Actor and fighter Dennis Ruel discusses the film "The Man Who Feels No Pain" director Vasana Bala, reissue "Unlucky Stars" and much more in our first interview.
As you read this, I am sitting here on a quiet weekday in front of the room heater at my desk in minimal comfort. Having finished editing the text you are about to read, I sense a hint of nostalgia, signaling the beginnings of what was once another long-awaited opportunity, since I began writing this back in 2007, after which I paused work, and then continued in 2013 .
Now, looking back in time, I remember how eleven years ago I called Dennis Ruel On the mobile phone. I'm not even sure that he recognized me (most likely, the number was indicated on his page MySpace or website The Stunt People, otherwise I just wouldn't know how to contact him), and I probably should have started a conversation somehow. I may have been unnecessarily hesitant and short-sighted at the time in thinking that I would be able to pull it off next time soon, when little did I know that it would be at least ten years before I had the platform needed to to interview him properly, exactly the way I've wanted for years.
However, there haven't been many obstacles in my way lately since Dennis answered my questions a few weeks ago. It's all due to fatigue and the occasional fever that I'm still trying to overcome. So far, I have been able to do this with varying degrees of success, and I am literally floating on waves of energy that should help me publish this interview in the near future.
So, what I'm doing right now is to bring you a conversation we had with him covering Dennis' career. Mainly my questions will be centered around his debut film "Unlucky Stars" - endured a crowdfunding campaign, was agonizingly long in the making, as is not uncommon for independent films, and finally released in 2016 after years of waiting, only to be generously released online in its entirety by the director himself. In addition, in our conversation we touched a little on the highly acclaimed premiere of the Toronto Film Festival "The Man Who Feels No Pain" (The Man Who Feels No Pain) directed by Vasana Bala is a film that I've heard nothing but rave reviews about and can't wait to see with my own eyes.
For those of you to whom the title of the article means absolutely nothing, I highly recommend reading it in its entirety, as it eloquently explains why I continue to support everything Dennis does and follow his craft closely. While this interview wasn't exactly timely, it definitely went a long way.
Hi Dennis, thanks for taking the time to share your story with us. How do you remember this year?
Dennis Ruel: Thanks for this opportunity, Lee. This year has been crazy in a good way! We are with Eric Jacobas started working in Mumbai, India on January 1st! Eric was the production director and I was the fight coordinator for the film The Man Who Feels No Pain, directed by Vasan Bala. This is a Bollywood action drama that really breaks the mold of typical Bollywood action films for about a hundred reasons. Overall, this is a rather atypical movie for Bollywood, and people should definitely pay attention to it. He is very good in terms of presenting a story and taut nerves!
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Eric and I went to present the film along with the director, producer and two of the lead actors, and it won the Audience Award. Eric and I are very proud to have been a part of the film. So, this year I visited Mumbai and Toronto for the first time! In addition, in the interval between the filming of the film in Mumbai and its premiere, I finally reacquired the rights to my film “Unlucky Stars” and posted its director’s cut plus the “making of” for free on the site UnluckyStarsTheMovie.com.
You've come a long way with The Stunt People, it’s probably hard to forget this wonderful “smell of a warehouse” left over from the creation of “Contour”. Do you miss him?
Ruel: This smell of herbal infusions will always bring back memories of "Contour"... I miss you, of course!
I'm curious to know your take on fight choreography as it is part of your craft and we all know that Hong Kong fight cinema plays a prominent role in your passion for the art. What films influence you in terms of fighting scenes? Do you have any favorite films that you would highlight?
Ruel: One of my favorite movie fights of all time is the fight Jackie против Benny в "Diner on Wheels": exchanges of blows, pauses, comedic elements - their whole “chess game” looks so amazing. I could talk about this fight for hours, but in short... I can't even begin to describe how cool it was that Jackie seemed to be inferior to Benny, but was still skilled enough to figure out how to win, just getting yourself together and keeping your composure - approaching it as a “workout” is SO GREAT! Turning this whole story into a fight is not easy in itself, and you don't always have the time to do it, or the story itself doesn't allow you to do it, haha... so this fight will always serve as an example for me of how far you can go in staging a fight scene.
As for the rest of my favorite movie fights, as a rule, they all combine a fusion of different styles and movements. Take a fight for example Yuen Wa против Biao и Sammo в "Eastern Condors", or Va's fight against Jackie's "Dragons Forever", or the battle of the same Va against... or against anyone in any film! I always enjoy watching how Billy Chow literally sweeps away opponents with his assertiveness, and of course, I simply have to mention the fight Ken Lo with Jackie in "Drunk Master 2"!!! In short... I'm afraid the answer to this question may take a long time!
How do you see the current state of the independent film and stunt community compared to how it was in the early 2000s, when you still had The Stunt People forums?
