunt coordinator, and actor. He is notably known for The Saint: Wrong Number, The Bourne Ultimatum, V for Vendetta, and The Matrix Resurrections. He won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture for The Bourne Ultimatum; what’s more, he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture for The Matrix Resurrections.

  Bornhütter is involved as a fight/stunt coordinator, fight choreographer, and martial arts/stunt teacher with Movision Movement, a Berlin based “stunt team & community of actors and stunt performers specializing in martial arts, fight design & movement preparation/training of lead actors.”

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Please tell us about Movision Movement. How was the company born, and what are its ambitions?

  Michael Bornhütter: I think Movision Movement was born through Manu [Manuel Werling] and Anna [Anna-Jorinde Pursche] because they both love movement, and both are excellent artists and martial artists. The deeper meaning in the name is found in the details—Mo-vision, the vision of the movement.

   I met Manuel on a no-budget film project (Dark Net: The Beginning) that I supervised as a fight choreographer; Manu also played a scene in the film, and I liked the art and style with which he moved, so we got together and I hired him as a fight choreographer assistant for a big film project (Tribes Of Europa). Manuel was a stunt performer before and from the moment we started working together everything went great. That’s when I joined Movision Movement. I also like the idea of Movie and Vision; that is another way of understanding the name.

Michael Bornhütter (in the foreground), and Manuel Werling (in the background)

  Grégoire Canlorbe: To what extent do the task of a sensei, martial-arts mentor—and the task of a fight coordinator—relate to each other?

  Michael Bornhütter: I think it’s close. Before I started the fight and stunt choreos, I was a sensei for mixed martial arts, just for martial arts. It helped me later to choreograph the fights; it helped me to deal with people and work with them. This is great for me. It’s a different job as a martial arts sensei, but it’s very similar because you work with people and explain to them how you do things. Teaching and learning is what I love about it.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you sum up the tale of your “40 years of experience in various traditional & modern fighting styles”?

  Michael Bornhütter: My journey began at the age of 12; that’s when I learned traditional fighting styles. I later started stunt training, in the 80s; times were different in this area. In 2000 I worked with Donnie Yen and learned film martial arts, which is completely different from reality. Because it’s unreal; there’s a short real part in the fight, but you could never use that on the street. I learned a soldier’s way of handling weapons, all weapons and knives; I was taught a soldier’s tactical drills. I learned all of this even before I was a stuntman; for, when I started martial arts, I had a sensei who unusually taught me a lot of weapons. He said all martial arts are good and so I learned how to use Sai and Tonfa [a weapon from Kobudo and Ju-Jitsu], and many other weapons and fighting styles like those I would make use of as a stunt and movie fighter.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: So, you’re experienced as much with firearms as with fencing, archery, and knife throwing.

  Michael Bornhütter: I remember The Three Musketeers [Paul W.S. Anderson’s version]; that was super crazy. We shot in 3D and everything had to be much more precise because the focus is much closer than in 2D; that means we had to be much more precise with the weapons. It made everything more complicated, but also more interesting. You can fake a lot of things—knife throwing and things like those in your question—under the camera; you can also do a lot of tricks when editing. But faking is a little more difficult in 3D.

Michael Bornhütter, Hamudi Ahmad, and Manuel Werling (from the right to the left)

  Grégoire Canlorbe: I believe one of your skills as a stuntman is also driving stunt.

  Michael Bornhütter: I’m not a very good precision driver, but I’ve had experience with precision driver things and have driven a lot of vehicles. There are people who drive much better than me, whom I would entrust with tasks such as getting involved with a car race in a parking without anything happening to the vehicle he is driving, or doing a precision drive on an actor and stopping just before hitting him.

  I do those things though; I also do things like a U turn. It’s all a matter of practice; you can learn all of that, it has a lot to do with what people want to specialize in. Car stunt has a lot to do with technical standards: if the car is to jump from a ramp, explode, or roll over, it has to be prepared adequately. That means you don’t just need someone who can drive; you also need someone with all the necessary know-how. I know all that, I was there a lot; but I always try to get away from those things, that’s not my stuff really.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you assess Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive featuring Ryan Gosling in the role of a Hollywood stunt driver?

  Michael Bornhütter: I think the film is very good. There’s always a little bit of truth in a film, but it’s a romantic idea. There’s another old film that’s pretty cool related to it too, which I think is called Driver [Walter Hill’s Driver featuring Ryan O’Neal]; but of course that has nothing to do with reality either. From a cinematic point of view, Drive is awesome, with very good driving, and very good stunt driving, which, I have to say, are very well shot.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: When it comes to the way stuntmen are solicited, used, and treated in the Hong Kong movie industry, do you notice some significant difference with the way they are solicited, used, and treated in Hollywood?

  Michael Bornhütter: I got into Hollywood films relatively early: at the end of the 80s, while the wall was still in Berlin, I was a stuntman on a Hollywood film with Gene Hackman [Company Business], part of which was shot in Berlin. It was a film about the Cold War; before it was over and was supposed to hit theaters, the wall fell, that’s why the Americans withheld the film. When the wall fell, things moved on pretty quickly: a Hollywood film with Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith [Shining Through] was made here in Berlin. In the beginning it was like you only ever worked with the Americans when they came here; that changed quite a bit in the 2010s, with the possibility offered to many German stunt people that they work in America once they’ve entered the SAG-AFTRA.

  I worked with the Chinese for the first time in 2000; I was the German stunt coordinator on a series [Der Puma – Kämpfer mit Herz] with which Donnie Yen was involved as an action unit director. I was a part of Donnie’s team, and did the casting of all the German fighters; I also worked on some choreos with Kenji [Kenji Tanigaki]. Initially it wasn’t possible to work in Hong Kong, as the Chinese weren’t really interested in working with Europeans. It is now the case that many German stunt people are brought to Hong Kong or India, and filming there; but I think it is only ten or fifteen years ago that they were offered that possibility. The whole thing has become more global, which was actually kickstarted by Jackie Chan; he worked in America himself, and inspired other Chinese movie fighters (like Jet Li, and Donnie Yen) to do the same. He did a lot to have people from all countries collaborate with each other in Hong Kong, and elsewhere.

  Here is a “significant difference” I see between the Americans, the Germans, and the Chinese when it comes to stunt and movie fighting. The Americans do everything with a lot of money, and with a lot of technology and people; the Chinese do everything with a lot of tricks and try to do the job with less equipment, less money, and less people but with effective things and ideas. And we Germans are somewhere in between.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: You were involved with Matrix Resurrections as a stunt performer, and nominated by the Screen Actors Guild Awards for outstanding performance by a stunt ensemble in that framework. How do you remember the experience?

