THE EAGLE LANDS: A Word With KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC Co-Star, Stunt Performer And Actress Caitlin Hutson

Director Tomek Baginski’s new live action manga/anime adaptation, Knights Of The Zodiac, is currently enjoying a progressive global theatrical rollout that’s already earned the film a total of US $2.4 million following its releases in Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Kenya, Romania and Latin America as of this post. The film officially opens in theaters in the U.S. this weekend when Sony Pictures and Stage6 Films can finally begin tallying up the film’s reception, marking perhaps the next biggest trial ever to be faced by Masami Kurumada’s fan favorite IP given its history.

That history is given a detailed and apt exploration in an online documentary hosted and narrated by Ray Mona, who dives well into the franchise’s reception and overall studio treatment of the epic animated saga on television and home media. Going into Baginski’s new movie, Mona’s Tales Of The Lost docuseries gave me a certain appreciation for Baginski’s efforts, which is part and parcel to why I’m so apprehensive about getting on the Hollywood adaptation-bashing bandwagon like most fanboys who can’t read anything past a clickbait headline or a reddit thread loaded with minutes of doomscrolling commentary.

And this is coming from somebody who hasn’t yet seen the film, though already I’ve seen (and covered) some of Baginski’s past work, and that of Jackie Chan cohort, international stunt laureate and filmmaker Andy Cheng, as well as several of the learned mentees and team members on his set in Hungary, including Jay Kwon and Joseph Le, and including and especially Caitlin Hutson who, like many of her peers, has been the center of many a Hit List column piece on Film Combat Syndicate.

Moreover, my enthusiasm stems ardently from the fact that at one point maybe a year before the live-action movie’s AFM announcement in 2018, I managed to catch the old series in its entirety, and 80s Japanese rock band MAKE-UP’s Pegasasu Fantasy theme still rings in my ear to this day. Not to mention that the new movie will mark the beginning of a new career era for Baginski’s chosen lead for the movie, Mackenyu Arata, son of late film and TV legend Sonny Chiba, following a screen career that began on TV Asahi nearly twenty years ago and film credits partly including Norihiro Koizumi’s Chihayafuru trilogy, Takashi Miike’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, Katsuyuki Motohiro’s Brave: Gunjyo Senki, Keishi Ohtomo’s Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, and Fumihiko Sori’s two-part Fullmetal Alchemist finale.

With a resumè like this and to get to see someone like Hutson and her peers contribute their ends to it is something I feel is pretty rewarding, and prospective. Apart from this, interviewing Le last year and getting to chit chat the teeniest, tiniest bit about Knights Of The Zodiac, I felt it only necessary to use this opportunity to promote the film, centering one of the most talented stunt performers any of us have had the pleasure to watch in action, this time co-starring with Arata in the role of enigmatic and proficiently-skilled warrior and Silver Saint, Marin (vocally performed in the movie by actress Katie Moy). Her character in the classic animated series extends well throughout, and given what we’ve been teased in clips from Baginski’s film, I’m excited for what Arata-san’s coming-out party has to offer.

Again, I’ll publish a fair review as soon as a get a chance to see the film for myself. In the meantime, Hutson takes center stage in The Hit Listers column of our site for this, our first interview. Enjoy the convo, and follow Hutson on Instagram.

I gotta ask, now that you’ve seen the trailer for Knights Of The Zodiac, what was your reaction?

I was really impressed! It’s no secret that live action anime adaptations don’t have the best track record, but the trailer gave me hope that our movie can defy those odds. A lot of heart and hard work went into the making of it, and I think the trailer really conveys that.

Talk about the character you play and the preparation you underwent for the role beforehand.

I play Marin in the movie (or at least the body of her, hah). Since the whole role was essentially suit work, like power rangers or Mandalorian, I spent a lot of time developing the physicality of the character from both a stunt and acting perspective. Marin is Seiya’s teacher—she’s stoic, strong, and embodies her animal icon: the eagle. The fight team and I pulled from eagle claw kung fu for her fight movement, and on my own I used Chekhov techniques to discover the posture and quality of movement I wanted her to have in and out of combat. It was a lot of exploration and such a fun challenge to create a full-body character without relying on dialogue.

How was it working with Mackenyu? And how long was it before it clicked, and you realized you were filming scenes with the son of a screen legend?

Well, I am notoriously bad at realizing when I am working with anyone of status. But I consider it a blessing because it usually means the actors feel very comfortable around me! That being said, it was really cool to get to know Mackenyu during our prep phase. It felt like he became part of the team, and that made working on our fights so much easier. Plus, after all the training he had with the Kenshin team, he’s a pretty beast mover! We catered his choreography to play to his strengths, and I think that really shows in the end product.

Andy Cheng’s team is one of the richest I’ve seen. What’s it like working under the stewardship of someone of Cheng’s pedigree?

