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Your new movie Cabal - in a few words, what is it about, and
what can you tell us about your character in it?
Cabal
is about a military assassin, code named Dragonfly, that is hired to hunt
and eliminate a serial killer, Sallos, preying on innocent young girls.
While on assignment he learns that there’s a much more sinister danger
than he had anticipated. My character Dragonfly is a former special
forces, expert in martial arts and a trained killer. He is conflicted with
the life he leads and the life he wishes he had.
What
did you draw upon to bring your character to life, and how much of John
Ozuna can we find in Dragonfly?
I trained intensely for 3 months prior to filming. My training included
martial arts, kickboxing, weightlifting and intermittent fasting. It felt
no different than preparing for a world class level full contact fight. My
martial arts training has helped me survive several life threatening
situations involving multiple attackers armed with knives and guns. It’s
this that Dragonfly and John Ozuna have in common and see through the same
eyes. For what I've seen,
Dragonfly wears a mask during quite a bit of Cabal - so in
what way did that influence your acting and also stunting?
Wearing the Dragonfly mask was particularly challenging. We filmed on the
tarmac at Redding International Airport, which reached temperatures up to
127 Degrees. I wore a fir lined face stocking under the mask. It limited
my vision and breathing. I had relied on my physical movements to convey
dialogue and emotions. Despite these challenges I felt that every time I
put the mask on I transformed into the Dragonfly and nothing could stop
me!
How
did you get involved with the project in the first place?
Rene Perez contacted me earlier this year and expressed wanting to work
together on a project where he would have more of a say so on storyline,
casting and content. A year earlier I had worked on his film The Dragon
Unleashed. He knew what I was capable of doing to develop the character
of Dragonfly. Do
talk about Cabal's director Rene Perez [Rene
Perez interview - click here], and what was your collaboration
like?
Rene is an artist in every way. His commitment and dedication to his
vision is obvious in his body of work. He outdid himself on Cabal! We
share so many common interests. His love and appreciation for classical
music, 80s music, superheroes, G. I. Joes, M*A*S*H, Star Trek and
Star Wars. The more we talked the more we discovered how much we had in common.
Once we started throwing ideas around for this project it became obvious
what we wanted to produce. Besides playing the lead, you also worked as a
stunt coordinator on Cabal - so what can you tell us about
that aspect of the movie?
As a fight choreographer I wanted for each fight sequence to tell a story
about the character and how he adapts to whatever situation he encounters.
Whether it be on the tarmac of an airport facing five adversaries or the
dense forest against an unstoppable force. Either way we tried to make
this as real as possible. We took full hits to the body and an
unbelievable “real” kick to the groin by Tony Jackson. Do talk about the shoot as
such, and the on-set atmosphere?
The locations were breathtaking. The actors and crew were the best. Each
person went above and beyond to help out in any way they could. Egos were
checked at the door. We laughed out loud towards the end of each long
shooting day. On the rides back we listened to music, reflected on the
days filming and laughed some more.
Any future projects
you'd like to share?
I have recently been casted for a lead in an upcoming Hollywood feature
film. I can’t say much about it now but the director is known to have
“Danced With Wolves” Haha! You actually come from a martial
background and to my understanding are a Guiness Book record holder - so
to talk about that aspect of your career?
I have been studying martial arts for nearly 40 years under my teacher
Senior Grandmaster Richard Lee. I hold a Master’s rank in Bokfudo, a self
defense based system of Chinese martial arts. I’ve been a world
class competitive full contact fighter and have held two Guinness World
records. One for the fastest punch (43.3mph) and the other for most
punches in a minute (713). This year marks my 30th anniversary for my
school KO Kung Fu in San Jose California. What inspired
you to get into movies eventually, and did you receive any specific
training on acting and/or stunt coordination?
Through my martial arts competition I gained a certain amount of
recognition and was given opportunities to showcase it in several forms
of media. My acting experience was more from stage acting. I enjoy the
challenge transitioning from stage to TV/film. Each is unique in its
approach and the tools that are used.
What can
you tell us about your filmwork prior to Cabal?
I just finished a film The Infinity Project I play the lead role
John Ramsay. It’s about a C.I.A. agent that participates in a secretive
brain-transference program when the ambassador to Italy is kidnapped by a
rogue agent. It’s a cool sci-fi action film. You can find it on Amazon
Prime. I’ve also been featured in Marvel’s
Venom and Antman and the
Wasp among many other projects. How
would you describe yourself as an actor, and some of your techniques to
bring your characters to life?
As an actor I take the time to find out as much as possible about my
character's background. His particular life experiences that brought him to
where he is in the story. Then I draw from my own personal experiences to
bring out the authenticity of the moment. Actors (and indeed
actresses) who inspire you?
Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Will Smith have always been some of my
favorites. Favorite female actor, I’m a little bias, but I’d have to
say Eva Hamilton, my co-star in Cabal. She did an amazing job! Your favourite movies?
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Wow that’s a great question. I like a huge variety for different
reasons. Enter The
Dragon, The Godfather, The
Exorcist, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Superman, Star
Wars, Disney-Pixar, just to name a few. ...
and of course, films you really deplore?
Hmm...I’ll have to get back to you. Your website,
Facebook, whatever else? Please
check out my IMDb for some of my other projects I’ve worked on:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8745779/ Thanks for
the interview!
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