  Michael Bornhütter: For me it wasn’t as exciting as it might have been for the younger people, as I made a lot of films like that before. It was nice to see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss though. I’ve known, and worked for, the director who made the film for a long time, and I actually got the job through her. I got to know the Wachowski sisters on V for Vendetta; that was the first time I worked with them, and I thought they were great and got along well with them. On Cloud Atlas I did the fight choreography for the two of them; on Matrix: Resurrections I was a stunt performer for Lana Wachowski, her sister Lilly was no longer on board. The work was okay for me. I knew all the stuntmen; we did a lot of stunts in that scene [an explosion scene] I was in, and it was fun.

Michael Bornhütter (on the left), and Manuel Werling (on the right)

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you assess the stunt prowess of those actors—like Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jackie Chan, or Tom Cruise—doing their own stunts?

  Michael Bornhütter: Very interesting question. To an extent, young actors are all Belmondo who are fit, who are go-getter, who do a lot of their own stuff; all have to meet their physical limitations someday though. Even Jackie Chan, however fit he may continue to be nowadays, has six doubles now.

  Anyway, once you start working in America, it becomes difficult for a lead actor to do a lot of his own stunts; because if he gets injured, no insurance will pay for it. Some Hollywood actors, like Tom Cruise, do a lot of their stunts; but I don’t think some performer, even Tom Cruise, can really be covered by insurance if he says: “I will make all my stunts myself.” There are certain things Jackie Chan wouldn’t even do himself if he were still working in America; the risk is just too great that he would injure himself and then stop shooting. I know he hurt himself a few times in Hong Kong on Hong Kong productions; but it’s handled differently there. The man is put in plaster, then the plaster is painted on and then he continues.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: David Worth’s Kickboxer enjoys everlasting fame and popularity alongside martial artists, stuntmen, and the public at large. How do you feel about it?

  Michael Bornhütter: I find that film to be pretty good. It’s like the other movie with Ryan Gosling: it’s just fiction, a romantic idea. There has to be a story, and the fights have to be choreographed in such a way that whoever is supposed to win wins; that means, of course, like in Rocky, you don’t see a real failure. If a boxer had to analyze the Rocky films, he would laugh his head off at how the fight goes in there; everyone still likes the fights and it’s great.

  One reason why Kickboxer has been so popular in the stunt profession may be that it was released at a time when a new generation of stunt people in Germany—we were just mesmerized by all those Jackie Chan movies—was trying to bring that Hong Kong spirit to the German movies, and to fight differently than what was expected from us at the time. I remember I was told then somehow: “Hey, this looks too much like martial arts, don’t do it;” but there were no fight choreographers in the 80s and 90s. The director said somehow: “Show them how to do the scene,” and it wasn’t called fight choreographer; that only came out in 2000 or at the end of the 90s. Anyway we could identify to the way those fights in Kickboxer were choreographed and shot, in a Hong Kong vein; but, of course, Kickboxer also contributed to making martial arts in movie increasingly popular alongside the German public at large.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Thank you for your time. Please feel free to add anything.

  Michael Bornhütter: There are some prizes I received; but for me it’s more important to do some nice work, I don’t need a nomination really.

  Transcribers: Davide Daniele Jakubowski;
& Grégoire Canlorbe with the help of Sonix AI

That conversation was originally published by Bulletproof Action, on 20 September 2022

A conversation with Mark Stas, for Bulletproof Action

A conversation with Mark Stas, for Bulletproof Action

by ·

Mark Stas is a Belgian, South Korea-born martial artist, actor, screenwriter, and producer. The founder of a martial art, the Wing Flow System, he starred in features such as Borrowed Time 3 and English Dogs in Bangkok. Besides directing, writing, and producing short movie Emerging from the Shadows (in which he acted), he wrote At the Edge, a short movie that is based on his own experience and which he acted in.

  He was an award winner in three different projects he was involved in, namely Emerging From the Shadows, At the Edge, and Borrowed Time 3. An award-winning choreographer for Borrowed Time 3, he received the award of “Best Ensemble” at the “Los Angeles Actors Award” for his acting as Inspector Chan in Borrowed Time 3.

  One the newest projects Mark Stas is being involved with is Abel Ernest Tembo’s feature Funayurei, which is based on a screenplay by Grégoire Canlorbe, and in which Mark Stas both serves as an executive producer and as a lead actor alongside Manuel Werling and Ron Smoorenburg.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: You were given the nickname of the Belgian Bruce Lee. Do you find it to be somewhat reductive?

  Mark Stas: It all depends on the point of view, but it’s a real honour to be compared to him of course. He is the legend himself, unbeatable in many aspects whether it’s in his martial arts spirit and skills, his personal training creativity or his performance in movies. He paved the path for so many and surely inspired me along my martial arts path.

  Strangely I never really practiced his JKD. But I share 100% his tremendous focus and determination to become the best in what he did.

  I could only say reductive in the sense that I developed differently in martial arts: inspired by him to become the best possible version of myself through 100% dedication and personal training.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Do you believe Bruce Lee to have been offered an appropriate treatment in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

  Mark Stas: Here has been a lot polemic. I can underling though the react of his daughter Shannon Lee.

  But I also think it’s mere a point of view and although I’m a huge fan of Bruce Lee myself, sometimes there is a particular reason. I read for example what Mike Moh (who portrays Bruce Lee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) wrote in his interview:

  “In the film it was a challenge I got the first point — I knocked him on his ass first. And Bruce at that time was so cocky and maybe got a little excited and he didn’t know Cliff Booth has killed dozens of people with his bare hands — and that’s what people may not realize up until that moment in the film,” he said. “It’s a hugely important scene — what better way to show how dangerous Cliff is than for him to show up and even match him for a little bit with Bruce?”… “I can see how people might think Bruce got beat because of the impact with the car, but you give me five more seconds and Bruce would have won,” Moh continued. “So I know people are going to be up in arms about it, but when I went into my deep dive of studying Bruce, he more than anybody wanted people to know he’s human.”

  But we all know how big his influence was and still is. They forget maybe he was cocky but in the sixties, times weren’t as tolerant as today towards Asians (I recall the fact that Hollywood preferred David Carradine over Bruce Lee because he was too Asian…). And to survive in the world, especially in the movie world he had to be strong and prove himself.

  Such a presentation of Bruce Lee can never destroy his inspiration and knowledge he left in this world even after 50 years.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you sum up the Wing Flow System, and its specificities with respect to the Wing Chun?

  Mark Stas: It’s a personal martial art vision which wasn’t really meant in the beginning to be promoted publicly.

