the raid remake
STUNT FIGHTING THE FUTURE: An Interview With Umar Khan
His efforts in past year have granted him the necessary credentials, tools and people necessary to help fulfill his goals of becoming a top-tier action director in the film industry, and with more growth to come in film and television. I have to say, it’s rare for me to meet someone like Khan of his caliber who happens to have a team of his own that is just beginning, and having seen what’s out there from other groups I’ve witnessed in the last decade along with sampling a bit of what Khan has been up to, I have some high hopes.
Did Frank Grillo Just Depart THE RAID Remake?
It might not be shocking to some, but unless your hopes were high in catching Kingdom series and The Purge 2: Anarchy co-star Frank Grillo in an upcoming remake of the 2011 contained crime thriller, The Raid, then there’s a good chance that isn’t happening.
Watching my boy @iko_uwais in #THERAID. There’s no way I’m doing a remake of this. Couldn’t do it justice. #respect
— frank grillo (@FrankGrillo) January 10, 2015
The tweet comes roughly a month after Grillo wrapped his scenes for director Liam O’Donnell‘s upcoming standalone sci-fi follow-up, Beyond Skyline in Yogyakarta, Indonesia with co-star and action director Iko Uwais; Uwais himself broke out to huge film festival stardom in the original release of The Raid, directed by Gareth Huw Evans, prior to the 2014 sequel wherein Screen Gems had officially announced plans for a Hollywood remake to be directed by The Expendables 3 director Patrick Hughes.
Grillo has long been tapped as the only actor cast in the remake as of summer last year, answering questions for the curious press wondering about the status of production as it was pushed back from September of last year to sometime this Spring. Now, with Grillo out, it appears the remake of The Raid is without a cast. However, an even bigger set questions remain: With Hughes still reportedly attached to direct and Uwais and his team directing the action, what does Grillo’s departure say about the film? Does this potentially leave room for a new actor to take his place at the start of a potential list? Or, is this film even happening?
Discuss.
Grillo: 'THE RAID Won't Be Made Unless Its Good Or Better Than The Original'
While commercial expectations for director Patrick Hughes‘s latest feature film, The Expendables 3, fell short in the face of the millions of illegal downloads it suffered from, the film still bares the brunt of mixed and mostly critical opinions that exemplify just what happens when you take an R-rated property and water it down to try and include a broader audience. With that in mind, it was just at the top of the year when Hughes was officially attached to direct an American adaptation of an overseas cult hit that has already garnered a substantially grand audience in the last several years, and with the current state of consumer opinions on Hollywood remakes of foreign films for lack of original ideas, to say the least, discretion is key.
Screen Gems is reinstituting the American standard of martial arts action with a remake of filmmaker Gareth Huw Evans’s his feature-length contained action thriller, The Raid. The proud predecessor of its 2014 sequel, The Raid 2 back in March, The Raid became one of the most celebrated modern day martial arts action thrillers of all time, with Silat expert and action choreographer Iko Uwais in his second lead role after debuting in Evans’ 2009 action drama, Merantau, and no doubt became one of the biggest building blocks of his career with upcoming work as a Hollywood choreographer recently assigned to direct the action with fellow coordinator, cohort and Evans screen regular, martial artist and actor Yayan Ruhian on the upcoming surprise sci-fi sequel, Beyond Skyline starring Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Kingdom).
On top of this, the two are also putting together the action sequences for Hughes‘ remake of The Raid, for which the plot has been largely subject to speculation despite some beliefs among netizens that it will likely do what most remakes do (see Brick Mansions). However, Grillo, the only actor currently cast for the film right now in the public eye, indicated some of the possibilities at the time in an interview with Collider back in June, stating, “You know, the script is great. Patrick Hughes, now that he has this time – who just directed The Expendables 3 – he’s tweaking it a little bit. Sony really is behind the project and I loved it. [I’m] one of the three main characters and, you know, I’m excited about it. I can’t wait to actually go do it because it’s gonna be Americanized, but not overtly Americanized. It’s really gonna keep a lot of what made the first Raid so great.”.
On Wednesday, in a fully released interview with The Hollywood News, Grillo took some time to update his take on what the vision for the film will be, and the current process of preparing the yet-unnamed actors involved and properly scoring the film involved in the film with respect to the original. “It’s close in story, obviously it’s an American version but it will take place in Indonesia.” he says. “But it’s going to have it’s own twists, its own identity. We’re not going to make a straight copy of the first RAID, we won’t do that.”
