Part 2 of eastern Film Fans interview with Brit Kicker Mr Gary Daniels

So the 90's produced some of the great western action films (Ed. my opinion) with Lorenzo Lamas, Michael Worth were two who brought some Martial Arts action to silver screen and you got to work with them on Final Impact I know you went a few rounds with Michael what do you recall about that movie?

I don't recall much about that film, i think it was called 'Final Impact'. It was a PM Ent. film. I was asked to do a fight with Michael Worth and i remember that it seemed weird that I had to lose a fight to him as he was so skinny , i must have out weighed him by 40 lbs and it seemed unrealistic to me at the time but I was very new to the business back then and work was work.

Also the 90's your resume is prolific over 20 films and from 2010 onwards your looking to have and even better 10 years the catalyst being a certain film called The Expendables, working with Rocky, how was that ?

with Sylvester Stallone during 'Expendables' shoot.
with Sylvester Stallone during 'Expendables' shoot.

As you can imagine I was kinda excited at the prospect of working with the writer/creator of “Rocky” and the star of “Rambo” and I have to say working with Stallone didn’t disappoint . The man has an incredible energy, whether working out in the gym with him or working on set…the man is full of energy. He is constantly in motion but is very focused.  He knows what he wants, has a clear vision and knows how to get it. As an actor it in stills confidence in you when your director is clear about what h e wants and how to go about achieving that result. He is a very intense director but I found him to be very open minded when I had any kind of suggestions about the blocking or the character. I found him to be very inspirational.

Big film, Big Cast, Brit Kicker in the middle of it all, by the way kudos on the action, I was in a cinema in Detroit, Michigan when I saw The Expendables for the first time and they all cheered when Terry Crews came on the screen so when you first entered the screen I was like "Go On Gary" lol  So I have to ask how was working with the rest of the Expendables?

I have read a lot of people wonder what the atmosphere was like on this set,maybe there were too many big ego's for 1 set. Well i will tell you that there were no ego's and everyone got along really well. I spent a lot of time with Steve Austin and Eric Roberts as we were in a lot of scenes together and they are two of the nicest, funniest guys you could hope to work with, they were like a comedy double act. Everyone on this show was very professional. When you are working on a show with so much action, fights , explosions e.t.c you cant mess around, you need to be very focused so no accidents occur. I think it helps that we had a lot of fighters on this show as they are all very disciplined in their attitude and behaviour. i would regularly see Steve, Dolph, Randy and even Eric Roberts in the gym, no one slaked off while filming. It was a pleasure to discover that Jason and the rest of the cast were all a very down to earth group of lads.

AngelsposterBringing us up to date some interesting projects first up Angels and Zero Tolerance or one in the same I saw and we covered, Eastern film fans, Angels which has now been renamed Zero Tolerance Im guessing things changed from what I saw  Angels looked like something pretty special ?

Okay, I want to make it clear that I never worked on a film called ‘Zero Tolerance’.  I worked on a film called ‘Angels’ which morphed into ‘Zero Tolerance’. That transformation is best explained by my dear friend , the director Wych Kaosayananda in an article he did. Please see article here to read more 😉

Then you've finished Skin Traffik with Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts which looks bad ass, what can you tell us about working on Ara Paiaya on the film?

skin_traffikposterWell, I'm not gonna say to much about working with Ara as he is a very private guy but I liked the script for ‘Skin Traffik’ and thats one of the main reasons I accepted the job, although so much that attracted me to the character and the story originally was left out during the actual shoot which was disappointing for me to say the least. Also the idea of shooting in London, my home town was a big attraction. I got to work with some great stunt guys from England, New York and Germany which was a definite plus, My props to Levan Doran, Kenny Wong , Roberto Lopez , Oliver Juhrs, Vinnie Wilson , Frank Bakker, Zack Roberts and all the stunt guys for their great work under tough conditions. That was a very difficult shoot on many levels. I haven't seen the completed film so I cannot give you an honest opinion about it.

Also a completely new direction for you East Side story what can you tell us about this film?

East Side Story is something very different for me and possibly not a movie that fits the category that your site covers.  It is basically a dance movie, a coming of age dance film about 2 teenagers from different upbringings that have to fight the odds so they can be together. It is directed by the Emmy award-winning dance choreographer David Winters whom was one of the stars of the original ‘West Side Story’.  I play the father of the lead lady, a wonderful, beautiful young actress / dancer named Whitney Carson. I am a divorced ex champ that owns a hotel in Florida and staffs it with dancers and entertainers.

Having not seen my daughter in 5 years, she comes to spend a summer at my hotel where she falls in love with my dish washer played by Chehon Wespi-tschopp, (a winner of the TV series  ’So you think you can dance’) and obviously I am not happy with that so the story unfolds.
It was a very different role for me which I thoroughly enjoyed playing.  Unashamedly I will admit that I am a big fan of the TV show ‘So you think you can dance’, and we had a lot of stars from that show in the film. Its amazing what these kids can do nowadays combining dance with acrobatics, they are terrific athletes. I loved going to the set even when I wasn’t working just to watch these kids dance, they were amazing.

So what else is in the pipeline for Gary Daniels ?

runmble
Screen Grab from 'Rumble'

I have 2 other films that i have finished , one is 'Misfire' , an action film set and shot in Tijuana Mexico. Here is a link to the trailer, https://vimeo.com/96006781, and i just finished a film which was called 'Bullpen' but has recently changed to 'Rumble' and who knows , that title may yet change again. Here is a link to the teaser for that film,  https://vimeo.com/98624820,  Anyway that film has loads of action, street fights, pit fights, gun fights , car chases and a story with plenty of twists.

I have a few projects lined up which i will be co producing as well as acting in, some action and some non action as i like to try and spread my wings as an actor. I don't like to talk too much about projects that have not gone before the camera yet as many things can happen misfirebetween now and then.

Finally the Eastern Film Fans question is if you were stuck on a desert island and could only take 3 films with you what would you take? (it can be any genre)

Wow , that is such a difficult question, i have seen so many fantastic films over the years .  Well I'm just gonna throw out there these 3,   The original 'Drunken Master' - CLASSIC !!,  'House of the Flying Daggers', 'Love Actually' - yes i did just say that, i love that film.  And a substitute 3 , 'Fist of Fury', 'Year of the Dragon' and the first 'Lethal Weapon'. There you go.

Gary would like to thank the fans  for your interest in my career and for your continued support.  I'd like to thank Mr Daniels  for the interview and being a bloody good bloke 😉

Check out his new facebook page here for more news and latest updates.

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