[caption id="attachment_146856" align="alignright" width="298"]
Richard Cetrone speaking to Akash Sunethkumara[/caption]
By Kavishna Wijesinghe
Richard Cetrone is a well-known figure in the industry as an actor, fight choreographer, and amongst moviegoers for doubling Ben Affleck who played Batman in the DCEU films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). More recently, he was seen playing the role of the villainous zombie king Zeus in Snyder’s Army of the Dead (2021). Richard spoke to Junkyard Theory last week about his journey as a famed stuntman.
Genesis
Richard revealed that he got into performing stunts through martial arts. He moved from Pittsburgh to California to study martial arts under Dan Inosanto, who was Bruce Lee's protégé, and that was the turning point where he got to a certain proficiency in martial arts and started his career with stunt performing.
With a background in martial arts, which has a lot of discipline, Richard states that he believed in strengthening both the mental and physical aspects because, “if the body is strong and willing, but the mind is weak, you're going to have trouble defending in any type of situation”.
Thus, it served him greatly in stunt work, creature work, and a lot of suit work, where it can be very uncomfortable and restless. Richard added that sometimes, doing suit work meant having to run long hours trapped in an uncomfortable costume on a hot day, trying not to let it get to you while the rest of the crew was in comfy attire.
Richard also stated that it’s important to understand the changes that can happen on set and adapting accordingly, because being a valuable performer relies on being able to get used to all these minor adjustments and performing the choreography.
[caption id="attachment_146855" align="alignleft" width="158"]
Richard Cetrone with Ben Affleck[/caption]
Playing Batman
Richard mentioned that he always loved his job and that he was himself a huge Batman fan, and when he first heard from Damon Caro, Zack Snyder’s stunt co-ordinator and Richard’s close friend, that Affleck would be playing Batman and Caro wanted him to try out as Affleck’s double, he was elated that he could live his dream job. Richard recalls that when Zack approves the pre-viz of a stunt, it pretty much ends up being the same thing on the final film.
When questioned about the famous warehouse fight scene from BvS, Richard revealed that they spent months in advance prepping for the fight and that everyone brought their 100% as it was probably one of the first scenes that they shot.
Evolution of a stunt
Richard also stated that he learned so much about working in high pressure with limited resources. Improving his capacity within the 30 years of experience through challenges he faced, he believes is a natural evolution.
Training and prep time play vital roles in a good performance and Richard revealed that Zack always guaranteed the team enough prep time because action is an important factor to him. Having worked with Snyder on all his live-action films, Richard added that everyone was very involved and they had excessive training hours a day to maintain their bodies on a movie like 300 (2006); it was all hard work and not prosthetics.
When it comes to tv versus film, Richard believes that the biggest difference is the prep time. “In TV it’s much less compared to films and it is usually two days allocated for prepping for fight/fall or car sequence. But there are instances like in Banshee, where it’s more action oriented and given more prep time.”
Army of the Dead
[caption id="attachment_146857" align="alignright" width="478"]
Cetrone with Zack Army of the Dead banner[/caption]
“Working with Zack Snyder is fun and full of energy. He makes the process enjoyable for everyone and they genuinely appreciate him.” The character in Army of the Dead wasn’t a classic zombie character and Richard said he wanted to meet Zack’s vision of the character which was challenging and exciting.
The make-up effects were done by Justin Raleigh and Zack guided him to bring out the best performance. Richard stated that even though he’s not a full-time actor, he tried his best in portraying the emotions of that character.
Advice for youngsters from a legend
The most important lesson that Richard learned himself was perseverance. He encourages youngsters who are interested in this field to do what you want despite the difficulty or delay in achieving it.
“Seeking better people and improving the skills leave valuable people to the industry. Therefore, nourish your specialties; free running, driving, martial arts, or gymnastics and get along with people. Be a good person and be open to learning!”
The full interview with Richard is available on the Junkyard Theory YouTube channel.
Junkyard Theory is Sri Lanka’s first and only film education platform that brings on veteran filmmakers from Hollywood as guest speakers. Their webinars, hosted by Akash Sunethkumara, have been recognised on industry sites such as “No Film School”, and the team now runs film courses for upcoming filmmakers in the country.
