Behind the Scenes: ‘Adventures of Johnny Tao’

Features | Electric Shadows | by Jean Lukitsh

It’s 1:45 on a Monday morning in Los Angeles, and in a dark alley a young Asian woman battles two thugs in electric blue suits. They want the briefcase she carries. As they reach, she whirls, swinging the briefcase left and right at their heads, and continues in a single blur of action: left and right to their knees, then a high kick to one goon’s head before she drops down into a slide step, her foot striking the other goon’s ankle and toppling him. “Cut!” Kenn Scott, director of ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY TAO: ROCK AROUND THE DRAGON, looks up from the video monitor and addresses the actors. “Beautiful! Is everyone OK?” Everyone is, or will admit to no injuries. “Let’s do it again.” And they do it again and again, until it’s time to move on to the next scene, and a whole new set of moves.

Scott, a martial artist, stuntman, and actor who played Raphael, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the hit films, is living a dream. JOHNNY TAO is his screenplay, as well as his first time directing a feature film. The Ninja Turtle movies had “incredible market penetration,” he recalled and it was obvious that both parents and kids loved them. Why, he wondered, were most action films marketed to adult audiences? He began to kick around ideas for a story that would appeal to younger martial arts enthusiasts. “I decided to put everything I love into the screenplay: kung fu, rockabilly, zombies!”

Although ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY TAO is aimed at a young audience, delivering topnotch action is a priority for Scott. To that end, he brought in rising stars Marcus Young (fight coordinator on ELECTRA and xXx:STATE OF THE UNION) as action producer and Mike Gunther (CATWOMAN, ELECTRA) as stunt coordinator, and gave them free rein to recruit the best stunt crew in the business. “We had a great team,” said Young. “It was like a big budget team.” Gunther added, “In a low budget project like this, I think you have more creative control and you’re allowed to push the envelop a little further…we got to do stunts that we normally don’t get to do on big budget movies, because of the red tape.”

And this is a film with plenty of parts for stuntmen, as bikers and zombies and those sinister blue-clad thugs in the alley. The leading roles, too, were cast with an eye towards real-life ability. Matthew Twining (ONE LIFE TO LIVE), as Johnny, brought a gymnastics background to the action, Matt Mullins (the upcoming CW series KAMEN RIDER: DRAGON KNIGHT) has trained and competed extensively in the karate and taekwondo circuit, and Chris Yen (PROTEGE DE LA ROSE NOIRE, DRAGON VS. VAMPIRE) learned kung fu from childhood. As Don Poquette, the film’s producer, pointed out, “The three main actors are all skilled and do 90% of their own work, which gives the director a tremendous amount of freedom.”

“We tried to create a certain style for each character (in the fight choreography),” explained Young. “Wushu style for Chris – she jumped right into that! And Johnny (Matthew Twining) learned his moves from TV, so he’s more about heart. Matt Mullins has very clean lines, he’s a forms champion. We tried to make him a little grittier (as the demon).”

Chris Yen’s character, Mika, is a mysterious demonhunter who enlists Johnny in her crusade to dispatch the sugar-craving zombies. Yen has had experience working in the Hong Kong film industry, but Johnny Tao marked her first chance to do “wire fu”. Pulling off the demanding wire stunts, used to enhance a few of the jumps and spins in ihe fight sequences, required precisely timed coordination between the actor and the support crew. “Marcus Young and J.J. Perry (the assistant stunt coordinator) told me the best way is to ignore the fact that I’m being yanked up in the air by my back and crotch about 8 feet or so, execute the movement as naturally and powerfully as possible, then land with grace,” recalled Yen. “Well, let’s just say it was much easier imagined than done.” The former wushu medalist stepped into her first leading role with style and poise, earning kudos from her colleagues for the energy she brought to the film. Marcus Young predicts the audience won’t be disappointed. “Chris kind of reminds me of an M1000 – a little firecracker, but when she explodes, she explodes!”

ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY TAO wrapped principal photography late in May (this article was originally posted in June 2005). It is now available on DVD from MTI Video.