  Highly influenced by Wing Tsun, and trained by the best masters in this particular style, I went for personal reasons my own way after 33 years martial arts training. It’s characterised by highly precise and perfect controlled attacks and defences, which are linked to a highly developed economy of motion and specific body mechanics. On top of that it has the soft-hard (yin-yang) aspect woven in the actions, where especially in close quarter it excels. When linked to a strategy and tactics, one will know that power or speed alone can be beaten (look at The Art of War to understand how strategy is woven into intelligent action).

  The difference with Wing Chun is that with everything I learned, studied and the experience I gathered, I had to kick out many movements or concepts in order to find something that could fit my needs as a martial artist. Many call it an improved version but others can claim their so called traditional wing chun as better with the full curriculum (but what serves theory if in practise they lack understanding of principles and body mechanics, let alone when demonstrating it…).

  I simply put it as a personal expression, thanks to my experience and hard work. Since it’s a personal system, it’s not always easy to structure for others a system that personally fits. But there exist a full teaching program where the most interesting part starts after the core levels (we distinguish a basic core, intermediate and advanced core block): all these levels are mandatory levels to develop the practitioner. Compare it also to for example Karate where at reaching the black belt, real training can start.

  Wing Flow System (WFS) has a strong but simple self defence concept which attracted the main instructor of the RAID (Special Force) in Lyon, France and many champions and high level champions in Brazil or Thailand witnessed WFS with success. People just need to understand that with WFS you enter in the ‘art’ and not purely competition area. Long term vision and development are essential since we all grow older and the bodily capacities and mind changes over time. I place WFS in the category of longevity martial art without being too much mystic about skills. It’s all about correct use of body structure, hard and persistent training and of course correct guidance if speaking about in-depth details.

  But as they say, there is no accounting for tastes.

Mark Stas (on the right) with Grégoire Canlorbe (on the left)

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you react to the claim that, just like absolute truth in the field of ideas is unattainable and only approachable, and only approached through competition between ideas, perfection in the field of martial arts is unattainable and only approachable, and only approached through the experience of fighting?

  Mark Stas: In martial arts what is truth? How to measure? Your question is a delicate one.

  Every martial art has a specific purpose, a sense. It all started with the origin of a martial art and how it developed over the years.

  We are largely influenced by what is on social media or the broadcasted highly paid boxing, MMA fights and so on. Sports gather people or create a certain atmosphere but martial arts practise is to me more a personal and individual fascinating way of life. You become a specialist when you train what is necessary to become one, especially in martial arts. It’s true that is has been proven that certain arts have more potential to be victorious than other arts. But in my opinion, why some martial arts fail in the sports area is mainly because of the lack of good instructors who can teach the specific combat concepts useable in combat sports.

  Ironically a martial art has limits in the sports area due to the limits imposed. But the reason why it fails in the sports area is because 99% of all martial arts practitioners don’t train as intensively as boxing or MMA practitioners who compete. Martial arts have a lot of techniques whereas in combat sports not as many techniques are necessary: an extraction is needed and these must be combat ready.

  Martial artists are in general more lazy and live on false hope. I can say as a martial artist I train a lot. But I couldn’t even compare to high level sports athletes who train 5 times more than me. Imagine the average martial artist… But martial arts compensate this comparison in a ring or on the mat by training methodologies unique in their genre.

  But again, there exist all levels of martial artists, which go from horrible to excellent. It takes experience and an eye for details to detect great from good and mediocre from decent. When I improve my martial arts skills, I want to come to perfect execution in the feeling of it. I’m a fervent believer of practicing one movement a thousands times, which can be a beginners advice but absolutely to an advanced martial artist it will become a must to go the level of excellence.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you assess that movie saga starring Donnie Yen as Ip Man?

  Mark Stas: Donnie Yen did a great performance in Ip Man and it contributed highly to the fame of Wing Chun. He is a fantastic martial arts actor and he deserves the gory he worked so hard for.

  But distinguish movie and real Wing Chun practice. If I have to use my critical martial arts eye, it’s very well choreographed but a minor detail I would mention is that some actions are exaggerated. But that’s mere my own opinion. As a huge Wing Chun fan, I look forward seeing new Wing Chun movie creations.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: You’ve been in Bangkok for the filming of English Dogs in Bangkok. When comparing the Bangkok lifestyle with that of Brussels, Paris, or London, what are those differences that strike you most?

  Mark Stas: I lived 3 months in Bangkok and it was a unique period in my life and my movie career started there, although it was not foreseen that way at first.

  Bangkok, being a very busy metropole, it has really calming parks where I found this peace when I did my daily training. The temples and Buddhas are very impressive, which I loved a lot. I am a huge fan of Thai food and of course I enjoyed every single meal I ate there. Imagine the price quality of the food over there.

  The atmosphere is different from Europe and the kindness and smiles appearing on the faces of the Thai people are unique. There exists also the other side of the city, which attracts tourists, but each has to judge for himself which beauty to discover in this amazing city.

  Nevertheless I hold a very good memory thanks to Ron Smoorenburg who at first invited me over and got me involved in some movies. I could meet talented producers such as Daniel Zirilli or Dean Alexandrou and of course Byron Gibson and fantastic actors and stuntmen.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you sum up the tale of your dual collaboration with Ron Smoorenburg, and with Byron Gibson?

  Mark Stas: It was thanks to some of my videos that Ron discovered me on social media. We communicated and he invited me over. I was very busy at that time and only after a while after a difficult period in my life I made a break and left for Thailand. He wanted to see if I was that really good: the rest is history.

  He presented my to Byron, since he was still filming his English Dogs in Bangkok: after seeing our first fight scene, Byron wanted me to do a second fight scene for the same movie. Thanks to that first fight scene, I got the chance to play a part in Dean’s movie, Haphazard.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Your fight with Ron Smoorenburg is a climactic point in English Dogs in Bangkok. Please tell us about the way it was choreographed, executed, and shot.

  Mark Stas: First the luck was that Ron and I were from the beginning in very good harmony, although we practice different arts. So after creating the fight scene, I always film it and overview it to make changes. We rehearsed the changes and we shot the fight scene. Ron is very good in placing the camera angle and together with Byron they shot the full fights rather quickly. Byron himself is very dynamic in the way he shoots. With a powerful editing, Ron did an amazing job and luckily I could give him some pointers helping him for my movements, and the result is very nice for my first movie appearance.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How is At the Edge exactly based on your own experience?

  Mark Stas: Around 2015 or 2014, together with Tomo, my long term student and assistent we made some quality videos and he introduced me to the director Lorenzo Vanin. After a great video we created, I wrote a part of my life which was then used to create a short movie with them. I told them I will be in Thailand but we could film over there. I made arrangements to bring them over and after hard work to create the full short, we shot it in Bangkok.

