It’s not a lot of a stretch to say that legendary stunt performer and motion director J.J. Perry helped form a lot of the important motion motion pictures and franchises which have come out this century. He’s labored within the greatest trendy film universes possible — Marvel, DC, Avatar, Quick and Livid, John Wick. He designed the motion on smaller beloved style initiatives like Warrior and Undisputed II: Final Man Standing, and even offered sturdy motion beats in comedies like Spy and Homicide Thriller 2.
Perry lastly bought his likelihood at directing a characteristic in 2022: the breezy throwback vampire action-comedy Day Shift, starring Jamie Foxx. Two years later, he’s again along with his sophomore effort: the pleasant motion rom-com The Killer’s Sport, starring Dave Bautista and a legion of Perry’s buddies and collaborators from the motion world.
The film follows Joe Flood (Bautista), a extremely succesful hitman with a giant crush on ballet dancer Maize (Sofia Boutella). Whereas their relationship continues to be budding, Joe learns he has a terminal sickness, and places out successful on himself to finish his struggling shortly and hopefully get an insurance coverage payout for his new love. However shock! His physician gave him the flawed prognosis, and he’s really completely wholesome. With a brand new resolve to dwell, Joe has to combat off a swarm of lethal assassins and maintain onto his imaginative and prescient of his future.
Becoming a member of Bautista and Boutella are Ben Kingsley as Bautista’s handler Zvi, Pom Klementieff as a rival handler, and Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Lee Hoon, Shaina West, Lucy Cork, and WWE wrestler Drew McIntyre as a few of the assassins. For motion followers, that checklist is a who’s who of people that kick ass. Mix that with Perry’s distinctive eye for motion design, and you’ve got probably the most fulfilling motion pictures of the autumn.
The narrative setup permits for plenty of room for expression from Perry, each within the characters and the motion design. Zaror’s character, Botas, is a selected standout, a flamenco dancer who fights with spurs on his boots and headphones in his ears. So are Adkins and McIntyre, who play a pair of almost unintelligible Scottish brothers (subtitles and all). There are motorbike fights, barroom brawls, tactical shootouts, intense martial arts motion, and the whole lot in between. At its greatest, The Killer’s Sport seems like an motion anthology collection, following the protagonist as he fights his means via the style, with Joe and Maize’s romance offering a coronary heart on the heart of all of it.
Polygon spoke with Perry about his strategy to the film’s distinctive premise, why wrestlers (and Bautista specifically) make such nice film stars, his inspirations for the wacky forged of characters, and his love for matching old-school aesthetics with new-school expertise.
This interview has been edited for concision and readability.
Polygon: The place did this venture begin for you?
J.J. Perry: Like 12 years in the past, I bought a script known as The Killer’s Sport, and so they have been searching for a stunt coordinator. In some way that went away. After which three years in the past, I bought the script once more, and so they have been searching for a second unit director. I used to be ending up my first film, Day Shift, and I invited [producer] Andrew Lazar to see my director’s minimize whereas we have been within the enhancing room. He was like, “Dude, I would like you to direct [The Killer’s Game].” And that’s the way it all form of got here to me.
Picture: Csaba Aknay/Lionsgate
Getting the film was a giant win, however getting Dave Bautista to star in it was like profitable the lottery for me. All of it simply form of fell collectively after that.
I think about a few of it’s his star energy and what he brings to the display, but in addition, having somebody like him connected to the venture has to assist in giving it extra visibility.
I met Dave within the parking zone of 87eleven [Action Design] once I was prepping John Wick 2 and we have been coaching Keanu [Reeves]. He got here to fulfill Chad [Stahelski], and I chased him out within the parking zone and was like, “Dude, I’m a giant fan.”
I’ve labored with lots of professional wrestlers through the years. As a stuntman, I labored with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, only a host of them. However I all the time felt Dave was particular. He has one thing else. When he got here aboard, we had a chat, and I feel I gained him over by telling him that I’m not getting down to make an motion film. I’m getting down to make a love story.
For me, coming from the motion world, I wasn’t that involved with the motion. I can shut my eyes and throw the ball and hit it with motion. It’s my neighborhood. I do know the place I’m going. I have to get the love story and the characters proper on this film, and the comedy. I have to hit that. Everybody’s going to count on the motion to be good. I’m probably not frightened about that half, as a result of I do know it just like the again of my hand, and I’ve bought an incredible motion crew, and all we do is produce stunt biz always.
