It’s not often you get to meet a maverick in the making but after speaking to Dan Rizzuto, that was the first word that shot to my mind. He recently made his feature film-directing debut with his dramatic thriller Torn – Dark Bullets. The film deals with the subject of racism and confronting it head on. As Dan embarks on a film-directing/producing career he pulls no punches on uncomfortable subjects because he wants those conversations to happen. He has a past professional fighting background so he’s no stranger to pressure, stress and discipline.
With 20 years of onset experience, Dan really fell into the Hollywood film industry because of his extensive Martial Arts and body guarding experience. He was discovered on the set of Dark Angel by 2nd unit Director Mike Mitchell. Dan is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, and a former professional fighter under the UFC legend Frank Shamrock. He also holds Instructor certification under the world-renowned Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do and is also the founding member of the M1 Fight Design community.
Dan has risen to the challenge that the film industry brings with it and started performing first as a Stuntman before being quickly recognized for his unique fighting techniques that saw him hired as a Fight Choreographer, soon after. Recently Dan was hired as the Fight Coordinator/Choreographer on Netflix’s TV’s hit show Wu Assassins. Starting his Directing career, Dan was hired as a Director for several commercials and music videos, two of which have included Grammy Award-winning artists and producers. He has also started a production company called Cerebral Monkey Entertainment after 4 years of building, learning, and shadowing, and has now completed writing, producing and directing his first full-length Feature Film.
We spoke at length about his debut feature film, Torn and what else is coming down the pipe after the quarantine has lifted and the film industry is open for business again.
“As your first feature film directing debut, was this quite an undertaking?”
“I’ve directed smaller projects, like music videos and second unit directing but it’s definitely a different ball game when you’re hired by a studio to work and everything’s already been set up for you. From concept to completion is a whole other ball game (laughter). We were limited on budget and shot it in 15 days. I had just come off a TV show and the DP’s show ended 2 days after mine and the actors… we wrapped 2 days before Christmas. It’s really on them, they were going through 9 sometimes 10 pgs. of dialogue per day. To speed things up I would reset instead of yelling ‘cut’. They were all remarkable, especially how they can throw on the tears anytime they want was mind-blowing to me.”
Dan adds, “Sam Vincent, who everybody predominantly knows as a voice actor; he’s got hundreds of voice credits on major shows. I hope everyone gets to see how amazing he is. His character had so much range between the ups and the downs and the snowball effect that he was going through. He went on a two week vacation after it was done.”
“You co-wrote this film with Joshua Mazerolle. Have you co-written with him before?”
“Nope, never. I’ve only written smaller projects and had never ventured into a feature but it was the next logical step. Coming from the stunt world (20 years), it’s always so violent driven I wanted to tell a story that could create a discussion. I wanted to be able to create a dialogue with people that watch it. I know everybody won’t love it but that’s okay, the whole point was to create conversation.”
“Where did the idea for this story come from?”
“It actually came from a short story that Sharon Taylor had written. She’s in the movie and currently has a big part in Altered Carbon.It was about a racist cop but as I read it, my mind went somewhere else and I knew we had to turn it into a feature. I asked Josh if he wanted to help write it and we tackled it together.”
Dan Rizzuto recognizes how many talented actors there are in Canada and in our own backyard. He wants to help foster their success by shining a light on that and had this to add:
“I started from non-union to extra work to stunts to stunt coordinating and now directing. Producing and directing is where I want to head too. I’ve worked globally and we get complimented on our crews and stunt work but I feel like our actors get short changed in my opinion, so I really wanted to showcase Canadian talent and what could be done. We got lucky and big time producer/director Joe Carnahan hooked me up with his editor because I wanted it professionally done with the budget we had and the 15 days. We used really incredible cameras, amazing anamorphic lenses and a very talented DP (Director of Photography) Pieter Stathis. Having worked all over the world I get tired of people seeing Canada as only service providers because we also have talent. If we can do this in 15 days and no money then lets show them that and then start growing and growing and making some awesome Canadian content.”
“Did you cast the actors yourself?”
“The final decision was mine but I was very open; Dexter (Bell) already knew, William (Big Sleeps) Stewart knew but Sam (Vincent) wasn’t sure if he would tackle it at the beginning. He wasn’t sure how to play the character. It wasn’t until he’d sat on it and we did a read thru that he jumped on it. We all know each other in the industry from being in it so long. We wanted to tackle a harsh topic that means something and also to them. I think with this Indy, we got such a natural vibe from them because we allowed them to act and get into it instead of calling ‘cut’ while they’re in an emotional scene. We shot it almost entirely in chronological order to bring out the emotions. It was harder but it was well worth it.”