  I got many messages from people who found a true message and strength in it for their lives. At an emotional depth, although at a highlight in martial arts, there was this turning point, which made me to decide to take a break and leave Belgium. This short movie traces back this moment in my life (without now entering in details).

  It was put visually very good by the director Lorenzo Vanin, some parts couldn’t be as I expected due to limited possibilities although I’m proud of the result. All actors did also a great job.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: You’re fluent in Flemish, English, French, German, and Portuguese. Which of those languages do you find to be most appropriate to express love-related things?

  Mark Stas: Luckily I only need to express my love in one language. I’m not sure if Dutch would be the easiest way to express deep feelings although I don’t speak my mother tongue so often.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you remember your collaboration with David Worth who served as a cinematographer on Borrowed Time 3?

  Mark Stas: Knowing he would co-produce Borrowed Time 3 was a real honor! Movies like Bloodsport or Bronco Billy are memorable references in the movie world even after 35 years. His experience contributed a lot in Borrowed Time 3 and meeting him was for me a true milestone. He’s a big man.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Would you be ready to return as Inspector Chan in a new sequel to Borrowed Time?

  Mark Stas: Borrowed Time has something powerful, well created by Alan Delabie, and there exist some ways to create spin offs, etc. If there would be a proposal with a good script, then definitely.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: When it comes to the art of movie directing, how do you compare the respective techniques and ways of proceeding of Alan Delabie (on Borrowed Time 3), and of Taffy Edwards (on English Dogs in Bangkok)?

  Mark Stas: They have their own way to create and direct movies and that’s great, cause the individual vision in creating makes the difference instead of copying the same. Both movies have a different action idea. Both directors have a different martial arts background: the Karate and Nunchaku for Alan Delabie, while Taffy Edwards loved Greco-Roman wrestling.

  This also influences the action scenes they wanted to create, although I could show a more Asian fighting style in English Dogs in Bangkok. (We can’t forget that the story is based on a true story.) Some parts of English Dogs in Bangkok reminded me of some great movies, although the English touch is visible compared to Borrowed Time 3, which goes in the direction of the eighties action movies.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Would you seize the opportunity to act in a movie by Wong Kar-wai, who directed The Grandmaster starring Tony Leung as Ip Man?

  Mark Stas: The cinematography is marvelous and I really loved how it was displayed. The majestic details are amazing. When I saw the movie, I totally enjoyed it. Different as the Donnie Yen’s Ip Man movies but I place it visually on a higher scale. Although many didn’t like it as much as Ip Man because the Wing Chun was less pronounced, but to me the aesthetic was perfectly woven in the action. I would definitely say yes to Wong Kar-wai.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: One of your most recent achievements is Emerging from the Shadows. Please tell us about it.

  Mark Stas: What started as a fight scene idea became an award winning short movie: who wouldn’t be proud of this?

  I was very lucky to have Ron Smoorenburg (yes again him) by my side for the main part I created in Italy. But I left it aside due to a lack of quality at first (no budget was planned and filmed with my iPhone without a real experience). Then when one of the actors, Max Repossi died prematurely, I decided to finish the short. I created a powerful introduction and an original opening credits (which by the way won an award), I worked hard in the editing. I could get the help from my friend Lina for the Japanese part in it and thanks to the help of Tomo for the colouring, but Jan De Hul did a huge job for the main color grading. And we obtained the best possible result ever.

  Finally it was a short movie in memory of Max and this sad tragedy helped me to continue to work hard to not let the project in vain.

  The few articles written were more than positive and I’m very proud with my first full creation, for which I won a Special Jury Award (Best Actor) or Best Action Short, Best Opening Credits, Critic’s Choice Award (Best Director) or the Award of Prestige for Best Choreography.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: What can you let us glimpse of that character you’re acting as in Funayurei—Genji?

  Mark Stas: The story is very well written (thanks to the talent of Grégoire Canlorbe) and I was attracted by the character of Genji, which was presented to me. He is the leader of a mercenaries group to find the legendary Funayurei, who is like a ghost. He has this more philosophical side which is woven into his character. His fighting skills are highly efficient but very exquisite and only he would be capable to capture the Funayurei, with whom he has a certain bond.

  The story has a very good intrigue between the Funayurei and Genji. We are still in a debut phase, but it promises to be a unique and very interesting movie concept. There are some high level actors involved such as Ron Smoorenburg or Manuel Werling. The director Abel Ernest has put a high standard, but I believe it can become a worthy project with story surprises. I really look forward.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Spiritually speaking, do you rather consider yourself a man from the East, or one from the West?

  Mark Stas: I grew up in Europe, more precisely in Belgium but I traveled a lot around the world. I visited Asia around 7 times. But deep inside I was always attracted by the Asian culture besides of course martial arts, which were since my childhood my biggest passion.

  I think I’m spiritually more Asian but with a European touch. I was deeply influenced by Asian books such as Art of War, Hagakure, Tao Te Ching and the philosophy of Bruce Lee. Although I love the readings of Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius or Paulo Coelho. Martial art practice goes hand in hand with spirituality: form training and individual training are tools to develop one’s spirituality.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Thank you for your time. Is there anything you would like to add?

  Mark Stas: With passion and pursuing one’s dreams and vision, a lot can be achieved. Never let negative critics abandon your believes. Work hard, surround yourself by the best, cooperate intelligently cause no one can do everything by himself and go for it. Thank you for this interview Grégoire.

That conversation was initially published on Bulletproof Action, in May 2023

A conversation with David Worth, for Bulletproof Action

A conversation with David Worth, for Bulletproof Action

by ·

David Worth is an American director of photography and film director. He contributed as cinematographer to more than twenty films, including Bloodsport, Any Which Way You Can, and Bronco Billy. He directed movies such as Warrior of the Lost World (which he also wrote), Lady Dragon, Hard Knocks, and Kickboxer.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: In Warrior of the Lost World, a 1983 Italian production,you had the honor to direct legendary actor Donald Pleasence [Dr Loomis in the Halloween saga]. How do you remember this collaboration?

  David Worth: I was very honored to work with a gentleman, with the acting acumen and the acting skills of Donald Pleasence, who had been in so many great films. He was in the original Dr. No, he was in Halloween. He was in a great film by Roman Polanski. I’m trying to remember the name of that one. He was in the film The Great Escape with Steve McQueen. He’s truly a great, great, great actor! So I was very pleased to work with him. He was only there for a week of our short schedule, doing his part as Prossor, but he was very prepared, very intense. He even insisted that Persis Khambatta spit in his face for real when it was required for the scene, even though we could have faked it because it was done in cuts. But he insisted that Persis spit in his face to motivate him as Prossor, and I thought that was extraordinary! Mr. Pleasence was a very brilliant gentleman to work with.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: What is your view, generally speaking, of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s Italian “genre movie,” i.e., giallo, cannibal film, and postapocalyptic? And of movie-directors such as Lamberto Bava, Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, and Ruggero Deodato?

