Mike Smith Talks Ultraviolet
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Tech Stuff, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Stunt coordinator Mike Smith recently sat down with Sci Fi Wire to discuss the methodology he
used in creating the fight choreography for upcoming Sci Fi/Comic Bookish movie Ultraviolet. The
Kurt Wimmer helmed film is regularly referred to as "high action," and Smith put in a solid two months on
set in China working on his personal challenge to keep the fights unique. Smith, claiming that "fights in movies
are either real or they're cool," used a mixture of exaggerated/poetic action and wire-fu to craft the action
within the film - although Smith indicated that he tried to keep the wire-based action under 10% of the overall
action.Smith also implemented dance choreography into his fight scenes, on the urging of Kurt Wimmer. To aid this, Wimmer brought on Russian-born gymnast and dancer Youlia Galenko from Las Vegas, who exhibited/interpreted what dance moves might look like if done while holding a knife or a gun. Said Galenko, "As it turns out, it could be very beneficial to use some of these dance moves when you're ever in a gun fight."
While I suppose the dance/wire/etc information is interesting in its own right, I think that information was overshadowed by Smith's forthright claim that "fights in movies are either real or they're cool." In my mind, I start to protest at that statement as absurd...but as I begin to think, I realize that even much of what I consider "real" action in movies is highly stylized, at the very least. Nonetheless, I've still got to believe that real action can, in fact, be "cool" in the right films. Thoughts?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-28-2006 @ 10:11AM
Sam Van Eerden said...
Of course, the effectiveness of such fight scenes on the audience that views them is based largely upon personal preference too.
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2-28-2006 @ 10:15AM
B said...
If he went through this much trouble to make fight scenes that look unique, why do the trailers look like a ripoff of Aeon Flux?
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2-28-2006 @ 10:59AM
Finished.Law.School said...
As crazy as it may sound this movie is going to be tons better than Aeon Flux.
Aeon Flux had source material that was mostly ignored when they made the film consequently making the film version complete rubbish. Add to that Theron's lack of ability to fit into the role and you have the waste of time that is the live action Aeon Flux film. It is safe to assume that those who enjoyed the source material were the target audience for the film but when you rape the source material and have bad casting you get a flop.
While Ultraviolet will not likely break box office records it should be more entertaining than Aeon Flux because the story is original (in comparison to Flux) allowing more creative freedom and likely resulting in a more interesting story and the casting done for the film is tons better.
Then again I could be wrong and this could be Uwe Boll caliber but I would pay for a ticket to see Ultraviolet but not Flux or anything by Boll...
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2-28-2006 @ 12:15PM
James Hudnall said...
Kurt Wimmer did a great, stylized action film with Christian Bale called "Equilibrium". So I am really looking forward to seeing this one.
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