Usually my normal style of interviewing folks is just to have a sit-down over a cup of coffee, tea, or what have you but when conflicts arise between myself and action filmmaker/stuntman Bobby Nickels, we do what we can to get the job done. And this first Spotlight Series is no exception. I was able to fire off an email to Bobby with questions I had in mind and he responded frankly.
Bobby is a 24 year-old stuntman living in Los Angeles. Originally from Seattle, Washington, he has been here for more than nine months to pursue his calling as a stuntman and freshly minted actor with Flux Action.
CF: First I want to know a little bit of your background, in your own words, about who you are and how you came to be an action coordinator and stunt performer – your leanings, people you admire/respect, and your first hand at acting.
BN: My background in stunts only goes back 9 months. I am very new to film in general. I was very much lost in the world for most of my life until I discovered the magic of film-making. From the very first time I set foot on set I developed this passion that I cannot describe. And stunts in particular give me a high that doubt could be matched by anything else. High risk, high reward. That is exactly the environment that I’ve thrived under since I was a kid and I believe that is why I find stunt work in particular so invigorating. In my short time as a stunt performer I have had the pleasure of meeting a handful of coordinators and I’d say I really look up to Tony Snegoff and Michael Long the most. They both have had incredible careers and are truly among the greats. As for acting, I am even newer. I find acting to be a whole other type of challenge, I find come out of my shell to try and embody a character I have nothing in common with to be both challenging and therapeutic. The process of becoming a character challenges me to look within myself to see how I can connect to the character which in turn helps me find out more about myself.
CF: As for Flux Action, how did you come up with the idea? I find it to be a very interesting concept and the storytelling has to be fast and hard, right? One minute stories in 15 minutes in different genres…
BN: Flux Action originally started as a concept for a music video that I wanted to produce for my friend. As I was talking about the concept with the director of the film, Alex Coulter and our Director of Photography, Laffery Witbrod we fell in love with the concept of constantly changing styles of action and cinematography. From there we threw around the idea of having 5 different styles of action film to 7 and after a while it grew into this 15+ scene action packed film. The story is less about the traditional conflict and resolution and more about the action and stunts that own main character played by myself has to pull off. So, instead of starting and stopping the story with each scene we will be running through most of the scenes and finishing some of them before the audience has a moment to figure out what is going on.
CF: Currently standing at more than $3,400 of $5,000 needed (as of today, 10 August – ed.) and now only seven (7) days remaining, do you think you’ll get the bulk of the funding quickly?
BN: In regards to the funding, we are a little stressed about where the rest of the money will be coming from, however we will keep pushing via social media to spread the word of our film. And with our fingers crossed we hope to make something magical!
Folks, Bobby feels extremely passionate about this particular film as do I. I have donated to the film’s creation and I hope you do as well. I will be updating everyone about this project and try to give you an “inside access,” as it were, on Flux Action and Bobby himself.
Go here to donate and spread the word about a new film in the works.
UPDATE: As of today, August 17th, and with two hours remaining, Bobby has achieved slightly more than his goal but is not averse to getting more so the quality is even better!