Richard Cetrone speaking to Akash Sunethkumara[/caption]
By Kavishna Wijesinghe
Richard Cetrone is a well-known figure in the industry as an actor, fight choreographer, and amongst moviegoers for doubling Ben Affleck who played Batman in the DCEU films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). More recently, he was seen playing the role of the villainous zombie king Zeus in Snyder’s Army of the Dead (2021). Richard spoke to Junkyard Theory last week about his journey as a famed stuntman.
Genesis
Richard revealed that he got into performing stunts through martial arts. He moved from Pittsburgh to California to study martial arts under Dan Inosanto, who was Bruce Lee's protégé, and that was the turning point where he got to a certain proficiency in martial arts and started his career with stunt performing.
With a background in martial arts, which has a lot of discipline, Richard states that he believed in strengthening both the mental and physical aspects because, “if the body is strong and willing, but the mind is weak, you're going to have trouble defending in any type of situation”.
Thus, it served him greatly in stunt work, creature work, and a lot of suit work, where it can be very uncomfortable and restless. Richard added that sometimes, doing suit work meant having to run long hours trapped in an uncomfortable costume on a hot day, trying not to let it get to you while the rest of the crew was in comfy attire.
Richard also stated that it’s important to understand the changes that can happen on set and adapting accordingly, because being a valuable performer relies on being able to get used to all these minor adjustments and performing the choreography.
[caption id="attachment_146855" align="alignleft" width="158"] Richard Cetrone with Ben Affleck[/caption]
Playing Batman
Richard mentioned that he always loved his job and that he was himself a huge Batman fan, and when he first heard from Damon Caro, Zack Snyder’s stunt co-ordinator and Richard’s close friend, that Affleck would be playing Batman and Caro wanted him to try out as Affleck’s double, he was elated that he could live his dream job. Richard recalls that when Zack approves the pre-viz of a stunt, it pretty much ends up being the same thing on the final film.
When questioned about the famous warehouse fight scene from BvS, Richard revealed that they spent months in advance prepping for the fight and that everyone brought their 100% as it was probably one of the first scenes that they shot.
Evolution of a stunt
Richard also stated that he learned so much about working in high pressure with limited resources. Improving his capacity within the 30 years of experience through challenges he faced, he believes is a natural evolution.
Training and prep time play vital roles in a good performance and Richard revealed that Zack always guaranteed the team enough prep time because action is an important factor to him. Having worked with Snyder on all his live-action films, Richard added that everyone was very involved and they had excessive training hours a day to maintain their bodies on a movie like 300 (2006); it was all hard work and not prosthetics.
When it comes to tv versus film, Richard believes that the biggest difference is the prep time. “In TV it’s much less compared to films and it is usually two days allocated for prepping for fight/fall or car sequence. But there are instances like in Banshee, where it’s more action oriented and given more prep time.”
Army of the Dead
[caption id="attachment_146857" align="alignright" width="478"] Cetrone with Zack Army of the Dead banner[/caption]
“Working with Zack Snyder is fun and full of energy. He makes the process enjoyable for everyone and they genuinely appreciate him.” The character in Army of the Dead wasn’t a classic zombie character and Richard said he wanted to meet Zack’s vision of the character which was challenging and exciting.
The make-up effects were done by Justin Raleigh and Zack guided him to bring out the best performance. Richard stated that even though he’s not a full-time actor, he tried his best in portraying the emotions of that character.
Advice for youngsters from a legend
The most important lesson that Richard learned himself was perseverance. He encourages youngsters who are interested in this field to do what you want despite the difficulty or delay in achieving it.
“Seeking better people and improving the skills leave valuable people to the industry. Therefore, nourish your specialties; free running, driving, martial arts, or gymnastics and get along with people. Be a good person and be open to learning!”
The full interview with Richard is available on the Junkyard Theory YouTube channel.
Junkyard Theory is Sri Lanka’s first and only film education platform that brings on veteran filmmakers from Hollywood as guest speakers. Their webinars, hosted by Akash Sunethkumara, have been recognised on industry sites such as “No Film School”, and the team now runs film courses for upcoming filmmakers in the country.