Scene of the Week: The Making of Exterminator 2

Mario Van Peebles was born in Mexico City on January 15, 1957. Best known for his work in the action crime drama New Jack City,  Mario Van Peebles has built an impressive action movie filmography over the course of his career starring in such action flicks as Solo, Gunmen, Highlander: Final Dimension and most recently Submerged.

But my favorite Mario Van Peebles action movie would have to be 1984’s Exterminator 2. The Cannon produced film features Robert Ginty reprising the role of John Eastland and also stars Mario Van Peebles as Eastland’s adversary X. X could be described as ambitious, charismatic and diabolical. Exterminator 2 was Mario’s first feature film as an adult and when I say he was the MVP of Exterminator 2 that pun is as intended as intended can be.

In this special edition of Scene of the Week, I present a behind the scenes look at Exterminator 2 featuring interviews with Mario Van Peebles, Robert Ginty and director Mark Buntzman. Mario Van Peebles tells the story of how he actually went out for the part of Be Gee (a part that eventually went to Frankie Faison) before getting the part of X. Pay close attention to the narrator of The Making of Exterminator 2 calling Ginty’s character Johnny Long for no apparent reason.