BLOOD BROTHERS: R4 Films Developing Starring Vehicle For ‘Tom Yum Goong 2’ And ‘Jiu Jitsu’ Actor Marrese Crump [EXCLUSIVE]
Independent film duo Robert Samuels and Robert Jefferson are developing Blood Brothers, a new action thriller set as the first of a new line of feature projects out of R4 Films LLC. The duo is also in talks with actor and martial artist Marrese Crump for a lead role, with Jefferson penning the script for a hopeful Q4 2023 or early 2024 shoot in Thailand.
Key story details are under wraps but I am told the film will take its key aesthetic inspiration from films like The Raid movies and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives. Both Jefferson and Samuels are producing the pic as well, in reunion with frequent collaborator Oso Tayari Casel, in addition to Mark V. Wiley who penned Samuels’ 2021 co-directing effort with James Lew, Made In Chinatown.
The potential casting will mark a return to “The Land Of Smiles” for Crump who is a purveyor of multiple martial arts styles, and also studied and action-trained under Thai screen fighting and choreography legend Panna Rittikrai, who passed away on July 20, 2014. With Rittikrai, he shares career DNA with Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong star Tony Jaa, appearing together in Tom Yum Goong 2, prior to Dimitri Logothetis’s Jiu-Jitsu.
Crump’s credits also include Sultan, Welcome To Sudden Death, and Tyrese Gibson starrer, The System. He also trained and prepared actor Chadwick Boseman ahead of debuting Marvel mainstay, Black Panther, before the actor’s untimely death in 2020.
“He is getting his big break very soon as a lead, and he will talk more openly about that after the final signing. We are excited for the future of R4’s upcoming ventures, and working with great talents like Marrese Crump,” said Samuels and Jefferson in a statement.
Samuels launched his career in Hong Kong in the 1980s and onward, working alongside names like Frankie Chan, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Woo-Ping and becoming the first African-American member of the Hong Kong Stunt Association in 1995. The actor and filmmaker also found his footing with the launch of R4 Films LLC in 2016 with Jefferson, bolstering other directors like Nicholas Ortiz (“Jugando Con Fuego”) and Joey Min (Yes, Auntie!), and amassing the company’s own line of ground-up kung fu action shorts.
The company announced on Wednesday the last of their short-duration projects will be a third entry into the “Shadow Fist” series, and the Mexico-shot “Blackout” for which a trailer is already available. I am also told that Samuels and Jefferson are also in the works on feature projects for artists and actors like David Chen (“Blue Bloods,” “Law & Order: Organized Crime”) and R Marcos Taylor (Baby Driver, “Step Up: High Water”).
Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.
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