July 1, 2025 • 41 mins
Today on Brewsers, we talk to stuntman, Jason Wingham. We talk about his journey in the world of acting, helping at-risk youths in Cuba, and so much more.
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Follow us on instagram and twitter at Brewserspod. Like, share, review, enjoy and cheers. #brewsers #brewserspod #Enjoylife #DrinkLocal #Cheers
https://linktr.ee/brewserspod
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to Bruisers podcast about be Here, Coffee, Booze and Bruisers.
I'm your host, Roy John and today we talked to
stuntman Jason and Wingham. We talked about his journey in
the world of acting, helping at risk use in Cuba,
and so much more. This is such a fun conversation.
Jason has been in the acting world for over thirty
years and he is doing absolutely incredible things, not only
(00:40):
in the world of acting in stunt but also outside
of it. Like we talked about with the at risk
use in Cuba, you don't want to hear from me,
you want to hear from him. So, without further ado,
here is stuntman Jason Wingham. I would like to welcome
(01:02):
the show. Jason Wingham. How are you doing today, sir?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Doing great? Yourself doing well?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So for those listening, kind of paints a word picture.
Where are you at? What's going on around you?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Well, I'm in my garage in my office, just kind
of hanging out waiting to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I appreciate you being here. Yeah, well, so I just
saw a video about how you are helping at risk
use in Cuba. When it comes to skateboarding and I
imagine that was filmed where you are right now, Let's
start there, because I think that's fascinating. How did you
tell us about what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Well, No, I didn't really expect to be talking about this,
but yeah, I got hooked up with the organization.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It's called Amigo Skate Cuba.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It's originally started by a guy named Rene LaCour who
was living in Miami at the time, and his son
and him went down to Cuba and on a little
skateboard trip and they realized the need for skateboards down
in Cuba, and so yeah, they kind of started that organization.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
There's a couple other ones that do it as well.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
But I took a family trip down there twenty sixteen
for Christmas with my family, and I was just kind
of looking at things I could take down to give
out to the Cubans down there. They're always looking for
stuff because they don't have a lot. And I came
across Renee and Amigo Skate and kind of watched a
few videos. And I'm a lifelong skateboarder since I was
(02:29):
a little kid, so it just kind of made sense
to me that that would be the thing that I
would do.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So I just kind of put.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
The word out that I was looking for boards, and
I got a bunch of donations and I took three
Duffel bags down on that first trip. Renee hooked me
up with a local guy named Johanni Perez, who was
one of the top skateboarders in Cube at the time.
He since moved to Spain, but I hooked up with
the Johanni in a local park and passed off all
the boards and met.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Some of the local kids and just sort of it
changed my life.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Just I always wanted to give something back and that
was just something that just really fit right in with
with my.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Life and what I could do.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So skateboarding is illegally in Cuba what and there's no
skate shops there at all, Like there's nowhere for the
kids to buy stuff down there, and even if they could,
they couldn't afford them anyway.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
You know, some of the.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Local kids that I knew down there were making like
five dollars a day working in pizza shops and stuff,
and skateboards, you know, are up two hundred dollars for
a decent boards, so that and skate shoes as well,
Like they just can't afford to be buying, you know,
two hundred dollars nikes and stuff like like we can. So,
so that's kind of how it started. I took another
trip down in June of twenty seventeen, and I took
(03:47):
another three bags, four bags down on that trip and
really got to know a bunch of people in the organization.
It was a big annual event for Go Skateboarding Day
on the twenty first of June in twenty seventeen, and
so I met a bunch of people from the organization
and a bunch of locals, and so then I made
two subsequent trips after that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
So yeah, I've taken about one thousand.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Pounds worth of skateboards down there over the four trips
that I've done.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So skateboarding is illegal down there.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, It's one of those things where it's you know,
they technically there's there's kids. They're skateboarding everywhere down there
now at this point. But between Amigo Skate and a
few other organizations, like we've kind of flooded the island
with skateboards at this point, so the authorities can't really
do much about it. It's just a tattooing, is the
same Amigo Skate does a lot with the tattoo community
down there as well, because tattooing is also illegal in Cuba,
(04:38):
so it's all very underground. But yeah, you know, we've
just kind of we call ourselves the Robin Hoods of
Havana and we just kind of take down stuff. And
I've never had any trouble getting into the country. They've
often looked through the bags and when they see what
it is, they just turn a blind eye. And but yeah,
I had a good buddy down there. He's he's since
left as well. He got into the States a couple of.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Years ago with his mom.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
But yeah, he actually was arrested one time just for
skateboarding down the street and they threw him jail overnight,
you know. So it's an ongoing issue. We Rene and
a Ego skate of lobby the government a little bit
to try and make some changes there. They've actually got
a little skate park that the government has built now
and then there's a bunch of.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Do it yourself parks down there too.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
There's one particular spot, it's the old training center for
the Cuban Olympic team, where it's this old decrepit building
that's been abandoned, and so the kids have kind of
taken it over. So on the second trip that I
took down, we actually bought a bunch of concrete off
the black market and they brought down some park builders
and we built a huge section in this old building
(05:41):
concrete ramps and halfpipes and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, so skateboarding and tattooing and tattooing is illegal in
Cuba right now, So basically they're back in the sixties
and seventies in America.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, you know, a lot of that, especially the skateboarding
thing is definitely based because it's an American cultural thing,
and of course there's the animosity that goes back to
fifty nine with the revolution and all that politics that
gets involved that. You know, it's detrimental to the kids,
and skateboarding is one of those things. Once you get
to board, it doesn't cost you anything, so as long
(06:16):
as you can keep the board together. That's the other
thing with skateboards. As they break, they crack wheels, wear out, bearings,
wear out, things like that. So even if you have
like nuts and bolts hardware for skateboards.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Man, that stuff's like gold down there.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That's crazy. Yeah, well, you learn something new every day.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, it was an eye opener for me.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And I haven't been able to get down there since COVID,
And of course things got really hard in Cuba over COVID,
and you know, so some of the kids that I
still know down there, I hear from them once in
a while, and they're still struggling. They're still trying to
get boards and trying to get shoes. And I'm sitting
on about one hundred boards right now and probably the
same number of pairs of shoes, and I just haven't
(06:56):
been able to get down It's just been been difficult
for every all over the world since COVID, right, So, yeah, it.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Is interesting to see the ripples that are still happening
from what happened with COVID. I mean, I'm not want
to get too much into it, because everyone has their
own you know, they make it a political thing when
it's not. But like the ripple effects when it comes
to every market from what had happened during the COVID times,
it's still like being felt and it's a very interesting thing,
(07:24):
especially when you're looking at different businesses and the way
things are being managed well economically.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I think we all took a big hit and we're
all still recovering from that. And Cuba, of course, their
situation is worse than most parts of the world, so
it hit them twice as hard.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
So again, you know, my buddy Guermo, he got out,
got into the US, and he's you know, been having
a pretty good life since then. Some of the other
kids I know that got out, but life got really
hard in Cube. Again, it was the same, and when
the Soviet Union collapsed in the early nineties, Cuba went
through a really rough time and they became a more
self sufficient, especially with food and stuff. But you know,
(08:03):
the economy down there is in bad shape and it
always has been because of the embargo and the.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Politics of all that.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
And again I try not to get too involved in
the politics either. To me, it's just every kid should
have a skateboard that wants one, So I just try
and take as many down as I can and put
as many smiles on faces as possible.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
That's awesome. Yeah, So let's go back in time. I
had read that you got into acting back in high school.
How did that happen?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Originally it was junior high actually grade eight. I had
a fantastic teacher at my junior high school. His name
is Gordon Bland, and he kind of got a little
theater program started there. So I got cast. I auditioned
and got cast in a small role in a it
was kind of a within Shakespeare's at Midsommer Night Stream
(08:53):
and there's a play within the play, and so I
got cast as a character called Moonshine, which is one
of the one of the actors in this play within
the play, and we just did like a little short
version of that scene from Midsummer Night's Dream. And I
was kind of my first.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Foray into acting on the stage.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
And then through junior high and high school, I did
a bunch of different stage plays, and then in high
school I also got involved in some local.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
TV film stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I did crime stoppers reenactment commercials, so you know, I
would play the little criminals that were breaking into places
and selling drugs in them all and that kind of thing.
And then I did like an educational module for the
Saskatchewan Police College where I played a young offender that
just for you know, teaching teaching video for the cops.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
In the province.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
And I did a local film on alcohol and drug
abuse teenage alcohol and drug abuse. So I kind of
got my start in film, you know, at a very
young age, like fifteen sixteen is when I kind of
started doing that, and then ended up in Regina, which
is the capital of Saskatchewan. I don't know if you
know too much about Saskatchewan, but went to university there,
went to theater school, took some acting classes and did
(10:02):
a lot of scenic design and prop building and that
kind of thing, and then ended up in the restaurant
business for a while and that's that's another long story.
