Gareth Evans is a Welsh native who loves B movies and couldn’t find a chance after graduating from film studies in his hometown, but married to the country of Kuala Lumpur by accident. Break out of the world. There, Evans met Iko Uwais, a martial arts master who was working as a driver in a telecommunications company during the day in order to make a documentary on Indonesia's national technology silat. The two hit a good deal and Iko was invited to star in Evans's debut feature film "Merantau", movie 09 It quickly became a cult after it was released in 2016. Two years later, "The Raid", a second collaboration between Evans and Iko, made its world premiere in the "Midnight Madness" section of the Toronto Film Festival. Passionate evaluation of "the best action movie of the decade".
In March of this year, "The Raid: Redemption" with a new name was screened in North America and once again won praise from film critics and audiences. SONY is already planning a North American remake, and the original sequel is also on the agenda. I believe this fresh Indonesian wind will continue to blow in the next few years.
On the eve of the North American release, the well-known AV Club website interviewed Gareth Evans:
The AV Club: "The Raid: Redemption" is very similar to John Carpenter's old film, but also a bit of a Hong Kong movie in the mid-1980s. How much of it is a deliberate tribute? How many are budget and equipment constraints?
Gareth Evans: When I decided to set the film in a scene, I started to look for movies with similar settings to see how they were filmed and how they were constructed. In addition to the obvious ones, such as "Die Hard" (Die Hard) and "Death Video" (Rec), I also found some other films, including "Assault On Precinct 13" (Assault On Precinct 13). So from a design perspective, Carpenter has a great influence on us. The budget of this film is very low. We want to use Die Hard to shoot big action scenes, but we also need to have a scene to create tension and tell the audience that someone may jump out to attack on any floor or room, but we didn’t. Qian hired hundreds of extras. By watching "Blood on the 13th Police Station", we learned a bunch of cheap techniques, such as Carpenter's use of sound effects and shadows to create the effect of a police station surrounded by bad guys and snipers, but few people actually showed up. I probably saw about ten of them. For our budget, the technique from old movies is very important.
As for the image style of the film? Indeed, there is the influence of Hong Kong films in the 1980s, and there is also the influence of Carpenter. We know that the camera needs to move a lot, sometimes running through the entire corridor and then turning 360 degrees, so the lighting must match the real shots. In this way, the image needs to be a little rough. The method we use is to add more flat lights on the ceiling, and then open a hole in the microphone to add LED lights when shooting. As a result, the freedom of movement of the camera is greatly increased. This film was made using a semi-documentary technique, with the exaggeration and spectacle elements of an action film.
AVC: In recent years, other films have used similar techniques, but with a somewhat ridiculous attitude. Your film is not ridiculing at all.
GE: We decided to come straight, without any jokes. Just want to see how the audience will react. Because I really love those films that I learnt from. These are all great movies. I liked it when it was released, and there was no ridicule at the time. We want to pay tribute to them.
AVC: You mentioned that the space of the scene is limited. Are there any other challenges that exceed expectations when shooting a scene?
GE: The biggest difficulty is not the scene itself, but the execution of the action scene. This is too time-consuming. You have to shoot one by one until it is suitable. But someone has to ask: "What was the most difficult moment when shooting?" The answer is a scene involving two floors, that is, Iko punches a hole in the floor and jumps down. In order to shoot this movie, we needed a two-story studio, but all the eligible studios were booked. In the end, there was no alternative, it was shot on an indoor badminton court with a tin roof. We rented the venue for a week or two. The problem is that there is a tin roof and the temperature rises too fast during the day. When a group of people jumped up and down, the room temperature reached 40-42 degrees. The guys wore SWAT uniforms, including T-shirts, shirts, SWAT jackets, helmets, gloves, pants, heavy boots, and guns. Everyone was exhausted. After shooting for an hour, everyone was drained. All can't move. Later, I could only switch to night work, but even so, the temperature was still choking. There are twenty air conditioners installed in the house, but no matter how hard they are, they can't affect the indoor temperature.
AVC: How much of "The Raid" was shot in the studio?
GE: About 85%. The rest is real shooting: outdoor scenes, pharmacy scenes and staircase scenes. The corridors, atriums, and room scenes were all shot on set.
AVC: The fight scenes in your movies are well-organized, sporty, and very fast. Is this sense of speed actually made by the actors, or is it partly adopted by photography?
GE: We tend to shoot real shots at 24 frames per second. We don’t use the trick of lowering the number of frames (fast shots) very much, because according to past experience, we try to lower the frame rate every time... mirror. Sometimes the lens will be very long, and someone will actually fall down after being thrown out. If it is shot at 21 frames per second (released), it will look absurd. So all of our things are shot in 24 frames, and the only place where we can make hands and feet is the moment of collision. Under normal circumstances, the entire process leading to a collision is shot at a regular speed. If necessary, we will add a bit of speed-ramp (press: it is the same speed and slow effect in the same lens that Zagschneider loves), but only at the moment of impact, so as to increase the sense of power. But this is a rare case.
AVC: As a fighting expert, how do you think Iko Uwais (starring Xiaobai) compares to other fighting artists?
