Thank you so much for your time today.
It's really appreciated.
Sure. Thanks. No problem.
I will get the
unprofessional bit of the interview, I've got you on my chest, as you can see
well, it's nice. It's so nice.
I'm just going to see where it looks pretty good, right?
Yeah, that's a great shirt to go better than mine.
So I'm aware that this uniform from when you're a young lad with that long.
Yes, I know.
I love the I love the mullet. Indeed!
Yeah. Congrats on Castle Falls.
Thank you.
I watched it this morning.
It's great fun. Really enjoyed it.
So I wanted to begin just with how it ended up on your
in your pile of scripts that you've read
and what made you take the decision to want to get back into the directing chair.
You know, I always thought
about directing again, but I was busy with the Expendables that I got into.
You know, Creed 2 and Aquaman and,
you know, then I had this other this other film
with Scott Adkins who got it didn't work out for some reason.
And then I started thinking, Well, I'll find a two hander.
Maybe I could get them to finance a small movie that I'll direct
and just just to see how how I feel about it.
And then, of course, I didn't know about COVID and being shut down
for almost a year and all that up, but ended up, you know,
I found a script that was set in the building
and it had like unity of time and place where, you know,
it's almost real time and it's one more or less one location,
at least 80% of the time, which made it simpler to put together.
And that's what I decided.
You know, I like to see how I like it if I like director.
So I spoke to Scott last year on an unrelated project,
and he was saying how excited he was
to be working with you and said the same with you,
that you tried to do it before and hadn't really worked out.
And then COVID had hit and you were trying to get this one made.
So finally, you got to do it.
So he seemed pretty excited to want to work with you.
Thanks. Yeah, he was really.
He was really good.
He was very dedicated to this character and I was trying to, you know,
put a of subtext into it and have a chance
to work with the actors prior to shooting so that,
you know, their character is a little more solid, as has more color.
Because if you work on it, you know, start a week before
it only settles so deep, even if you're a good actor.
I think for it to be interesting, you have to work on it for a few months
at least.
Then it settles on a level.
We don't have to act so much.
You just show up when you kind of just
react, and that's kind of what Scott did, and I think that's what he was.
I think he's very good in the movie.
Yeah.
And your character as well, obviously, he's dealing with a lot of personal stuff,
which is very, very heartbreaking and touching.
Obviously, his daughter is very ill and he's trying to help her get better.
Was this one of the strongest characters you've read for
for a while in terms of just the scope and just the story behind Richard Ericson.
Thank you.
Yeah, well, I I, you know, the original script, Ericson
was not he he didn't have that motivation.
And I wanted to level make both Mike and Ericson have strong motivations.
And so also, you know, sort of the bad guys or the criminals involved.
But they're all they all have different reasons for wanting this money.
But this very personal and it is something they really have to accomplish.
So with Ericson, I, I was thinking to sort of find the worst
possible scenario where why would somebody who is in law enforcement
want to break the law or be tempted to break the law?
And I thought, you know,
obviously with you, your child being sick, what are you going to do?
It's like, you're so desperate.
He doesn't care anymore if he ends up in the same prison where he works.
And I think that's why I found that
I came up with a back story, and I think it works pretty well.
Yeah.
And Scott
seemingly is someone that keeps you on your toes in the sense
that he's so good at what he does in terms of his action,
and he's performing and wants to do a lot of stunts himself.
Did that kind of help you raise your game, given that I know he's
kind of like the new kid on the block, so to speak?
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, I knew when I read the original script,
his character was an enemy fighter who was down on his luck.
So I thought is perfect for Scott, because then I don't
have to explain why he can throw around, just kick somebody's head in.
Or it won't be so unbelievable that he could fight that way
because I wanted to keep the action believable and sort of gritty,
more like stuff that would happen if it's real, you know?
And I
think, you know, the fact that Scott is very intelligent and,
you know, he designed the fights he shot most of he was in charge of shooting them
even though I was there.
But he also edited some of the fights.
He's very good at that.
And you know, he's one of the few guys who can do like a 30 second take
without screwing up and doing, you know, 30 different techniques.
You know, it's quite difficult.
There's only a few people like that
in in the game today, you know, and he's one of them.
Yeah.
And it was all
it was refreshing as well, watching it and seeing the action set pieces
and seeing you both and obviously the other actors doing a lot of stunts
and stuff themselves.
Because, as you know, you obviously done stuff
like Aquaman and Expendables it was a bit different, obviously.
But to see you guys doing it and the believability
of you guys doing it really adds an authenticity to it.
Was that what you were aiming for when you when you were making it?
Yeah, for sure.
