It’s been a lucrative year for independent action extraordinare, director and choreographer Vlad Rimburg. If you’ve been following Rimburg long enough, then you’re likely familiar with the copious amounts of work he has distributed in garnering the credibility he now has as one of the foremost independent action designers of our time. Well on Friday, nothing changed, with newly releasing his Donnie Yen-inspired action short film, Special ID – Episode 1: The Mute, based on one of the most recently unveiled teaser clips prior to the release of Donnie Yen’s latest action thriller from director Clarence Fok.
Filmed as the hopeful start of a new webseries, the new short was shot last weekend on Sunday afternoon at 3pm PST through 4am the following morning, with actress, action performer and Hollywood stuntwoman Mickey Facchinello (above/right) fitting Yen’s shoes as a mute demon huntress in a brutal, contained battle with The Hammer, played by Jimmy Chhiu (above/left) and his small group of demonic henchmen. Facchinello‘s previous credits with Rimburg include Chapter 1: Part C, Men In Suits and Chapter 2: Parts A and B which also featured actor Gui DaSilva, and CZ12 co-star, actress Caitlin Dechelle. Rimburg and Facchinello were supposed to work together again in January earlier this year, but Facchinello had other plans overseas. Facchinello recently made her appearance as one of the masked killers in the futuristic horror thriller from director James DeMonaco, The Purge.
I asked Rimburg what he enjoys most about working with Facchinello, who shares her martial arts lineage with the likes of actors and martial arts performers Mike Chat and Matt Mullins over at Team Sideswipe, and is also a member of LBP Stunts Chicago and Thousand Pounds Action Company. “I believe that Mickey is arguably the best female screen fighter around.” he says. “Her technique is clean and she adapts very well to anything I throw at her. She wrecks and she’s not afraid to go hard with the boys. I would love to see her in a Hong Kong finale.”
Rimburg continues his long path toward his dream of becoming a mainstream action director for bigger films to this day. Martial arts action cinema lovers will also be happy to know that Rimburg will be co-starring in Dennis Ruel’s directorial feature-length debut, Unlucky Stars, in which he also directed the action sequences, attributing specifically to a contemporary adherance to the classic Golden Harvest/Media Asia label Hong Kong action comedies of the 1980’s that most of us know and hold near and dear. And for all things considered, directing innovative, classic sequences is something Rimburg is not hesitant to express himself over.
“I love having the freedom to create.” he tells Film Combat Syndicate. “To be able to think of something and put it in a visual format, to me, is one of the greatest feelings there is. There are no limitations when thinking. Even if I know I’m choreographing something that I can’t film for a year or two, I love being able to fill my mind of beautiful and violent images. Most importantly though, I want to keep the art of martial arts filmmaking alive. It’s great to see the independent community continue to produce fights done right, in a time where fast editing and funky camera angles dominate skill and technique.”
Personally, I hope this won’t be the last we see from Rimburg. Even moreso, I hope Hollywood is paying attention to what Rimburg has to offer. Many a stuntman and woman I have shared words with speak nothing but praise for his efforts. Accordingly, I hope we continue seeing more of these from Ms. Facchinello for years to come. She’s a fan favorite, for certain. And of course, if you need to see more to believe, you can always explore the Youtube channel in the embed below.
Special ID – Episode 1: The Mute also stars Michael Lehr, Jimmy Chhiu, Brendon Huor, Bryan Cartago, Alfred Hsing, Jerry Quill, Noah Fleder and Brian Le.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!
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