cineSOURCE magazine

Eric Jacobus, The Stunt People And Their Martial Arts Film Movement
by Doniphan Blair

Eric Jacobus, stunt-actor supreme and martial arts filmmaker, relaxes in Richmond. photo: D. Blair

DESPITE HIS FORMIDABLE BUILD AND
beard, Eric Jacobus doesn't seem like a high-level fighter in a "Blade Runner"-esque underworld, especially when relaxing in his sunny Richmond backyard, an urban farm run by his wife Chiara.

In point of fact, he is: first in his own mind, then on paper and finally in the features and shorts where he's often also the lead and the director, although he's been branching out of late.

Indeed, Jacobus has started making the trek to Hollywood where he landed some parts and a producer, Clayton Barber, for his own screenplays.

Jacobus recently starred as an assassin in "A is for Amateur", the first section of "The ABCs of Death Part II" (2104), which was filmed in LA and premieres on September 18th at Austin's Fantastic Fest.

"It is a funny horror film, very much a Bruce Campbell thing [a cult actor known for his 'Evil Dead' roles]," Jacobus told me.

"Since I moved to Richmond, whenever I write something, I try to include a chicken," he deadpanned, as one strutted about his shoulders.

I enjoy organic eggs as much as the next Northern Californian hippie (and Jacobus did slip me a dozen on the way out) but I was there to find out more about those original films, the film movement which produced them and Jacobus's unique production team.

The Stunt People have been hard at work for over a dozen years now, mostly in the martial arts genre and on surprisingly low budgets, but with elevated production values and noir looks as well as humor.

They currently consist of about 30 filmmakers and producers as well as the eponymous stunt people, including five women notably Bridger Fox, a stuntwoman and leading lady in many Bay Area action films.

Other notables include Dennis Ruel, Jacobus's martial arts instructor, who starred in the recent, theatrically-released "American Brawler" (2013), and Alvin Hsing, a well-known Hollywood stuntman and stunt coordinator, see the Stunt People's YouTube channel or purchase a film.

Jacobus's character takes on the 'Martial Arts Mafia' in 'Rope-A-Dope' (2013). photo: courtesy The Stunt People

My first taste of the Jacobus juggernaut was "Rope-A-Dope" (2012), which premiered at the 2013 Oakland Underground Film Festival, and went on to take second best short at Toronto After Dark and multiple accolades at the Sundial Film Festival.

Laugh-outloud funny, as well as well -shot and -acted, "Rope-A-Dope" is co-directed by Pete Lee of The Stunt People and set in a post-apocalyptic Oakland, a favorite CineSource realm.

"Drew Daniels gives us that gritty look, that atmosphere we need to be competitive in the festival world," noted Jacobus. "He is part of an amazing studio in Emeryville along with [Pete] Lee called Scandinavia."

"I don't even know how many films [we have done], it is probably over 200 by now," he continued. While most are shorts, there have also been a half-a-dozen features.

"I have been doing features since 2003. Our first, we self-produced on a $2000 budget and 'Contour' was our second. Then in 2011, we did 'Death Grip'," which had a $100,000 budget."

"Not to take away from [Robert] Rodriquez [for his Guinness Book of World Records smallest budget listing] but we shot 'Contour' for $5000 on a plain-Jane pro-sumer Panasonic DVX 100, the first 24p pro-sumer camera that came out. That was in 2005."

"Death Grip", which Jacobus wrote and directed as well as starred in, starts with his character taking his autistic brother out of a group home and onboard his catering business. But his next gig happens to be at a museum where some thieves are trying to steal the central display, the Silver Coin of Judas.

Jacobus also starred in "Dogs of Chinatown" (2010), a feature directed by Micah Moore, another Stunt People person. Filmed in a rich black and white, it opens on a depressed Jacobus who rediscovers a reason to live when witnessing a damsel in distress being kidnapped by Triad thugs.