But ended up moving to Vancouver in ninety five and
just directly to get into the film industry.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So Saskatchewan is on the far right side of Canada.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Right, it's basically right in the center.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh geez, Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, it's It's basically like there's British Columbia of courses
on the west coast. Yes, I knew that, and then
we have Alberta, the big oil province in Saskatchewan is
next to that, so gotcha. It's considered western, the western
part of Canada's one of the western provinces, but it's
kind of rate smack dab in the middle.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Okay, So trying to ask what was it. Was it
the thrill of acting live that kind of got you
or once you did then go on to do, like
you said, the local things film wise that that really
grabbed you. Like, what was it about the whole process
that really kind of awakened something inside you?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Well? I think you know, I grew up in in
you know, the Star Wars era.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, and I was an absolute movie fan from the
time I can remember, you know, going we used to
go to the theater every every weekend. We would go
and see movies and of course TV at that time too.
I was I was big into a lot of the
action y kind of shows on TV.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
The Fall Guy and The Dukes of Hazard.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And The six Million Dollar Man, all that stuff, Right,
So I was always an action movie fan and the
acting stuff I just took really naturally too. I think
I was a very creative kid.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
You know, we were.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Always playing cops and robbers in the yard and running around.
My dad would always build these crazy toy guns and stuff,
and you know, for me, it all kind of worked
together to lead to where to where.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I am now working primarily in action films.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
What was your well, how did you end up actually
in the action in the like the stunt side of it.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
That was a long build for me. It was always
something I wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I have like an incredibly diverse athletic background growing up.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I did a lot a lot of different.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Stuff sports wise, skateboarding being one that was you know,
a big part of stunt work is falling down, So
when you're a skateboarder, you definitely learned a fall down.
I raced BMX, played a lot of hockey, baseball.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Water skiing, snowboarding, skiing.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Like all that stuff, right, So I've always been a
very physically kind of I don't know, I just always
loved just playing rough, you know, right, and the whole
stuntman thing.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
The fall Guy TV series was definitely a big, big
part of it. That was an influence for sure. You know,
being a stunt man, I think has always kind of
been like the pedestal that I've always kind.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Of tried to achieve. But yeah, it was a long build.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I basically moved to Vancouver in ninety five and I
started working as a movie extra. Movie extra sure is
you know, everybody thinks it's just crowd scenes, but quite
often it's just non speaking roles and so you get
you get a lot of camera time. And in the
early days in Vancouver, before the industry really boomed, we
didn't have a lot going on, but there was also
not a lot of people doing it. So I got
(13:14):
some good opportunities early on to meet the right people
and just slowly build a career. And so at my
first actual stunt job, I think it was in ninety
seven ninety eight, I did.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
A movie called max Q was a TV movie about.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
A Space shuttle disaster and they had to do a
you know, a landing on a highway and I got
picked to be a guy inside this Mustang convertible that
almost gets landed on by the space shuttle and we
ended up doing a three sixty at about one hundred
and twenty kilometers an hour sixty miles an hour for
you guys down down in the States. But yeah, and
(13:49):
like the helicopter camera when you know, fly by like man.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
It was all my glory.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
So that was my first actual like experiences getting paid
as a stunt performer mm hm. And then it was
I think about eight years before I got a real
actual stunt job. I was working on a movie called
Pathfinder with Carl Urban Clancy Brown, directed by Marcus Nispel,
who he also did the Texas Chainsaw Masacre remake, which
(14:18):
is a brilliant horror movie.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
But yeah, I was working on that film as one
of the vikings and uh and got the opportunity to
do a big fall gag off of a cliff with
a bunch of other vikings And that was my first
really big kind of stunt job. And then from there
it just was a slow build and then you know,
eventually it's you know, it's a people game. You got
to get to know the right people and you got
to prove yourself, uh physically and socially as well. And yeah,
(14:44):
I've been very fortunate because I'm not you know, there's
there's people that are working in stunts that are so
incredibly talented. The asset for me, well, a lot of
the time it has been my acting skill. Whereas I
can I can deliver believable dialogue and I can take
a beating. So that's kind of where things took off
from me and where I started to find some real success.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, my brother has been He grew up here in
Texas and then moved up to Canada with his wife,
and he's been acting up there and yeah, like you said,
some of the extra stuff you made, like you said,
you're not just it's not just crowd stuff. You could
be right there in front of the camera and don't
have to say anything at all. And he's been doing
a lot of those roles and he's loving it and
he's gotten great commercials up there as well.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, and it's good money, Like the industry pays well.
You know, there's always the union hurdle. You got to
get into the union, which up here we have ACTRA.
Down in the States, it's SAG, but you know, similar
kind of scenario. You have to get a certain number
of jobs to get into the union. And once you're
in the union, even the extra work pays pays pretty well.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
So I did some.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Extra work yesterday actually on the show. I still I
still go out and do those jobs because it's good
money and I love the people. And for me, I
don't care what you want me to do. If you're
paying me be a film set, I'm a happy guy.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So right, Yeah, Well, so.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I think around the time you were getting into the business,
I think a lot of the film world actually started
moving up to Canada to do a lot more when
it comes to you know, I guess it was cheaper
to shoot up there or there's obviously actual seasons as well.
So what is the bleedover from American filming happening over
(16:27):
in Canada really kind of helped you along as well.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah, so the big show here they kind of started everything,
like there was some stuff happening before, but the X
Files was I think it was.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
The X Files was one of the first ones.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, yeah, and that was the show. I came to
Vancouver with the intent of getting on The X Files.
That was my first goal was to get to Vancouver
get started, and I wanted to be on The X Files.
I was a huge fan of the show. Found out
it was shot in Vancouver and yeah, so I managed to. Yeah,
season four, I had a non speaking role. I got
(17:00):
shot in the head by cry Check playing a domestic terrorist,
and Moulder and Scully discover my body and they pulled
cry took out. It was a big reveal and man,
that was a huge, huge thing for me and from
my family too, like I think my dad, my mom,
they were, you know, concerned, I'm going out to Vancouver
from small town Saskatchewan to you know, get into Hollywood
(17:23):
and they I don't think anybody believed I could do it.
They supported me one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
They always have.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
But that was one when I went home that Christmas
and they got to see me on TV that yeah,
it was big.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, it's always funny, like you said, that's why you
moved out there, and you finally did it, and then
your parents finally get to see it, and you're just like, yeah,
it was all worth it, like just that little bit,
like you know, you're not winging an oscar, but it's
that first little goalpost of things you wanted to accomplish,
and you did it, and so that was awesome.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah, and the Xfols was one of those shows that
made you realize that, yeah, it could be done in
Canada because Hollywood was always the place to be and
the X File has changed that in Vancouver for sure.
And then since then, of course, you know, lots of
lots of great stuff has happened in this city. You know,
the tax breaks has been a big part of it.
The dollar the exchange of course has always been been
(18:16):
a factor for the money guys. But honestly, the film
crews we have in Vancouver now or our world class.
The stunt community in this town is world class. We're
winning awards all over the place. The industry has grown
to a point where, you know, the competition now that
we're we're we're a sought after location for so many
(18:40):
more reasons than.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Just the money side of it.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It's there's a lot of really talented people in this
town and it's a big community now, it's it's quite sizable.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
So yeah, well, I mean, considering you started in the
late nineties and then obviously you've you've been in the
film industry for thirty years now and you've seen obviously
the development technology getting so much better and different things
that they do and don't have to shoot anymore because
of the fact that they could just you know, do
(19:10):
it and post or figure it out, you know, animation wise.
What do you kind of see and feel about the
current state of the TV film industry and where do
you kind of see it going in the next five years?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Oh, dude, that's a huge question.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Things have not been good, you know. Again, COVID was
a big factor.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
We had the big strike a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Like everybody's kind of been back on their heels.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Since all of that and now this AI stuff that's
coming out.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
What I will say is that regardless of what technology changes,
the passion of people to see films, to see television
to be entertained, that's not going to change. Yeah, how
we do it, how we make it is constantly evolving.
So like when I first started, it was film stock
and eventually film cameras went away and it was all digital,
(20:01):
the CGI stuff. You know, obviously a lot of the
stuff that they used to do we don't do anymore
because you don't need to some of it, you know,
risk based, danger based, you know, there's stuff that.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
We don't do anymore.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
But you know, we've evolved into doing other things in
order to make a living. So yeah, it's it's a
constantly evolving thing.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
And you know, I don't worry that the industry is
going to collapse. I just think it's going to change.
