Eric Hibler, left, owner of Eric Hibler’s Pittsburgh Fight Club, talks with stunt double Jace Jeanes, center, and actor Tom Hardy before a take on the set of “Warrior.” Photo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
George McGinnis, owner and head trainer at York Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Red Lion, is an extra in the new MMA movie Warrior, being filmed in PIttsburgh. Here’s an email he sent out about his first day on set:
Ok, last week I received an email from Lissa Brennan who represents a “talent search” company who’s job at that present time was to locate fighters for an up coming film (to be called “Warrior”) and is being produced by Lionsgate Entertainment. Well, needless to say, after weighing many pros and cons in my mind, I had pretty much decided against it. That was until my parents, family, friends, etc had egged me on to take the challenge and potential life-changing experience. Well, here is a quick run down on how everything looks as I sit here tonight.
A: I am an Extra among the cast, not a high priority star.
B: I will most likely only be here for a few days. At the point I get to show them some of my stuff, I may be asked to stay on.
C: The money sucks, but to be honest, I am here for all of YOU, not myself. This is an opportunity for the school to receive a good bit of extra publicity and may also open doors to new opportunities with high end people in the process.
George (right) demonstrates a kick at a seminar he did in February at Elicker Kenpo Karate Academy in West Manchester Twp.
Day One:
Well, my day started off rough due to the fact that I had stressed so much about making up my mind, putting together the finances for me to come and I was running on little to no sleep. So I arrive in Pittsburgh around 3:30am after leaving York around 12:15am. I figured on being among the first to be there but when I arrived I counted twenty or more eager and ready for the long day ahead.
I parked the car and left my belongings to make sure that I was in the right lot and with the right crowd. It has been a long time since I have ben that uncomfortable and out of my zone. I felt like the new kid who had just transferred in from another school 8 states away. I boarded the bus and I kept my hood low over my face and my mouth silent. I found myself in “observation mode”. I was finally in the position to listen and not speak. To hear before being heard. Jackie Chan is quoted at what I personally feel is one of the best lines to ever come from a seasoned martial artists lips “He who knows, does not speak, he who speaks, truly does not know!”. This was my chance to prove ol’ Jackie right.
Throughout the morning I said little to nothing about my credentials or being a club owner. I wanted to see who all would be so fast to run at the gums. There were many fighters there, 40-plus. Thats a whole lotta ego to fit into one room at one time but for the most part I feel we all did quite well. Naturally you had your handful of guys who felt it necessary to wear their cut off shirts and to flex their arms and flair out their chest like a damn Oriole bird in the morning sun, but hey, to each his own right?
A couple of hours passed. We all grew impatient and grew tired of all the barking mouths of relentless orders to the cast and crew. Some of the cast clearly thought they were special, but this is common when one is given power, regardless of how minuscule that specific power is. We all ate a light breakfast and were eventually broken up into groups that would generalize our involvement with the film (i.e. – fighters, spectators, businessmen, managers, etc). A couple of hours later, an abrasive chap gathered all the fighters and took us from one uncomfortable seating area, to a much more uncomfortable setting area “YES!” I thought to myself “Now I / we can go from a bright room with beverages and bathrooms to a dark, gloomy stadium area that offers as much work incentive as a cow pasture on a rainy day.”
Hours would pass. Fighters were called, extras were called, yet me and my new found side kick “Wes” were still waiting. I quite honestly tried everything short of soul searching meditation to get comfortable on the stadium seats but just couldn’t sort it out. You see… They had told us on several occasions to make ourselves comfortable because it would be hours before they would be ready to film and prep the cast.
FINALLY I was called! The cast directors words were “where are my grapplers?” I perked up and hoped for her to select me, and she soon after did. I walked into the set area. I couldn’t stop smiling. It was unreal to me. These people built, what appeared to be, an honest-to-goodness MMA training facility right in the hall way of a local college! I was and still am blown away. I seated myself in the grapplers area where I would wait a few more hours before being remotely involved within the eye of the camera. I found myself throughout the day playing a different roll. I would make small and modest suggestions to the crew to simply scenes or I would take the initiative to speak with whom I gathered to be novices and would give them some quick and simple advice on form, combinations, foot work, rhythm, etc.
One of the highlights of my day was when we had just got done shooting one of the later shots, and one of the heavy bags chains happened to be dangling long into the ‘silent mode’ portion of the scene. I walked over and grabbed a long strip of tape and headed for the bag. The moody and pretentious extra cast director snarled at my bothering her to say “No, we don’t need it and they audience will see it anyway’s so no!” and not even a moment later, who I am guessing to be one of the big dogs on the films operations and audio said “No they will not see the tape and yes it is a great idea, good call kid…” So ya know I strolled my proud ass on over and tapped it myself because I already knew it needed done because any and all extra sound was being waved off by the sound girl, so if there was even a squeak or pinning out of place, she would hunt it down. Not to mention, I have had to do it to my own bags over the years, so, ya know (ha ha).
The day was almost out and queen “knows it all” walked over to me and Dan (my Jiu Jitsu partner for the pre selected scenes) and told us that she needed us. To make this long story a hair bit shorter, the day ended with me being on film for walking past the cameras as a fighter going to get a drink during his work out. Not exactly academy award winning, but I suppose its a start.
To finish off the day 1 blog, I will finish by letting you know that I met and or seen a few people today…
1: Nate Marquardt (MMA 185lb professional – 7 x Pancrase Champion) was seen at the cage “Inner Circle” stage.
2: I met and breifly shook hands with Tap Out Gear’s “Skyskrape”
3: Kurt Angle was several feet away from me after lunch.
4: WEC and ShoXC fighter EriK “Rumble” Apple was going live for film today in the cage and wow is he intense as well as impressive. The sound of the cast – audience had my heart racing as if I was up on deck for the next fight in the cage lol.
P.S. – Dont mind the grammer and typo’s, I am just now getting to bed after a 16+ hour work day. More tommorow
Sincerely Yours: George McGinnis
York Mixed Martial Arts Academy
www.YMMAA.com
