Independent crime drama short, Nothing Is Sacred, marks another milestone effort for actor Peter Jang who also writes and directs. The project is now available for viewing on YouTube which also signals the launch of his own production label, Simplicity Pictures, which is currently home to a number of concepts Jang has been brewing in-house for some time now.
We last learned that director R.L. Scott has been in the making for his most recent efforts on superhero thriller, Lazarus, which is one of at least two titles made known to us. He hasn’t been on social media since last summer and we haven’t heard much thereafter so it’s safe to say he might have a lot on his plate for his independent endeavors.
We last learned that director R.L. Scott has been in the making for his most recent efforts on superhero thriller, Lazarus, which is one of at least two titles made known to us. He hasn’t been on social media since last summer and we haven’t heard much thereafter so it’s safe to say he might have a lot on his plate for his independent endeavors.
Going forward however, we can at least share some progress being made on at least one other project we reported on back in 2014 which was initially designated as the pilot of a hopeful series. Per the nature of most non-mainstream projects left shelved or incomplete or falling by the wayside, Option Zero was in danger of almost never seeing the light of day until co-star and creator, executive producer Eliver Ling took the post-production reigns in late 2017.
Hence, while the wait continues for a more public screening, Option Zero currently exists in shortfilm form and for the most part as the summer festival circuit approaches, we can now breathe a sigh of relief for its completion. A new trailer and promotional run may be forthcoming although what remains to be seen apart from a release is if whether or not a larger concept will manifest.
For this, it’s reasonable to believe this as possible. Ling’s script touches on an idea rooted in value and worthy of expansion in the ways viewers have seen on prolific shows like Strike Back and Banshee. The added fanfare of watching cast members Christian Howard and Amy Johnston in action is a certain plus that amplifies the dramatic caliber founded in its cast led by Chris Conrad who plays Trevor, the commanding officer of the titular clandestined special ops unit, and Adolfo Quiniones who serves as its field director, Lionel.
OPTION ZERO: Exclusive Stills
Co-star Adamo Palladino in the role of the ruthless, cold and authoritative Cyrus, takes point in setting the stage for the narrative’s exposition as we are introduced to our protagonists in the wake of the arrival of Victor Federov (Jacob Witkin), an elusive Russian mafia boss whose trades in multiple counts of crime and terror have all but called for a complete, indiscriminate purge of his organization. Other members of the unit it next to Cyrus and Trevor are Ling who plays Connor and Johnston as the understanding and determined Kara, as well as Howard as the ambivalent Nate whose accord with their mission is not without concern for the very possible details and nuances that aren’t being made known given the nature of governmental secrecy.
Option Zero deals in a healthy staging of spectacular action and drama that hinges even more on internal conflict and upheaval when the mission is ago our five-member team ensues the bodycount. Innocent lives and enemies hidden in plain sight are the mines readying the explosive twists that emerge later pitting members against each other nearing close calls of insubordination as if certain death weren’t enough.
Alfred Hsing, a versatile stuntman primed with an international career next to the likes of Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Steven Spielberg, serves as action director, making more than sufficient use of our cast, including Ling, Howard and Johnston. Stylish gun battles kick-off the roaring finale with fight action that intensifies between the various revelations and clashes that incur from the first floor of the raid and upward with Scott also dealing in the cinematography.
Quiñones, long since the days of wrecking the dance floor as a prolific headlining dancer and actor for film and television in the 1980s, turns in a solid performance that bookends the dramatic caliber brought by a fine cast and a script that exhibits a multi-dimensional view of what heroism is in the name of government service. In its thirty-two minute duration, while Option Zero may not be what the average old guard producer seeks, makes an outstanding case for why that should change.
Scott has been directing movies for up to a decade as of this article and my intial introduction to his work was the most recent release of crime thriller, Call Me King starring Amin Joseph and Shaun Mixon. It stands as an exemplary view of what is possible with a good director behind the lens joined by a loyal and well-versed team of creatives and performers that know and speak the language of action and can translate it through quality storytelling.
That level of consistency and work ethic otherwise continues with Option Zero setting up a more than feasible argument for the kind of profusion that independent action cinema deserves. Production banner Rihsing Studios further played an integral role in applying the necessary finishing touches to the project and going forward, stands plenty to gain from Option Zero in its handing to the festival and markets later this year with all the hopes of either seeing this concept grow its potential, or that of its respective talents on either side of the lens.
Check it out below right now ahead of the premiere on the go90 app on March 15, and take a look at a batch of earlier videos with Ansah as he makes a case for the new series in the franchise’s current standing!
New action series concept, “The Fight Room” has made the official selection of the presti- gious New York Television Festival.
For starters, to simply address the overwhelming support drawn for creative duo, actors Joey Ansah and Christian Howard‘s new online webseries release of Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist would be nothing short of an understatement. The phenomenon has captured the hearts of any growing number of thousands of fans this year and in the years since the journey began to reclaim the rightful cinematic vision for Capcom’s highly popular video game franchise, and it’s finally heading to television, DVD, Blu-Ray and VoD platforms soon. And as much support as there has been for the series, it was only a matter of time before sequel-hungry fans got the update they were waiting for.
That update finally came on Friday night as Ansah attended San Diego Comic-Con to promote the current series in accordance with publicity for the forthcoming production booklet. Fans have also been generating further publicity for the series’ official Facebook platform offering questions for the page’s weekly episodic Q and A forum for fans as the summer progresses, while Ansah and select cast and crew, namely series actors Mike Moh and Gaku Space join him on the road.
Needless to say, many of the any questions pertained to when Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist would move its initial story forward with a second season. On Friday night, Capcom gave fans the annoncement they needed, with reports from Variety confirming season two development. Set to release sometime in late 2015 or early 2016, Street Fighter: World Warrior will re-introduce Moh and Howard respectively as Ryu and Ken, the iconic purveyors of Ansatsuken – the style passed on to them in the previous season by master Goken, played by actor Akira Koieyama.