Ruel: Answering this question could also take a lot of time, but I will try not to bore anyone. If I had to compare new creators who are releasing amazing content such as: Brian Sloyer и Martial Club, with creators who started in the early 2000s such as: The Stunt People, VJVlad, Zero Gravity, LBP & EMC Monkeys, then I would say that the HUGE difference is that the new school people are much more fortunate in that YouTube and Instagram are good, fast and convenient ways to watch almost everything these days.
And then, back in the early 2000s, there were teams that produced content before the advent of services like YouTube and Facebook! So, it was MUCH more difficult for them, plus we had to DOWNLOAD short films of other groups (files in mpeg and wmv formats) from catalogs on sites that did not even belong to the creators! Thanks to chat forums and sites such as Bilang и Martial Arts Trickz, there were several communities for fighters and creators that allowed them to somehow connect with each other and share clips, which, by the way, were very difficult to download with our “FAST” 56k modem Internet.
Additionally, since there was much less indie content being released at the time, the independent action groups that existed back then mostly took inspiration from Hong Kong action films, most of which were obscure and hard to find! But we managed to find them and studied them thoroughly!!! Over time, the guys from the above groups managed to make their way to Los Angeles, so that filmmakers and stuntmen now meet more often, and everyone draws inspiration from the work of their colleagues, as well as from box-office action films from around the world. Again, everything is so accessible now, so it's definitely a very good thing for the future of independent action films.
In your directorial debut, you managed to attract two top stunt coordinators to the project - Simon Rea and JJ Perry at the peak of their careers - and got them to perform two amazing cameos. Tell me, how did this even become possible?
Ruel: I owe it to Vlad for both of these cameos! We started filming the film without really knowing who we would eventually invite to play these two roles, so, having already filmed a decent amount of material, Vlad contacted Master Ri and showed him part "Final", this in turn interested him, and in the case of JJ Perry everything went according to exactly the same scenario.
We were, of course, incredibly lucky that we shot "Finale" before approaching them because there was already something there for the eye to grab onto and they could at least see what they were going to sign up for, so obviously it worked for the film only for the good! I still can't believe that I was able to film a scene with Simon Rea. I will never forget how fascinated I was watching the final match in "Best of the Best" between him and his brother Phillip Rea and tried to copy their movements, and almost everything they did in "Best of the Best 2"! Just like Master Ri, JJ Perry has done so much in his career in top Hollywood films, so him agreeing to help us was an incredibly noble gesture, and I know I can speak for Vlad and Ken as well, we were very grateful them for their participation and are incredibly glad that we were lucky enough to snag them from their insanely busy work schedule and traveling around the world!
Not all filmmakers, having been deceived by shady distribution companies, make decisions similar to the one you made by simply posting your film on the Internet. I want to ask you, since you have already gone through this unpleasant experience, how common are such cases in the film business?
Ruel: Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to this question. I hope this doesn't happen to others, although I've heard that the distribution world can be brutal. I don't know many filmmakers myself, and the few I know personally haven't been in this situation. I did talk to one director who was dealing with my distributor and apparently wasn't happy with their arrangement, but I didn't contact him again, so I don't know exactly what happened to his film and his agreement.
Do you think anything can be done to solve a problem like this? I ask this because you came from a creative background and you all made short films that went viral and were always willing to share them and do all these stunts and action scenes because you really had a blast doing it. And after a series of failures, you finally decided to buy your own film to share it with the whole world, putting it in the public domain, at a time when a seemingly lucrative deal completely fell through. Obviously this was not an easy decision for you to make?
Ruel: It was definitely a difficult choice that was influenced by several factors. The stress of not knowing what to do next, coupled with all the hassle with the distributor, threw me off balance for a long time. I was mentally exhausted and wanted to start working on a new project, since at that time almost a year had passed since the release. Of course, I was worried about the idea of finding a new distributor, because I was afraid that a similar situation might happen again, and I could not enter into a new deal until I received official confirmation that my agreement was finally terminated.
It took another YEAR of emails to terminate the agreement and finally obtain the documents needed to restore the copyright. And since the film had already been out for two years at that point, I wanted to make sure that it was easily accessible to all those who had not seen it before, and the best way to do this was to put it in the public domain. I didn't think it was right to start a new promotion trying to make money from an old film that most of our target audience had already seen. The re-release is still attracting new viewers, and I know there will be a lot of people who will want to watch it now that it's free [laughs] - but that's a topic for another day.
Besides everything else, what other useful things were you able to learn during the period of work on “Unlucky Stars”, combining such an explosive mixture of stunt and performing talent in this film?
Ruel: Even though Unlucky Stars didn't go as far as it was supposed to financially, the end goal was still achieved! Vlad, Ken and I wanted to make a feature film that we would be proud of, a film that would become our “calling card” or an approximation of how high our potential is. A film that will become a clear answer to the question: “What else are these guys capable of if you give them a decent budget?” - so many important connections were created and strengthened during the production period. For example, Vlad’s connections in the stunt community have expanded the list of stunt performers whom we now consider friends, while the connections of the co-producer Giovanni Espiritu with the acting world has allowed us to attract a lot of talented guys who I can't wait to work with again on future projects! Overall, we were incredibly lucky that this pool of friendly, helpful, talented people filled up so quickly while we were working on Unlucky Stars, so I actually got a lot more out of this project than I expected!