However getting the story proper is, I feel, what bought Dave, and Dave introduced Sofia [Boutella]. I used to be scared shitless of the Maize character. I used to be like OK, who am I gonna get, a badass actress that may dance, that has chemistry with Dave? And he stated, “Oh, I bought this good friend that I did Resort Artemis with.”
For those who ask an actress in Hollywood if they’ll dance, they’ll all say, “Yeah, I can dance.” However I don’t imply faucet dance within the fourth grade. I’m speaking about actually being about to bounce. Sofia, earlier than she grew to become an actress, she was a dancer, and he or she’s an incredible actress. Dave additionally introduced with him Terry Crews, which was tremendous cool. We had a tough time casting the Lovedahl function. I’d labored with Terry on Expendables 3. I like him, however Dave, he’s expensive buddies with him. He known as him, and increase, Terry Crews is on a airplane.
I bought on the cellphone and known as all my buddies — Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Pom Klementieff, Daniel Bernhardt, Lucy Cork, Shaina West. For those who’re going someplace to get right into a rattling road combat, what do you do? You name your homeboys and your homegirls to come back provide help to. Whenever you stack your deck filled with aces, all you’re holding is aces.
What’s it about working with wrestlers in motion roles that you just like, and the way has Dave Bautista distinguished himself there to you?
If you recognize the film enterprise, extra film stars have come from WWE than anyplace else. Greater than soccer, greater than MMA. There’s a purpose. They’re live-show performers. They’re appearing to the fellows within the nosebleeds. So it must be large, and so they have to have the ability to retain the choreography. It’s a breeding floor for motion stars.
I feel that Dave, on the appearing degree, has actually surpassed any and all expectations for me. I do know him, and it’s unfair, as a result of he’s an ideal actor, he’s tremendous gifted, he’s tremendous clever, he’s tremendous variety, he’s beneficiant. I wish to be him so unhealthy it makes my rattling tooth damage. For me, it was a profession excessive to get to do that with him. I simply completed one other one with him too, [a sci-fi comedy] known as Afterburn. We’re slicing it proper now.
You talked about Day Shift earlier, which has a really totally different strategy to motion than this one. It’s vampire-centric, you’ve bought the contortionist gymnastics stuff happening. The Killer’s Sport is a unique playground. What was most enjoyable to you about that as an motion director?
As a result of I direct a lot motion as a second unit director, it’s concerning the characters. How do I make the characters totally different, and create issues for my protagonist, and present how he solves them? And it’s additionally the set-pieces. Like, the motorbike combat. We have been supposed to try this in a development web site. Have you learnt why we shot it inside? As a result of while you movie in Budapest in July, you solely have 4 midnights. So I didn’t have the time I wanted to shoot for 10 hours straight.
We shot all of that motorbike enterprise in two days. I didn’t have lots of time, so I wanted to concentrate on my strengths. However that venue created lots of alternatives for the bikes to do stuff that you just may not have seen earlier than. That’s your job, too, is to not regurgitate stuff you’ve seen. So once I’m directing motion motion pictures, I don’t watch motion motion pictures. I watch comedies and horror motion pictures.
One of many issues I loved most about The Killer’s Sport is how the premise permits you to use lots of totally different motion instruments. You get to cycle via motion subgenres all through the film. Whenever you learn the script, did that stand out to you, or did that come naturally within the course of?
The film that I learn 10 or 12 years in the past and the one I learn three years in the past are fairly a bit totally different. After we determined I’m directing the film, I went out and bought [screenwriter] James Coyne, who’s a good friend of mine, and we rewrote. We put within the Goyang character, we put within the Botas character, we put within the occasion ladies, we put within the unintelligible Scottish guys.
We took some characters out, as a result of that script had been round so lengthy, you’d see individuals had taken their characters and put them in different motion pictures. So I put my very own DNA in it. We wrote these issues with Scott Adkins in thoughts, with Marko Zaror in thoughts, with Lucy Cork and Shaina West in thoughts.
With Botas — once I was a younger man, I used to be competing in taekwondo so much. There was a man in my fitness center that, when he placed on his Walkman, if you happen to have been sparring with him, he would beat the pants off of you, as a result of he was so into the heavy steel. However when he had the Walkman off, you can stroll throughout him. I used to be like, I would like to try this. Marko, he’s a particular character. We virtually misplaced that character, too. We didn’t have some huge cash.
