I have admired Matt Damon’s acting skills ever since I saw him in “Good Will Hunting” which he co-write and co-starred with BFF Ben Affleck in 1997.
You might have read my recent post on Denzel Washington, who stars in “The Book of Eli” and got some serious fight training from Dan Inosanto and stunt coordinator-extraordinaire, Jeff Imada.
Jeff Imada is also the guy responsible for hypnotizing movie audiences worldwide into believing that Matt Damon actually is Jason Bourne in the Bourne Trilogy.
I just stumbled across the trailer of a very soon to be released movie, starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear, called “Green Zone“.
The movie was inspired by the book “Imperial Life in The Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone” written by Rajiv Chandrasekran, who looked at civilian leadership during the U.S. American reconstruction in Iraq.
The book concentrates on the actions of the Coalition Provisional Authority inside the Green Zone in Baghdad. Emphasis is put on how the occupation was handled from the time from the end of the invasion till the official transfer of power to the Iraqis and the increasing insurgency in Iraq.
Of course, as with just about every book, Hollywood has to do what it does best, namely to make it appealing on the Big Screen.
And that’s where I was asking myself, so who makes Matt Damon look real tough in “Green Zone“?
I was elated to find out that the guy responsible for coordinating the stunts and fight choreography is an established stunt player himself. He is fellow martial artist Markos (or Mark) Rounthwaite, 5th degree Tae Kwon Do black belt from New Zealand, aka Mr. Stunts.
Mark was a member of the highly accomplished stunt teams in such successful productions as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of theCrystal Skull, The Bourne Ultimatum, Casino Royale and King Kong.
You have already noticed that I like to credit people who bring out the best in other people and that of course means stunt players, stunt coordinators and fight choreographers, because these are the ones who help make the stars look better than they actually might be.
From what I can tell from the trailer, the movie “Green Zone” sure looks like a lot of suspense and exciting action scenes. I am hopeful that the movie actually lives up to the expectations that we as viewers have when we see these jaw-dropping action scenes in trailers.
When you talk about movies like Rush Hour, Armageddon, Lethal Weapon 4, The Bourne Ultimatum, Gone In Sixty Seconds, The Last Samurai, The Fight Club, just to mention a few, I am sure the action-filled scenes are the first thing that come to mind.
And when you think about it, some of the most popular movies became box-office successes due to the spectacular stunts and fight scenes displayed on the Big Screen.
Without the stunt and fight professionals, who by the way usually aren’t household names like those of the celebrities on the Red Carpet, many movie productions would never turn out the way they do.
One of these professionals, who deserve more credit for what they do and someone whom I truly admire, is Jeff Imada.
And yes, the movies I listed above were strongly influenced by Jeff Imada. He either did many of the stunts or coordinated them! Man, this guy must have been in hundreds of great movie productions. It’s absolutely mind-boggling!
Beyond Tinseltown, Jeff Imada is highly recognized and revered on the martial arts circuit for his mastery of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) and Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).
Born in 1955 in Southern California, Jeff Imada started studying martial arts at the age of 15. So, let’s see, that would have been 1970.
That makes it already 40 years of solid martial arts training experience and what I haven’t mentioned so far in this post:
Jeff Imada is a master student/protege of the world-famous, Guro Dan Inosanto. Remember him?
Jeff was also a very good friend of Brandon Lee, back in the day. Later on, he was the primary fight choreographer in Brandon Lee’s successful movie, ‘The Crow’.
He has been a stuntman, stunt coordinator and fight choreographer in countless movie productions that have become financial box-office hits, also because of his ingenuity and professionalism.
I was reminded of him just some time ago after I heard about ‘The Book Of Eli’ starring Denzel Washington and Mila Kunis.
In one of the many interviews promoting this movie, Denzel mentioned Dan Inosanto (remember him?) and Jeff Imada in connection with training for the fight scenes.
