Writer, producer and director Kelly Madison (“Capsule”), back in 2016, planned an interesting science fiction project, which was initially supposed to become a web series. The main role was given to Madison's friend, a martial arts practitioner, stunt girl and actress. Amy Johnston (“Women's Fight Club,” “Accident”).
That project became a dark short film "The Gate", which did not become a web series due to funding problems. But the film became quite “viral” on Youtube, earning 4 million views and the opportunity for the director to establish a relationship with the company Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which, in turn, resulted in hand-to-hand action "Never Give Up: Riot" (2021) starring Olivia Popica and Michael Bisping.
According to Madison, she is already actively proposing the concept and script for a feature-length film based on "Vrat". They say the producer Tom Ortenberg ("Marshall", "Honest Thief", "Intercessor") from the company Briarcliff Entertainment, has already found financiers for this project.
Kelly Madison also sees starring Amy Johnston. The director also said that she wants to work with the best fighters from Indonesia. Let us remind you that in the short film the main “boss” was the silat master and actor Chechep Arif Rahman ("Raid 2") The director of hand-to-hand fights can also again become Malay Kim (TV series “Iron Fist”, “Mercenary”).
The project may be interesting - keep your finger on the pulse.
Martial artist, stuntman, action choreographer and director Kensuke Sonomura got into the film business in 2004, when he was taken under the wing of a professional stuntman at that time Yuji Shimomura and gave me a job at their label U'den Flame Works.
Since then, Sonomura-san has become a respected director of action scenes and fight choreography, which he has proven many times in films such as "Love and death" (2006) "Machine Gun Girl" (2008) "Way of the Warrior" (2010) "Gopnik-transformer" (2011) "Library Wars" (2013) "Killer's Children" (2022) and many others.
In 2019, Kensuke made his own directorial debut "Hydra" (from the beginning of 2022 it is available in Russian voice acting, by the way!), and at the end of the current year the master promises to release an action movie "Bad City" (Bad City).
Little is known about the project, but news reports say that the film will be timed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Japanese cinema legend Hitoshi Ozawa ("Boiling Point", "Dead or Alive", Brotherhood of the Yakuza: War of the Clans, "Ups and Downs: Misfits"). In addition to starring in Sonomura's film, Ozawa also took on producing duties.
It is only known that pre-production of the film began in October last year. We just have to wait for news about the caste "Bad City", its trailer, and at the same time an action movie "One Percent" starring Taka Sakaguchi, where Kensuke Sonomura engaged in fight choreography.
A niche film director we know Daniel Zirilli (“Asian Connection”, “Time Doesn’t Wait”, “Acceleration”, “Invincible”) presented fans of his work with another action project.
The film has a simple title "Phoenix" (Phoenix) and will tell the story of Fiona Grant, a US Army veteran who teaches hand-to-hand combat skills to everyone. But one day news comes that her father, the famous security specialist Everett Grant, was killed in Florida. Begging for leave, Fiona goes home, where she will have to face the local drug lord Maxim Vasiliev and his mercenaries.
The main role went to a professional wrestler - a diva of the WWE federation Natalie Eve Marie (“Inexplicable”, “Ordered: Destroy”), the rest of the roles are also mainly former athletes: former WWE star Oleg Prudius ("War of the Wolves 2"), former UFC fighter Randy Couture (The Expendables franchise), current MMA champion Louis Palomino, former UFC star Rashad Evans and regular actors Neal McDonough ("Minority Report", "Undying", "Combat Robot No. 4") and Bai Ling (“The Raven”, “Taxi 3”, “Revenge at Speed”).
Veterans are responsible for local action Arnold Chon (“The Losers,” “The Avenger Chronicles,” the TV series “Rush Hour”) and Philip Tan (“Batman”, “Rush Hour 3”, “Commando”), who also had a small role in the film.
"Phoenix" are already actively filming in Miami and Las Vegas. It’s unlikely that we should expect a release this year.
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Tags: Bad city, Phoenix, The Gate, Arnold Chon, Bai Ling, Daniel Zirilli, Kelly Madison, Kensuke Sonomura, Louis Palomino, Malay Kim, Natalie Eva Marie, Neal McDonough, Oleg Prudius, Rashad Evans, Randy Couture, Philip Tan, Hitoshi Ozawa, Amy Johnston
Tags: Bad city, Phoenix, The Gate, Arnold Chon, Bai Ling, Daniel Zirilli, Kelly Madison, Kensuke Sonomura, Louis Palomino, Malay Kim, Natalie Eva Marie, Neal McDonough, Oleg Prudius, Rashad Evans, Randy Couture, Philip Tan, Hitoshi Ozawa, Amy Johnston
“The Gate” was super-mega-cool! Want!