Thousand Pound Action Company does a fantastic job with the movies that they do. Known for their fantastic fight movies based off video games, Thousand Pounds movies are always a site to see.
Recently, they just released the completed version of Naruto Shippuden: Dreamers Fight, which was a live action short based off the Naruto Shippuden series. The movie is fantastic, and it shows how awesome the group is.
Now currently, they are working on a new project called, “Clandestine: Follow the Path”. Clandestine is the telling of clan warfare in modern times, following four different clans: Lion, Eagle, Bear, and Wolf. The main character is Adelene, who learns that she is a main part of this war, and has to learn how to become the leader of the Lion Clan.
I recently contacted Haile Lee, writer of Clandestine, and Chris Cowan, director of Clandestine and the Co-Founder of Thousand Pound Action Co.
CHRIS: Vonzell Carter actually came up with our name. The name was derived from the T’ai chi ch’uan proverb, “A force of four ounces can move a thousand pounds.” The four ounces represents imagination and determination. The thousand pounds are the company’s achievements and ambitions.
You guys have done a number of cool videos based on different Game Properties from Street Fighter x Tekken, to the Ultra Combo series based on Super Street Fighter 4, to a demo with Arkham City, are there any games that you haven’t done, yet, that you guys are looking forward to?
CHRIS: I’d definitely love to play around with an Assassin’s Creed short film. As well as Dead or Alive!
What are your biggest influences besides games? Obviously you guys are a fan of martial art films, but what movies do you guys gain inspiration from.
CHRIS: I get inspired by a lot of different media. Anime, Manga, Comicbooks, TV Series. The film that has inspired me the most (in terms of cinematography and editing) has been Final Fantasy: Advent Children. The way that film is presented changed my world a lot haha. I can’t find a bad shot or edit in that film ha.
How did you guys meet, and how did you come up with the concept for doing these kinds of videos?
CHRIS: Honestly? Team Co-Founders Vonzell Carter, Darren Bailey and I were bored and wanted to shoot fight videos haha. After our first video titled “Round One” with thought we may have been on to something. After that we started reaching out to many players in the stunt/martial arts and film community – Mainly through youtube and facebook to bring together like-minded individuals who wanted to create new martial arts material. We’ve been making videos since!
Is there a single stunt studio do you work with, or do you work with a number of people in the stunt community.
CHRIS: Yep, we definitely work with a lot of different people out there in the stunt community. And are equally glad that so many of them are willing to work with us!
Have you guy’s thought about doing some Super Hero stuff
CHRIS: What’s funny about that is during 2002 to around 2008 – super hero type films were the main types of films I made. My good friend and writer Lex Randleman and I created a series based on DC Elseworlds back then, that we unfortunately couldn’t finish. We also worked on an original superhero series of ours called X3i.
What were the bases of the story of Clandestine?
HAILE: As a kid, I always enjoyed the feudalistic history aspect to humanity — back when clans, tribes, and other different groups of people bounded together to survive always fascinated me. The fact that you can live, fight, and die by your brother, mother, sister, and or daughter was so tragic and amazing that we just wanted to do it in a modern, supernatural light.
Now, while they have reached their kickstarter goal, you can still contribute, if you will like too. This idea is cool, and these guys are always doing great things. I can’t wait to see Clandestine in action.