Production was initially carved in for September before ultimately moving back to January 2015, further adding some mystery to the process of developing the film. Of course, one obvious reason goes back to casting and training of its actors who may not exactly be the equivalent of Uwais and Ruhian – both already being homegrown, seasoned and experienced martial artists as well as screenfighters. And considering the caliber of the action sequences of the first film, and the talent involved at the time, it’s clear that this particular production has a long way to go, and as a fan of Evans’ work, Grillo know this. “I loved it.” he said. “I just thought it was really original and it’s a fanboys favourite so its a real delicate situation when you make a film that was recently made and is so good. You have to do it justice or else there’s no reason to make it.”
Grillo continued sharing his perspective on the subject of the film’s elongated development, saying “You know they keep pushing the date of the film for that exact reason. They’re trying to find the right actors for the piece, find the right actors who can do the physical work. Because they won’t make the movie unless it is as good as or better than the original because the original RAID was genius. So we’re in the process now of trying to put the cast together and find the right people to do both.” He was also asked about the style of the action and how it will contribute to a quality reinterpretation of the original film regarding the sequences, stating “It’s so much hand-to-hand combat and martial arts that they want to have a window (in the shoot schedule) just to prepare the actors to learn how to fight. That’s a big commitment so that’s why it’s taking a little while to gather motion.”
As you may guess, it’s easy to see why Grillo, Hughes, the mystery cast and stuntmen are taking their time. Nowadays, you can’t just remake a film and expect it to deliver all the same notes with forthcoming approval simply because it’s an English. That said, it’s still early days for this production, and a cast has yet to be determined with names like martial arts star Scott Adkins, The Winter Soldier co-star Anthony Mackie, Dracula Untold star Luke Evans, the Hemsworth brothers, Liam and Chris, and newly cast True Detective co-star, actor Taylor Kitsch having previously been speculated, and otherwise unconfirmed for roles in the film.
Out Of The Furnace co-scribe Brad Inglesby is providing the script with Evans himself serving as executive producer, alongside the company of XYZ Films who produced both orginal films and are likely to produce Evans’ third ‘Raid’ film which is expected to move forward by 2017. That said, depending on how you feel about Out Of The Furnance, both ‘Raid’ films and The Expendables 3 (and/or Hughes’ earlier work on Red Hill), for now, it’s safe to say this American remake of one of Indonesia’s latest awesome achievements in film is in good hands.
However, lest the debate end there, feel free to comment below and share your views on what you hope for The Raid in the coming months.
H/T: The Hollywood News
Film Of The Week: THE EXPENDABLES 3 (2014)
SYNOPSIS:
Barney (Stallone), Christmas (Statham) and the rest of the team comes face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill… or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The Expendables — but Barney has other plans.
Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and brings in a new era of Expendables team members, recruiting individuals who are younger, faster and more tech-savvy. The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables’ most personal battle yet.
REVIEW:
In 2010, filmmaker Patrick Hughes earned the spotlight for his then-directorial debut Western thriller, Red Hill. It earned several nomimations and became a hit among audiences, including actor Sylvester Stallone who went on to officially announce Hughes as the director of the new film, The Expendables 3, after dropping twitter hints like crazy beforehand. And while reading his tweets, it seemed as if Stallone‘s vision intended on outdoing his predecessors, namely Rambo (2008), in light of all the hype involving the fanfare for R-rated action – something which the Expendables franchise became known for four years ago with the first film.
Unfortunately, I have not yet seen Red Hill, so I cannot give a full and analytic comparison between that film and The Expendables 3. However, I did see the trailer for Red Hill, and I can honestly say it delivers a very different tone than what was promised in my viewing of the latter film on Monday night; To be fair though, the hype may have come long before it was reported that the studio behind the third installation was issuing PG-13 release, much to the chagrin of an entire niche of action cinephiles that grew up watching the film’s stars in R-rated blockbusters over the last three decades or more. As such, fans were left to bite the PG-13 bullet whilst awaiting what the film had in store for its release. Accordingly, this did not extingush the interest from many fans who may have been otherwise interested in a fourth film, from the looks of things based on this weekend’s box office numbers, there is a good chance that won’t happen. So if this is indeed “the last ride”, I’m glad I caught it on the big screen where it was meant to be seen. But, the film is not without its faults, and there are plenty.
