Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear has already gotten a lot of love from me here on Cinapse. And my anticipation of the film was matched only by my realized love for it upon seeing it at Fantastic Fest 2013. There was only one interview I truly wanted to seek out at this year’s fest, and that was with Isaac Florentine (Director) and Scott Adkins (Star). Unfortunately, I didn’t snag Scott before he left the fest, but perhaps even better yet, I ended up sitting down with Isaac Florentine one-on-one for a full hour! And I couldn’t be more excited about some of the topics we discussed. Isaac was a wonderful interviewee who was excited to talk about his career thus far and has zero qualms talking about what is wrong with the big action films of Hollywood today or lavishing praise on spaghetti westerns and Fred Astaire. There is truly more than meets the eye when it comes to Isaac Florentine. On the surface, Americans might only know him as the director of Direct To Video action titles such as Undisputed II & III, and now Ninja and Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear (all starring Adkins.) But this guy has the talent and charisma you can only hope to find in the best interview subjects.
Since Isaac gave me a full hour of his time, I’ll break the interview into three pieces. Let’s start off with some tales of Florentine’s time at Fantastic Fest and his earlier career.
ET: Have you seen any movies besides your own at the Fest?
IF: … I went to see Commando: A One Man Army. Loved it!
ET: I was hoping you’d get a chance to see that one. Have you seen a lot of Bollywood movies?
IF: Some, but not really. I almost did a movie in India 11 years ago. We found locations but at the end of the day the gig fell apart. And we made the movie in Lithuania. The script is supposed to have camels and we’re in Vilnius! We changed it, of course. It was actually my first movie with Scott Adkins. Special Forces.
ET: I haven’t seen that one yet, it is on my list for sure! I wanted to talk about your career and then we’ll get to Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear. So you were born in Israel. I would imagine there aren’t many people who are born in Israel, study martial arts, found a martial arts school, and then move to America and become an action director. You have a very unique path in life. How did you find your way to martial arts and then into the film industry?
IF: You can find a lot of people born in Israel and studying martial arts. OR you can find them doing movies. But yes, it is a little bit of a rare combination to find someone doing both. As a kid I loved movies. My mother and older brother were also movie lovers. As a kid I saw The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I loved it. Wow! And I started to see movies from a different perspective. It was not the actors, it was the way the story was told. And I got really interested. Luckily my brother, we are nine years apart, he explained to me: “This is a director, this is how this is done, there is an actor that is a star that only plays himself, there is an actor who plays many types of roles…” So this is my start with movies.
With martial arts, as a kid I saw You Only Live Twice, the James Bond movie, and I was flabbergasted. That was the late 1960s. In the 1970s came the Tokyo Circus. There was karate there and I was floored. In 1971 a school opened close to where I lived. I begged my parents to go there. They were dead-set against it. As holocaust survivors, to them it was violence. Luckily I was a good student and convinced them. They were sure I would quit in two months. But I made a kind of vow. I said, “I will never leave it.” And so many years later, I never left it.
ET: You are still practicing martial arts?
IF: I still practice them. Avidly. I saw lots of movies that had martial arts in them, like the original Mechanic with Charles Bronson. Great movie. There was a great scene with Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent in a dojo and Tak Kubota plays, I guess, one of the students. He’s a Japanese master. And then, of course, the Billy Jack movie. But until Fists Of Fury I didn’t understand the scope of it. What was called here The Chinese Connection with Bruce Lee. It was a revelation. I remember walking home from that movie was like walking on clouds. Then I knew I wanted to do martial arts until I died, but secondly I also knew that I wanted to do martial arts movies.
ET: I’ve talked to a lot of people in the past involved in fight choreography and stunt work. I’ve talked to JJ Perry, who I know you’ve worked with.
IF: A great friend of mine. A brother from another mother.
ET: I’m very excited to see him getting bigger and bigger movies.
IF: He deserves it.
ET: Yeah! But I’ve been told by a lot of those guys that the transition from stunt coordinator or fight choreographer to director is very challenging and most people don’t bridge that gap. You’ve done both. How did you bridge that gap?
IF: Actually, I directed first. I went to film school. I directed some shorts on Super 8 in high school and then went to film school at Tel Aviv University to be a director. I used the fact that I was also a martial artist to experiment. When I came to America in order to work I took a step back and said “I’ll be a fight choreographer” because it would help me to get involved. But I did some side stepping. But in 1991… Menahem Golan really liked a short I did in 1987. It was an award winning short in Israel. Golan gave me my chance to do my first American feature. He said, in his accent “Would you like to make movie?!” “Okay!” [It’s a good impression, I think.] So this was my first movie.
ET: Which film is this?
IF: It was called Desert Kickboxer. A cheesy movie shot in 16 days. The budget was $250,000. Then Menahem’s partner really liked the script so they upped it to $318,000! So I was double dipping. Then Power Rangers came along and I was the fight choreographer and second unit director on the first season.
ET: So, in a way, Menahem Golan got you your start? I wasn’t aware of that but in your two Ninja films I see a Canon homage in there. And that is one of the reasons I’m a big fan!
IF: He, Golan, is a giant. He was involved as a director and producer in more than 400 movies. He directed many movies and really created the industry in Israel. I learned so much from him. Sometimes just one sentence. “Let me tell you something Florentine… cinema talks in point of view!” [Again, a pretty great impression.] And I said wow, yes, cinema does talk in points of view. He gave a chance to Jean Claude Van Damme, to Chuck Norris… I mean, Norris had done some other stuff but most of his stuff was with Golan. He is a person who just loved movies.
That’s it for the first part of this hour long interview. I hope you are finding Isaac to be as charming as I did. Next up we’ll talk about Florentine’s collaboration with Scott Adkins and we’ll complain together about the state of action movies in Hollywood today. Hint: Florentine isn’t the biggest fan of CGI.
And I’m Out.