Michael Bailey Smith: The S.H.U. (Working Title)
Year:
2002
Role: Lead (Film)
Director: Ringo Lam
This was by far the most physically demanding film I've ever worked on. I mean, it doesn't compare to being in the 82nd Airborne and humping you butt through the jungle for fifty miles or physical pounding you take playing football but still, it's a movie where you're supposed to play "make believe." But that's not what happened. Ringo Lam, the director wanted it to be as real as possible. So that's what we gave him. We gave him "real." Everything I did was full tilt. There was no holding back. Not only did I take a pounding but also did everyone else. I had no stunt double. I had to do everything. So, if I went down, the whole film shut down. And with that on my shoulders, I didn't let anybody know how hurting I was. I have to tell you, the last week on the set, I didn't think I was going to leave without leaving in a body-bag. That's how tough it was. I mean, I fought hard for a week and a half straight. From 7:00am in the morning to 8:00pm at night. That's 13 hours a day of just going at it. We went through about three of Van Damme's stunt men. I ended up going to hospital twice for a gash to my head that kept opening up. I bruised my ribs, hyper-extended my knee, cracked the ball of my foot and on the last take of the day, my nose got broken. It was tough. It took about a month to recover from all of my injuries when I finally got back to the states.
Okay, enough of that. The film is going to be pretty cool. I got to play two characters, Valia and Boo. Valia was my original role but because an actor went down doing the Boo character I got to play him too. Boo is in a leather mask and the other actor was bald, so it was a pretty good match for me to take over. The Boo character was just wonderful. It was full of so much emotion and passion. The Valia character was cool too but I've played those characters a million times before. The best part of that character was the fighting.
Van Damme and me had good chemistry on the set. I have a lot of respect for the man. He works hard and wants the best for the film. I hope we get to work together again.
The talk is that this is supposed to be Van Damme's comeback film. From what I've seen from the video playback, it looks great. I hope it is. Hell, I hope it helps all of us out.
When I talked about how tough the fighting was, you were probably saying, "Yeah right, it's movie fighting." Well, let me tell you, it wasn't. It was basically real. There were no fancy martial arts moves or kicks, just pure, raw prison fighting. Well, there were some kicks and ground fighting techniques but that's it.
Below is a series of pictures just showing you how tough the fighting was.
Here is Van Damme and I rehearsing some of the moves. Ringo Lam wanted only sections of the fights to be somewhat choreographed, the rest we had to "improv" and when you're going full out, this can be pretty dangerous.
Here is the actor Paulo (I forget his last name.) and I talking about the fight. Paulo is like a seven time world Mui-Tai champion. He's one badass guy. He was so impressed with my fighting and intensity that he said, "Give me two years and I'll make you a world champion." I was like, "Thanks but I'll just stick to making movies."
Here is Van Damme and I working out some of the fight with the Stunt Coordinator David Leach. I guess I'm giving my opinion on a move or something.
Here is what I look like after a few hours of going at it and both the American Stunt Coordinator David Leach and the Bulgaria Stunt Coordinator Kala are showing me how to do a move. Both guys are very good and I have a lot of respect for both of them. The caption should be, "Oh man, that is going to hurt when I do that."
Here's some great shots of me getting ready to fight, thinking about what have to do and the amount of intensity I have to bring to the fight.
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Here is a series of shots from the fight itself. Van Dame and I had two big fights in this movie. This is from beginning and the middle of the final fight. Like I said, you'll find out that there wasn't too much "acting" going on.
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Just to show how much force and power we were giving, here is a shot of me coming in for a head butt. Notice how distorted our faces are. That's serious.
Here is Van Damme's reaction after he head butts me. Momentum and force of the impact knocks us both down. I think it's pretty cool.
I want to thank my good friend Lloyd Battista for taking these photos.
He plays the evil prison commandant in the movie. He's pretty cool.