  David Worth: Dario Argento’s work, I know very well, as well as his daughter’s, Asia Argento. I know their work very well. The others I don’t know because I was never a follower of many of the post-apocalyptic films. Any of the cannibal films, I don’t really know those works. But Dario Argento, I thought, was a fine filmmaker, and he made a lot of very interesting, horrific films in the ’70s and ’80s.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Shark Attack 2 is notoriously better—and much more generous in terms of “shark attacks”—than its predecessor. How did you manage to save that saga that started so poorly?

  David Worth: The late, great producer at New Image, Danny Lerner, I had known him for 10 years, and he gave me the script for Shark Attack 2 and asked me to go to Cape Town in South Africa to make it. When I looked at the first Shark Attack, I realized it was a problem because it’s called Shark Attack, but there are virtually no shark attacks in the movie. So from doing second unit work with the great second unit director Glenn Randall and from being a cinematographer and editor for many years, I knew that we needed a lot of pieces to make a shark attack work. So I began to break apart the sequences and analyze what I needed, and I needed several things. First, I needed a real dummy shark, 25 or 30 feet long, that could be towed with a jet ski to go right by the boats, so we could see the size of it. Then, I needed several biting heads, big biting heads that could be operated by stunt divers, and that we could bite the actors with. Then, I needed fins that could be seen on top of the water, that could be driven by stunt actors, stunt divers so that I could have the shark turning left or right or attacking. And then, I also used a lot of real shark stock footage. I used real shark stock footage swimming toward the camera, going left, going right. Then, I would use the pieces that I invented to tie the story together, and we it made it work very, very well.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Were you approached to work on those other cult shark-series that are Mega Shark and Sharknado?

  David Worth: No, I was never asked. I was never approached. I wasn’t even approached when New Image did their last shark movie that Danny Lerner directed. I had done my share of shark attack movies. I liked the genre, I had fun with it, and I was ready to move on.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: The diptych formed by Lady Dragon and its sequel-remake is a climactic point in your career as a movie director. How did you get the best from Cynthia Rothrock?

  David Worth: Cynthia is still and was once one of the very best actors in martial arts. I loved her work. I loved working with her. Even though they are martial artists, they are actors first. I just had to sit her down and talk with her about the part, about her responsibilities, about her emotions. And as long as I gave it the time, she would come up with the proper emotion. The thing I remember most about Cynthia is, we were working in Indonesia. There was no craft service. There was no place to go to the bathroom. I said, “Where’s the bathroom?” They pointed out there. That tree, that’s the bathroom. She was tough. She had been trained in Hong Kong Action! Cynthia started her career there in Hong Kong where they treat stuntmen like disposable cups. They just go through them. And she was really quite brilliant to work with, Cindy was out there every single day in the heat and the dust and the dirt, doing all the kicks and all her own stunt work. I continue to admire her so very much and would be thrilled to work with her again…

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Would you be ready to direct a third installment in the Lady Dragon saga, starring Rothrock again?

  David Worth: I already have a part three for Lady Dragon. If she’s ready, I’m ready to do it anytime. I have the script. Unfortunately, no one’s interested. They say that Cynthia and I are too old… But I’m ready and I know Cynthia is ready. She’s beautiful. She’s still in shape and still beautiful. I see her on Facebook & Instagram every day.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Your work as a cinematographer on Bloodsport is never so moving, impactful, as in those scenes featuring an alone Jean-Claude Van Damme strolling, meditating, and training in Hong Kong with Stan Bush’s song, “On My Own,” as a background score. Please tell us about the creative process behind such images.

  David Worth: Bloodsport was a very unique film to be part of. I was at the right place at the right time. Jean-Claude was at the right place at the right time. Everything came together in Hong Kong. We were the smallest film done by Cannon films that year. They were busy doing big $20 and $30 million movies, and we had a little two and a half… $2,300,000 movie in Hong Kong. Nobody paid attention to us. Jean-Claude was at the beginning of his career, and again, he was an actor first. So, he was ready and willing to do anything and everything to show his acting talent, as well as his martial arts. We captured all the footage we needed of him, and then later in post-production, we found the right song to use to help the mood of that scene, which turned out very, very well. He was brilliant and still is a brilliant martial artist and actor.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Please tell us about the filming of that scene with Jean-Claude Van Damme overhanging the city like a demigod contemplating Greece from the summit of Olympus?

  David Worth: When he’s up on the top of the hill with his legs spread over looking the whole city? We took a tram all the way up to the top with all our equipment and lined it up so that we could get that shot. It wasn’t easy. But everyone in Hong Kong was willing to help out and help us to make a good film. We had a great Hong Kong producer named Charles Wang at Salon Films, who was actually the godfather to my son, David, and a great man. And he’s not with us any longer. But he was so helpful in getting both Bloodsport and Kickboxer made with the best possible crew and the best possible Panavision equipment on the planet.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Did JCVD and Michel Qissi contribute to the movie’s filming at another level than their acting (respectively as Kurt Sloane and as Tong Po)?

  David Worth: They did because they were both martial artists. Jean-Claude mostly did the choreography. He did most of the choreography for all of the fights because that’s his area of expertise, and I encouraged him to do it. Michel was the very, very bad man, Tong Po, in that movie. He’s a sweet man. He’s very gentle. He’s a real gentleman. But in that movie, he played a very evil man, Tong Po.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How did Mark DiSalle exactly contribute to Kickboxer’s directing?

  David Worth: I was hired as the director for Kickboxer. I supervised the casting. I polished the script. I storyboarded the entire production. I was there for every “action and cut.” I supervised all of the fights. Now, Jean-Claude was very influential in choreographing all of the fights because that was his area of expertise. But I did all the work of the director, and then Mark DiSalle decided to share my credit just before the film was finished in post-production.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you react to the surge of sequels or remakes that Kickboxer or Bloodsport would inspire?

  David Worth: First of all, I’m thrilled when anyone can make any film, any time. But I think with Bloodsport and Kickboxer, it’s very difficult to capture the enthusiasm and the camaraderie and the collaboration and the performances and the locations, especially in Hong Kong and Bangkok, that we had when we did Bloodsport and Kickboxer. I know there have been many sequels. I wasn’t involved in any of them. I don’t think they captured what we were able to capture with the original. They may have been much more expensive, but they didn’t have the heart and soul that our films had.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: As a cinematographer you collaborated twice with Clint Eastwood. Namely in Clint Eastwood’s Bronco Billy and in Buddy Van Horn’s Any Which Way You Can, both starring Eastwood and his then girlfriend and muse Sondra Locke. Quite a fantastic story! How do you sum it up?