Like everything else that's going to change.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
The AI stuff, I think a lot of people are
afraid that it's going to wipe out a lot of jobs,
and I think that is a concern. But I think
if those of us who are making films and working
in the industry just keep doing what we're doing and
finding a way to work with it as opposed to
against it, because it's inevitable. You know, the money side
of things is always an issue, and if they can
(20:54):
do stuff cheaper, they will.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Safety is always an issue. If they can find a
way to do it safer, they will. Know. Something as
simple as high falls.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
The high falls used to be done you just jump
off a building into a big air bag, and now
it's always on wires and it's you know, CGI, So
you don't need to do those really big, crazy high
falls anymore because there's other ways to do it safer
and cheaper. Right, So, like everything else, we'll evolve around it.
But I think actors portraying characters, real people on screen
(21:26):
is always.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Going to be a thing.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I don't I don't think that'll change too much. You know,
AI is getting really good. It was watching some stuff
earlier today. It's just like mind blowing where we're almost
to this stage where you just plunk a script into
a computer and it'll spit out a you know, a
feature film, which you know, I think there's people that
are going to do that and that's great, but I
think ultimately, like everything you know, there'll be some some
(21:49):
imbalance for a while, and then we'll find out, you know,
how things are going to work out.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
But I hope we keep using real people.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Because I absolutely love what I do and I don't
want to stop.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
So yeah, I feel this. I almost feel that will
within the next five years, if the Academy is open
to it, they will allow AI movies to be in there.
But I think what we might hit tilt at one
point and then we'll come back the other way. I mean,
we've seen it with film as well, because you've saw
(22:20):
so many musicals or plays themselves come to actual film,
and a lot of them a lot of people there
are a lot of directors they should say, do shoot
a lot of movies as they would be a play
all in one take, you know, no breaks, And that's
always the challenge for a lot of the actors or
(22:42):
you know, people on set obviously as well, that are
doing stuff behind the scenes to make sure that it
does look as flawless as it's supposed to look on
the film. So I do think that we'll have we'll
still have the people that want to make the pure
stuff of we're using all humans. We're you know, we're
not doing any computer stuff. Like Christopher Nolan does such
(23:03):
a great job when it comes to his stunt stuff.
He just makes giant sets as opposed to just doing stuff,
you know, computer wise. But I do think there will
be those people that, you know, that's if they want
to continue to just do AI stuff. Obviously, Marvel movies
are so much easier that way. Star Wars movies the
same way. But I really kind of think there's going
(23:24):
to be a bleed over of people that do want
to be pure with it and still do that, and
then obviously there's going to be the other side that
be like, oh no, this is easier, and I can
you know, I don't have to worry about is the
actor going to show up, is the actor in a
good mood or bad mood or we actually you know,
because the director is trying to do a certain thing,
(23:44):
and a lot of times it ends up being the
collaboration situation, which honestly, at the end of the day,
that's what art really is, especially when you have that
many people together. But there's from what I hear, there
are definitely directors that are Nope, this is my way,
is the only way we're doing it, And you know,
I think they might slip over the ass.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah. Ultimately it's a collaborative art form.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah, and I think the push and pull from directors
to performers and to stunt coordinators and stunt people and
how you know, we eventually end up with the thing
that we want to do.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
You know, I don't think computers can do that.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I think the emotions that human beings bring to performance
is something that's going to live on. I don't I
don't see that changing too much. You know, it's you know,
you look at animation where animation started with Walt Disney
back in the day, and now we're up into you know,
the toy story stuff and the digital animation. You've still
got voice actors there that are bringing a lot of
(24:39):
emotion to the.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
To the script.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
You know, you can you can write it, but until
somebody brings it to life, it's it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Feel real, right.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
So yeah, I think, like any technology will find a
way to use it.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
And uh.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
And like c G I, they they've you know, it's
kind of revolutionized what they can put on.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
If you go back and you watch some of the
old sci fi.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Black and white movies from the forties and the thirties
and the fifties, and you know, like some of the
technology that they were coming up with then to try
and you know, accomplish some of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
You know, these days it's kind of laughable.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
But at the same time, those are the stepping stones
that have led us to where we are. So you know,
that's the same with stunt work. You know, you started
off with Yakima Canutt, you know, jumping on horses and
going underneath the wagon. And then you know, however, many
years later and Dana Jones did the same thing, right, so,
but he did it under a military truck. So you know,
I think we take what we've learned over the years
(25:35):
and we you know, use that knowledge to create more
and better and bigger. And you know, CGI has allowed
them to create environments that are just insane. Now we've
got these volume stages where you know, I just did
a bunch of work on Final Destination where they built
a revolving restaurant inside of a studio and they had
a huge screen around the outside that they could make
(25:57):
it look like the restaurant was revolving just by moving
the image on the screen in real time, right, So
you know that was something that they'd have to do
green screen and it would be like a big CGI thing,
And now they're doing it actually on the day in
the moment, you're actually using the LED screen to light
the actual.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Set, like you know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
So you know, again, we take that technology and we
use it the best we can to make our jobs
easier and.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Make the product better. Right, So in ai'll be the
same way.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
So that technology you're talking about there, I remember seeing
I think it was Mandalorian the first season they did
this big behind the scenes thing. I think John favor
is using that for that almost the entire set. Like
it looks like he is literally out in the desert
for a lot of these scenes. But no, he's literally
like in a room like you were just talking about
where the wall. They're basically just LED screens and they
(26:47):
can just change it as they're going.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, and you've got moving images and so as a
performer too, you get it to react to what you're
seeing there, as opposed to being in front of a
green screen where there's nothing right. At least, that way
you have something to play off of that puts you
in that environment. So yeah, those stages, even just in
the last few years have really started to show up
more and more often.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
So, uh, you know, I did.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I did a bunch of work on Virgin River over
the last several years, and the first time I ever
saw one. We had a scene that was supposed to
be in a beach house in Malibu, and they sent
a team out in Malibu to shoot the shoreline, and
then they plunked it on the screen outside the window
of the set and the sound stage here in Vancouver,
and you looked out the window and there's boats going
(27:29):
by and birds flying, and it's like you're in Malibu.
It's really quite remarkable technology.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
That's awesome. I love I love hearing that kind of
stuff because I do. It's just another layer and like
you said, it's just another tool to help make the
whole performance better for everybody involved.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Absolutely, I'm a big fan of practical effects, right. You know,
the CGIs stuff is amazing what they've what they can accomplish,
and it's so real now, but there's still something about
you know, you've got a guy dressed up as that
monster right in front.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It changes your performance, there's no doubt about it. I did.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
I did four years on Falling Skies and we actually
had guys dressed up as the aliens, the skidders.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, and they're.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Creepy as hell, man, And it definitely you know, when
you're hiding around a corner and there's a skitterer going by,
it was freaky seeing those guys.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
In those costumes.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And so it definitely the practical effects help, and I
think that's what those volume stages with the led screens
that definitely it puts you in the environment, which for me,
that's always been the thing.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I want to walk in the shoes.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
I love doing period pieces where they build these big
sets and it's like time traveling.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah. Yeah, I have gotten shit in the past where
I was watching a horror movie and it was the beginning,
and it would I always love seeing the what the
special effects people can do when it comes to the
makeup or prosthetics or whatever it is. So like I
would be watching it and like really fascinating, kind of
laughing at certain points and being like, oh wow, look
(28:54):
at that, and the other people in the room are
just freaked out and scared. I'm like, well, this is
a movie. So like, you know, it's good that they
got that reaction out of you. But I'm looking and
being like, oh wow, that's special effects, really cool. Ooh
how they do that when over there? Like that kind
of stuff was always interested to me.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yeah, Like you look back to some of the stuff
in the Ages. I was talking to my son about
American Werewolf in London and how they did the transformation
into the werewolves that they did in some of those movies,
the Howling and some of that stuff back in the
day like really revolutionary. So when you flip then to
the CGI stuff and it just doesn't have the same
real feel to it. And I think it's the same
(29:30):
with AI is. It's gonna surge, There's gonna.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Be a lot of it, but people are going to
realize it's just it's not real.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
And even with the practical makeup effects, there's been a
there's been a resurgence of directors and producers that want
to do stuff more practical because it just feels more real,
you know.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah. So what kind of tips would you give people
that are wanting to get either in the industry in
general or maybe even just in the stunt side of things.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Uh, you know, the big thing is just one step forward,
just get started.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
A lot a lot of.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
The stunt guys that I know in Vancouver, we all
kind of started out around the same time the guys
that have been really successful. You start out works as
an extra. You get to know how the set works,
the language of film.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's like a whole diverse language that you need to learn.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Just protocols and how you deal with different departments costumes
and hair and makeup, all that stuff. And again, it's
a people business, so you've got to have a skill set,
there's no doubt about it. Nowadays everything is about stunt reels.
You've got to have some video of what you can do,
and you need to be really good because the competition
is incredibly incredibly talented, so you know a lot you're
(30:43):
up against some long standing, you know, huge resumes, and
so to try and break in is difficult.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
That's it. It can be done.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
But with any department in the industry, just get started.
