MY RECON 2022 EXPERIENCE –
“BEING CYBERMERC”
Read Viel’s RECON 2022 Blog Here
Every time I work on something horror movie wise
outside the site, I like to bring it back here and share it with you who
give half of a shite. This is one of those times, tune in or out, here I go
anyways! YEEHAW!
RECON 2022 is now wrapped and marked the third time that I worked with
“Montreal Ace
in the deck” Christian Viel (Pain Killer, Recon 2020). I’m happy to report that
teaming with the
lad was once again a hoot and quite the learning experience.
Molds for my spine courtesy of George Tucci of
Fallen Angel FX
In RECON 2022 I play Cybermerc, basically the rapist
character that I played in
RECON 2020 but now Borged up and nuttier than a
nut destroyed within a peanut butter jar! Two things would be “firsts” for me with this role with
the
initial cherry popper being “functioning with heavy prosthetics
on”. Although I’ve been put through the makeup ringer before this baby, I never
did to this extent. For the role of Cybermerc it took me 4 to 8 hour to get
my whole get-up on. Once in place, my eyes were fully covered up by goggle glasses and my body was restrained by a slew of appendages to make me look
“teched out”.
Julie Brisebois prepping me up!
Me goofing around with Julie Brisebois – assistant
to Mr. Tucci.
The snags were: the goggles kept fogging up no matter
how many holes the classy effect peeps poked in them for ventilation (Shout
out to George Tucci and Julie Brisebois …you rocked!) Hence I couldn’t see SHITE!
While my restricted body movement made it tough to move around and raise my
arms. Bigger
problem was the bulk of my role was physical…yup, I had to fight. Try
leaning and executing fight choreographies when you can’t see or move…its
“interesting.”
In my opinion, the first fight
we tackled suffered due to that (tagged with lack of time and a fine actress
that had little to no fighting experience). We had to cut corners “big time” and
I was a tad bummed about the outcome. With that said all you can do is your best, let it go and move forward
and I know that our fight coordinator, the great Alan Chou did his best
for the fight to still deliver in its stripped down nature. On the
upside, I feel we made up for it with the second fight that I have in the film.
We did it on my last day of shooting, had the time to do it well (the whole
afternoon) and by that point I was somewhat used to the restrictions. It also
surely helped that on this round my opponent was actor/stuntman Andy Bradshaw, an experienced fighter. It made it
much, MUCH easier.
The dueling baldies- Fighting Andy Bradshaw was a
blast!
The second challenge I came across with this role was
its nature. I’ve always played “grounded” characters throughout my acting “wannabee
career”. But on this round I played a crazy Cyborg who spits out
one liners and kicks ass. That’s it, that’s the role…I never boogied to that
jive
before. The
first day on set, I was still feeling the part out i.e. doing it wrong by playing it straight. I
just wasn’t getting it.
But on the second day I FINALLY got
it when I realized that Cybermerc is like Freddy Kruger circa Part 3-4-5-6, in the sense that he’s over the
top, irrational, one liner heavy and basically indestructible. THERE ARE NO
RULES AS TO HOW TO PLAY HIM! I had seen
the light, I ran with it and wound up having lots of fun with the role. I even came up
with a “left field” gag having to do with a Barbie doll that I think turned out
fairly well. We’ll see if the big man
(Mr. Viel) thinks
so too and if it stays in the film.
Mr. Viel giving me and actress Gillian Leigh some
directions.
In a cock shell, I had a hootenanny on RECON 2022 due
to the “fun and learn” combo that it was for me. I learned as a writer while tackling the
screenplay with Viel who guided me in the art of writing in a more “light
hearted” fashion. On set, I learned to work around prosthetics, to endure long hours of
“not seeing”, constricted movements and people tinkering me
every second of the day. I also learned to fight “blind” (Est tu Daredevil?)
and that some roles are not meant to be
played seriously.
And the best part is…I had a blast and caught myself
thinking to myself “man I love my job” many o times throughout the shoot. Now if
only I could learn to “not” drink too much at Wrap Parties…I’m still working
on that one : ) In conclusion, compared to RECON 2020 (the first film), RECON
2022 had a
more focused script, a bigger budget and was so much more ambitious. Props
to Viel for taking a 20 Million $ budgeted film on paper and managing to shoot
it for so much less. The man never ceases to amaze me. The shoot is over and I can‘t wait to
see how it turns out! Bring on RECON 2022 in 2007!
Trying to read a Fango! I CAN’T SEE!
Read Viel’s RECON 2022 Blog Here