  David Worth: This is a very long and detailed question. It would take me an hour to discuss that. I will give you the short version. If you want to see the long version, go to www.amazon.com and order my book Zen & The Art Of Independent Filmmaking. All my filmmaking is in that book. In those hundreds of pages, I go through all my films in detail.

  Working with Clint Eastwood happened because of one person, Sondra Locke. I did a little film called Death Game, starring Sondra Locke, Seymour Cassel, and Colleen Camp. After that film had been filming for a week, the director fired the cinematographer, and the producer called me to see if I wanted to take it over. I didn’t want to inherit someone else’s mess, so I asked, “Who’s starring?” When he said, “Sondra Locke, Seymour Cassel, and Colleen Camp”, I said, “Okay, I’m in.” Because I knew Sondra’s work. Sondra had gotten an academy nomination for Heart Is a Lonely Hunter on her first film. Seymour had been nominated for an academy award on John Cassavetes’ film Faces. So I was in. It was a very small production. We only had 13 days to finish what was left to film. Now, they were also shooting wide-screen, anamorphic Panavision. This was my first time using it. I discovered the Panavision camera… even though it was big… it was very ergonomically correct, so I could hand-hold it with no problem. I decided to save time in the production by not using the camera on a tripod, but instead handholding it. I handhold 75 or 85% of that film. We would be sitting in dailies, and I’d say… it would be a closeup of Sondra… and I’d say, “That’s a handhold shot,” and the director, he’d say, “No, it’s not.” I’d say, “Watch it.” Then on screen he would say, “Cut!”, and the camera would go all over the place. That’s how we made it through. It was very long days, but we got it all done.

  Sondra, Seymour and Colleen were brilliant. They did a great job. Seymour and the producer had a falling out, and he never came in to do the dubbing. So I ended up having to dub his voice. The film was being edited by someone who did not appreciate the material, and after 6 or 8 weeks the director, Peter Traynor, called Sondra and I to see a screening of a rough cut… It Was Awful. It was horrendous. Sondra was sitting like this the whole time, with her head down, she couldn’t even look at it. During the screening, I kept shouting, “Where’s this shot?”, “Where’s this shot?”, “Where’s this shot?” Finally, after the screening was over, I had the director, take Sandra and me to the editing room, where I was able to find the shots and fix several of the scenes to show him how they hadn’t been cut correctly. So Peter fired the editor and I became the cinematographer and editor on Death Game and finished it professionally. Sondra had asked me, “Please finish this film so I can be proud of it,” and I did. As we know, Sondra went from that film to The Outlaw Josey Wales with Clint Eastwood, and began a 15-year relationship… That was how I got to Clint, because Sondra began nudging Clint about my work.

  A couple of years down the road, Sondra and Clint did the film The Gauntlet. It was just those two, Sondra and Clint, up on the big screen, one-on-one. After I’d seen the film, I called her and said, “I’m so proud of you up there, co-starring with Clint”, giving him all he could handle as the actor. I said, “It was a great job.” She said, “Yeah, we had a great time.” But he had a big fight with his cinematographer because he wouldn’t shoot by campfire light. I said, “What? I just shot a whole off-road motorcycle movie by campfire light.” Then Sondra asked me a question, that would change my life as a cinematographer. She said, “You wouldn’t happen to have a reel of that you could drop off for Clint to see, would you?” I said, “Yes, I would.” That’s how Clint saw my work. A couple of years later, he saw more of my work. And that’s how I eventually did Bronco Billy. But it was a long process. It took several years for it to happen.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Boxing, mentorship, and tetraplegia are topics common to your Kickboxer and to Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby. How do you assess the way those topics are treated in Clint Eastwood’s movie?

  David Worth: The only one I really relate to… I don’t relate to boxing, I don’t relate to the medical condition, I do relate to mentoring. We all need mentors, and that film was basically about an old trainer who took this young lady and mentored her into becoming a championship boxer. I relate to that because I had two great mentors in my life that helped me in my cinematography and in lighting and directing, and they were Stanley Kubrick and Clint Eastwood.

  Stanley Kubrick, I was able to use him to mentor me because when I was editing Death Game… during the Post-Production of Death Game, I managed to get my hands on a 35-millimeter print of A Clockwork Orange. I had been a fan of that film ever since it was released, but I could never study it because… This was early 1970s. There was no VHS, there was no DVDs, there was, no Online, there was no Netflix, nothing. The only way to study a movie was to see it on the screen. And then, the projectionist would not play it again for you to study your favorite scenes. So, when I got my hands on this 35-millimeter print of A Clockwork Orange I was ecstatic!. I took all my work off the old upright Movieola and put Mr. Kubrick’s work on it… Then I spent hours running it forwards and backwards, & finally I discovered that Mr. Kubrick was building all his lighting into the sets and locations. Do you know Clockwork Orange?

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Yes, one of my favorite movies when I was a teenager.

  David Worth: You know the scene where Little Alex kills the Cat Lady with the sculpture of the giant phallus? When I was running the film, forward and backward. Suddenly, I hit the break and said: “What the fuck?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Because at the end of that scene, Mr. Kubrick is following the Cat Lady and little Alex 360 degrees around that location. And he’s using a very wide-angle lens, like a 16 or 18-millimeter lens. I could see all four walls, the floor, and the ceiling, and I suddenly realized there were no movie lights. There were NO MOVIE LIGHTS! This was no student film. This was no Roger Corman film. This was a Stanley Kubrick production of a Warner Brothers film that had been nominated for four Academy Awards! I was stunned! I was flabbergasted! I was gobsmacked! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! I slowly went back and froze the frames where I could see all the lighting… That’s when I discovered exactly what Mr. Kubrick had done! And that was to bring in several light sculptors, one in the form of a spiral, one in the form of a Christmas tree, others in bunches, each containing a lot of 150-watt bulbs. Then he plugged them into the wall sockets, said “We’re lit!” and shot the scene!

  Discovering THAT changed my life as a cinematographer. I even wrote an article in the American Cinematographer magazine, entitled, “If it’s good enough for Mr. Kubrick…” Why don’t more of us use this technique? It’s brilliant, because it’s actor-friendly and production friendly. If you build the lighting into the set, you can shoot 360 degrees. You never have to change the lighting when the director says, “Okay, I’m done in this direction. I’m going to shoot in the other direction…” I’ve been on the set where the director says, “Okay, I want to shoot the other way.” The DP says, “Okay, give us two hours to reset the lights.” I say Bullshit! And more importantly Mr. Kubrick said, “Bullshit!”

