FlanInfo Interview with Joe Flanigan Part 1
SOURCE
This is most definitely one of the best interviews I have ever read. All about Six Bullets
At the Entertainment Media Show in London, FlanInfo was lucky enough to have a representative who sat with Joe Flanigan through several questions that finally made up for an exclusive interview. The discussion covered his most recent project, the next one, how was it working with Jean Claude Van Damme, how does the industry go and how he sees his profession. All in all we’ve got some interesting insights about what makes the actor Joe Flanigan tick.
This is part 1 of the interview, part 2 in a later post.
FlanInfo: When have you finished shooting 6 Bullets?
JF: We finished 5 days ago, in Bucharest, and I’ll be going back to Los Angeles on Monday. We’ll be still doing some ADR, looping as we call it, we’ll be probably doing a lot of that, actually, as there were some challenges out here.
FlanInfo: When will the movie be on the market?
JF: Early 2012, more likely in the spring. But I don’t know, we’ve just finished, you never know these things. They are trying for a theatrical release, it’s the same group of people working with Van Damme, but you never quite know how it will turn out until you’re almost there.
FlanInfo: Did you learn any new moves from your stunt trainer?
JF: I’ve learnt a lot! A lot!
FlanInfo: Could you take care of yourself in a dark alley?
JF: Absolutely, but I’d still prefer a gun.
FlanInfo: How’s the shoulder?
JF: It’s getting better, but definitely it’s a long road to recovery. You see this? (pointing to his right elbow, swollen and looking quite painful) I hit it during a stunt, still hasn’t gone down, and it was bigger (pointing towards the length of the forearm).
FlanInfo: Was 6 Bullets a good project?
JF: I would say it was a really great experience. Basically, the way I do these things now, it’s based on the role. I look at the role. Do I like the role? Is that a role that I want to play? And then the second question would be who else is in it, and who else is supporting the movie? I used to not look to things that way, I used to go for the most interesting project as a whole, but I don’t think that’s the right approach, as an actor.
This character was really interesting, as he’s the ex-world champion mixed martial artist who’s trying to stage a come-back and he brings his wife and daughter to Moldova to talk with this promoter and stage a come-back fight. And his daughter gets kidnapped and there’s a prostitution ring. Then I get Van Damme to help me get her back and I team up with him in the end and we get to kill a lot of people. Act macho! It was fun.
FlanInfo: What was it different working in Romania as opposed to US or Ireland? Working habits, maybe longer hours on set?
JF: No, the hours weren’t longer at all, and Romania turned out being much better than I thought. I was really geared up for something rustic and undeveloped in terms of filmmaking and it turned out to be reasonably well sophisticated and we were able to get all sorts of things done. For one day of shooting in the US we could shoot for 6 days in Romania, just to give you an idea about the cost.
FlanInfo: They shoot a lot nowadays there, Nicholas Cage, Gerard Depardieu…
JF: They’re doing a really big project right now, called ‘The Hatfields and McCoys’ that Kevin Costner’s doing for the History channel, some of the actors were there with me in the hotel, I’ve got to know some of those guys, it was very cool. They’ll be there until Christmas.
FlanInfo: Did you go to the Enescu classic music festival that was on just across your hotel?
JF: I didn’t have to, because the festival came to me. I had this incredibly nice hotel room on the fifth floor that had its own patio and the doors opened up right to the plaza. They had every night live music, it was incredible, for about three weeks. And I met these lovely ladies who worked at the festival, they were at the hotel a lot with the musicians, and they’ve got me tickets to anything I wanted, the only problem was I couldn’t take advantage of them, I didn’t have the time. But it didn’t make a difference; I came home, forgot all about the reasons I was there, stayed on the patio maybe with a cigar and listen to Mozart, it was pretty cool. So, to be honest with you, the experience turned out to be really enjoyable, I had fun. The only thing that was tough was being away from my wife and kids for that long. But it was a good group of people, it was a good role and hopefully the film turns out well.
FlanInfo: Do you have a lot of screentime?
JF: It’s definitely the biggest part outside of Van Damme’s and I think it’s an even more interesting role than his. I’d rather play the role I play than his role. I have a big spectrum of things happening to me. The lady who plays my wife did a really good job, she’s an English actress.
We stop again as Joe signs some more and chats with a young fan and his parents (young fan as in 7-8 years old young!). Joe takes his time talking to him and finds out he couldn’t remember his birthday “I sometimes forget when my birthday is, but you know what, if you don’t know when your birthday is, you don’t know when to expect for your presents. You’d better write it down!”
JF: That’s another thing: how many shows have 6 years olds and 86 years olds fans? Not that many. Shows usually cater to young, or old, or something like a niche, teenage girls or middle age women or whatever. Having a show that has an audience covering such a broad part of the spectrum is interesting.
FlanInfo: How was it working with Van Damme?
JF: I really enjoyed working with Jean Claude. I find him to be personable, very charming, nothing but a gentleman. He’s a great martial artist. I really had a good time. And it’s kind of cool to say that you’ve worked with certain icons, you know?
FlanInfo: The next project?
