A cool place for friends and family members of Santa Monica Gymnastics Center to come hang out. So nuke the popcorn in the microwave; Snoopy dance...dance..dance around the room...then pull up a chair, and be prepared to laugh and cry; to feel embarrassed and inspired; and to just sit back, relax and enjoy these music videos.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Born to Gymkata
Rick McCharles linked to a movie called, "Born to Fight" with fight choreography that surely had to have been inspired by Gymkata.
Born to Fight (Thai: เกิดมาลุย, Gerd Ma Lui) is a 2004Thaiaction film directed by Panna Rittikrai. It followed Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior,
on which Panna served as martial arts choreographer, and featured more
of his "no strings attached" stuntwork. Many of the actors in Born to Fight were Thai national athletes. The film was a remake in name only of one of Panna's first films, a B-movie
action movie that he made in 1986. While the remake contains a couple
of similar stunts to the original, the two films are otherwise
unrelated.
Coach Bill Courtney - subject of the 2012 ACADEMY AWARD WINNING documentary UNDEFEATED - talks about a learning experience from his days coaching at Manassas High School in North Memphis.
A YouTube search for Art Shurlock's McDonald's commercial in '84 had me somehow end up on Footloose.
I had no idea up until half an hour ago that there was a Footloose remake in 2011.
Here is a deleted scene:
Chuck Gaylord was one of Kevin Bacon's stunt doubles for the gymnastics sequences and gymnastics consultant for the movie. Apparently, Bacon is angry that most of the famous warehouse footage incorporated mostly stunt doubles:
Kevin Bacon says that he did the majority of the dancing in the film, except for the lively warehouse scene.
“I was furious," Bacon, 53, tells People. "It's like a starting pitcher getting taken out of a game – no one wants to be told they can't get the guy out." "I had a stunt double, a dance double and two gymnastics doubles," he
goes on to say. "There were five of us in the f---ing outfit, and I
felt horrible."
Moviefone's interview with choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett:
Tell us about Peter Tramm, the dancer who doubled for Kevin Bacon.
Taylor-Corbett: Kevin hadn't initially wanted a double.
He was so terrific, he worked so hard, but the truth is, you can't fake
having danced your whole life. It wouldn't have looked as good as it
did and I think we made it look as good as possible. I myself was
incredulous with the way it cut together. That scene in the warehouse is
always used in clips of 'greatest dance scenes.'
And you had gymnast Chuck Gaylord doubling him on the gymnastics moves!
Taylor-Corbett: Yes, and then there was also a stunt man, so at one time, I had a picture of four Kevins on set!
How was it decided that Kevin Bacon's character would have a gymnastics background?
Choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett worked with Bacon for three weeks in
preproduction and tailored the steps to his strengths. "Because I'm not a
dancer, I don't pick up things immediately," says Kevin, "but I'm not a
complete bozo." After the producers decided on the big acrobatics
number in the warehouse, the character was transformed into a gymnast.
Kevin, who had never been on a high bar before, worked the skin off his
hands training. His coach, Chuck Gaylord—who at the same time was
preparing brother Mitch Gaylord for the Olympics—was impressed. "I've
never trained anyone from ground zero before," says Gaylord, who does
one tough stunt on film that double Tramm couldn't handle. "I thought an
actor would be a real prima donna, but he worked really hard."
7. Bacon went through two months of training to get in shape for this
role. His 6-hour daily regimen consisted of jazz lessons, modern dance
lessons, body building and gymnastics.
8. Kevin Bacon’s gymnastic coach/double was Chuck Gaylord, brother of
Olympic champion Mitch. Gaylord performed Footloose's famous dismount,
saying, "There's no way to teach a layman a dismount like that."
Anyone know who was Wormald's gymnastics stunt double for the 2011 version?
Caslin's boyfriend Hisonni Johnson wrote and directed a pilot series, Grayson: Earth One. It debuted this last weekend on YouTube as webisode installments.
Series Synopsis: "Grayson: Earth One' is the re-imagined origin story of
the hero known as Nightwing/ Richard Grayson. The series takes place in
a new continuity on a new Earth separate from the DC Universe, freeing
it from continuity restraints.