  And he began building all the lighting into the sets of his films, starting with Dr. Strangelove… 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clockwork Orange, and then, of course, the candlelight scenes in Barry Lyndon. This is the technique I brought to Bronco Billy. This is what I brought to Clint Eastwood.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: So, the connection between Clint Eastwood’s Bronco Billy and Stanley Kubrick is not only Scatman Crothers who acted in both Bronco Billy and The Shinning released the same year; it is also David Worth.

David Worth: Right! Because I brought the “Kubrickian Technique” of building the lighting into the sets or locations to Bronco Billy! We had a huge circus tent, and I said, “Okay, I want all the lighting built into this tent.” So, up high between the two upright tent poles, I had a connecting pole as well as two additional poles at right angles forming a “T…” Then we placed all our lighting onto these poles and the entire set was lit! I could walk in at 7:30 in the morning, hit the switch, take a reading with my light meter and say, “Okay, f2.8 in every direction, let’s shoot!” We did 40 or 50 setups a day. On a Warner Brothers film starring Clint Eastwood that would normally do 10 or 15 setups a day!

  Clint is a very efficient and very fast director. 75% of the time, he prints either the rehearsal or the first take. So everyone is on their toes. They don’t want to displease the Big Guy. So, he always comes in several days ahead of schedule. However, on Bronco Billy, he didn’t come in several days ahead of schedule. As a result of my building the lighting into all the other sets and locations, we came in two and a half weeks ahead of schedule, saving the production over a million dollars! That’s how I got to capture two Clint Eastwood films instead of one.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Did you like Kubrick’s last movie, Eyes Wide Shut?

David Worth: Didn’t like it… However, my only regret is that Stanley Kubrick didn’t get a chance to come into this century. He died in the 1990s. He began as a still photographer and was shooting SLR, single lens reflex 35-millimeter cameras. However, he never got his hands on a DSLR, the digital version. These cameras shoot from ISO 100 all the way up to ISO 400,000.  Trust me… He would have stood it on its ear, just like he did the Steadicam! That’s my regret: that Mr. Kubrick never got his hand on the DSLR that had a virtually unlimited ISO!!!

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Our interview comes to its end. Is there anything you would like to add?

  David Worth: Yes, there is something I would like to add. Clint Eastwood is a brilliant filmmaker. I loved his work, decades before I worked with him. He’s now 92 years old. He’s had an over 50-year relationship with Warner Brothers, doing huge productions: the Dirty Harry films, all very big hits. As well as his Academy Award winners like Mystic River & Million Dollar Baby & Unforgiven!!! The latest corporate-bottom-liner at Warner Brothers just severed their relationship with Clint after 50 years because his last film, Cry Macho didn’t make money. This is a guy who is the icon of icons. He’s been making hit movies longer than anyone has been around in this town. The icon of icons!!! At 92 years old, he should have carte blanche for anything he wants to do from here on out. Carte Fucking Blanche! Instead, these moronic assholes get rid of him because his last $20 million movie didn’t make enough money. And then they spend $200 million on the other big budget crap they churn out, on each of these comic-book-super-duper-hero movies. Have some respect for your elders! The stars who put WB on the map! That’s what I’d like to say!

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Thank you for your time. I was wondering: how do you feel about the breakup between Eastwood and Locke?

  David Worth: It was an awful breakup. I hated to see it. It should never have happened…   I never thought I would even meet Clint. It wasn’t on my radar because I knew I was making my little films on the side streets of Hollywood, and he was: “Clint Eastwood.” It was only because I did that little film, Death Game,… Sondra Locke who was the star of that film, liked my work & when she began working with Clint, she mentioned me, to him… That’s how I got my foot in the door, through the brilliant and insightful and compassionate Sondra Locke. And I’m eternally grateful…

That conversation was originally published on Bulletproof Action, in March 2023

A conversation with Haskell Vaughn Anderson III, for Bulletproof Action

A conversation with Haskell Vaughn Anderson III, for Bulletproof Action

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Haskell Vaughn Anderson III is an American film, television and theater actor. He is notably known for his role in the 1989 martial arts film Kickboxer—and his role in the 1976 film Brotherhood of Death.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: You served as president of Catholics in Media for two years. How did Jesus enter your life?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: I was always educated in Catholic schools. I’m a practicing Catholic. It didn’t do anything for me career-wise, but it was an enjoyable experience. It gave me the opportunity to become a member of the Jewish committee, which is a committee that goes to different film festivals. And I was at the Venice Film Festival in 2005. That was the year that Broke Back Mountain came out and a few other films. Yeah, it has touched me in a professional way. Yes, it did. I can’t say it hasn’t. And it was an enjoyable experience here, in Los Angeles. I started off as a regular member of Catholics in Media then, I was vice-president for two or three years and president for two.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: When it comes to those moviemakers (such as Martin Scorsese, Abdel Ferrara, or Mel Gibson) whose work and mindset, at least at a cultural level, are especially Catholicism-framed, which of them comes as your favorite?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: I don’t know how they actually practice Catholicism. I do know that Mel Gibson is more of a strict Catholic, so to speak. Got that from his father, from what I’ve been told. We never spoke about it, although we have been in person together, but we never spoke about the church or his practicing of his faith. So, I don’t know how devout he is. But his church is in Malibu, somewhere, that his father built. I have not been there.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Please tell us about 40 Days Road and your other ongoing movie-projects.

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: 40 Days Road. Yes. We’re still in development on that project. It’s not on the back burner. We’re just holding off on it for a little bit because we’re involved with another project that I was involved with more than 30 years ago as a stage production. We are now developing it. The script has been written. We’re now looking for investors. We will be at the American Film Festival, this coming November, pushing it. It’s actually a play that was written by a friend of mine who was in another play with me called Traces About Vietnam. He wrote the play, and it won what they call the 6th NAACP Image Award. One of them was the best supporting actor, which I was honored to win. We are hoping that we will have production of that film. Is that 40 Days Road? No, I’m sorry. This film is called Detroit Rounds. The play was actually called Rounds. We’re calling it Detroit Rounds because we’re going to set it in Detroit. This is a movie, and the play was about four guys who worked in the same plant together. They’re having this kind of civil war thing within the company because the union wants to send jobs overseas and cut employment of these guys. This is their life, so it reflects what was going on here in the auto industry in Detroit in this country back in the, I would say, 70s, after Vietnam. They lost a friend, so they get together one night to celebrate the death of this friend that they lost and to watch the championship fight between Muhammad Ali and I forget who the other character, the fighter, was, but we will see that when the film comes out.