GE: It's like this: there are so many fighting artists and talented fighters of different genres who are really good at it, but it's totally different to hit the screen. We have interviewed countless masters, all of whom are talented and skillful, and even the actions are beautiful. But once the camera is up, they are fucked. They just can't do it. This is totally different. Fortunately, Iko has the ability to make silat (Indonesian traditional fighting technique) beautifully presented on the screen, even though the behavior itself is brutal. There is a sense of fluidity in his movements, which blends well with the camera. I think he has the potential to be red, really. His collaboration with Yayan (the "Mad Dog" Yayan Ruhian)—the two of them choreographed the movie together—has reached the point where they are connected to each other, and they both know what is beautiful in the lens. This is very exciting, because we have only made two films together, and we want to explore new dimensions of silat for each of the next films. Fortunately, Silat has no less than two hundred fighting styles, and some are open up.
AVC: Which period of kung fu movie is your favorite?
GE: Hong Kong films in the 1980s and early 1990s were the golden age of this type of film. "Police Story", "Plan A", "Dragon Brother and Tiger Brother", "Huang Feihong"... These are all great and great kung fu movies. A lot has changed now. At that time, I used Lianjiazi, real doubles, and then became a star in the mid-1990s. As a result, I avoided it for a long time. It was Tony Jia and "Boxing Fighter" that brought everyone's attention back to Kung Fu movies. The reason why everyone likes the film is that the real kung fu artist is practicing real style. I hope that the celebrity's atmosphere of hanging Wia will begin to recede like this.
AVC: The year that "Boxer" premiered at the Toronto Film Festival had an amazing response.
GE: I can hardly imagine sitting in a theater watching this movie for the first time.
AVC: The film festival market is also extremely helpful to your career.
GE: Absolutely. "The Raid" has only been in film festivals so far. The film has not been released anywhere yet (note: the interview took place before the release in March). The following will be released simultaneously in the United States, Indonesia and Australia. But so far, it has only been screened at a film festival. The audience's reaction was unbelievable.
AVC: Why did the title change from "The Raid" to "The Raid: Redemption"?
GE: Well, even though emails and tweets were flying after the news was released, it’s really not what people think: "Oh, the studio is fucking with Asian movies." We have done a lot of efforts to obtain the title copyright of "The Raid". But others have already taken up the name. We spent five months promoting this movie called "The Raid", so as soon as we learned that we couldn't get the copyright, we decided not to make a full change. We thought: "Well, add a subtitle to the end, and the problem will be solved." Anyway, I planned to make a sequel. "Rhyme, also use words starting with'R'". And "redemption" (redemption) has a secondary line with the movie. It was imminent at that time, and there was no time to think about it. We waited for a long time, hoping to use "The Raid" directly, until the last moment. Everyone wants to keep this title. Sony thinks so, and I think so. But it didn't get what I wanted.
AVC: What's the matter with the new soundtrack? It's the one paired by Joseph Trapanese and Lincoln Park member Mike Shinoda. How did it happen?
GE: Basically, it's like this: the film was sold to Sony in the Cannes hypermarket, and it was not finished yet. We sent some rough cuts of the fighting scenes to the Cannes store. Sony saw it and liked it, so we decided to buy the distribution rights, but wanted our artists to make a new soundtrack. So that's how it started. It's not that they didn't like the original soundtrack, it's just a combination marketing tool. Anyway, they showed the clip to Mike Shinoda, he liked it, and finally got on the boat with Joe Trapanese.
For me-it's not that I want to play Tai Chi-I like both versions. I think the best version is a combination of the two. In some places my buddies do better, and some Mike and Joes deserve better. But all in all, it's a great experience to have two schools of artists interpret your work in different ways. Many fans' reaction when they heard the news was, "I'll go, Lincoln Park", but the soundtrack is really good, with the style of early Carpenter. They use modern musical instruments and modern technology, but they have a retro feel in the 1980s. I think it's a solid soundtrack. Mike gave me a reassurance at the beginning, "I don't want to make a collection of songs and stuff on the film." He said that he wanted to make a serious soundtrack and return to his classical music background. Then he said he wanted Joe to join, and I was a big fan of Joe's "Tron Legacy" soundtrack. It's like everything he says is a reassurance.
AVC: How about Zhang Lot's remake of the US version?
GE: Screen Gems (a production company owned by Sony) will make a remake version. I'm very excited. I will join as an executive producer. My idea is not to participate too much. Just a little bit of say in some places. I think the best thing to do is to give him creative freedom, just like when I was shooting my own version, no matter who will direct him in the end, because no one questioned anything at that time. No one instructed me to say that I can't do this, and that I can't do that. The only limitation is the budget. So I think, no matter who takes over the remake, this is a very linear concept and a very direct narrative. The difference lies only in the specific execution of concepts, actions and scenarios. But Screen Gems respects us very much, and respects the original version. They even hired Iko and Yayan to help the fight scene.
AVC: How about the sequel?
GE: Still at the script stage. It should have been written long ago. But I haven't had time to really sit down and write. Hope to start shooting in January, the story will be a direct continuation of the original. God bless us to start shooting in January and it will be done next year.
(Note: Before filming "The Raid", Evans originally planned to make a prison gangster kung fu movie called "Berandal", but was forced to give up due to the large scale and turned to film "The Raid". Now his plan is to make "Berandal" Rewritten as a sequel to "The Raid", so it will kill two birds with one stone. Wait and see!)
AVC: Will you go on making kung fu movies like this for a lifetime, or do you plan to make other kinds of movies?
GE: In terms of working in Indonesia, I still have a lot of kung fu film ideas available, so it is estimated that the next four or five films shot there will be kung fu films, and Iko will work together. But my plan is to make a movie there, and then maybe also make a movie in the United States or the United Kingdom. I sincerely hope that these films are not kung fu films. Just want to stop and try new types. Maybe it's still action at the beginning, and then I will try and explore other kinds of movies.
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