I I knew also my schedule that I didn't have time to double people.
I didn't,
you know,
first thing I got hired the double and then I got to shoot it twice,
you know, to shoot a second unit and first unit.
And so I I hired somebody for for the main.
Adversary
to Scott got to fight to as a stunt guy, actually.
So I knew he could do his own fights, I knew I could do my own fights
and then Scott.
So and then the other guys were stunt guys.
That way is simplified things quite a bit because, you know, in a lot of movies,
not big action movies, the actor only does so much
no matter what they tell you publicity, you know, they can't do certain things.
And you know, very few people can throw combination of three
or four kicks to make it look good.
Good enough for a movie, then you have to put the stunt double in.
But in my case, I didn't have to do that.
You know, there was like one.
Maybe there's
one shot where I have to double Scott because it's
on the outside of the building hanging on,
and it's too dangerous to have them do it, you know?
You know, twelve storeys up, but.
Otherwise, it's all him.
That's cool.
And in terms of you as a director, obviously what
we've obviously worked with Sylvester Stallone a few times what Roland
Emmerich and of the other directors over the years in terms of influences.
What what would have been your influences on you wanting to be a director
even in the first, the first time you did it?
Well.
I mean, obviously, I was.
Inspired by Stallone when I first met him, cos he's I was 27 and he was
ten years older, or he directed his produced Rocky four,
he sparred with me in the ring and he, you know,
he was very committed to that project and that kind of commitment,
I guess, you know, I wanted you to be able to do that.
I just never got an opportunity to do it.
I don't think I was ready until now, really.
And then,
you know, I look at people like Clint Eastwood, who, you know, who's a
tough guy.
You know, people kind of underestimated him not realizing
he's an artist and he's made some of the greatest movies ever
after the age of 60 when he did Unforgiven.
You know, it's when people kind of started
realizing he was really terrific director, you know?
So I am inspired by him and I learned pick things up for Sly
when he directed or some other directors have worked with.
I worked with Sidney Furie, who was a big director.
He's he's really old now, but, you know, maybe 80.
But he worked with Marlon Brando and Michael Caine, and they remember
he always told me that directors things like, for instance, he said the director's
first job is to create a relaxing atmosphere on set
so the actors can take chances and to bring the actors in in the process.
And then, you know, really good directors like James Wan and Aquaman.
He's incredibly good with the actors.
He's very he's very sensitive to what they want and how they feel
and really make them feel relaxed because, you know, acting is not an easy job.
And if the director is a little bit negative or a bit too bossy or, you know,
in my opinion, anyway, you're not getting, you know, gaining anything by that.
But I think in one of my biggest inspirations
would have been Clint Eastwood because.
He's a guy who made the
transition from acting to directing and then from action to drama.
That's a tough choice.
Does a tough transitions to make?
Yeah. And he's still going.
It's still going out.
Yeah, and he's still got it in 91.
I don't know if I can last that long, but if I can, do you know
a tenth of what he's done and and try to make the transition,
you know, more into more dramatic stuff,
you know?
And then then I would be very happy. Yeah.
And you've been doing this for a while,
and I think it's literally for decades that you've been you've been doing this.
Have you enjoyed the kind of trajectory of your
your career from when you started and you know, James Bond back in the mid
eighties to now, if you if you kind of enjoyed
what you've been able to do in those four decades.
Yeah, enjoy it more now than when I was in the middle of it,
because some of it was tough and, you know, I went through life personal
as we all do personal problems and divorces and,
you know, business problems
and you know, just just too much alcohol is simple.
You know, I went through all that the actors do,
but I somehow managed to pull out of it and I feel really good.
Now I'm in a position where I can use a lot of those things and an experience
and somehow ended up.
And this, you know, feeling really good about my career
and having a lot of options now, which I never expected,
I wanted that stuff to happen when I was 35, but I just couldn't.
I didn't know how to do it.
It wasn't meant to be.
Yeah. Have you been able to?
I know it's only just come out.
Have you been able to see the Rocky IV Director's Cut?
Yeah, that's just come out. Have you had the opportunity to see it?
Because I haven't been able to track it down yet,
so I'm still waiting to to see it.
And yeah, I mean, I saw it like.
About a week
ago, finally, because I was filming, I was shooting Expendables
and I was working every day or so on and asked to do night shoots.
But yeah, I saw and I thought it was quite good.
I thought that.
It was much more of a kind of a deeper and grittier movie than the original,
the original is very it's great, it's entertaining, it's it's fun.
It's Eighties in a way, you know,
kind of.
More eye candy and very, very
spectacular, but this one is a little more.
