When I asked Fantastic Fest to put me in touch with the company handling press activities for Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, they introduced me to director Isaac Florentine directly via e-mail. Florentine was happy I wanted to see the movie and speak with him, and we have spent all week hanging out watching movies together. We grabbed an interview in between films to talk about the latest Scott Adkins martial arts vehicle. At the Q&A following its premiere, Florentine admitted he was unhappy with the first Ninja, and his producer revealed that a screenwriter is working on Undisputed IV at this moment.
CraveOnline: Why were you unhappy with Ninja 1?
Isaac Florentine: I felt that the concept was the wrong concept. We went more fantasy and more comic book and we relied, because we went with that concept, on CGI blood and wirework. Also, basically I think that it was the wrong way to do the movie, but it was an afterthought after we finished the movie and seeing the movie and saying, “Hmm, I wish I would have another opportunity to correct it.”
I got the influence of Fist of Fury and classic revenge movies in Shadow of a Tear. Is that what you were going for?
No, but it was not an homage in order to do an homage but you’re doing a ninja movie, martial arts movie. It’s not an MMA movie like the Undisputed movies. It’s a pure martial arts movie and there’s a scene in a Japanese dojo, so of course you think of Fist of Fury.
And he’s avenging his wife which happens a lot in martial arts movies too.
Exactly. Even in Fist of Fury when Bruce Lee comes to the judo dojo, they’re in white guis, he’s in a black Chinese outfit. Scott is in black, they are in a karate dojo. The difference was to do it in one shot but that’s a technical thing. Then of course when Kane Kosugi disappears in the ancient artifact room, of course you think of Enter the Dragon. When he comes to the school it’s Enter the Dragon. Whether you want it or not, you are sliding into it. We all love the genre. We all grew up on the genre and we are all seeing it and we are laughing to ourselves.
The opening fight scene when you shoot them through the chain link fence, was that a shot you planned or one you found on the day when you got to the location?
When I scouted locations, and scouting locations was very tough I have to say, one of the toughest things. I saw the fence there and I said, “Fantastic. Now we can at least use it to shoot parts of it and to use it for the fight.” You always come with an idea, the fight is being choreographed, meanwhile you find a location and then already you say, “Okay, let’s add this or incorporate this with the choreography or with the way that we shoot films.” It’s logical to do it. Otherwise we’re not having the full use of our location.
When you cast Vithaya Pansringarm, did you know he was doing Only God Forgives?
No. People told me but he had just finished shooting. I had no clue. By the way, Pu, that’s his nickname, is a five dan in kendo. A lot of the people that were in the Japanese dojo, a lot of the kendo participants came from his dojo.
We see him in action a lot more in Ninja: Shadow of a Tear.
Not really. He’s getting beaten.
But it’s a good fight scene. When you use handheld, it remains steady. How do you keep it steady when so many other filmmakers shake it all over the place?
I don’t like handheld. I hate the shakiness. Luckily, Ross Clarkson, and I’ll say it again, I think he’s the best camera operator in the world. He’s amazing. I call it discreet handheld. So it’s handheld but it’s not handheld. I mean, it is handheld but I don’t want it to feel like handheld. It gives him the opportunity to do quick moves, to be in and out with the rhythm of the fight. He’s so good that he gets it. So it’s handheld because you cannot do this with a steadicam. If you go too far and you use a telelens, you’re not really in the fight.
What can we expect for Undisputed IV?
First, let’s hope that it will happen and will happen soon. I don’t know. I mean, good story, some kind of a surprising, hopefully, thing with the character and to keep the same level or push the envelope more than the other movies.
When we spoke to Scott last year for Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, he had some ideas of where he wanted Boyka to go. Are the screenwriters incorporating his ideas?
It’s not sure yet. We’re not there yet. There are some ideas and right now it’s like we’re not sure whether we go with this idea or with that idea.
Whichever one you don’t do could be Undisputed V.
Maybe, but you have to continue the story, but let’s see. Let’s see what will happen and are we going to take it myself. I don’t know.
But he’ll be out of prison now, right?
Yes, of course. You continue from the point that you stopped.
It’ll be the first Undisputed that’s not in prison.
Yes, maybe.
All of your films, the action has real personality and character, even early on like Bridge of Dragons and Cold Harvest.
Thank you.
What was your approach to bring personality to action movies?
I don’t know if it’s a matter of personality but it’s a combination of two things. One thing, coming from martial arts, I love to see the technique, I mean the whole technique. It goes back, take for instance Singin’ in the Rain. When Donald O’Connor is dancing, he’s doing “Make Them Laugh,” you see everything and it’s segmented. So the fight is shot in a way with this kind of segmentation.
Second, it’s clear. It brings clarity to what you see. Now, with a combination of good technique and good camera composition you can go and you can take the fight, in a way, wherever you want. Now it’s how much time you have to shoot it, how good is the talent and where do you want to emotionally take the story. I didn’t think of anything more than that. It’s very hard to explain.
I know, we’re talking about art. Your previous movie, Assassin’s Bullet was not a martial arts movie. Was that a good experience?
It was an interesting experience. In a way, I enjoyed it. I wanted to do something different so it was an opportunity to do something different, which I enjoyed and that’s it. It was an interesting experience.
When you took over the Undisputed series, did you have a lot of freedom to do what you wanted with that franchise?
Yes. Here’s the thing. When I was handed Undisputed II, Nu Image wanted it to become a boxing movie. I told them, “Look, I can do a boxing movie but I just saw Undisputed I and whoever did it, you could see that they love boxing. They were talking about the history of boxing and I’m a big fan of Walter Hill. Look, let’s do it as a mixed martial arts movie.”
Then mixed martial arts was still just coming up. They didn’t know what it was. I tried to explain it to them. They didn’t get it. At a certain point they said, “You know something Isaac? We know your work, we trust you, do whatever you want with the action. Just keep the story.” So that’s exactly how it happened.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Shelf Space Weekly. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