It is obvious that your current generation shares with Jacobas the niche of short films, which also includes both parts Rope-A-Dope, and that's not even counting the breathtaking work that you two constantly put out for the audience to see. Most of us can assume that there will be a third film, and I'm really looking forward to it. Can you tell us - if there are any such plans at all - what your hopes and expectations are for Dope and his battle through time against the combat mafia?
Ruel: Eric and I were talking about "Rope-A-Dope 3" even after the completion of filming the second part. Ending Rope-A-Dope 2 definitely opens a new door and some ideas for a third part have actually been discussed. But again, everything will depend on time and the consent of some people to work both on and off camera. But personally, I am FOR it with both hands!!!!
You also (sort of) mentioned that you are working on another project. After the release of Unlucky Stars, you announced that you were preparing something “new.” Would you like to officially announce a new project, or just give us a hint of what it will be? Well, tell me at least in general terms. I take it Uruvian Cheese will be at the helm?
Ruel: Since the offer is from Uruvian Cheese There is no point in denying it anymore, I can say that the sequel to Unlucky Stars will be what is called a “sequel with soul” in the sense that it will not be a direct continuation of the first film. It will draw heavily on its own story and will of course be similar in spirit to the first film, so it will feel similar in many ways, but the new film will already introduce new characters... who will probably be able to do something Reminds me of the characters from Unlucky Stars. In addition, I have two completely different scripts (one already completed, the other still in progress) that I hope will come to life soon - it will all depend on budgets, but I plan to start production next year! I'm also thinking of bringing in a few action movie veterans, and this time it won't be just cameos!!!
Would you like to play Ticker again? Can you remember any funny moments on set while you were portraying this character?
Ruel: Yes, I would love to play it again. Now that I'm older and understand acting a little better [laughs], I think I could bring this character to life even better on screen and have a lot of fun with the new story. My favorite moment will always be the “suitcase scene.” It was very difficult not to laugh at Eric's line: "This is a test." There was also another... not exactly funny, but definitely memorable moment - one day I came to the site not being entirely healthy, thinking that I could fight what in fact turned out to be a real fever! I moved around a bit to warm up and immediately got dizzy, so I had to take the day off - it was a fun, crazy time.
If Ticker and the mafia fighter you play in Rope-A-Dope got into a brutal, no-holds-barred fight, who do you think would win and why?
Ruel: I would bet on the mafia fighter who has now dropped out of the game - his superpower to return time to the starting point will be a match for few people except Dope himself. After all, he would have done Ticker no worse than Lowe did!
What were the most important lessons you learned for the future while working on Unlucky Stars?
Ruel: I could answer this question forever! The most important item on my list of 100 most important lessons would be to invest more time in the script and develop it in more detail. Of course, I wouldn't want to spend a ton of time on all this and have 50 drafts with me before filming starts, but I think I've already learned how NOT to get into creative stagnation (I hope!). There were other things that happened while working on Unlucky Stars that ended up causing a ripple effect that was difficult to fix in editing, so there are a lot of little things I need to keep in mind that may come in handy when working on a future project. Hopefully this way I can save myself some unnecessary headaches during post-production. I think the second most important point is not to be afraid to ask for help when things start to get out of control. Having a crew to help you shoot is very important, and I think choosing the right crew should always be a top priority. Otherwise, I simply would not have been able to finish the film without the production team and the cast, who supported me in everything!
Finally, are there any final thoughts you would like to share with our readers and longtime fans and followers of The Stunt People? Or maybe even with those people who only recently learned about you?
Ruel: I really appreciate you and all the longtime fans who have been following us since 2005, and I hope everyone understands that we are doing our best to bring our independent spirit to an industry where money and status rule everything. And I refuse to believe that we can't pull it off, because I will never forget how far we have come compared to what we had in the beginning, when we had at our disposal ordinary mini-div cameras, fueled by energy bars and water on the “set”... if you could even call it that... and did the editing using antediluvian software at a time when Adobe Premiere and Final Cut did not exist at all!
Official source: filmcombatsyndicate.com
Published: 24.10.2018
Translation: Black Dragon
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Tags: The Man Who Feels No Pain, The Stunt People, Unlucky Stars, Vasan Bala, Dennis Ruel, JJ Perry, Simon Rea, Eric Jacobas
Tags: The Man Who Feels No Pain, The Stunt People, Unlucky Stars, Vasan Bala, Dennis Ruel, JJ Perry, Simon Rea, Eric Jacobas
Let's hope for some decent hand-to-hand and bloody action.
The game is cool. I hope the series will be no worse.
Thanks for posting. Hopefully more comments soon.
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm crazy about Xiao Man (I hope I didn't misspell his name...