JF: I’m going to go to Marseille for that signing at the end of October and then I’m supposed to go straight to Brussels to shoot… Sony is producing a French TV show based on the Heavy Metal comic book, and I believe the French call it Metal Hurlant. I’ll shoot for 7 days roughly, in Brussels. That’s the plan right now, although there are some details I didn’t yet sort out. That takes us to mid November. In America, there’s not much happening between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
End of part 1
This is most definitely one of the best interviews I have ever read. All about Six Bullets
At the Entertainment Media Show in London, FlanInfo was lucky enough to have a representative who sat with Joe Flanigan through several questions that finally made up for an exclusive interview. The discussion covered his most recent project, the next one, how was it working with Jean Claude Van Damme, how does the industry go and how he sees his profession. All in all we’ve got some interesting insights about what makes the actor Joe Flanigan tick.
This is part 1 of the interview, part 2 in a later post.
FlanInfo: When have you finished shooting 6 Bullets?
JF: We finished 5 days ago, in Bucharest, and I’ll be going back to Los Angeles on Monday. We’ll be still doing some ADR, looping as we call it, we’ll be probably doing a lot of that, actually, as there were some challenges out here.
FlanInfo: When will the movie be on the market?
JF: Early 2012, more likely in the spring. But I don’t know, we’ve just finished, you never know these things. They are trying for a theatrical release, it’s the same group of people working with Van Damme, but you never quite know how it will turn out until you’re almost there.
FlanInfo: Did you learn any new moves from your stunt trainer?
JF: I’ve learnt a lot! A lot!
FlanInfo: Could you take care of yourself in a dark alley?
JF: Absolutely, but I’d still prefer a gun.
FlanInfo: How’s the shoulder?
JF: It’s getting better, but definitely it’s a long road to recovery. You see this? (pointing to his right elbow, swollen and looking quite painful) I hit it during a stunt, still hasn’t gone down, and it was bigger (pointing towards the length of the forearm).
FlanInfo: Was 6 Bullets a good project?
JF: I would say it was a really great experience. Basically, the way I do these things now, it’s based on the role. I look at the role. Do I like the role? Is that a role that I want to play? And then the second question would be who else is in it, and who else is supporting the movie? I used to not look to things that way, I used to go for the most interesting project as a whole, but I don’t think that’s the right approach, as an actor.
This character was really interesting, as he’s the ex-world champion mixed martial artist who’s trying to stage a come-back and he brings his wife and daughter to Moldova to talk with this promoter and stage a come-back fight. And his daughter gets kidnapped and there’s a prostitution ring. Then I get Van Damme to help me get her back and I team up with him in the end and we get to kill a lot of people. Act macho! It was fun.
FlanInfo: What was it different working in Romania as opposed to US or Ireland? Working habits, maybe longer hours on set?
JF: No, the hours weren’t longer at all, and Romania turned out being much better than I thought. I was really geared up for something rustic and undeveloped in terms of filmmaking and it turned out to be reasonably well sophisticated and we were able to get all sorts of things done. For one day of shooting in the US we could shoot for 6 days in Romania, just to give you an idea about the cost.
FlanInfo: They shoot a lot nowadays there, Nicholas Cage, Gerard Depardieu…
JF: They’re doing a really big project right now, called ‘The Hatfields and McCoys’ that Kevin Costner’s doing for the History channel, some of the actors were there with me in the hotel, I’ve got to know some of those guys, it was very cool. They’ll be there until Christmas.
FlanInfo: Did you go to the Enescu classic music festival that was on just across your hotel?
JF: I didn’t have to, because the festival came to me. I had this incredibly nice hotel room on the fifth floor that had its own patio and the doors opened up right to the plaza. They had every night live music, it was incredible, for about three weeks. And I met these lovely ladies who worked at the festival, they were at the hotel a lot with the musicians, and they’ve got me tickets to anything I wanted, the only problem was I couldn’t take advantage of them, I didn’t have the time. But it didn’t make a difference; I came home, forgot all about the reasons I was there, stayed on the patio maybe with a cigar and listen to Mozart, it was pretty cool. So, to be honest with you, the experience turned out to be really enjoyable, I had fun. The only thing that was tough was being away from my wife and kids for that long. But it was a good group of people, it was a good role and hopefully the film turns out well.
FlanInfo: Do you have a lot of screentime?
JF: It’s definitely the biggest part outside of Van Damme’s and I think it’s an even more interesting role than his. I’d rather play the role I play than his role. I have a big spectrum of things happening to me. The lady who plays my wife did a really good job, she’s an English actress.
We stop again as Joe signs some more and chats with a young fan and his parents (young fan as in 7-8 years old young!). Joe takes his time talking to him and finds out he couldn’t remember his birthday “I sometimes forget when my birthday is, but you know what, if you don’t know when your birthday is, you don’t know when to expect for your presents. You’d better write it down!”
JF: That’s another thing: how many shows have 6 years olds and 86 years olds fans? Not that many. Shows usually cater to young, or old, or something like a niche, teenage girls or middle age women or whatever. Having a show that has an audience covering such a broad part of the spectrum is interesting.
FlanInfo: How was it working with Van Damme?
JF: I really enjoyed working with Jean Claude. I find him to be personable, very charming, nothing but a gentleman. He’s a great martial artist. I really had a good time. And it’s kind of cool to say that you’ve worked with certain icons, you know?
FlanInfo: The next project?
JF: I’m going to go to Marseille for that signing at the end of October and then I’m supposed to go straight to Brussels to shoot… Sony is producing a French TV show based on the Heavy Metal comic book, and I believe the French call it Metal Hurlant. I’ll shoot for 7 days roughly, in Brussels. That’s the plan right now, although there are some details I didn’t yet sort out. That takes us to mid November. In America, there’s not much happening between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
End of part 1