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Rob, how would you describe your experience preparing the role for Big Stan?
RS: I was completely unprepared before I started. I was only going to have about two to three months to train - to get in shape physically, mentally, and learn martial arts - which is completely inadequate for the task. Luckily we had many frustrating delays, but then I realised, ‘wait a minute, this could be helping with extra time to train'. I ended up with about seven months, which made it passable! Nino actually lived with me for about six months and that made a big difference [as] I had my sensei right there.
We know that you trained with the legendary Dan Inosanto for this role. What can you tell us about your training with him and the martial arts you display in the movie?
RS: It was an honour to work with him and see his ability. I wanted to be able to demonstrate not just the familiarity in the martial arts that he is such an expert in, but also exhibit expertise with it. Guro Dan was generous enough, and positive enough, to make me confident to be able to perform. He brought out the same bags that he and Bruce Lee used, he showed me the original nunchucks from Game Of Death, told me stories - he's just such an inspiration. Every now and then I would hit and kick just right and his eyes would light up, and it was like crack for me! It was so exciting to film this legendary guy. It meant everything to work with Dan, Nino and Tsuyoshi. Those guys are great. I just wanted to make sure I didn't make them look bad through me, so I worked hard. They gave me a lot of confidence. It was a lot of work but it was an honour. I hope I didn't let them down.
You actually gave Dan a cameo role didn't you?
RS: Yeah, I said ‘we have to show him in the movie!' So it was nice, we had him play the Asian Chef, and for no reason he attacks me out in the prison yard. It's great for people to see the legendary Guro Dan Inosanto on the big screen. And he still looks great, 35 years after Game of Death.
How did you manage to do so much of your own fight scenes and stunts?
RS: Well, I wanted the audience to be surprised and to see a different Rob Schneider movie. It still has the comedy, like what they'd expect from ‘Gigolo' [Deuce Bigalo, Male Gigolo] but at the same time it's a better movie. I wanted to do it myself, I enjoyed doing it and I took pride in it. I wanted the audience to really believe that it was me doing it and I think, outside of two quick shots, I'm actually doing the whole movie, which is great. It shows how good I was, how good the masters Dan and Nino were, they did a great job. And they didn't break me! I still have Nino bruises on my arms, I call them ‘Australian oak'. I would have all these bumps and the bruises they caused I would call ‘Nino's'. We did the hubad, eskrima [drills]. Nino would work the sticks with me and I ended up getting pretty good at that. The great thing was about two weeks before shooting the scene with the sticks, I realised I had found the flow I was trying to get. It was tough. I had never done something like that before. But, I think once people see me doing the sticks they will know it's definitely me doing it. I think it will be something funny and exciting for the audience.
Nino, how many hours a day did you put Rob through his paces?
NP: Well Rob was really working out because he was doing his yoga and he was doing his basic fitness/body training, like weights and all that, then he was actually doing the martial arts and the fight choreography stuff. So he was putting in anything between three and five hours a day, almost every day, and the days when he couldn't do a really big workout - he'd have so many meetings with different people - sometimes it'd be midnight/one o'clock in the morning when the last person would leave. I'd be there with the sticks in my hand, waiting there for him to walk through the kitchen and I'd give him a stick and he'd do it for 20 minutes, half an hour, sometimes an hour. RS: But it helps, to get the flow - there's no shortcut to it. Nino gave me a lot of confidence, he really did. If he believes I can do it, then I can do it. And, like I said, for the impact of the movie you want people to see you doing it. And that was the key: to have me do it, and I love it. I mean, honestly, there's a certain machismo/testosterone thing going on in the movie. I couldn't wuss out, you know, (in whiney voice) ‘I'm tired and my finger hurts'. Behind the scenes, you see Nino and you really get a sense of his artistry, his mastery of it, and he was nice enough to share it with me and give me that confidence to really do it. And it's fun to watch. I'm glad they got the behind the scenes [footage] - there was a half-an-hour Making of Big Stan, because you see me going through the motions. Then you see him [Nino] on a day that I ended up in the hospital because it was 114 degrees [fahrenheit] - I ended up with food poisoning - and thank God they got it on tape, because you get to see the master at work. It's like ‘Whoa, man'. The stuntman's eyes go open like this - ‘Zzzzz!' - when Nino's working, because it's just another level.
Nino, did you notice a pretty big transformation in Rob?
NP: Yeah, huge. And the thing about it is that the choreography did change as it went along. A couple of the other co-ordinators, I don't think they were too happy at first because as Rob started getting better, we started adding little bits and pieces in there, because we thought, well, he's able to do this now, which will make it even better. So that's why we started adding little things, which they were annoyed about because the fight scenes started getting bigger and bigger and longer and longer (laughs).
