An Interview with Luke LaFontaine
As the anticipation for the release Savage Dog continues to build, I had the extreme pleasure of interviewing a man who is not only a part of the Savage Dog cast and crew, but a man who is no stranger to the extreme… stunt coordinator Luke LaFontaine.
Luke has decades of Hollywood experience to his credit and this interview will cover some of his many career highlights past, present and future…
CTB: You are the fight director for the upcoming film Savage Dog. What exactly is the role and responsibilities of a fight director? And did working with the accomplished martial artists like Scott Adkins, Juju Chan, Marko Zaror and Cung Le make that job easier?
LL: The fight director has the responsibilities of fight choreographer and director. You are responsible for the choreography, camera angles, working with the actors to tell the story within the fight. Who’s winning, who’s losing, the jeopardy, the danger, and what is at risk. Without conveying these it is just moves and there is no drama or sense of triumph. My job was made easier and was a lot more enjoyable working with such talented action stars. Scott Adkins is super human in his abilities and toughness. He gives 200% all the time, awesome guy, insane level of talent. Marko Zaror who I’ve known since The Rundown is an incredible martial artist, has great ideas and is the nicest guy. Juju Chan, who although she doesn’t fight in the film, threw some kicks while telling me she wanted to. Juju is seriously talented and took a hit with no pads! I thought she was going to break the floor boards! Cung Le is a warrior in every sense, he puts out this intensity while still being the nicest guy. You just know he could pick you up and snap you in half, he’s a consummate professional, insane strength with total control. Scott and Cung’s fight in Savage Dog is epic, a milestone in action cinema with these two squaring off for the first time. It is a brutal fight between titans.
CTB: The first film you worked on was a true classic, 1984’s The Karate Kid. How did you end up doing stunts on the film and any interesting stories from the set of The Karate Kid?
LL: The Karate Kid was my first film. I was invited to work on the picture by the director John Avildson thru his son who I went to high school with. John originally gave me the part of the first opponent to fight Daniel (Ralph Macchio) in the tournament.The stunt coordinator and fight choreographer Pat Johnson, a legend in the martial arts world, was very gracious in letting me do any action in the film because I was only16. Since I had no adult guardian present, the social worker on set got into a short yelling match with director Avildson in front of the 800+ tournament goers and crew. I had to be replaced, but to make up for part I lost I was put in shot standing between Pat Morita and Elisabeth Shue as a skeptical tournament fighter watching Daniel’s first fight. It was a great experience I’ll never forget.
CTB: Your filmography is most impressive, you’ve got well north of 100 credits to your name, but one credit that stood out to me was your work as the weapons coordinator in 1994’s Ring of Steel. That movie put an interesting spin on the “underground fight” theme that was running rampant in the 1990’s. Memories of working on Ring of Steel?
LL: Ring of Steel was a film a long time in the making. Robert Chapin wrote a cool and different take on the underground tournament film. My primary job was actually fighting in the film in the pirate ring fight. My secondary job was weapons coordinator having procured some custom swords for the film, The rest of the swords were all painstakingly acquired by Robert Chapin himself. They actually pitched the film for almost a year and we performed some of the fights live and did a proof of concept trailer before people were doing that sort of thing. I kept all the swords deburred and made sure all of the swords were in working order. A very ambitious project that cut a niche for itself.
CTB: Another movie that you were involved in that I absolutely loved was 1997’s Drive starring Mark Dacascos. Why was this movie not released theatrically here in the United States?
LL: Drive was one of my all time favorite jobs. I had a part as one of John Pyper Ferguson’s flunkies “Sports Shoes”. I was the stunt double for Ferguson for all his action. I was grateful to Koichi Sakamoto and director Steve Wang for that. Wang actually to put a big piece of yellow tape on me to tell the difference from John and I. Drive ran into a number of disputes over release both internationally and domestic. There were also issues over the final cut. Sadly it wasn’t released in theaters here but it WAS the highest grossing film in Russia for that year.
CTB: You have a few acting credits to your name, you actually play Constantine in Savage Dog. What can you tell us about the Constantine character? And is acting something you’d like to do more of in the future?
CTB: I did notice that you have recently tried your hand at writing and directing your own film. What can you tell us about RS Rising?
LL: I’ve worked as a 2nd unit director for years but was presented with the opportunity to direct a fan film after days of brain storming over a concept. I went home and wrote it in four days. The actress/producer filled in ideas and character nuances. It is a fan film based on characters of Robert E. Howard of the Famous Conan stories. It was tons of work, I learned I was the kind of director that had to be completely hands on, I wound up production designing, including most of the costumes, weapons and armor, the initial feel I wanted was very much John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian. Things had to be set in a real world with real people. The project was grueling but worth it. It is in extensive post production vfx now. I will direct again but I’m not in any rush to wear that many hats again.
CTB: You have worked with so many action stars over the course of your career, is there anyone you haven’t worked with yet that you’d like to in the future?
LL: I’m a long time fan of Sylvester Stallone and Tom Cruise. I’d love to get to work with them.
CTB: Lastly, what has been the most dangerous stunt you have ever performed?
LL: That’d be a toss up between two stunts. On Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue we copied John McLain’s roof jump with the fire hose from Die Hard. I was a fireman trapped on the roof of a burning warehouse. On a film named Wicked Game (aka Extreme Heist) I took a car hit from a car doing a 180 degree slide into me. The impact sent me about 12 feet sideways before I hit the ground. There was an attempt to start a hype rumor the stunt was an accident but I nixed that right away, you can see me consciously step in towards the car, with my gun in hand. I’ll admit, I don’t want to do that one again!
CTB: Thanks Luke for taking time out for our readers.
LL: Thanks so much for the great questions!