If you want to get into film, you know, find
a way to get a job as a production assistant
or as an extra or you know, deuce. Independent films
they're always looking for volunteers, Like there's lots of ways
that you can get in on student productions and things
like that. To just kind of get your foot in
the door and get a feel for it. And again
it's it's a people game. So you know, I recently
(31:16):
booked a job on Superman and Lois. It was not
the last season, but the season before. It was a
great stunt actor job. I did a big ratchet. I
got punched by a super boy. I can't remember that
character but Alex. But the director of that episode was
a guy that I met twenty to five years earlier
(31:38):
when he was a training assistant director. The stunt coordinator
was a guy that I worked on in like season
one and two of Stargate SG won right. We kind
of came up through the business together. So an opportunity
came up. My picture was shown by this friend of
mine who's the coordinator. The director is a guy I've
known for twenty five years, and they're like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
He's the guy. So it's it's a long build.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
And I always anybody who wants to get started in
this business, I always say remember that it's a marathon,
it's not a sprint. If you want to do it,
just keep doing it and keep moving forward. And you know,
if you're good at what you do, eventually though, you'll.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Find a way.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
But it's it's difficult, man, I'm not gonna lie. It's
it's a roller coaster career. The last few years have
been really tough. I've suffered a lot financially and uh,
you know it'll bounce back, but it's it's one of
those things you got to you gotta deal with the
downs as much as you deal with the ups.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Right, No, it's very true.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Now I was second on the show. I call it
the five count. It's just five random questions fire away.
Who's your first celebrity crush?
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Meg Ryan O good one? Uh? If you were a
progress or MMA fighter? What would your name be?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Oh man, that's a good one. I don't know the wingman.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Oh that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
What would your last meal be?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
My last meal definitely be a big chunk of steak
man with a baked potato, some corn on the cob.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
How do you like your steak?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Medium? Rare? Come on?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Okay, okay, what's.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
That scene for what's the Oh? Is it no country
for old man? No? What's the hell or high water?
There's that great scene with with bridges and the other
actor in.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
The cafe and the waitresses like steaks, medium rare and
he's like actually, and she's like, wasn't a question.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
I love that diner scene so much, man, Yeah, always
medium rare.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Uh that was Birmingham? Is Gil?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Right?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Gil Birmingham. I think it was the other cop in
that movie.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Oh I'm not sure there was.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
That's a brilliant film though, and that that scene was
just man, it's so good. I've had a chance to
work with Jeff Bridges a couple of times, and a
lot of people tell me I look a lot like him,
but uh, yeah, everybody, everybody that's worked with him here
in town. We did seven Son with him, and we
did one of the Tron movies here with him as well,
and yeah, just is such an amazing dude.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I've also been told that from somebody else as well
that he was also a big jokester on set as well.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, yeah, he has fun with it man.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
And like I know, we were doing Tron and he
like put his back out or something, and he had
a scene where he had to carry somebody and he
just manned up and just did it right. Like it's
super dedicated and such a talent.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
I love all of his stuff, right, the dude divides. Yeah,
who are what inspires you?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
My kids?
Speaker 1 (34:32):
That's good?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah? Uh?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
And what would you tell your seventeen year old self?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Oh man, Yeah, I keep dreaming, you know, living the dream, buddy,
Live in the dream, keep dreaming that.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Well, I don't want to leave here without talking about
your film. Mcru You just won, uh the Portland Film Festival.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Right, yeah, the Portland Comedy Film Festival. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
We screened at three different festivals down in the States,
one in Atlanta, one in LA and in Portland. We won
Best Mockumentary Series Episode. We actually went down to Portland,
some of us went down to Portland and saw the
screening and the audience loved it. I'm actually in pre
production right now on the second half. We're gonna eventually
(35:22):
cut it into a thirty minute pilot. We're gonna do
the second half of that episode, and we just kind
of secured some funding, so we're gonna we're gonna hopefully
shoot that sometime late summer early fall.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Well, how can people, I guess obviously here in the
States and obviously people another place is how can they
see it?
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It's on YouTube?
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, just go if you put in mcru in
my last name Wingham. I have a YouTube page and
there's a few other things on there, but some you know,
some family stuff and whatever else.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
But mcru is on there for sure. You can check
it out.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
It's ten minutes. It's an action comedy. I don't want
to say too much because there's like a little reveal
beginning that kind of lets you know what it's all about.
But yeah, and that that whole thing, that's all a
bunch of stunt guys. We're all, you know, guys that
started out together and many many years ago, and we
just love making short films. We've made a number over
(36:15):
the years, and this one was one that I wrote
and directed, but some of the other guys write and
direct as well. So we just love making movies, man.
And you know, there's no money in it. I think
I made mcru for about three or four hundred bucks,
mostly mostly because my buddies have got all the gear,
the editing stuff, the cameras and lights and all that stuff, right,
and then we all just kind of pool resources.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
So, uh, the second half of it, we're gonna spend
a little bit more money. We've got to rent some locations.
But yeah, you don't.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
You don't need a ton of money. You just got
to write what you have access to, right. So fortunately,
you know, being as long in the business as I
have been, I know a lot of people, and those
people have a lot of stuff, So you just make
the most of it.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Yeah, I remember hearing that's how Robert Riguez did you
know El Mariachi for so cheap?
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Like, oh man, if you've never read his book about
the making of that film.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I know I need to.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
It was such a huge inspiration for me as a filmmaker.
You know, you like, put himself into a medical experiments
for some medication or something and got like his the
ten thousand dollars and then went to Mexico and he
basically shot the edit and then cut it together on
a couple of rs and went to la and shopped
it around and yeah, it's it's a brilliant story. And
(37:26):
I absolutely love his work, all of it. Been a
huge fan for many, many years. You know, the Spy
Kids stuff, my kids totally fucking loved.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
The El Mariachi for sure from Dust Hilton is one
of my favorite movies ever. But yeah, all his stuff
and Tarantino too.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Man.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Both of those guys just really brilliant, outside the box
kind of you know, I don't think Hollywood really knew
what to do with them, but you know, what they
make is just so incredible.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
So yeah, I still feel like Hollywood has still not
figured out artists like that. They're just like, uh, okay,
you guys do that over there, and we'll keep making
all this stuff over here.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Yeah. Well, and Rodriguez too, he's like pretty much does
everything right. Got his own studio down in Texas there,
and he's just like, you know it, does his own thing.
He doesn't wait for anybody else, He just he just
does it. I'd love to get down to work in Texas,
but of course, you know, there's the green card thing
that I'm kind of stuck up here in Canada. But yeah,
(38:23):
what it would be a thrill to work with either
one of those guys for sure.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Well, hopefully I'll come across them, and I will definitely, uh,
I will drop your name at some point I'm putting
out in the universe.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Now, all you make sure Robert gets to see my
mc are you and and tell him I want him
to come up to Vancouver to make a movie that
I can be in even if it's just as an
extra man.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I wouldn't even care.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Well if people wanted to find out more about you. You
follow you online, see your work, obviously help you out
with your with the skateboards and everything, and how can
they do all the things?
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (38:55):
You know you find me on Facebook and Instagram. It's
kind of the only sites that I I'm on with
any regularity. Yeah, as far as the skateboard stuff goes,
you know, anybody who's going down to Cuba just takes
stuff with you.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Uh. And if you've never been, it's such a unique place.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
All the old cars, the Spanish colonial buildings mixed in
with you know, Forti's mafia, feel like it's it's just
such a unique place and the people are so amazing.
I encourage everybody to take a trip down to Cuba.
Uh and and take whatever you're passionate about. You know,
Renee always talks about you know, I'm not a grocer,
so I don't take groceries. So I'm not a doctor,
so I don't take medicine. On a skateboarder, so I
(39:35):
take skateboards. So you know, they can use absolutely anything.
But yeah, and it's not hard to hook up with
people down there that people are so friendly and I
can't wait to get back there. So but yeah, if
you check out I think it's Amigoskate dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Amigoskcuba dot com.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
One of those renees got a website you can check
out there, make donations. He's always got swag that he's
selling there too, So help out the cause in that sense.
But yeah, as far as my stuff, you know, check
out my YouTube channel. There's another little film I made
many many, many years ago. I made a little short
film with Green Army Man called War's Hell, which it's
(40:11):
kind about seventy five thousand views I think now, but
it's been up for like.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Thank you so much to Jason for being on the
show again. If you want to help him with the
you know, the at risk kids in Cuba with skateboards
or whatever else, please get in contact with him and
his foundation is absolutely great and I love what he's doing.
But why are you doing that? And make sure you
follow us on social media. It is Bruises with pod
That is b R E W S c R S
p O D on the Instagram, the threads and the Twitter.