Stallone returns as Barney Ross, the grizzled leader of the Expendables, who have since diminished in numbers over the years. With Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunnar (Dolph Lundgren) and Toll Road (Randy Couture) on hand, we soon meet veteran Expendable, Doc (Wesley Snipes) who puts the finishing touch on much of the film’s explosive opening sequence. The cast then reunites with fellow member Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) on a mission shortly after, only to find themselves out-gunned and nearly killed by Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), arms dealer, war criminal and former Expendable himself once thought to be dead.
Ross, troubled by potentially getting his long-devoted team killed and hell-bent on catching Stonebanks-preferably alive at the behest of his new boss, Drummer (Harrison Ford), abandons the team in search for new blood with the aide of Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammer). Soon, we meet Thorn (Glen Powell), Luna (Ronda Rousey), Smilee (Kellan Lutz) and Mars (Victor Ortiz), all of whom are brought onto the team with the exception of Galgo (Antonio Banderas), an able-bodied mercenary himself with the gift of gab. The team moves in on Stonebanks and the mission is successful, until they are ambushed. Ross is left for dead, and his new team is captured by Stonebanks whose intent is to lure Ross back for a sick game of his own. With time running out, Galgo re-emerges, as do Drummer, Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the old team, to help Ross rescue the others, and bury an old enemy once and for all.
When I first saw the 2010 film, the first of the trilogy, I left the theater excited, intended on seeing every film on the big screen with the promise of watching a really great franchise blossom for action fans like myself. Yes, it did hit a few bumps and missed out on some of the beats where it counted the most; I went with a friend to see the second film one evening, and he fell asleep! I couldn’t really believe it. And even some family of mine were hesitant to see the second film though it delivered on its continued promise of bringing mature, violent R-rated action for the audience it was meant for. As for the third, while I did enjoy it as much as I could, I can’t help but wish they took some more time with it. It felt a little bit rushed than appropriate for a trilogy installer and there are quite a few holes where I would have wanted some more back story into the the former connection between Ross and Stonebanks. And, some of the questionable CG in the film made it feel less epic than it should have for a Hollywood blockbuster.
The performances were adequate with the exception of a few; Snipes gets his moment at the top of the film with an eccentric element to his character that was fun to watch from time to time. Lutz, who has been slowly and gradually ascending in the ranks of action stardom in films like Java Heat and The Legend Of Hercules does nice job with his character opposite Stallone in some scenes, as does Gibson. Newcomer Powell did a good job with his role, as does former professional welterweight boxer-turned-actor Ortiz who doesn’t really have much to say, though his physical performance does most of the talking. As far as Rousey goes, this is pretty much her first acting gig in a feature of this magnitude, and while I welcome seeing her again in the pending production of The Athena Project for Warner Bros., she ought to stop badmouthing people who can actually act. As it stands, she’s a far cry from anywhere close to the acting talent Gal Gadot has. Not trying to knock Rousey, she’s damn good in the octagon, but she’s a cinematic half-talent, and she needs to work on her craft before bashing others who have been acting longer than her. Not cool.
All in all, much of the cast did a generally good job of delivering a toned-down, family-friendly action adventure film, with plenty of Stallone doing what he does best; He’s pushed himself fervently to physical extremes in his years in film despite being handed some turkeys along the way, but I commend him nonetheless. Lundgren pretty much frowns his way through his character, and that’s all we can really expect of him since there isn’t much to go on. Statham does an adequate job with a supporting role that both charms and dazzles on the big screen, whereas Couture doesn’t really stand out much at this point. He’s kinda just there, and herein lies where the film could have floundered; Were it not for Banderas carrying the rest of the film through despite us learning his background long after all said and done, the entire third act, coupled with the sight of Jet Li as the butt of a headshakingly ridiculous short joke and seeing him behind a big machine gun he can barely hold onto would have been a little more depressing.