  40 Days Road, that’s a film about a cardinal. It was an idea that I cooked up and spoke to my writer friend who is now one of my partners in our film company. It’s about a cardinal who has come to a point in his life where he’s somewhat confused about where he’s going and what it is that he’s supposed to be doing. Even though he has attained that rank of cardinal, he still has some thoughts in his head. It’s an interesting story. It all takes place in Sudan. Before he became a priest, he was a medical physician, and so, he actually has two occupations. He goes off to Darfur to see a friend that he had met while he was in the Jesuit seminary. He actually ends up meeting a woman who was also a physician. There’s much trial and tribulation to that story.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: The arc story for Winston Taylor, your character in Kickboxer, who, haunted by the souvenir of his failure to save a friend in Vietnam, ends up redeeming himself through helping Kurt Sloane [Jean-Claude Van Damme] defeat Tong Po [Mohammed Qissi] and the mafia, is quite moving. How did you put yourself so convincingly in Taylor’s shoes?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: Well, part of acting. I guess I made myself that character. I became Winston Taylor, and I felt from talking to other people with what their experiences were during that period of time, and I just used them.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Do you feel the character’s fate should have been further explored in another Kickboxer installment or spinoff?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: I don’t know. Perhaps, it would have been feasible. It probably could have worked, but they chose not to do it. I didn’t ask, but I had thought about what that would have been like. How far had the character advanced? What was his story afterwards? It would have been interesting. But they didn’t do it, but that’s okay.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Despite the movie’s somewhat low budget, the short gunfight at the end of Kickboxer, when Winston Taylor [Haskell V. Anderson III] comes to rescue Eric Sloane [Dennis Alexio], is pretty good. How do you account for such effectiveness on the movie’s team’s part?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: Actually, I guess I never really thought about it that way. The character had something to do, he had to rescue a friend, Jean-Claude’s brother, Kurt’s brother. And being that he was a military vet, he had access to what he needed to get the job done. It was interesting. Actually, that was my first day of shooting. It was very interesting. We shot that part in Hong Kong. It was not a difficult scene. Actually, I’m not gonna say it was easy, but it took a little bit of time to work into it on that day. Although I has been rehearsing the lines for some time. But to get that emotional feel on that day, it took a few minutes in the trailer to get myself ready.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Did you stay in touch with Jean-Claude Van Damme or other actors in Kickboxer?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: Other actors, yes. The director, David Worth. Michel Qissi, I see every now and then, I think we were together about, I think, at least, two years ago. Jean-Claude, rare, very rare even though we used to live a block away from each other. And Rochelle Ashana… we do emails through Facebook pretty often. She sends photographs. She has a son that’s going to UCLA. I bet he’s in his senior year. He’s either a junior or a senior. She’s supposed to be visiting from Hawaii very soon. I’m waiting to hear from her because we haven’t been together in quite some time.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: How do you assess the evolution of Van Damme’s career since Kickboxer?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: It’s interesting. Here you have an action star, so to speak, who actually got to the top of the pyramid and just, I guess, in some way, just lost it. But it’s an interesting article that was in the New York Times just the other day. Someone is doing an off-Broadway or off-off-Broadway production of Jean-Claude Van Damme: The Rise and Fall, of Jean-Claude. It’s an interesting review. I think it got enough attention that it got reviewed by the New York Times. And they thought was pretty good.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Quentin Tarantino is openly a huge admirer of Brotherhood of Death. Have you ever met him? Did you enjoy his last movie, Once upon a time in Hollywood?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: No, I have not met him. I didn’t see the whole film. I have it, but I haven’t really watched the entire film. I do that sometimes. I read a lot of books, sometimes I don’t finish them.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: When it comes to characters in classical theatre (Hamlet in Shakespeare, Don Rodrigue aka Le Cid in Corneille, Theseus in Racine, Don Juan in Tirso de Molina, etc.), which are those of them you especially aspire to play?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: I started my entire career in theater. Done Shakespeare. I’ve never done Hamlet, but I did Richard III, Comedy of Errors. God! can’t even remember the names. I don’t have my resume in front of me to tell you where the plays were. But it was a very rewarding experience, doing Shakespeare all the time. Othello. I didn’t play Othello, but I was one of the major characters. Was it Lodovico? Yeah, I think it was Lodovico. It was just such a discipline, a base. That’s what I like about British theater. The actors learn the classics. I think you need to do that. That’s my opinion.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Those many-hundred-years-old classics of theater are enjoying tenacious fame; but very few of the movies that are successful when released meet a fame that is other than ephemeral. Very few are not forgotten more or less rapidly.

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: That is so true. Very few from all the films that have been done. Very few do you remember. It’s just amazing. Film comes down today, it’s forgotten next month. All of a sudden, you see it on the cable, and then it’s forgotten a week later.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Screenwriters could learn a lot from Shakespeare, Euripides, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. Screenplays would be much better.

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: It’s difficult. Difficult in the sense that it takes a lot time to do a really, really, really good screenplay. But if people weren’t so much interested in just making a lot of money, just throwing anything out there, I think screenplays on a whole would be a lot better. But that’s business.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Please tell us about your long-established collaboration with playwright Vince Melocchi.

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: Vince Melocchi belonged to the same theater company I am still a member of. And Vince is, too, even though he moved back East. I did two of his major productions. One of them went to off-broadway, which was just a wonderful experience! Julia was the name of this play. Before that, we did a play called Lions about a group of people who were Detroit Lions football fans, and they had this club that they went to and spent a lot of time at. It was very, very, very beautifully written. I really enjoyed those characters that I portrayed. We were members, I would say, since 1994. It was at the at Pacific Resident Theater in Los Angeles, here, and still active, and it’s getting more active now since we are getting beyond the epidemic. Vince is still writing. We’ll see what he comes up with next. But a he’s an excellent writer.

  Grégoire Canlorbe: Thank you so much for your time. Is there anything you would like to add?

  Haskell Vaughn Anderson III: We’re talking about a film, Kickboxer, that was made 30 years ago. It’s just unbelievable how much of a following it has! You’re walking down the street, and somebody’s shouting out your line. “Oh, you in that film Kickboxer, can we have a picture?” I had no idea the film would be attracting that much attention this long. None, whatsoever. You can call it. What do they call it? A cult film. But Quentin Tarantino he was a fan of another film, Brotherhood of Death. Actually, it was my first film. You can see that on YouTube. That has picked up a following of its own, also. I used to run from that film. Oh, my God, please don’t share it! But, hey, you did it. You own it. Be proud of it.

If people see this interview and they enjoy it and they’re thinking about acting or directing or writing, just be patient, just do it and be disciplined, discipline yourself. This is what I want to do and I want to be the best of the best. But I hope I satisfied you.

That conversation was originally published on Bulletproof Action in February 2023