(40:50):
If you want to send us an email it is
Bruiserspod at gmail dot com. If you want to follow
me directly, it is Roady John. That is our O
D I E J O N or Roady John is
the name on the twich and I'm on tap. Case
you want to find out when I'm drinking, maybe we
can have a beer together. If you want to follow
me on the threads or the Instagram, it is a
Fisherwardy Jones. Sell it till next time. Make sure to
enjoy life, drink local and cheers
Welcome to Bruisers podcast about be Here, Coffee, Booze and Bruisers.
I'm your host, Roy John and today we talked to
stuntman Jason and Wingham. We talked about his journey in
the world of acting, helping at risk use in Cuba,
and so much more. This is such a fun conversation.
Jason has been in the acting world for over thirty
years and he is doing absolutely incredible things, not only
(00:40):
in the world of acting in stunt but also outside
of it. Like we talked about with the at risk
use in Cuba, you don't want to hear from me,
you want to hear from him. So, without further ado,
here is stuntman Jason Wingham. I would like to welcome
(01:02):
the show. Jason Wingham. How are you doing today, sir?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Doing great? Yourself doing well?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So for those listening, kind of paints a word picture.
Where are you at? What's going on around you?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Well, I'm in my garage in my office, just kind
of hanging out waiting to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I appreciate you being here. Yeah, well, so I just
saw a video about how you are helping at risk
use in Cuba. When it comes to skateboarding and I
imagine that was filmed where you are right now, Let's
start there, because I think that's fascinating. How did you
tell us about what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Well, No, I didn't really expect to be talking about this,
but yeah, I got hooked up with the organization.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
It's called Amigo Skate Cuba.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It's originally started by a guy named Rene LaCour who
was living in Miami at the time, and his son
and him went down to Cuba and on a little
skateboard trip and they realized the need for skateboards down
in Cuba, and so yeah, they kind of started that organization.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
There's a couple other ones that do it as well.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
But I took a family trip down there twenty sixteen
for Christmas with my family, and I was just kind
of looking at things I could take down to give
out to the Cubans down there. They're always looking for
stuff because they don't have a lot. And I came
across Renee and Amigo Skate and kind of watched a
few videos. And I'm a lifelong skateboarder since I was
(02:29):
a little kid, so it just kind of made sense
to me that that would be the thing that I
would do.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So I just kind of put.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
The word out that I was looking for boards, and
I got a bunch of donations and I took three
Duffel bags down on that first trip. Renee hooked me
up with a local guy named Johanni Perez, who was
one of the top skateboarders in Cube at the time.
He since moved to Spain, but I hooked up with
the Johanni in a local park and passed off all
the boards and met.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Some of the local kids and just sort of it
changed my life.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Just I always wanted to give something back and that
was just something that just really fit right in with
with my.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Life and what I could do.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So skateboarding is illegally in Cuba what and there's no
skate shops there at all, Like there's nowhere for the
kids to buy stuff down there, and even if they could,
they couldn't afford them anyway.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
You know, some of the.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Local kids that I knew down there were making like
five dollars a day working in pizza shops and stuff,
and skateboards, you know, are up two hundred dollars for
a decent boards, so that and skate shoes as well,
Like they just can't afford to be buying, you know,
two hundred dollars nikes and stuff like like we can. So,
so that's kind of how it started. I took another
trip down in June of twenty seventeen, and I took
(03:47):
another three bags, four bags down on that trip and
really got to know a bunch of people in the organization.
It was a big annual event for Go Skateboarding Day
on the twenty first of June in twenty seventeen, and
so I met a bunch of people from the organization
and a bunch of locals, and so then I made
two subsequent trips after that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
So yeah, I've taken about one thousand.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Pounds worth of skateboards down there over the four trips
that I've done.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So skateboarding is illegal down there.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, It's one of those things where it's you know,
they technically there's there's kids. They're skateboarding everywhere down there
now at this point. But between Amigo Skate and a
few other organizations, like we've kind of flooded the island
with skateboards at this point, so the authorities can't really
do much about it. It's just a tattooing, is the
same Amigo Skate does a lot with the tattoo community
down there as well, because tattooing is also illegal in Cuba,
(04:38):
so it's all very underground. But yeah, you know, we've
just kind of we call ourselves the Robin Hoods of
Havana and we just kind of take down stuff. And
I've never had any trouble getting into the country. They've
often looked through the bags and when they see what
it is, they just turn a blind eye. And but yeah,
I had a good buddy down there. He's he's since
left as well. He got into the States a couple of.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Years ago with his mom.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
But yeah, he actually was arrested one time just for
skateboarding down the street and they threw him jail overnight,
you know. So it's an ongoing issue. We Rene and
a Ego skate of lobby the government a little bit
to try and make some changes there. They've actually got
a little skate park that the government has built now
and then there's a bunch of.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Do it yourself parks down there too.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
There's one particular spot, it's the old training center for
the Cuban Olympic team, where it's this old decrepit building
that's been abandoned, and so the kids have kind of
taken it over. So on the second trip that I
took down, we actually bought a bunch of concrete off
the black market and they brought down some park builders
and we built a huge section in this old building
(05:41):
concrete ramps and halfpipes and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, so skateboarding and tattooing and tattooing is illegal in
Cuba right now, So basically they're back in the sixties
and seventies in America.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Yeah, you know, a lot of that, especially the skateboarding
thing is definitely based because it's an American cultural thing,
and of course there's the animosity that goes back to
fifty nine with the revolution and all that politics that
gets involved that. You know, it's detrimental to the kids,
and skateboarding is one of those things. Once you get
to board, it doesn't cost you anything, so as long
(06:16):
as you can keep the board together. That's the other
thing with skateboards. As they break, they crack wheels, wear out, bearings,
wear out, things like that. So even if you have
like nuts and bolts hardware for skateboards.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Man, that stuff's like gold down there.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That's crazy. Yeah, well, you learn something new every day.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, it was an eye opener for me.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And I haven't been able to get down there since COVID,
And of course things got really hard in Cuba over COVID,
and you know, so some of the kids that I
still know down there, I hear from them once in
a while, and they're still struggling. They're still trying to
get boards and trying to get shoes. And I'm sitting
on about one hundred boards right now and probably the
same number of pairs of shoes, and I just haven't
(06:56):
been able to get down It's just been been difficult
for every all over the world since COVID, right, So, yeah, it.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Is interesting to see the ripples that are still happening
from what happened with COVID. I mean, I'm not want
to get too much into it, because everyone has their
own you know, they make it a political thing when
it's not. But like the ripple effects when it comes
to every market from what had happened during the COVID times,
it's still like being felt and it's a very interesting thing,
(07:24):
especially when you're looking at different businesses and the way
things are being managed well economically.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I think we all took a big hit and we're
all still recovering from that. And Cuba, of course, their
situation is worse than most parts of the world, so
it hit them twice as hard.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
So again, you know, my buddy Guermo, he got out,
got into the US, and he's you know, been having
a pretty good life since then. Some of the other
kids I know that got out, but life got really
hard in Cube. Again, it was the same, and when
the Soviet Union collapsed in the early nineties, Cuba went
through a really rough time and they became a more
self sufficient, especially with food and stuff. But you know,
(08:03):
the economy down there is in bad shape and it
always has been because of the embargo and the.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Politics of all that.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
And again I try not to get too involved in
the politics either. To me, it's just every kid should
have a skateboard that wants one, So I just try
and take as many down as I can and put
as many smiles on faces as possible.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
That's awesome. Yeah, So let's go back in time. I
had read that you got into acting back in high school.
How did that happen?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Originally it was junior high actually grade eight. I had
a fantastic teacher at my junior high school. His name
is Gordon Bland, and he kind of got a little
theater program started there. So I got cast. I auditioned
and got cast in a small role in a it
was kind of a within Shakespeare's at Midsommer Night Stream
(08:53):
and there's a play within the play, and so I
got cast as a character called Moonshine, which is one
of the one of the actors in this play within
the play, and we just did like a little short
version of that scene from Midsummer Night's Dream. And I
was kind of my first.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Foray into acting on the stage.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
And then through junior high and high school, I did
a bunch of different stage plays, and then in high
school I also got involved in some local.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
TV film stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I did crime stoppers reenactment commercials, so you know, I
would play the little criminals that were breaking into places
and selling drugs in them all and that kind of thing.
And then I did like an educational module for the
Saskatchewan Police College where I played a young offender that
just for you know, teaching teaching video for the cops.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
In the province.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
And I did a local film on alcohol and drug
abuse teenage alcohol and drug abuse. So I kind of
got my start in film, you know, at a very
young age, like fifteen sixteen is when I kind of
started doing that, and then ended up in Regina, which
is the capital of Saskatchewan. I don't know if you
know too much about Saskatchewan, but went to university there,
went to theater school, took some acting classes and did
(10:02):
a lot of scenic design and prop building and that
kind of thing, and then ended up in the restaurant
business for a while and that's that's another long story.