Moreover, don’t look for Li much either. He’s in about three scenes in the second half of the film and he does none of his screenfighting whatsoever, but considering his hyperthyroidism, that is understandable. Nonetheless, the fight choreography in the climatic action finale does give you something to look at, with Rousey, Snipes, Statham, Ortiz and Banderas all having an ass-kicking good time. It is ensemble hand-to-hand fight scenes like this are exactly what make a film like this all the more enjoyable for action fans, and its a shame that this may very well be all we get for a trilogy that was meant for greatness before ultimately doing a one-eighty in an attempt to reach out to younger audiences.
Sorry to say, Lionsgate, but that was a big mistake. I really like the Expendables franchise at the core of what it was meant to be. But I wanted to love it, and turning your back on a loyal generation of action fans who grew up with many of these actors sends an otherwise debateworthy message about the state of action movies today, especially with a trilogy.
Many action movies are getting the short end of the stick now because the PG-13 fan base have emerged for YA novel adaptations and superhero movie lore. Sure, those movies are moneymakers for their niche. But if Lionsgate wanted a moneymaker by way of a younger audiences this time around, they picked the wrong franchise to do it. And no, we can’t forget the damage done by the film’s two-week early online leak by the millions. That is almost certainly a factor in the film’s flop over the past weekend, and there’s no excuse for it. Point in fact, there’s no excuse why any real patron of film should be stealing movies. I was hoping for Chan, Brosnan, Hogan and Johnson to stake their claim at some point in this franchise and it sucks this might never happen. And if it does, it might be a really, really long time.
So…yeah. The film doesn’t out-do Rambo (that will be for part five to handle), nor does it “raid the Raid” like Sly said he was hoping for it to – that task will now go to Hughes, actor Frank Grillo and the ensemble of twelve main characters he is casting for next year’s filming of The Raid remake. As for The Expendables 3, it’s really a film meant for 13 year olds boys who want to see Rousey in a red-dress beat guys up, and girls who think Lutz and Ortiz looks good without a t-shirt on…
Hey, they look better than me. I’ll give them that!
THE RAID Remake Director: "Scott Adkins Is Definitely In The Mix"!
Director Patrick Hughes is releasing his newest film, The Expendables 3, this Friday, with Lionsgate determined to open the film on the big screen with subsequent, hopeful commercial success (provided the film’s leak will not be a factor). That said, fans are also clammoring to find out more about who Hughes wants and will have in his next film, The Raid, a forthcoming remake of the 2011/2012 hit directed previously by filmmaker Gareth Huw Evans.
In an interview with The Action Elite, the director managed to squeeze in some much-needed insight about casting in that regard. Needless to say, martial arts action fans who know well the name, Scott Adkins, may be pleased by what Hughes says this week:
AE: I just want to say one thing about your upcoming remake of The Raid; please cast Scott Adkins in some capacity. He’s one of the best martial arts stars in the business and we’d all love to see him have a major role. He also really wants to do it!
Hughes: (laughs) Actually I met with Scott when I was out in Bulgaria doing early pre-production; he was there at the same studio shooting Hercules. I hung with him quite a bit and he’s really an awesome guy. He’s definitely in the mix and we’re in the process of casting now…
Adkins (Ninja, Ninja 2, The Expendables 2), a long time cult favorite of the genre by many around the world, has been VERY vocal about being a part of The Raid franchise in any capacity, specifically The Raid 3 in Evans’ franchise following the electrifying reviews the second film receieved in January at the Sundance Film Festival. In March, Evans himself stated his own support for Adkins to appear in the remake following the Hughes‘s announcement as director. “…Me on a personal level, I’d fucking love to see them put Scott Adkins in there.” says Evans. “I’m just going to say that right off because I just think he’s great and I’ve wanted to work with him before. For him to be able to get a real, good fucking solid role like that in a studio film where it’s all about gearing up towards martial arts, something that he’s fully capable of, it’d be great…”.
While we await confirmation on this matter, Adkins is in talks to co-star in the upcoming production of director Stephen Fung’s Kickboxer remake this Fall, in addition to finally appearing in the long-gestated release of director Valeri Milev’s zombie action horror pic, Re-Kill, due date TBA this year. As for all things Raid-related, Evans is expected to commense with the third in his franchise between the next two to three years. Evans is also executive producing the remake for Screen Gems along with XYZ Films, which has since confirmed actor Frank Grillo for a role, with Battleship star Taylor Kitsch in talks to lead for the film’s production next year.