Jacobus prepares for some serious struggle as well as well-choreographed physical humor in 'Death Grip' (2011). photo: courtesy The Stunt People

While Jacobus favors a noir, or "Twilight Zone" look, as he calls it, he is similarly devoted to humor. Indeed, slapstick is the flip side of physical acting's violence and in keeping with the style of his hero, Jackie Chan.

"I try to play the underdog as much as I can. I don't play the superhero because I am not one. I want films to be fun. There are plenty of serious and dark films out there but that is not what I want to do."

Shot in West Oakland and Emeryville, "Rope-A-Dope" follows Jacobus's "Groundhog Day" character who gets banged awake by an annoying alarm clock and races out for breakfast only to get jumped by a gang, over and over and over. Along the way, he starts reading about martial arts, studying boxing with his neighbor and jogging through a desolate post-modern landscape.

"It was more of a festival picture, 13 minutes long," Jacobus said. "Anytime you throw out the number 13 for a YouTube video, people think it will be too long. Our target demographic was different. ["Rope-A-Dope"] ended up doing OK on YouTube but our main thing was the festival audience."

"I will do shorts about four or five minutes long; that is a good length for YouTube. If you want to do something fun and quirky, two minutes or so; viral stuff, maybe a minute or two."

Another very stylish short was "Future Boss", about five minutes, concerning another hapless guy (Jacobus) who is suddenly attacked, in downtown San Francisco and at night, this time.

As it happens, he's wearing his brand new pair of Google Glass (computer glasses) on which he quickly finds a crash course in street fighting. Well acted and sharply shot, with excellent effects by co-star Lorenz Ruwwe, "Future Boss" is also rather funny.

"We heard about Google Glass and I came up with an idea about 'The Terminator' [an ongoing character of his, also in "Beard Off" (2012)] coming into SF," Jacobus said.

Then there was the physically comic mini-masterpiece from "Death Grip". In the middle of a fight scene in a men's bathroom, there is an extended riff on an automatic flusher on a toilet bowl into which just fell the museum's invaluable Silver Coin of Judas.

The Stunt People shot for a week in this Oakland warehouse. photo: Danny DeGregorio

Although "Death Grip" was produced for $100,000, raised through Kickstarter among friends and family, as well as the stunt community, they are moving into the $200 to $500 thousand dollar range ever since teaming up with producer Clayton Barber.

Originally from Texas, Barber was an Olympic Tae Kwon Do champion who moved to Hollywood and did stunts for over 20 years.

"He choreographed 'Blade 2', and he knows the film business. He is that aspect I have always needed: How to bring martial arts and action, from American standpoint, to the mainstream."

"It was definitely Jackie Chan," Jacobus told me when I asked about inspiration. "[But I also] grew up enjoying vaudeville: I loved the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton."

Along with The Stunt People founding member Chelsea Steffensen and "Death Grip" co-star Nathan Hoskins, Jacobus is from Redding, California, where the flat Imperial Valley rises into the fantastic Shasta Mountain and they, in a similar move, started a film movement.

Their mission statement was simple: Anyone can make a movie. By 2001, this sentiment was assisted by the arrival of cheap hard-drives, cameras and software.

"I started as a math major who was going to work in a particle accelerator," Jacobus said. "Then I picked up a camera when I was 18 and we made an action movie. It changed my life."

A year later, he began taking Tae Kwon Do at Hwa Rang Kwan in San Francisco under Andy Leung, later moving to The Hapkido Institute under Dennis Ruel and Ray and Troy Carbonel.

"We were in a small town; we had no money; we were a bunch of free, radical guys who wanted to make movies; that is what united us," Jacobus said.

After getting a permit, The Stunt People found street shooting in West Oakland easy. photo: Danny DeGregorio

"There is a small number of people out there who have that bug—they just want to make movies."

"Jackie Chan was cool to me because he was making movies not just about martial arts," explained Jacobus. "They were almost American movies, very accessible. He played the underdog very well—I always liked underdog stories."

"He did these amazing stunts on his own—he did everything. I look at everything Chan did as a success. I wanted to do that."