Starring Stephen McCain as Richard
Grayson, Daz Crawford as Dr. Victor Friese, Rileah Vanderbilt as Helena
Bertinelli, Angela Gulner as Barbara Gordon and Katie H. Young as
Carrie Kelly
I met up with Steve about a month ago to run through some stick training (he said his character uses two sticks/batons). I haven't done any serious training in over a decade, but used to be a senior student under Dan Inosanto and was under apprenticeship to Mark Mikita during the 90s. Steve remembered how much training I was doing in martial arts, at the time, and so gave me a call to do some catching up.
Back then when I was intense about martial arts, I knew a number of guys from the Inosanto Academy who went on to have successful careers in stuntwork. I taught some of them gymnastics classes and privates while others came in for open gym at SMGC.
I've met some of the most well-known names in the MA community, as well as trained with and trained under them. In my experience without putting anyone else down, Mark Mikita is quite simply the most well-researched, most well-rounded student, practitioner (master), and teacher of the fighting arts. He is the "real deal" when it comes to realistic, functionalized fighting and developing adaptability for self-defense in varied, real-world environments, outside of the squared circle or the octagon ring. He put himself through chiropractic school to better understand how to attack the human skeleton. He leaves no stone left unturned and brings a variety of combat arts (including combative firearms training) and related fields all under one umbrella, sometimes under the Filipino moniker of "kali" or "escrima". Essentially, for him, he will utilize whatever works.
For a serious martial artist like Mark who would just as sooner paint all the windows to his school black, invite no one, and keep the training group small and intimate rather than commercialize the art, he too is currently working and starring in an independent film.
In my opinion, he's the best kept secret in the martial arts world. Where so many people spout on about Bruce Lee's philosophical beliefs as it relates to martial arts, and end up doing exactly what Bruce Lee was against, Mark truly lives and breathes the following:
CHALK IT UP is a family friendly gymnastics film about a girl named
Hannah, who overcomes her past to build a very unlikely team of misfit
gymnasts at Harvard University. I dreamed up the idea while on the set
of STICK IT, and now my dream is coming to life.
As an actress I
have been in numerous feature films and television shows and even
written, sold and produced successful shorts. These experiences have
given me the skills that I need to:
1. Build the right team of
people around me to make this film a success. From the writers, to the
actors and a director, I have an extremely talented group of people all
ready to get started.
2. Make a gymnastics movie that gymnasts
will love. As a former UNC Gymnast and competing at the Elite level I
know what it takes to BE a gymnast. I guarantee CHALK IT UP will
be filled with great gymnastics.
3. Film in the perfect location! International Gymnastics Camp
has been extremely generous to offer us the opportunity to film on
location at their amazing camp in the beautiful mountains of
Stroudsburg, Pennslyvania. I can't imagine a more perfect place to spend
a few weeks.
As you can see we've got everything we need to get
this film off the ground. except YOU: our Believers. The gymnasts,
friends, family and backers who want to be a part of this journey with
us. So check out our page, watch our video, read a little bit more about
us. We're pretty sure you'll want to join Team CHALK IT UP!
Before "Stick It", there was....."American Anthem"!
A few weeks ago, 2 17 year old cheerleaders came to try the adult classes, to work on their tumbling skills. They pumped themselves up by watching the movie "Stick It" before coming. And they apparently watch it over and over again. As recently as this past Wednesday's class, they were still watching it. I've never seen "Stick It". But when I was a teenager back in the 80's, and still looked up to heroes in my sport, I used to watch "American Anthem". Right after the U.S. success at the '84 Olympics, it was cool to be a gymnast.
"American Anthem" was an awful movie. But it was a gymnastics movie, and for that I couldn't get enough of it ("Gymkata" could only take you so far....).
The kids at my gym who are into "Stick It" seem to be oblivious of "American Anthem" (that may be a good thing).
Last year, out of sheer nostalgia, I bid and won the soundtrack to the movie, for something like $60. (Ugh...the frivolous things we do with our money!) Anyway, these two music videos brings back memories of a certain time period in my life.