Stay tuned for more info!
Taylor Kitsch Will Lead THE RAID Remake
Pre-production for the upcoming remake of director Gareth Huw Evans’s 2011/2012 cult smash hit, The Raid is well underway before its forthcoming film schedule next Spring. Several popular names made the rumormill in the last few months before it was officially reported that Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Purge: Anarchy co-star Frank Grillo would be the first among the names attached for the new film to be helmed by The Expendables 3 helmer Patrick Hughes.
On Monday, the production finally saw its male lead attached in the form of actor Taylor Kitsch (Savages, Battleship, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Lone Survivor), accroding to forwarded reports from Comingsoon.net. The new film will see Kitsch starring in Hughes‘s Hollywood adaptation centered on an elite DEA fast team who get trapped inside a tenanment building behind enemy lines, fortified by a powerful drug lord and his army of loyal, bloodthirsty killers. It’s no secret either that Kitsch has some pretty big shoes to fill considering the first film from Evans, the kickstarter of its own franchise, is led by actor and genuine martial artist Iko Uwais, whose latest appearance in this year’s The Raid 2 has become an even bigger cult hit around the world.
The film is being written by Out Of The Furnace co-scribe Brad Inglesby for Screen Gems, the studio developing the remake. International sales agent XYZ Films is producing the film as well, with Uwais and the original team reportedly designing the fights.
Stay tuned for more casting news!
PHOTO
MMA Star Cung Le Pushes THE RAID Remake, CROUCHING TIGER 2 And Other Projects In Development
Mixed martial artist, professional fighter and actor Cung Le has quite an expansive career in film Hollywood and abroad. With well over a decade of credits with titles in America and parts of Asia, the True Legend and Fighting co-star has also gained some pretty huge notoriety with recent releases like the 2012 martial arts crime drama, Dragon Eyes, and RZA’s kung fu homage, The Man With The Iron Fists.
As it stands, there’s no sign of Le stopping any time soon between working the professional fight arena and preparing for roles on set, according to a new viral video sent over to M.A.A.C.. While in Asia to promote his August 23 UFC match with Michael Bisping, the actor disclosed a small handful of projects that lie-in-waiting for him after his next fight with interviewers for MMA-in-Asia.
Some notable projects and important names he mentioned included that of Hong Kong action cinema legend Sammo Hung and Edko Films president Bill Kong (pictured top/left), both who are respectively co-starring and producing director Roy Chow’s Rise Of The Legend with Universal. Le also mentioned talks with producers for a role in Master Yuen Woo-Ping’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Destiny, which would ultimately reunite Le with Master Yuen and action star Donnie Yen since sharing respective credits for Wong Kar Wai’s 2013 kung fu biopic, The Grandmaster, and helmer Teddy Chen’s 2009 assassin thriller, Bodyguards And Assassins.
Le gave away a few more gems thereafter regarding being in talks for a role in Screen Gems’ forthcoming production of director Patrick Hughes’ The Raid remake, in addition to a project being put together by Hollywood stunt coordinator J.J. Perry for his own directorial debut. The interesting part of the interview was that it surrounded Le‘s career activity being heavily set in Asia, namely Macau, which might make for a few giveaways about what these aforementioned projects will entail as they are now coming to light in their embryotic stages. Nonetheless, it’s safe to say that Le has the fans going wild, so it will be worth paying attention to in the years and months ahead with more news to come.
Le‘s newest action thriller, Puncture Wounds, directed by James Coyne and Giorgio Serafini, and also starring Dolph Lundgren is now available wherever films are sold. In the meantime, watch the video, subscribe to his official Facebook page and stay excited!
H/T: Paul Martell
Frank Grillo Confirms A Role In THE RAID Remake, Hopes To Return In CAPTAIN AMERICA 3
The folks at Collider dropped some pretty interesting news about The Raid remake on Saturday since the film was announced for production earlier this year with The Expendables 3 helmer Patrick Hughes tapped to direct. In an inteview with Perri Nemiroff, actor Frank Grillo delved into a number of topics, including the aforementioned film for which production was previously reported to be pushed back from this September to January next year so that the folks at Screen Gems could find a big name actor to lead, particularly shortlisting Grillo among names like Anthony Mackie, Ethan Hawke and Luke Evans to name a few.