But ended up moving to Vancouver in ninety five and
just directly to get into the film industry.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So Saskatchewan is on the far right side of Canada.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Right, it's basically right in the center.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Oh geez, Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, it's It's basically like there's British Columbia of courses
on the west coast. Yes, I knew that, and then
we have Alberta, the big oil province in Saskatchewan is
next to that, so gotcha. It's considered western, the western
part of Canada's one of the western provinces, but it's
kind of rate smack dab in the middle.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Okay, So trying to ask what was it. Was it
the thrill of acting live that kind of got you
or once you did then go on to do, like
you said, the local things film wise that that really
grabbed you. Like, what was it about the whole process
that really kind of awakened something inside you?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Well? I think you know, I grew up in in
you know, the Star Wars era.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, and I was an absolute movie fan from the
time I can remember, you know, going we used to
go to the theater every every weekend. We would go
and see movies and of course TV at that time too.
I was I was big into a lot of the
action y kind of shows on TV.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
The Fall Guy and The Dukes of Hazard.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And The six Million Dollar Man, all that stuff, Right,
So I was always an action movie fan and the
acting stuff I just took really naturally too. I think
I was a very creative kid.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
You know, we were.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Always playing cops and robbers in the yard and running around.
My dad would always build these crazy toy guns and stuff,
and you know, for me, it all kind of worked
together to lead to where to where.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I am now working primarily in action films.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
What was your well, how did you end up actually
in the action in the like the stunt side of it.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
That was a long build for me. It was always
something I wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I have like an incredibly diverse athletic background growing up.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I did a lot a lot of different.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Stuff sports wise, skateboarding being one that was you know,
a big part of stunt work is falling down, So
when you're a skateboarder, you definitely learned a fall down.
I raced BMX, played a lot of hockey, baseball.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Water skiing, snowboarding, skiing.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Like all that stuff, right, So I've always been a
very physically kind of I don't know, I just always
loved just playing rough, you know, right, and the whole
stuntman thing.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
The fall Guy TV series was definitely a big, big
part of it. That was an influence for sure. You know,
being a stunt man, I think has always kind of
been like the pedestal that I've always kind.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Of tried to achieve. But yeah, it was a long build.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I basically moved to Vancouver in ninety five and I
started working as a movie extra. Movie extra sure is
you know, everybody thinks it's just crowd scenes, but quite
often it's just non speaking roles and so you get
you get a lot of camera time. And in the
early days in Vancouver, before the industry really boomed, we
didn't have a lot going on, but there was also
not a lot of people doing it. So I got
(13:14):
some good opportunities early on to meet the right people
and just slowly build a career. And so at my
first actual stunt job, I think it was in ninety
seven ninety eight, I did.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
A movie called max Q was a TV movie about.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
A Space shuttle disaster and they had to do a
you know, a landing on a highway and I got
picked to be a guy inside this Mustang convertible that
almost gets landed on by the space shuttle and we
ended up doing a three sixty at about one hundred
and twenty kilometers an hour sixty miles an hour for
you guys down down in the States. But yeah, and
(13:49):
like the helicopter camera when you know, fly by like man.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
It was all my glory.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
So that was my first actual like experiences getting paid
as a stunt performer mm hm. And then it was
I think about eight years before I got a real
actual stunt job. I was working on a movie called
Pathfinder with Carl Urban Clancy Brown, directed by Marcus Nispel,
who he also did the Texas Chainsaw Masacre remake, which
(14:18):
is a brilliant horror movie.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
But yeah, I was working on that film as one
of the vikings and uh and got the opportunity to
do a big fall gag off of a cliff with
a bunch of other vikings And that was my first
really big kind of stunt job. And then from there
it just was a slow build and then you know,
eventually it's you know, it's a people game. You got
to get to know the right people and you got
to prove yourself, uh physically and socially as well. And yeah,
(14:44):
I've been very fortunate because I'm not you know, there's
there's people that are working in stunts that are so
incredibly talented. The asset for me, well, a lot of
the time it has been my acting skill. Whereas I
can I can deliver believable dialogue and I can take
a beating. So that's kind of where things took off
from me and where I started to find some real success.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, my brother has been He grew up here in
Texas and then moved up to Canada with his wife,
and he's been acting up there and yeah, like you said,
some of the extra stuff you made, like you said,
you're not just it's not just crowd stuff. You could
be right there in front of the camera and don't
have to say anything at all. And he's been doing
a lot of those roles and he's loving it and
he's gotten great commercials up there as well.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, and it's good money, Like the industry pays well.
You know, there's always the union hurdle. You got to
get into the union, which up here we have ACTRA.
Down in the States, it's SAG, but you know, similar
kind of scenario. You have to get a certain number
of jobs to get into the union. And once you're
in the union, even the extra work pays pays pretty well.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
So I did some.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Extra work yesterday actually on the show. I still I
still go out and do those jobs because it's good
money and I love the people. And for me, I
don't care what you want me to do. If you're
paying me be a film set, I'm a happy guy.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So right, Yeah, Well, so.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I think around the time you were getting into the business,
I think a lot of the film world actually started
moving up to Canada to do a lot more when
it comes to you know, I guess it was cheaper
to shoot up there or there's obviously actual seasons as well.
So what is the bleedover from American filming happening over
(16:27):
in Canada really kind of helped you along as well.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah, so the big show here they kind of started everything,
like there was some stuff happening before, but the X
Files was I think it was.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
The X Files was one of the first ones.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, yeah, and that was the show. I came to
Vancouver with the intent of getting on The X Files.
That was my first goal was to get to Vancouver
get started, and I wanted to be on The X Files.
I was a huge fan of the show. Found out
it was shot in Vancouver and yeah, so I managed to. Yeah,
season four, I had a non speaking role. I got
(17:00):
shot in the head by cry Check playing a domestic terrorist,
and Moulder and Scully discover my body and they pulled
cry took out. It was a big reveal and man,
that was a huge, huge thing for me and from
my family too, like I think my dad, my mom,
they were, you know, concerned, I'm going out to Vancouver
from small town Saskatchewan to you know, get into Hollywood
(17:23):
and they I don't think anybody believed I could do it.
They supported me one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
They always have.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
But that was one when I went home that Christmas
and they got to see me on TV that yeah,
it was big.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, it's always funny, like you said, that's why you
moved out there, and you finally did it, and then
your parents finally get to see it, and you're just like, yeah,
it was all worth it, like just that little bit,
like you know, you're not winging an oscar, but it's
that first little goalpost of things you wanted to accomplish,
and you did it, and so that was awesome.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah, and the Xfols was one of those shows that
made you realize that, yeah, it could be done in
Canada because Hollywood was always the place to be and
the X File has changed that in Vancouver for sure.
And then since then, of course, you know, lots of
lots of great stuff has happened in this city. You know,
the tax breaks has been a big part of it.
The dollar the exchange of course has always been been
(18:16):
a factor for the money guys. But honestly, the film
crews we have in Vancouver now or our world class.
The stunt community in this town is world class. We're
winning awards all over the place. The industry has grown
to a point where, you know, the competition now that
we're we're we're a sought after location for so many
(18:40):
more reasons than.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Just the money side of it.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It's there's a lot of really talented people in this
town and it's a big community now, it's it's quite sizable.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
So yeah, well, I mean, considering you started in the
late nineties and then obviously you've you've been in the
film industry for thirty years now and you've seen obviously
the development technology getting so much better and different things
that they do and don't have to shoot anymore because
of the fact that they could just you know, do
(19:10):
it and post or figure it out, you know, animation wise.
What do you kind of see and feel about the
current state of the TV film industry and where do
you kind of see it going in the next five years?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Oh, dude, that's a huge question.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Things have not been good, you know. Again, COVID was
a big factor.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
We had the big strike a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Like everybody's kind of been back on their heels.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Since all of that and now this AI stuff that's
coming out.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
What I will say is that regardless of what technology changes,
the passion of people to see films, to see television
to be entertained, that's not going to change. Yeah, how
we do it, how we make it is constantly evolving.
So like when I first started, it was film stock
and eventually film cameras went away and it was all digital,
(20:01):
the CGI stuff. You know, obviously a lot of the
stuff that they used to do we don't do anymore
because you don't need to some of it, you know,
risk based, danger based, you know, there's stuff that.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
We don't do anymore.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
But you know, we've evolved into doing other things in
order to make a living. So yeah, it's it's a
constantly evolving thing.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
And you know, I don't worry that the industry is
going to collapse. I just think it's going to change.
Like everything else that's going to change.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
The AI stuff, I think a lot of people are
afraid that it's going to wipe out a lot of jobs,
and I think that is a concern. But I think
if those of us who are making films and working
in the industry just keep doing what we're doing and
finding a way to work with it as opposed to
against it, because it's inevitable. You know, the money side
of things is always an issue, and if they can
(20:54):
do stuff cheaper, they will.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Safety is always an issue. If they can find a
way to do it safer, they will. Know. Something as
simple as high falls.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
The high falls used to be done you just jump
off a building into a big air bag, and now
it's always on wires and it's you know, CGI, So
you don't need to do those really big, crazy high
falls anymore because there's other ways to do it safer
and cheaper. Right, So, like everything else, we'll evolve around it.