“The film seems to be depicted in NY but I’ve seen parts of Vancouver also. Did you film in both locations?”
“We wanted to give it a New York vibe without naming the city and give it a generic east coast city, which is why I didn’t go with New York accents. It was more about the topic than the location.”
“As a director that worked in stunt fighting, did you choreograph the fight scenes in the film, Torn – Dark Bullets?”
“I did for the one fight scene that we had. We did it one step at a time, we run and gunned it. Sam (Vincent) had never done a fight scene before but we broke it apart and did step by step and they absolutely nailed it. They picked it up really fast.”
“How did you finance the project?”
“We financed it ourselves. I put in a bunch and my producing partner put in some and then we raised the rest through the stunt community.”
“As a first time feature film director, was it harder than you anticipated?”
“No, to be honest. Coming from the coordinating world and having the pressures of safety, sets, budgets and everything else, no. Shooting it was the easy part; prepping, post-production was harder. I had top-notch people working with me and without the actors we wouldn’t have finished the film. I had confidence in the team that we put together. On the last night it was right down to the wire. We had a permit till midnight and the officer was telling us we have 5 minutes left while we had 3 scenes left to shoot. I had to rewrite the scenes so we could do it in one. The ending isn’t exactly how I wanted it but we got it done. When permits run out we gotta go.”
“Do you mind if I ask you a couple of fun questions? Given your MMA history, who would you rather fight in the ring, Bruce Lee or Mike Tyson?”
“(Laughing) I’m gonna say Mike Tyson, only because I can run away faster.”
“If you could fly or drive any plane or car in the world, what would you choose?”
“Ooohh… a Bugatti, just because… not many people can.”
“Where will Torn be released?”
“It’s on Amazon Prime right now and we’ll also be doing DVD blue-ray and other streaming networks, we’re just working out the details.”
“Given the current pandemic situation, was it originally slated for theatres?”
“We were going to do a small run in LA actually but our entire marketing strategy totally went upside down. I didn’t want to wait any longer, lot’s of people are staying home and it’s a good time to view something new. This is one of many films that we’re doing and I have more scripts on the go.”
“I have read that you are in pre-production on another film, Pound that you’ll be filming in Indonesia. Can you tell me a little about that film?”
“It’s action and we’re developing it in two parts, we’re shooting it as a feature and a TV series because it lends itself to a TV series as well. It’s heavy heavy martial arts action. One of things we’ve been working with and practicing on is a couple of camera companies to create really unique ways to shoot action that hasn’t been done before. Coming from a world of stunts, we can be a little more creative than the typical old way of shooting it. When it comes to action, I’m an Asian cinema fan. If you look at John Wick, I know those guys really well; they’ve spent 6 months training with Keanu all so they can show his face on camera that much longer. We can do something that’s mind blowing and everyone is going to ask ‘how the hell did they do that?’ We wanna take them on a ride. If you wanna show the audience action, show them going through the table or going through the wall and landing; ‘Ohh that hurt’, get them involved. Everyone relies on CGI but I want to go back to the old school of hard-hitting days. ”
“What kind of advice would you give to other new directors that want to make their first feature film?”
“Honestly I’d say, just go for it and don’t listen to what anyone has to say because the only ones that are going to discourage you are either insecure or they want to do something but not willing to put in the work. Don’t wait for perfection, pull the trigger and go for it, believe in it and realize that its one of many. When you’re developing a script for a low budget, my best advice is ‘write it based around what you have access to’ because there’s nothing worse than having a great script but you don’t have access to key things. Write your script based on what you have and also learn as many skills as you can. I’m not the best at feature film budgeting but I understand Movie Magic budgeting and scheduling enough that I can look at what’s being done up and realize that’s misplaced money. One more thing; rely on the community. There are people that actually care enough to help you out.”
Dan and I talked philosophy, life and his approach to filmmaking and life goals… his dad is American and his mom is Canadian. He admits that he likes to borrow from the New York lifestyle but is very much rooted in Canadian beliefs. He loves the film industry and we are guaranteed to see more of Dan Rizzuto films in the near future… with incredible fight scenes.
