Set Visit: Rogue

Part
1 & Philip G. Atwell / Jet
Li / Jason
Statham

All
by themselves, Jet Li movies like THE ONE and KISS OF THE DRAGON,
always promise to be sweeping cinematic ballets of martial arts
action. The same goes
for films starring actor Jason Statham, who has crashed his way to
box office success with films like THE ITALIAN JOB and playing Frank
“there are rules” Martin in THE TRANSPORTER series.

But
a collaboration, a teaming of these two powerhouse actors for a
single film would truly be something special, a day to remember
indeed. Well for me,
that day arrived, as I recently went on a set visit for their new
action flick together called ROGUE, which is currently in production
in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. (And while the two
actors previously acted together in the film THE ONE, you ain’t
seen nothing yet!)

ROGUE
is the story of FBI agent played by Statham, who after his partner
is killed by assassin Rogue, played by Li, becomes obsessed by guilt
and rage, vowing to bring him down no matter what.
Rogue himself, with agent Statham hot on his tail, resurfaces
to set off a crime war between two Asian mobs rivals.
It’s a tale of revenge with plenty of anger and asskicking
to go around!

The
following is an inside look at my day on the set of ROGUE:

It’s
day 28 of a 44 day shoot here in Vancouver on the flick ROGUE and the weather here is cold, damn cold. The location of shooting today is a large warehouse on
Ballantyne Pier, a location with a great look to it where some of
the John Woo film PAYCHECK was also shot.
Walking onto the set, it’s clear that today chaos reigns.
The set is Yanagawa Motors, an exotic car dealership that
someone, who is obviously pissed, has decided to inflict serious
damage throughout because there is glass, debris and bodies
everywhere. (Plus the
smoke machines that create the mood are in full force!)

There are banners on the wall that have phrases like “true
power” and “high performance”, but don’t even come close to
describing just how magnificent these cars look in person. (Even being covered in crap!)
On the sales floor are three expensive sports cars, a grey
Ferrari, a Spider and a Lamborghini, as well as two Hellcat
motorcycles in a glass case in the back.
With over three million dollars worth of automobiles in this
room alone, it’s quite a spectacle, though nothing compared to
what’s going on in the center of the room.

Actor
and martial arts master Jet Li is about to film a well choreographed
action sequence, involving fake swords (they look pretty real to
me!) and breakaway tables. The
director, music video and The Shield episode director Philip G.
Atwell, calls action and Li and actor Ryo Ishibashi, who is playing
Asian mob boss Shiro, begin to fight.
With both actors jumping, swinging, and crashing down on a
table that splits in half, it’s an exciting and rare glimpse most
will never get to see – a in person look at Jet Li in action and
trust me, it’s just as cool looking as it sounds.

Next,
I head outside to where actor Jason Statham will be shooting later
tonight. The setting is
outside on the dock, where a large truck carrying a very impressive
and very green Lamborghini, will take off down the road. Little does the driver know that about a hundred yards down
this very road, he will be killed. The car and look of the pier is a sight to be seen and since
they will be using the location later to also do some car chases, I
can verify that it’s gonna look knockin’ in the movie.

If
ROGUE is half as good as it looks here in person, I think action
fans have something cool to look forward to! (I’m going inside now; it’s just
too damn cold!)

Besides
a few memorable music videos and a few episodes of the F/X series
“The Shield”, director Philip G. Atwell is rather new to feature films. He is helming
ROGUE, which teams up action stars Jet Li and
Jason Statham, and he sat down to discuss the story, his vision for
the film and going from the small screen to the big screen.

Director Philip
G. Atwell

So
you’re on day 28 of filming…

We
are?

That’s
what they said.

Oh,
(joking) it’s a blur. It’s
amazing because it feels like yesterday was day one.
When I was walking up here (to do the interview) I was just
thinking about the first frame that we shot and how different it is
from the film that we’re making right now.
In the sense that as a director your first shot is there,
it’s like your base and then everything for the film, for me,
everyday is better. Everyday
I think everyone learns something new.
You bring crews together, you bring people together and
it’s a process of making a film.

What
is the tone of the film?

The
idea is that is was set in a real world of Asian gangs, Triads and
Yakuzas, and a cop who is kind of consumed with finding a killer.
So the tone itself is a dark, gritty world, that’s what
we’re trying to achieve.

What
is the key for you to be able to translate that visually?

I
think the drama and the action, just the overall attitude of the
characters. It’s an
R-rated movie, when people get hurt in this movie; they look like
they really got hurt. We’re
not relying on wire works or, there are some stunts in the movie,
but they’re stunts that in my mind could happen in reality.
So with the exception of some of the big action sequence
fights, I’m sure not everyone could do those things.
But someone who was trained and skilled like Rogue is and a
few of the people he is fighting, they have that ability.
But this isn’t a world where everybody is a great fighter
and fights last a very long time.

One
of the things that we wanted to do was combine the talents of Jet Li
and Jason and kind of tone some of the stuff down you’ve seen them
do before and bring it into an environment where viewers looked at
it and go “wow, that guy really got hurt”, as opposed to “it
looked like he was waiting for the kick and felt very
choreographed”.

Since
you’ve done mostly music videos and television work, have you
found it hard directing a feature film?

As
a director, the medium is the medium.
I think when you get to work with actors Glenn Close, Michael
Chiklis, Forest Whitaker, those are all feature film actors and when
you’re directing a scene, your directing a scene.
Feature film is just, in my mind, an extension of the videos
I’ve shot three, four days, five days, working in television set
in 11 days. But it’s
pretty much keeping the pace, so this is really about me, just
continuity for everyone, trying to tell a story in a proper fashion.

Did
working on The Shield influence your style as a director on this
film?

No,
not really because the thing about The Shield is, as a director, you
get to work with some really talented actors and with a certain
condition of “the ships already sailed” and for that week or two
weeks, you get to steer the boat, but you can’t turn it, because
there are story lines that you have to play into that are far
beyond, like whatever your vision would be.
Just from the standpoint of storytelling, I think that it
definitely helped. I
think what’s interesting is the last episode I did was called
Trophy and it was about misdesception and here I am in a film
that’s kind of riddled in lots of misdesception and people
aren’t who you think they are.
It’s a good story.

Interviews
with Jason Statham & Jet Li coming soon!!