But I think actors portraying characters, real people on screen
(21:26):
is always.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Going to be a thing.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I don't I don't think that'll change too much. You know,
AI is getting really good. It was watching some stuff
earlier today. It's just like mind blowing where we're almost
to this stage where you just plunk a script into
a computer and it'll spit out a you know, a
feature film, which you know, I think there's people that
are going to do that and that's great, but I
think ultimately, like everything you know, there'll be some some
(21:49):
imbalance for a while, and then we'll find out, you know,
how things are going to work out.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
But I hope we keep using real people.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Because I absolutely love what I do and I don't
want to stop.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
So yeah, I feel this. I almost feel that will
within the next five years, if the Academy is open
to it, they will allow AI movies to be in there.
But I think what we might hit tilt at one
point and then we'll come back the other way. I mean,
we've seen it with film as well, because you've saw
(22:20):
so many musicals or plays themselves come to actual film,
and a lot of them a lot of people there
are a lot of directors they should say, do shoot
a lot of movies as they would be a play
all in one take, you know, no breaks, And that's
always the challenge for a lot of the actors or
(22:42):
you know, people on set obviously as well, that are
doing stuff behind the scenes to make sure that it
does look as flawless as it's supposed to look on
the film. So I do think that we'll have we'll
still have the people that want to make the pure
stuff of we're using all humans. We're you know, we're
not doing any computer stuff. Like Christopher Nolan does such
(23:03):
a great job when it comes to his stunt stuff.
He just makes giant sets as opposed to just doing stuff,
you know, computer wise. But I do think there will
be those people that, you know, that's if they want
to continue to just do AI stuff. Obviously, Marvel movies
are so much easier that way. Star Wars movies the
same way. But I really kind of think there's going
(23:24):
to be a bleed over of people that do want
to be pure with it and still do that, and
then obviously there's going to be the other side that
be like, oh no, this is easier, and I can
you know, I don't have to worry about is the
actor going to show up, is the actor in a
good mood or bad mood or we actually you know,
because the director is trying to do a certain thing,
(23:44):
and a lot of times it ends up being the
collaboration situation, which honestly, at the end of the day,
that's what art really is, especially when you have that
many people together. But there's from what I hear, there
are definitely directors that are Nope, this is my way,
is the only way we're doing it, And you know,
I think they might slip over the ass.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah. Ultimately it's a collaborative art form.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah, and I think the push and pull from directors
to performers and to stunt coordinators and stunt people and
how you know, we eventually end up with the thing
that we want to do.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
You know, I don't think computers can do that.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I think the emotions that human beings bring to performance
is something that's going to live on. I don't I
don't see that changing too much. You know, it's you know,
you look at animation where animation started with Walt Disney
back in the day, and now we're up into you know,
the toy story stuff and the digital animation. You've still
got voice actors there that are bringing a lot of
(24:39):
emotion to the.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
To the script.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
You know, you can you can write it, but until
somebody brings it to life, it's it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Feel real, right.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
So yeah, I think, like any technology will find a
way to use it.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
And uh.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
And like c G I, they they've you know, it's
kind of revolutionized what they can put on.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
If you go back and you watch some of the
old sci fi.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Black and white movies from the forties and the thirties
and the fifties, and you know, like some of the
technology that they were coming up with then to try
and you know, accomplish some of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
You know, these days it's kind of laughable.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
But at the same time, those are the stepping stones
that have led us to where we are. So you know,
that's the same with stunt work. You know, you started
off with Yakima Canutt, you know, jumping on horses and
going underneath the wagon. And then you know, however, many
years later and Dana Jones did the same thing, right, so,
but he did it under a military truck. So you know,
I think we take what we've learned over the years
(25:35):
and we you know, use that knowledge to create more
and better and bigger. And you know, CGI has allowed
them to create environments that are just insane. Now we've
got these volume stages where you know, I just did
a bunch of work on Final Destination where they built
a revolving restaurant inside of a studio and they had
a huge screen around the outside that they could make
(25:57):
it look like the restaurant was revolving just by moving
the image on the screen in real time, right, So
you know that was something that they'd have to do
green screen and it would be like a big CGI thing,
And now they're doing it actually on the day in
the moment, you're actually using the LED screen to light
the actual.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Set, like you know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
So you know, again, we take that technology and we
use it the best we can to make our jobs
easier and.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Make the product better. Right, So in ai'll be the
same way.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
So that technology you're talking about there, I remember seeing
I think it was Mandalorian the first season they did
this big behind the scenes thing. I think John favor
is using that for that almost the entire set. Like
it looks like he is literally out in the desert
for a lot of these scenes. But no, he's literally
like in a room like you were just talking about
where the wall. They're basically just LED screens and they
(26:47):
can just change it as they're going.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, and you've got moving images and so as a
performer too, you get it to react to what you're
seeing there, as opposed to being in front of a
green screen where there's nothing right. At least, that way
you have something to play off of that puts you
in that environment. So yeah, those stages, even just in
the last few years have really started to show up
more and more often.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
So, uh, you know, I did.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I did a bunch of work on Virgin River over
the last several years, and the first time I ever
saw one. We had a scene that was supposed to
be in a beach house in Malibu, and they sent
a team out in Malibu to shoot the shoreline, and
then they plunked it on the screen outside the window
of the set and the sound stage here in Vancouver,
and you looked out the window and there's boats going
(27:29):
by and birds flying, and it's like you're in Malibu.
It's really quite remarkable technology.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
That's awesome. I love I love hearing that kind of
stuff because I do. It's just another layer and like
you said, it's just another tool to help make the
whole performance better for everybody involved.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Absolutely, I'm a big fan of practical effects, right. You know,
the CGIs stuff is amazing what they've what they can accomplish,
and it's so real now, but there's still something about
you know, you've got a guy dressed up as that
monster right in front.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It changes your performance, there's no doubt about it. I did.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
I did four years on Falling Skies and we actually
had guys dressed up as the aliens, the skidders.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, and they're.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Creepy as hell, man, And it definitely you know, when
you're hiding around a corner and there's a skitterer going by,
it was freaky seeing those guys.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
In those costumes.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And so it definitely the practical effects help, and I
think that's what those volume stages with the led screens
that definitely it puts you in the environment, which for me,
that's always been the thing.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I want to walk in the shoes.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
I love doing period pieces where they build these big
sets and it's like time traveling.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah. Yeah, I have gotten shit in the past where
I was watching a horror movie and it was the beginning,
and it would I always love seeing the what the
special effects people can do when it comes to the
makeup or prosthetics or whatever it is. So like I
would be watching it and like really fascinating, kind of
laughing at certain points and being like, oh wow, look
(28:54):
at that, and the other people in the room are
just freaked out and scared. I'm like, well, this is
a movie. So like, you know, it's good that they
got that reaction out of you. But I'm looking and
being like, oh wow, that's special effects, really cool. Ooh
how they do that when over there? Like that kind
of stuff was always interested to me.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yeah, Like you look back to some of the stuff
in the Ages. I was talking to my son about
American Werewolf in London and how they did the transformation
into the werewolves that they did in some of those movies,
the Howling and some of that stuff back in the
day like really revolutionary. So when you flip then to
the CGI stuff and it just doesn't have the same
real feel to it. And I think it's the same
(29:30):
with AI is. It's gonna surge, There's gonna.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Be a lot of it, but people are going to
realize it's just it's not real.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
And even with the practical makeup effects, there's been a
there's been a resurgence of directors and producers that want
to do stuff more practical because it just feels more real,
you know.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah. So what kind of tips would you give people
that are wanting to get either in the industry in
general or maybe even just in the stunt side of things.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Uh, you know, the big thing is just one step forward,
just get started.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
A lot a lot of.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
The stunt guys that I know in Vancouver, we all
kind of started out around the same time the guys
that have been really successful. You start out works as
an extra. You get to know how the set works,
the language of film.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's like a whole diverse language that you need to learn.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Just protocols and how you deal with different departments costumes
and hair and makeup, all that stuff. And again, it's
a people business, so you've got to have a skill set,
there's no doubt about it. Nowadays everything is about stunt reels.
You've got to have some video of what you can do,
and you need to be really good because the competition
is incredibly incredibly talented, so you know a lot you're
(30:43):
up against some long standing, you know, huge resumes, and
so to try and break in is difficult.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
That's it. It can be done.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
But with any department in the industry, just get started.
