How many martial artists around the world can tell us that they were inspired by Jackie Chan? An incalculable number, but Eric Jacobas went ahead and told us how he made a career out of it!
Inspired by Jackie's ability to mix hair-raising action and comedy, Eric co-founded The Stunt People in 2001 in his quest to bring the same kung fu comedies to the West. Fourteen years have passed since The Stunt People released their first full-length action comedy"Contour"They later teamed up with the former "Power Ranger" Johnny Yong Bosham for a thriller Death Grip, and released a whole bunch of short films on YouTube, including a funny Rope-A-Dope. By the way, Eric managed to play the role of Kurtis Stryker in the second season of the popular web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy!
Today, Jacobas continues to work in The Stunt People, and takes part in major projects, including "Die Hard: A Good Day to Die".
Brad: Hey Eric! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I hope you are fine?
Hey Brad! Yes, everything is fine!
Great! So let's start from the beginning if you don't mind. When were you born?
Of course I don't mind! I was born on March 29, 1982.
What is your height and weight?
My height is 170 cm on the best days :-), weight is 77 kilograms.
When did you start practicing martial arts, and which ones exactly?
I did a little karate when I was about 12, but gave up because it was a children's group (laughs), and until I was 20, I practically did not do martial arts, although I did gymnastics. I was good at gymnastics. Also, in college I was involved in diving, which became a good help in martial arts. In addition, from the age of 13 I was engaged in kettlebell lifting, being a physically developed child. When I went to film school in San Francisco, I just opened the phone book and started looking through all the martial arts schools from top to bottom. I liked the taekwondo school run by Andy Luna. He became one of the first members The Stunt People, because I told him that I wanted to make films, it turned out that we were like-minded people.
Later, I practiced hapkido under supervision Dennis Ruel, Ray and Troy Carbonell in 2004, where I continue to this day. Dennis was also a great addition to The Stunt People, because he brought guys like Troy and Ray with him, and showed himself to be a master of his craft. Stuntmen have a tendency to focus on the action and lose sight of the acting, but Dennis never failed to show off his acting skills as well as his fighting skills. What we were all delighted with and what served as inspiration for the whole team.
So, where did the procession begin? The Stunt People in the world of filmmaking, what was the origin?
Well, I grew up in the 80s, when there was a big surplus in quality action films and comedies. In addition, I had a huge collection of vaudeville shows - Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, which I could watch for days on end. I was the only kid at my school who could quote Laurel and Hardy (laughs). So the combination of 80's comedies and action films with guys like Van Damme influenced me, I wanted to do something like that, and later I found out that someone else had already come to the same conclusion - it was Jackie Chan! In the late '90s, his films were extremely difficult to find in the US; you couldn't just go online and find Drunken Master 2, and there was no YouTube or Hong Kong Central Film Repository. Seeing what he's doing on the screen Jackie Chan, I thought: “How can I do something like this?” And in the 90s, an independent television channel (IFC) appeared and the Sundance Film Festival began showing his films, so I thought: “I would like to see this “kitchen”, and I can create something like this myself!
Marvelous! It turns out that The Stunt People have evolved since its founding in 2001?
Initially, we started as a manufacturing company with a team of 7 people. Sometimes, three of us were involved on the set, another one was filming the whole action on camera, and when it was his turn to “fight,” he passed the camera to another. It was pure bone-crushing filmmaking, and our first film "Circuit" was filmed this way. The most important thing for us was non-stop action, and if that meant I had to pull on my ski mask and hit myself, then I did it (both laugh). The Stunt People - a clever word, we chose it for a good reason. A lot of people see us and say, "Oh, so you guys are stuntmen?" and we somehow have to explain, "Yeah, but we're also filmmakers." Over the years, we have grown from independent stunt performers into a sought-after team with our own logo and an impressive portfolio. My business partner Clayton Barber and I have also formed our own company which will serve as the basis, essentially we hire a film crew for the production side and The Stunt People perform all the tricks. Thus, TSP becoming not only stuntmen, but also actors on the set.
It's clear! What advice would you give to actors who are aspiring to become stuntmen or filmmakers?
The very first thing is that you must learn how to make a film. Luckily, this is now very easy to do because everyone has either a video camera, a Go-Pro, or at worst a phone (I love doing "How to make an action movie on your phone!" workshops) with things like Instagram nowadays you will receive the necessary information literally in a day, you can film falls, kicks, and somersaults yourself, so that they look like in a movie, even if it is only a fifteen-second video. And if you also have some experience from the gym, consider that you have a portfolio.
But it also all depends on your goal. If you want to be a stunt performer, your goal is to have a good stunt portfolio. If you want to achieve the same thing as Dennis Ruel, then you must know how to make a film. No one will come and say; “Okay, you've never been in a movie, but I have a plan to make you a star!”, that's not going to happen. No one will do this for you, you must create yourself, especially since today there are so many textbooks and free master classes.
YouTube and social media have brought out a lot of talent in the field of short films.
Agree. Before YouTube, man, it was so difficult! In the 70s or 80s, if you wanted to become a real action star, you had to prove yourself in the ring to be interested in and dragged into the film industry. A lot of stuntmen then came out of taekwondo, karate and kickboxing, and if you have charisma like Van Damme, then you could become a movie star.
That's for sure! Tell us what problems you faced during filming?
The time when we are forced to idle is the main problem. When we were filming"Circuit", our executive producer just said, "Okay, Eric, here's $5000, go play! ", and I said, "Well, I don't know how long the shoot will take," and he just said, "It doesn't matter. The movie is ours, so just go do it." We shot for about 120 days, three or four hours a day. So we were able to spend more time on the fight scenes. But now, for example, with Rope-A-Dope 2, we filmed the final fight in one day. For Hollywood, a three-minute fight is shot in one day, which is pretty standard because they shoot 30-second chunks from different angles at the same time. We don’t have such opportunities, so we are forced to do seventy or eighty takes a day, these are the realities.
Was anyone injured that day?
Yes, Denis tore his hamstring, but you didn't notice it. He's one of those guys whose motto is "the show must go on!" and I never thought, "Oh no! We can only use one of Dennis' punches in this scene," everything he did came out great. This is a truly dedicated man. Same with Clayton, who is currently busy directing the fight choreography for "Creed"with Sylvester Stallone.
Wow! I am impressed! So, what is the difference in the filming process between Rope-A-Dope and Contour?
Well in Death grip There was a very tight filming schedule, with one day allocated for the fight scene. In a feature film, the stakes are higher because the amount is simply larger. With a short film you can play for longer. We did not set out to make money with Rope-A-Dope 2 on YouTube, the goal was to make the best short film. Next we plan to shoot the most ambitious film in our filmography. It's not a fact that this will be a sequel Rope-A-Dope, but who knows.
Still, which of the projects already done is your favorite?
I think you know what this is"Rope-A-Dope" 1 и 2. I'm very proud of both projects, because they were very ambitious, and not just "fooling around" on a day off. We got everything at once, we had a budget, we had a time limit, we had distribution at film festivals. This was the first time for us.
The second part of the interview will be published a little later.
Source: Kung-Fu Kingdom
Translation: Maxim Kovalishen
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Tags: Contour, Rope-A-Dope, Rope-A-Dope 2, The Stunt People, Dennis Ruel, Johnny Yong Bosch, Clayton J. Barber, Eric Jacobas
Tags: Contour, Rope-A-Dope, Rope-A-Dope 2, The Stunt People, Dennis Ruel, Johnny Yong Bosch, Clayton J. Barber, Eric Jacobas
It’s interesting that Eric, by and large, did not practice martial arts for a long time.