“Well, yeah. I mean, we were officially offered the film, and so that was gonna go in September and now that doesn’t go until January.” he says. “So, you know, that’s the way the movie business is. You’re officially attached until there is no more movie, you know? But yeah, this is something that I’m planning on doing. Yeah.”.
Grillo also added his thoughts regarding the remake going into production just a few years after the initial film, telling Collider, “You know, the script is great. Patrick Hughes, now that he has this time – who just directed The Expendables 3 – he’s tweaking it a little bit. Sony really is behind the project and I loved it. [I’m] one of the three main characters and, you know, I’m excited about it. I can’t wait to actually go do it because it’s gonna be Americanized, but not overtly Americanized. It’s really gonna keep a lot of what made the first Raid so great.”.
There are no details as of yet regarding what role Grillo is being suited for, but there have been previous hints from Hughes himself regarding the plot which may center on a six-unit DEA task force implemented by the Bush administration upon evidence discovered linking the drug trade to 9/11, a premise which will set up a “clash of cultures” between martial arts and fighting styles between the cast members.
Silat action auteurs Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian are choreographing the action sequences for the new film, which is being produced by XYZ Films with the original film’s director, Gareth Huw Evans, serving as executive producer.
Grillo also expressed his “cautious optimism” regarding his chances of reprising his role as the official iteration of supervillain Brock Rumlow (a.k.a. Crossbones) in directors Joe and Anthony Russos’ Captain America 3, telling the press “Very early on the Russos said, ‘Look, this is an origin film for this character. We’re gonna discover who this is and this is a big movie with a lot of moving parts, but we’re gonna discover you in this film and, you know, here’s the information about who Brock Rumlow turns into and blah, blah, blah.’# And so we’ve had multiple discussions about what comes after that, that thing. So, you know, it’s obvious Rumlow is covered in rubble and burned to crisp at the end, but you see he’s still there. They don’t do that for no reason.”
Further casting details and confirmation awaits for The Raid as pre-production continues. In the meantime, Hughes will release his next film, The Expendables 3 on August 15.
You can catch Grillo in the forthcoming multiplatform release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier betweet August 19 and September 9. Grillo will also next appear in the July 18 North American theatrical release of The Purge: Anarchy, for which a new international poster has been unveiled. Check it all out below and stay tuned for more information!
H/T: ComingSoon.net, Entertainment Focus
Catching Up With ‘Skin Trade’ Co-Star MICHAEL JAI WHITE!
Lately I’m taking on a lot more things between writing for the site and obligations outside of my enthusiasm for film, so unfortunately I haven’t been able to feature as many interviews as I have and found myself trying to compensate by talking directly to filmmakers and stunt professionals to gain personal insight, and particularly for possible quotes as well.
Patrick Hughes Reveals His Concepts For THE RAID Remake
Hughes also went on to discuss the set up for the forthcoming premise of the new film, hinting at a more grounded setting based on real-world events. Hughes states in-full, “Certainly, we’re not there to recreate that film beat for beat, with the set up we’re following a DEA task team, which was implemented by the Bush administration after September 11th when they realized that terrorism and the drug trade were so closely aligned. So they set up a DEA task team that’s six units and they work across borders and sort of act like Navy SEALS. You never read about it, you never hear about it, but they go on these missions. So that’s a really interesting take and a really nice premise and also what’s interesting on this take on it is the clash of cultures and the clash of martial arts, the fighting styles, which is something that’s going to be a lot of fun when we’ve really started pre-vizzing stuff.”.
THE RAID Remake: Producer Gareth Evans Wants SCOTT ADKINS And MICHAEL JAI WHITE
Adkins, off the heels of a successful run from late last year’s hit release, Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear, has gained a very significant following, with movements by fans to get him into Hollywood film roles such as that of Bruce Wayne in Zack Snyder’s Batman VS. Superman film, and in Fast And Furious 7 which resumes filming next month since its hiatus late last year. The actor drew even more attention when he paid a peculiar visit to the Thailand set of action star Tony Jaa’s new film, Skin Trade, in which White also stars. Fans have even gone so far as to start petitions for the actor whose biggest Hollywood film performances so far include namely X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Expendables 2, and a limited theatrical run leading in director John Hyams’ 2012 film festival smash hit, Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning.