Tell about yourself and your background! *
I'm a veteran of both the Marine Corps and Army. I spent 4 years in each. I'm also a martial artist. I have been training Kali, Silat, Muay Thai and Jun Fan Gung Fu (Jeet Kune Do) for over 13 years. I am currently also training Wushu with National Wushu Training Center and Capoeira with Clarrel Pope.
What inspired you to become a stunt performer?
Guro Dan Inosanto. Guro has been an idol of mine for a long time. I knew many of his students here in LA were stunt performers and it sounded like the best job ever. It sounded like you pretty much got paid to train and what martial artist wouldn't love that? Guys like Chad Stahelski, Jeff Imada and Ron Balicki are all my seniors in the arts and a huge inspiration for me. I hope to work with each of them at some point.
What is your greatest skill as a stunt performer, is there a stunt behind it?
I believe my greatest skill as a stunt performer is keeping a cool head during the stressful moments. You can be incredibly talented, but if you lose your cool in the moment, you're not really useful. As far as physical stunts, fights and tactical work are my bread and butter.
What is the best part about being a stunt performer?
The motivation for growth and the community. I love the fact that I have to constantly be training. That getting better at the things I love is necessary for my work. But also that I am a part of an amazing community of incredibly talented performers who not only encourage you to get better, but demand it of you. People who make you rise to the challenge and are also willing to trade skills so that we can all keep doing what we love and pushing the limits of what is possible in film.
Tell your all-time favorite stunt story!
So a friend of mine asked me to step in to coordinate a stunt for a foreign production here in LA. They had gotten booked on something else. They called me and said the gag was just an actor jumping on a table. Super easy. So I show up with pads and panel mats just in case and was ready for my first time coordinating anything even if it was just a jump on a table. I show up and realize that nobody spoke English except for two of the actors, who were fortunately also stunt performers. The shot list was entirely in Cantonese and I had no idea what was going on. All of a sudden I see about 15 extras playing zombies and realize that they are supposed to fall on top of each other as they enter a room. So I start handing out pads and laying panel mats down. Then they had an actress hitting an actor with a brick, A REAL BRICK! So I stopped them and taught her how to swing it without actually hitting him. Then they wanted an actor to lift one of the actors by his throat. The two stunt actors helped me explain that we had to do this safely, so we talked them into using apple boxes and faking it. It was a fiasco. They tried to send me home before the table jump because they were tired of me interfering. But at the end of the day and entirely because of the two stunt actors, it turned out to be a great shoot.
What advice would you give other stunt performers?
You're in a profession full of world class experts at what they do. You're probably not going to be the best at anything. So lose the ego. Just focus on doing the best you can, learn from everyone and be kind. Show up with an empty cup. Make people want to spend 12 hour days with you. If they don't, you won't work. Never stop striving to be the best you can be.
Anything else you'd like to tell the community about?
If you're looking at learning new skills or wanting to transition into Motion Capture please go check out Mind's Eye Tribe Action Actor's Academy owned by TJ Storm. I teach the Tactical class for TJ and have taken all of his classes. That man has a huge wealth of knowledge and is an incredible human being. I can't recommend him enough.
Please share your social media handles and how we can follow you!
Roguestunts1x on Instagram and Brandin Elmore on Facebook