Following the events of Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, Ansah is returning to write and direct the new season which will expand the story which Ansah explained during a panel at SDCC on Friday. “The scale of ‘World Warrior’ is much larger, picking up where ‘Assassin’s Fist’ left off as we follow Ryu and Ken on their ‘Musha Shugyo’ (warrior’s pilgrimage),” said Ansah, who also starred as Akuma in the first season. “The Shadaloo criminal cartel will be introduced, led by the extremely dangerous M.Bison, which will naturally lead into the World Warrior tournament,”.
Accordingly, the new series will expand to the stories will characters from the classic game franchise, namely prominent Muay Thai fighter, Sagat, U.S. Air Force Major Guile, and expert martial artist and vengeful interpol agent Chun-Li. Further developments are needed on how the new season will achieve its goal, but producer Jacqueline Quella and co-producer Mark Wooding offered a few statements of their own at the SDCC panel. “We demonstrated with ‘Assassin’s Fist’ that an authentic, live-action version of videogames, with a compelling and dramatic storyline, can be made,” said Quella. “We’ll be taking the same approach with the new series.”. Wooding added “There are some big and primal themes which we’ll be exploring in the sequel, …It will be thrilling and naturally, as befits the game, the fights will be epic, but it will be driven by the characters, their stories, faults and problems. It will be a dark tale.”.
The first season took relatively around three years to take off after Ansah and fellow filmmaker Owen Trevor broke ground with the 2010 release of the conceptual shortfilm hit, Street Fighter Legacy. The project took a big step forward with further Comic-Con announcements in 2012 through a crowdsourcing effort in early 2013 before earning the blessing of outside investors, essentially setting the first season in stone.
Sixteen months, a full first season with over sixteen million YouTube views on Machinima and over five-hundred thousand Facebook fans later, the franchise that became a household name for generations of gaming culture is well on its way to coming full circle. More notably, if earlier hype proves positive, martial arts action fans could very well see the reunion of Ansah and Howard with action star and Green Street 3 lead actor, Scott Adkins as a potential casting choice for Guile. And considering the formula by which the casting, design and creative process has been executed, Adkins’ possible addition to the series would be a remarkable sign of the extra serious talent fans will see when the team behind Street Fighter: World Warrior commenses filming. And Capcom’s blessing only enhances the awesome here much further.
“We are delighted to be working again with the team that did such an excellent job with ‘Street Fighter: Assassins Fist,” said Matt Dahlgren, associate director of brand marketing at Capcom. “The response to it has been amazing, and working with filmmakers who are so passionate about the game is an extremely rewarding process.”
The big question now is will the production be able to confirm Adkins, granted he will be available between his other film and martial arts instructional obligations? Or will another worthy actor be summoned to channel the Major’s sonic boom? Also, which actors and actress do you believe will best suit the appearances of Chun-Li, Sagat and the arbiter of the Psycho Crusher himself, M. Bison?
Decisions, decisions!
City On Fire reports that Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist arrives on North American DVD and Blu-Ray from FUNimation on October 24, 2014.
Stay tuned for more info!
As always with the state of independent movies, unfortunately some projects take a few years before they are allowed an audience. Such was the case for U.K. filmmaker, martial artist and actor Beau Fowler over at Ki Films who has a nice little handful of short films available on his YouTube channel, including a brand new shortfilm titled Bound, an intriguing character study of a special forces Captain and his reluctant, unyielding hostage.
The new action short is more character driven than anything, and provides a nice little dramatic scope into actors Amed Hashimi and Christian Howard, both who appeared in the recent release of the UK action brawler flick, Green Street 3. Fowler also does a terrific job directing this neat gem, as well as offering a neat performance of his own as the seedy agent lurking in the background.
Fowler was recently featured with martial artist and actress Zara Phythian in a shortfilm pitch for an ambitious new webseries by independent filmmaker Brandon Kahn titled The Streets Of Myth, for which production is currently on hold with more developments to come. In the meantime, subscribe to the official Facebook page for Ki Films, and check out Bound in the embed below. And of course, remember to check out Howard‘s newest performance as Ken in Machinima’s live action webseries, Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, making its way to a feature-length cut on DVD, digital download, VoD and Blu-Ray this Fall.
If you noticed any glitches while surfing the internet for cat videos on YouTube about a week and a half ago, that may have likely been martial artist, actor, writer and director Joey Ansah initiating his plans for world domination with his new hit online webseries, Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, which has earned up to well around 10 million views in total since its debut on the Machinima YouTube. And not for nothing either, as the series, long in development since its early days as the 2010 proof-of-concept shortfilm, Street Fighter Legacy, has solidified itself as a cult phenomenon around the world, earning nothing short of upworthy praise from critics and hardcore fans of the original Capcom video game franchise from which it is based.
I remember when 1993 or ’94 came when Jean-Claude Van Damme was entering the peak of his career with Capcom’s first live-action theatrical interpretation of the Street Fighter universe that saw military character Guile as the lead. To some, including myself, it was good for its time despite not even coming close to owning up to the source material, and mainly because it was a kids’ film, geared toward young teens who liked Van Damme movies and appealed to watching actors in Street Fighter costumes imitating characters from the game.
The action starts with Episode zero in the video below!
Nearly four years after multi-faceted actor and director Joey Ansah and co-director Owen Trevor fireballed the interwebs with the impressive three-minute short film, Street Fighter: Legacy, online platform Machinima will be hosting the next level of that very conception with a new series that aspires to surpass all expectations…and, of course, for which we have ourselves a FINAL trailer!
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