If you want to get into film, you know, find
a way to get a job as a production assistant
or as an extra or you know, deuce. Independent films
they're always looking for volunteers, Like there's lots of ways
that you can get in on student productions and things
like that. To just kind of get your foot in
the door and get a feel for it. And again
it's it's a people game. So you know, I recently
(31:16):
booked a job on Superman and Lois. It was not
the last season, but the season before. It was a
great stunt actor job. I did a big ratchet. I
got punched by a super boy. I can't remember that
character but Alex. But the director of that episode was
a guy that I met twenty to five years earlier
(31:38):
when he was a training assistant director. The stunt coordinator
was a guy that I worked on in like season
one and two of Stargate SG won right. We kind
of came up through the business together. So an opportunity
came up. My picture was shown by this friend of
mine who's the coordinator. The director is a guy I've
known for twenty five years, and they're like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
He's the guy. So it's it's a long build.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
And I always anybody who wants to get started in
this business, I always say remember that it's a marathon,
it's not a sprint. If you want to do it,
just keep doing it and keep moving forward. And you know,
if you're good at what you do, eventually though, you'll.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Find a way.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
But it's it's difficult, man, I'm not gonna lie. It's
it's a roller coaster career. The last few years have
been really tough. I've suffered a lot financially and uh,
you know it'll bounce back, but it's it's one of
those things you got to you gotta deal with the
downs as much as you deal with the ups.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Right, No, it's very true.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Now I was second on the show. I call it
the five count. It's just five random questions fire away.
Who's your first celebrity crush?
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Meg Ryan O good one? Uh? If you were a
progress or MMA fighter? What would your name be?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Oh man, that's a good one. I don't know the wingman.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Oh that's a good one.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
What would your last meal be?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
My last meal definitely be a big chunk of steak
man with a baked potato, some corn on the cob.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
How do you like your steak?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Medium? Rare? Come on?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Okay, okay, what's.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
That scene for what's the Oh? Is it no country
for old man? No? What's the hell or high water?
There's that great scene with with bridges and the other
actor in.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
The cafe and the waitresses like steaks, medium rare and
he's like actually, and she's like, wasn't a question.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
I love that diner scene so much, man, Yeah, always
medium rare.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Uh that was Birmingham? Is Gil?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Right?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Gil Birmingham. I think it was the other cop in
that movie.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Oh I'm not sure there was.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
That's a brilliant film though, and that that scene was
just man, it's so good. I've had a chance to
work with Jeff Bridges a couple of times, and a
lot of people tell me I look a lot like him,
but uh, yeah, everybody, everybody that's worked with him here
in town. We did seven Son with him, and we
did one of the Tron movies here with him as well,
and yeah, just is such an amazing dude.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I've also been told that from somebody else as well
that he was also a big jokester on set as well.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, yeah, he has fun with it man.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
And like I know, we were doing Tron and he
like put his back out or something, and he had
a scene where he had to carry somebody and he
just manned up and just did it right. Like it's
super dedicated and such a talent.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
I love all of his stuff, right, the dude divides. Yeah,
who are what inspires you?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
My kids?
Speaker 1 (34:32):
That's good?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah? Uh?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
And what would you tell your seventeen year old self?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Oh man, Yeah, I keep dreaming, you know, living the dream, buddy,
Live in the dream, keep dreaming that.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Well, I don't want to leave here without talking about
your film. Mcru You just won, uh the Portland Film Festival.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Right, yeah, the Portland Comedy Film Festival. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
We screened at three different festivals down in the States,
one in Atlanta, one in LA and in Portland. We won
Best Mockumentary Series Episode. We actually went down to Portland,
some of us went down to Portland and saw the
screening and the audience loved it. I'm actually in pre
production right now on the second half. We're gonna eventually
(35:22):
cut it into a thirty minute pilot. We're gonna do
the second half of that episode, and we just kind
of secured some funding, so we're gonna we're gonna hopefully
shoot that sometime late summer early fall.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Well, how can people, I guess obviously here in the
States and obviously people another place is how can they
see it?
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It's on YouTube?
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, just go if you put in mcru in
my last name Wingham. I have a YouTube page and
there's a few other things on there, but some you know,
some family stuff and whatever else.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
But mcru is on there for sure. You can check
it out.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
It's ten minutes. It's an action comedy. I don't want
to say too much because there's like a little reveal
beginning that kind of lets you know what it's all about.
But yeah, and that that whole thing, that's all a
bunch of stunt guys. We're all, you know, guys that
started out together and many many years ago, and we
just love making short films. We've made a number over
(36:15):
the years, and this one was one that I wrote
and directed, but some of the other guys write and
direct as well. So we just love making movies, man.
And you know, there's no money in it. I think
I made mcru for about three or four hundred bucks,
mostly mostly because my buddies have got all the gear,
the editing stuff, the cameras and lights and all that stuff, right,
and then we all just kind of pool resources.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
So, uh, the second half of it, we're gonna spend
a little bit more money. We've got to rent some locations.
But yeah, you don't.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
You don't need a ton of money. You just got
to write what you have access to, right. So fortunately,
you know, being as long in the business as I
have been, I know a lot of people, and those
people have a lot of stuff, So you just make
the most of it.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Yeah, I remember hearing that's how Robert Riguez did you
know El Mariachi for so cheap?
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Like, oh man, if you've never read his book about
the making of that film.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I know I need to.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
It was such a huge inspiration for me as a filmmaker.
You know, you like, put himself into a medical experiments
for some medication or something and got like his the
ten thousand dollars and then went to Mexico and he
basically shot the edit and then cut it together on
a couple of rs and went to la and shopped
it around and yeah, it's it's a brilliant story. And
(37:26):
I absolutely love his work, all of it. Been a
huge fan for many, many years. You know, the Spy
Kids stuff, my kids totally fucking loved.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
The El Mariachi for sure from Dust Hilton is one
of my favorite movies ever. But yeah, all his stuff
and Tarantino too.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Man.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Both of those guys just really brilliant, outside the box
kind of you know, I don't think Hollywood really knew
what to do with them, but you know, what they
make is just so incredible.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
So yeah, I still feel like Hollywood has still not
figured out artists like that. They're just like, uh, okay,
you guys do that over there, and we'll keep making
all this stuff over here.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Yeah. Well, and Rodriguez too, he's like pretty much does
everything right. Got his own studio down in Texas there,
and he's just like, you know it, does his own thing.
He doesn't wait for anybody else, He just he just
does it. I'd love to get down to work in Texas,
but of course, you know, there's the green card thing
that I'm kind of stuck up here in Canada. But yeah,
(38:23):
what it would be a thrill to work with either
one of those guys for sure.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Well, hopefully I'll come across them, and I will definitely, uh,
I will drop your name at some point I'm putting
out in the universe.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Now, all you make sure Robert gets to see my
mc are you and and tell him I want him
to come up to Vancouver to make a movie that
I can be in even if it's just as an
extra man.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I wouldn't even care.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Well if people wanted to find out more about you. You
follow you online, see your work, obviously help you out
with your with the skateboards and everything, and how can
they do all the things?
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (38:55):
You know you find me on Facebook and Instagram. It's
kind of the only sites that I I'm on with
any regularity. Yeah, as far as the skateboard stuff goes,
you know, anybody who's going down to Cuba just takes
stuff with you.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Uh. And if you've never been, it's such a unique place.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
All the old cars, the Spanish colonial buildings mixed in
with you know, Forti's mafia, feel like it's it's just
such a unique place and the people are so amazing.
I encourage everybody to take a trip down to Cuba.
Uh and and take whatever you're passionate about. You know,
Renee always talks about you know, I'm not a grocer,
so I don't take groceries. So I'm not a doctor,
so I don't take medicine. On a skateboarder, so I
(39:35):
take skateboards. So you know, they can use absolutely anything.
But yeah, and it's not hard to hook up with
people down there that people are so friendly and I
can't wait to get back there. So but yeah, if
you check out I think it's Amigoskate dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Amigoskcuba dot com.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
One of those renees got a website you can check
out there, make donations. He's always got swag that he's
selling there too, So help out the cause in that sense.
But yeah, as far as my stuff, you know, check
out my YouTube channel. There's another little film I made
many many, many years ago. I made a little short
film with Green Army Man called War's Hell, which it's
(40:11):
kind about seventy five thousand views I think now, but
it's been up for like.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Thank you so much to Jason for being on the
show again. If you want to help him with the
you know, the at risk kids in Cuba with skateboards
or whatever else, please get in contact with him and
his foundation is absolutely great and I love what he's doing.
But why are you doing that? And make sure you
follow us on social media. It is Bruises with pod
That is b R E W S c R S
p O D on the Instagram, the threads and the Twitter.
(40:50):
If you want to send us an email it is
Bruiserspod at gmail dot com. If you want to follow
me directly, it is Roady John. That is our O
D I E J O N or Roady John is
the name on the twich and I'm on tap. Case
you want to find out when I'm drinking, maybe we
can have a beer together. If you want to follow
me on the threads or the Instagram, it is a
Fisherwardy Jones. Sell it till next time. Make sure to
enjoy life, drink local and cheers
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