Contemplate of the current now, even
with my character, with Rocky, with Adrian.
You know, he's sort of.
Yes, he's he's being a bit,
he's putting less on them, he you have to make your own conclusion.
It's not like the filmmakers saying Soviet Union is very bad
drug or is a bad guy rock used in American heroes.
It's a little much it's a little more gray in this one,
which I thought you did, who did a very good job.
That's good.
Is it true?
I don't know if this is true. This is going to IMDb.
Is it true that you let your voice to the new Minions film
is coming out?
I think
next year now because it's been delayed so many times, is are you part of that?
And how was that process if you were?
Yeah, I did.
Actually, I did play a character and
it was fun. I mean, it was.
It's goofy as kids, you know, cartoon.
But it was it was fun to be part of it.
And it's coming up the summer, next summer, I believe. Yes.
As yeah, yeah. Um.
Yeah, it was fun.
I enjoyed it. It was an interesting process.
I'd never done that before and they how they do it, it's it's
very it's magical, they how they kind of design the character
and then you record the voice and then they redo the character
to match your, you know, your your facial expressions and stuff.
That's pretty cool. Yeah.
And you just go back, you said you done Expendables 4, Aquaman 2
to you've been quite busy in a year.
That's been a bit strange for everybody.
Thank you.
Yeah. Last year only did Castle Falls
this year.
Yeah, I was lucky to have these two films shooting in both in the UK.
Aquaman is totally in the UK, but the other one was in
Bulgaria, Greece and the UK, but I managed to kind of do both,
so I was very happy about that because, you know, Aquaman is perfect kind of.
That's like a Swiss watch, you know,
the Warner Brothers. James Wan, the script.
And then you have, you know, Expendables just a little more with Wild West,
where you change things that on set and you got all these personalities.
We had, of course, lying in state and we have like 50 Cent
Megan Fox and, you know, Andy Garcia, we go.
So that's a different type of movie with more old school action.
But I enjoyed both, really. That's good.
My final question,
and as you can probably gather my favorite film of all time feature,
which is on here, I have a poster just down
down there as well, the big poster and everything else.
So have you meet any friends of mine
or tell you that I'm obsessed with Masters of the Universe
because I was obsessed with He-Man when I was a kid?
So anyway, but next year is 35 years since the release of that film
and even know when it first came out, it wasn't a big hit
and that the Canon stuff, et cetera, et cetera.
It must make you feel very delighted that even now,
people are still watching it with streaming,
that people are still celebrating the anniversaries and the people.
You know, it's a favorite film of so many, so many people around the world.
Yeah, you're right,
I, you know, it's interesting how it takes
quite some time for a movie to become a classic.
It's not done in five years or ten years, but it's like 20 years.
I mean, Rocky IV certainly is one of them because
there's something about that.
The original cut even is not.
It's not so dated.
It doesn't feel eighties.
It feels, you know, it feels really current.
And then masters, has managed.
Somehow, there's some something in that picture that there's
some kind of soul to it that is really.
Very, very delightful.
It's like one of those movies made one of the few ones there,
they're not it's not brutal violence or anything.
It's it's entertaining, you know?
And I agree with you, people.
It's almost like you had like a down period for a while
when people didn't want to meet or sign autographs of Masters.
But now it's Rocky and Masters.
And then, of course, because it's current, you know, Expendables,
maybe an Aquaman, but I think Masters is,
you know, it's also James Wan's one of his favorite movies.
Oh, really?
Yeah, that's told that when he was writing the script of Aquaman, he,
you know, King Nereus in the original is a bad guy.
But he thought, you know, because he has his golden armor and everything.
And I guess somehow he connected.
Oh, Dolph Lundgren.
And then, you know, that was my second audition.
first of all, this record for second in my career, which was like
four years to go because whatever I could do it.
So, you know, he was a big Masters fan
I think he also he had those sort of,
you know, the little figures back in the eighties as well.
And I'm very pleased about that and I agree with you.
It's it's a movie that if I
if I ever catch it by chance on TV, it's
it's just one of those movies that's kind of nice to watch .
Yeah, I still don't know how you managed
to handle that sword because it looks the same size as you.
I know. Oh no, that was this.
That was to be first was in any movie the most muscular
and because I came off Rocky, but I wasn't boxing so much,
I put on more weight because, you know, it wasn't moving this much.
I was doing more sword play, but I mean, I got
I got really big for that, so I did have the muscles to handle it.
Well, listen, thank you so, so much for your time for me personally.
Absolute pleasure to chat to you because yeah, you're a big.
part of my life in some respects with Masters.
So thank you so much for your time and wish you all the best.
Thanks.
Bye bye.