Rob, what was it like working with David Carradine? What can you tell us about his role as ‘The Master'?
RS: You know for 69 or 71, or whatever age he is, he's still pretty limber! I remember one of the co-ordinators looked at me and said; "Hey, be careful out there, he's got heavy hands," and I'm thinking, "What does that mean?" And then I found out when he slaps you he doesn't hold back, he really hits you. But he's a legendary actor from a legendary family: the Carradine's, like the Barrymore's, are Hollywood royalty. Carradine had an incredible memory and great stories. He really took the role to heart, made something special out of it. I was proud that he trusted me as a director and agreed to do the movie and had fun with it. He broke my finger in rehearsals and I didn't yell at him or anything, I just walked away and afterwards he walked up to me and said, "I hope this doesn't affect our relationship." It's one of my favourite moments in the movie and my pinkie was screaming.
You had some great fighters in this movie; Randy Couture, Bob Sapp, Don Frye and boxing world champion Diego Corrales. What acting performance are we going to see from these great fighters?
RS: They are such an amazing presence. They are fighters and performers and they're confident when they step into the ring so I think they made a smooth and easy transition to the big screen and having other Mixed Martial Artists helps sell the movie. It was a real guys' party, a machismo thing! The weather was really tough; it was over 43 degrees celsius, which made for tough conditions. We had camera operators and actors passing out. We averaged at least two trips a day to hospital. I was always amazed at those who had ended up in hospital - the next day they would show up first thing in the morning, so they must have been having fun. I think people were really into it and knew what they were getting into. Don Frye, Diego Corrales, Randy Couture, Bob Sapp - they all did a good job in the movie.
Did you really nipple-cripple Don ‘The Predator' Fry?
RS: Nipple-cripple? You know what, Don was very nice to let me grab him by his man-boob. Don was one of the guys who just wanted to be there, he liked the script. He was actually supposed to be the warden's ‘second guy' and at the last minute I said "You know what, it'd be silly to not have you as part of the neo-nazis and that kind of gang". He's just this big ‘man's man' kind of guy and he was a really solid actor. After the movie with me, he made a movie with Johnny Depp.
But those guys also know how to fight very well. I know it's all play fighting but...
RS: No no, we did it for real; we were actually out there doing it, it wasn't play fighting.
What I mean is, you weren't actually punching them in the teeth, but were you worried about accidentally kicking Bob Sapp in the nuts or something?
RS: We were trying to do it without making contact, but sometimes you gotta make contact. You don't try to hurt somebody - you can pull your punches for sure - but at certain points you're probably going to have to kick 'em. So I really did, and I really hit him [Sapp] and I really kicked him. I'm sure it didn't really hurt him; he's like a marble statue that guy... (laughs). I want people to see this as a different Rob Schneider movie. That's what helped: I mean, Nino moved in with me... it was nice to have my own ninja in the house. Once I knew we were going to do this kind of martial arts, I wanted for people to see me really doing it and doing it respectfully, so that little kids who see this movie...
My little kids won't be seeing this movie - have you heard your language?
RS: They should, it's the feel-good anti-rape movie of the year! (laughs).
Can we expect more action movies from Rob Schneider in future?
RS: It's been a year-and-a-half since we stopped filming and I managed to get out of shape. Nino will be proud of me, but I think he's sick of me though, seeing me out of shape again. I'd like to do a Stan sequel but it depends on Australia. If it kicks ass there, then we will do the movie again and film it in Australia. My friends kept saying ‘You're never going to get in this good a shape or work harder in your life then what you're doing for Big Stan' and I said ‘Really?' But I think they're right because since the movie stopped filming, I've gotten fatter, lazier and dumber, so it would be nice to do a sequel. It will give me an excuse to get into shape!
Is there anything else you would like to add about the movie?
I hope people know the industry's really tough right now, the [film] marketplace is crazy in the States so I'm really happy and proud of the film I've made. I hope the kids who see this film will be interested in the martial arts and find out about some of the specific martial arts techniques I did. It would be nice if kids got as excited about training as I did.
The Big Stan Story
Big Stan is the story — not surprisingly — of Stan, a shady property developer who finds himself convicted of a con and is sentenced to jail. With six months before he goes inside and fearful of the prisoners and their penchant for raping the weak, Stan enlists the help of a seedy old kung fu master (‘The Master’ played by David Carradine), who moves in with him and his girlfriend Mindy, and proceeds to train him to the bone in order to turn him into a human weapon.
Once inside the prison, Stan is faced first with overcoming the threat of other prisoners, then with maintaining peace in the prison and thwarting the plans of the evil prison governor — trying to redeem himself in the violent yet hilarious process.
Big Stan is out now on DVD.
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