"He was a really smart businessman. It wasn't just physical talent. There were times he did everything: from the script to pre-production to shooting, choreography and sometimes edit."

"Buster Keaton [was his influence,] he said so himself and martial art movies," Jacobus continued. "He was Peking Opera-trained. There were times when families let their kids be raised by a school. He and all these other stunt guys who became very famous were raised in Peking Opera schools."

"They view stunts like acting because of the Peking Opera tradition. In Hong Kong, they have a word for it: stunt-actor. We don't. Here we have stunt man and actor and going from one to the other is tricky".

"Through it all, I am trying not to detract from my through line, which is physical acting. Physical works with comedy; physical doesn't work with drama. In drama, you solve things by talking."

"In genre films, you solve things by action: sci-fi you use technology; horror you use violence of some kind; action you use fighting or explosions; in Westerns you use guns and horses."

Having worked his way up from upstate indie to downstate commercial filmmaker, Jacobus has some interesting insights into the business. photo: D. Blair

"Any of those fit [with martial arts]. It is just a matter of budget. Sci-fis cost a lot, so we tend not to do them."

And how did he end up finding and mastering the Oakland After-the-Apocalypse aesthetic? "I first moved to San Francisco for film school at SF State [but I soon found that] Oakland has a distinct flavor," Jacobus responded.

"It is easy to film there. We recently worked with the City of Oakland for 'Rope-A-Dope 2' and secured a permit. The process was very easy."

"I don't do politics," Jacobus responded when I asked how much Oakland culture as well as environment permeated his screenplays.

"[But] I play with race a little. Given that I am working in the field of martial arts, there are a lot of Asians and black guys."

"I tend to be around a lot of non-white people. It doesn't occur to me that there is anything weird about that. I don't hold up a flag: Look at my diverse friends."

"Sometimes an offhanded joke gets made. All the guys think it is funny [but] someone who doesn't know the situation says, 'That's wrong. Look at who you are. How can you say something like that?'"

"We have to be careful. Words are weapons. We have to be realistic. Sometimes the simplicity of it is: it is a very simple. But preaching on the subject of race brings up questions, so I leave that to other filmmakers."

Jacobus mid-stunt in a graffiti-slathered Oakland warehouse. photo: Freddie Poole

Jacobus isn't alone in producing anymore, having partnered with Clayton Barber, who also helps with story development. While he remains part of the Hollywood scene, Barber recently relocated back to Texas in what turned out to be a wise, indie move.

"It is very hard to raise a small amount of money in Hollywood, where everyone wants to do a five or ten million dollar movie. But in Texas you can get a couple hundred thousand—Silicon Valley also," Jacobus explained.

"It is a good conversation starter at a party. The tech sector is booming and people want to diversify their investment. Film is a fun investment and a long burn," meaning, if successful, it can generate revenue for a long time.

"I think for 'Rope-A-Dope 2' we will use the same locations as the first one, which is the house in Oakland. There is some great wall art in West Oakland, that whole place is like a filming playground."

"We know some warehouses which are covered with graffiti on the inside. We used it in 'Death Grip'."

"Oakland actually feels like the place where the world collides with itself. A lot of people came together and we try to show that like a head on collision. That is drama and you can make it fun."

Despite his advanced insight and commanding manner, Jacobus keeps it low key, both in his underdog-but-warrior film personae and his regular one, especially when relaxing in his urban farm backyard.

'Rope-A-Dope' logo. illo: courtesy Gil Sanabria

"I don't always have the best ideas. I want to have people with me who have the best ideas and to be in charge of those positions. But that has taken a long time. 13 years [we have been doing The Stunt People], I am still young."

"At the moment I'm editing 'Rope-A-Dope 2', a follow-up to our Oakland-based short film that was a big hit at numerous film festivals. We're also prepping multiple feature films, including a feature film based on 'Rope-A-Dope'."

Doniphan Blair is a writer, film magazine publisher, designer and filmmaker ('Our Holocaust Vacation'), who can be reached . Posted on Aug 12, 2014 - 08:45 PM