Things remain on the up-and-up in Indonesia with the forthcoming production of the new action thriller, Headshot. Cameras are rolling in less than a week with Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel back on the mound once more, and for this, the casting details have been nothing short of sweet.
Action star Iko Uwais is leading as of official media reports overseas several days ago, as well as debuting action sequences courtesy of his very own, Uwais Team. Casting news continued to build with the addition of actress Chelsea Islan and actor Sunny Pang, along with actress Julie Estelle, which really does add to the reunion fervor on many fronts; It was early last year as Uwais was working with Tjahjanto on the now-shelved Joe Taslim actioner, The Night Comes For Us while also bringing Uwais and Estelle back together since going toe-to-toe in last year’s hit sequel, The Raid 2.
Well, speak of the devil, because the Baseball Batman himself, actor Very Tri Yulisman is also aboard the film in what Tjahjanto describes as a much more significant role this time around. Yulisman did stunts opposite Uwais in Gareth Huw Evans’s 2011 crime thriller, The Raid, prior to landing a significantly larger role as the aforementioned bat-wielding hitman and brother to Estelle‘s performance as the deaf and mute, vicious and deadly Hammer Girl in the above-stated sequel.
Tjahjanto and Stamboel, better known as the Mo Brothers, are directing with a script that centers on Uwais as an amnesiac with a head injury whose past violently comes back to haunt him upon being nursed back to health by a young doctor. Pang (re:solve, The Collector), hailing from Singapore is set to play one of the key villains, and I attempted to inquire more with Tjahjanto for some extra details on the characters Estelle and Yulisman are set to play. As it stands, the specifics are nil until further notice, though Tjahjanto did add at least one guarantee: “They wont play nice!”
I wouldn’t ask for anything less.
The past week has been a last ditch effort for Tjahjanto and Uwais working out every nook and cranny of the action through repeat rehearsals daily until every shot was accounted for.
Considering the work the Mos‘ previously did on Killers and the intense action delivered in Evans’s films with Uwais, I would say the prospects for Headshot are pretty damn good; The gospel is that the potential success of Headshot following its release next year could very well lead to the rebirth of The Night Comes For Us and Stamboel‘s own long-awaited actioner, One Good Thing, something I suspected earlier on prior to speaking with Tjahjanto and XYZ Films partner, Twitchfilm.com writer Todd Brown who wrote the latter title with its very promising lead cast in mind.
Alas, there’s quite a bit riding on this as fickle as the film industry can be. Some decisions take time while others are made full-speed ahead and the word is that Headshot happened pretty quickly with Tjahjanto and Stamboel, and the films producers at Screenplay Infinite and SCTV all showing interest in the cast and the project in whole.
The ball is rolling, folks, so let’s root these guys on and support this gem when it comes out.