[With the Mackenzie brothers], I labored in Scotland on F9. We locked up Edinburgh, and I couldn’t perceive a phrase of what my crew have been saying, however it was enjoyable, and so they laughed once I talked. We had a good time. Each different phrase was the C phrase. I used to be like. Whoa, you guys can simply say that? After which the occasion ladies… I spent most of my youth researching these ladies.
With the Mackenzie brothers, there’s a little bit of a commonality between Day Shift and this film. Is there all the time going to be room in your motion pictures for Scott Adkins to play half of a brother duo with a brand new accent?
I like Scott. I’m going to forged him in the whole lot. I’ll forged Marko and Daniel in the whole lot. Whenever you’re going to go someplace and do one thing arduous, you’re going to carry your folks. All of them might be their very own film stars. They’re all action-movie stars, however they might be film stars. I’ll all the time supply that to Scott, however hopefully I can supply him one thing greater subsequent time.
The film has a really comedian book-y narrative, although the supply materials isn’t a comic book ebook. You could have cut up panels, wipes, match cuts — there’s lots of playfulness within the film. How did you strategy marrying the fashion to the narrative?
After Day Shift, I wished one thing that seemed a bit totally different, and I watched the previous Thomas Crown Affair, and I watched some Man Ritchie. So a few of the cut up screens and a few of the transitions from scene to scene [were inspired by those]. I simply wished it to really feel totally different. We didn’t have lots of time. It wasn’t a giant finances. We shot it in 42 days. It was what it was, however we made a meal of it.
I didn’t need it to look like a normal motion film. There’s some dolly zooms, 360 dolly pictures, lots of Trinity pictures the place we’re wrapping round. I wished to take lots of liberties with the digital camera, however I additionally wished to take lots of liberties with the edit and the pacing. I did Day Shift, and I’m tremendous pleased with that film. Nevertheless it was very scene to scene to scene. I wished to do one thing that was a little bit extra stylized.
After we talked about Day Shift means again, we talked about how a few of the film harkens again to an ’80s or ’90s fashion of motion film. You want to combine older aesthetics with new-school tech. What appeals to you about that?
I discovered how to do that job once I bought out of the Military within the ’90s, once I grew to become a stuntman. And again then, you couldn’t say “Let’s simply repair it in submit.” Any person had to determine the best way to do it — you couldn’t simply lean on visible results. There wasn’t CGI, there was no YouTube for a tutorial, there was none of that. So that you needed to be a intelligent filmmaker. And I started working with these guys and actually concentrate as a stunt coordinator and second unit director.
These stuntmen and girls are next-level. Parkour champion, world drifting champion, UFC fighter, simply next-level. However they’re all younger women and men that I don’t fucking perceive a phrase of what they’re saying. And I like them, and so they love me, and I’ve discovered a lot from them, however I feel they study from me, too. That blend for me has all the time been tremendous fascinating.
Picture: Csaba Aknay/Lionsgate
I’m caught in the midst of Gen X, and I nonetheless take heed to Mötley Crüe, however on the similar time, I work with all these tech-savvy younger bucks and younger ladies which might be superb. You noticed it in Day Shift with Dave [Franco] and Jamie [Foxx]’s characters, and it’s right here in The Killer’s Sport. That’s one thing that I actually love. It’s part of my life that I actually love and snort at, and it’s one thing that I wished to carry throughout to the viewers.
I used to be considering that’s one thing that the protagonists of The Killer’s Sport and Day Shift have in frequent: They’re every hyper-proficient at a violent job, however they’re additionally form of clueless of their life outdoors of the job. Is {that a} character trait you’re drawn to in tales?
[Points at self.] It’s form of my story. I’m 57, however I’m a 15-year-old trapped in a 57-year-old’s physique. I’ve been in a enterprise the place we crash vehicles and combat and shoot issues and fall off a constructing. We don’t actually need to develop up. You simply need to watch out. You’re doing a bunch of youngsters’ stuff. And I urge individuals: Don’t develop up. It’s means overrated. Don’t do it. You’re not going to dig it. You’re going to wish to return. My spouse and I, we’ve bought a 12-year-old, and he or she’s going to develop up means before I’ll.
The Killer’s Sport is in theaters now.