What’s cool about Andy is if you didn’t know he is one of the greatest stuntmen ever, you’d never know it. He is so kind, humble, and goofy that oftentimes, I would forget that I was working with the best. In the moments where that set in, though, there was honestly a lot of imposter syndrome. I really wanted to live up to his expectations and, as such, was working so hard every day. When I say I was on top of my game, I mean it. How can you not be? It was also so cool to learn his tricks of the trade and hear all his stories. I’ll never forget the night we went out, and he told us about all the stunts he did on Rush Hour… truly insane.

You’ve been doing stunts as far as I can tell for maybe six or more years, and the first thing I went back to was an action short you did titled Salem. Give me a brisk rundown of your history leading up to getting into stunts, and what drove you to that point?

Gosh, has it really been six years??? Crazy. Well, when I did that Salem short, I was in the middle of my first ever stunt job – a summer stock show called All For One at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. At the time, I was in college pursuing acting and creative writing but also happened to have 10+ years of martial arts experience under my belt. The combination of acting and martial arts gave me a foundation for stunts that I didn’t even realize was as vital to my path as it ended up being. While at Busch Gardens, I met Narayana Cabral, who told me about the stunt world and filmed those first little videos I did. I was clueless and overconfident, but he was patient and helpful and gave me the little spark of “hey, this is something you could be really great at.” From that point on, things never really stopped. I dropped out of college to do the Marvel Universe LIVE! tour for a year, met some of my best friends in the industry, then saved up that money to move out to LA and do the dang thing. Six years later, here we are.

You’ve essentially become part of a circle of creatives like Jay, Bryan, Tarell, Kiera, all of you basically doing these incredible action shorts when you’re not on sets or working elsewhere, and you get to play characters and be actors. Is this the best film school you’ve ever gone to or what? 

It truly is! Not to knock film school, but I really think there’s nothing better than on-the-job training when it comes to filmmaking. The set etiquette, colloquialisms, and clever tricks are things that you can’t learn in a textbook, especially since no two projects are alike. All the people you just mentioned are so talented at what they do, yet their processes are completely different. Having the ability to work with so many different creative minds is invaluable, and I’m grateful that I can pull from those wells of knowledge whenever I’m working on my own projects.

What are some key aspects of filmmaking and screen-fighting you’ve learned along the way?

One: Use your core and your legs (that applies whether you’re holding a camera or fighting in front of it).

Two: You only get better by doing.

Three: Intention is everything.

Four: You’re only as good as you make your partner look.

Five: Be a killer on camera and kind off camera.

Six: Learn the rules before you break them.

Seven: Learn how to stack your punches.

Eight: Communication is everything.

Nine: Be on time.

Ten: Sometimes what we do is awesome fun, and other times it’s a crappy job. Just make sure you’re working your hardest no matter what kind of day it is.

You’ve trained in multiple styles of fighting. Is there one style that you connect to more spiritually than most? I ask because for me, it’s always been Shotokan. I haven’t trained in years but in the passage of time, nostalgia kicks in as does muscle memory and next thing you know I’m doing some variation of Heian Shodan and I end up scaring the pigeons.

I love this question. You’d think that for me it’d be Shito Ryu since it is my first style, right? For some reason, though, I’ve always been really connected to kung fu. Even when I did karate as a kid, I’d look at the Wushu school in town and be drawn to it. Now, when I’m feeling loose or flowy, the first movement I’ll go to is kung fu or wing chun (much to people’s chagrin, I’m sure, because I know very little of it). Something about animal styles in particular feels so potent. When I do the forms it’s like I can feel the spirit of the animal, and the extension and breath of the movement really stir something up inside of me. When I’m feeling stressed or emotionally blocked, I’ll do qigong to get things moving again. I’m sure it’d be quite the sight to see me crying alone in my apartment while doing “black dragon displays its claws”, but hey, it works.

Next time I’ll have to try it in the park to scare some pigeons.

Real quickly, some more Saint Seiya talk: tell us what moviegoers can expect from Knights Of The Zodiac. Obviously you, Tomek, and the rest of the KOTZ gang worked hard on it, and I’ve yet to see it to lend my objective opinion as of this interview, but it looks promising in my view.

Call me biased, but first and foremost, audiences are going to see some really awesome action! I can’t express how much heart and soul the stunt team put into the action design, and it shows. Not to mention a powerhouse cast! You can’t go wrong with Sean Bean and Famke Jannsen, plus Diego, Madison, Nick, Mark, and of course, Mackenyu perfectly embody their characters. Like I mentioned before, there’s always a certain hesitation with live action anime films, but Tomasz and the team really worked to mesh the high-concept world with some live action groundedness. I think fans of the anime and newcomers alike will really enjoy what they see.

One more inquiry and I’ll let you go, but you can totally confess and it’ll be our little secret… You kept the Eagle Marin costume, didn’t you? 

Shhhhhhhhhhh! I would never… admit to it.

Thank you so much for sharing a piece of your story with us, Caitlin. It’s been a while since you were in NYC and I’ve been holding it down since everything that happened last year with family, but if you’re ever back East, I hope we can finally meet face to face. 

I would love that! So glad to see you’re doing better, and thank you for having me. I’ll let you know next time I’m Eastbound!

Lee B. Golden III

filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com | Web

Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.