Tell Me a Question: Paul Mormando & Double Fist

Welcome back to Tell Me a Question, where we chat with fascinating individuals living lives in the movie, martial arts and comic book worlds. Today we're joined by New York based martial artist and actor Paul Mormando. Born in Brooklyn, Mormando took up combat sports at a young age, eventually becoming a grandmaster and earning the nickname "Mr. Karate". Mormando is the creator of the Real Life Defense course, has performed in over 150 martial arts demonstrations and featured in over 200 magazines and newspapers. After bit parts on television and in film, Mormando was preparing for his leading man vehicle Double Fist with a young Mark Wahlberg lined up to co-star. Unfortunately Mormando was struck by a drunk driver and suffered terrible injuries. Like the best comeback and underdog stories; Mormando never lost hope, persevered and after much rehabilitation, is back on the road to action movie nirvana. We caught up over e-mail:

How did you get into martial arts? What lead you to creating your own style?

When I was young I was extremely small in stature, a perfect target for bullies...then it happened, I was 7 and I watched this little Chinese man beat up people twice his size. Bruce Lee provided hope for me and I begged my parents into letting me take lessons to protect myself. Eventually I enrolled in my first art, Tae Kwon Do. After getting into a street fight I realized TKD's limitations. What I had practiced in the dojo wasn't going to work on the street. So I experimented with many arts and used Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do philosophy fused with different styles. Lee was an inspiration but his style of teaching seemed too abstract for the average person. I experimented with different arts and ranges but wanted a more systematic approach. That's how I came up with the Cha Ki Do system.

You've been active your whole life, what's your approach to staying fit today?

At the moment I'm getting back into shape for some film projects. I lift weights and love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Boxing constitutes much of my current regimen.

After countless demonstrations, being featured on television and appearing in numerous publications, what lead you to acting?

I never even thought about it, as a matter of fact, I never even did a school play....so acting was far from my mind. One day I was doing a martial arts demo and I decided to do a dive roll over a bunch of swords as the finale. That got the attention of the local newspaper editor who put me on the front page. The legendary entertainment agent Ruben Malaret contacted me and wanted to make me the next Chuck Norris. Once I got a taste of the acting bug, I became passionate. Ironically enough I ended up guest starring on Broadway in Tony n' Tina's Wedding. That was a thrill, being the first martial artist on such a big stage.

Who are some of your favorite actors? Favorite films? 

Of course I love Bruce Lee, he is my idol. Jean-Claude Van Damme really inspired and motivated me. His kicking ability is unsurpassed. Jason Statham is really good, great screen presence. My favorite films are Enter the Dragon, the Rocky Franchise and No Retreat, No Surrender.

You were involved in a terrible car accident, how did you stay positive and keep moving forward?

That was at the beginning of my film career, I had just performed a demo at Shea stadium in front of nearly 20,000 people. And a few nights later it all got taken away from me. I was hit by a drunk driver. As hurt as I was, there were people around me even worse off. That kept me positive. The martial arts taught me discipline and gave me an indomitable spirit that helped me bounce back. During rehab I was inspired by those less fortunate; people who couldn't walk because their legs were amputated. If they can stay positive, I wasn't going to let a few injured disks set me back.

What's the key to staying hungry? What's next on your list? 

I continue to set goals and higher standards for myself. My last goal is to become the next action star. My 7 year old daughter motivates and inspires me. I'm making it happen. Twenty years ago after the accident I thought my career was over. Now I'm booked through 2016. I'll be in Ohio shooting a film with director William Lee, sharing the screen with Mel Novak (Enter the Dragon) and Joe Estevez. I'll play the villain in Andre Joseph's Vendetta Games and then there's sci-fi web series Sons of God with my friend Leonard Sanderson.

Many thanks to Mr. Mormando for taking the time to chat with Dammaged Goods. Keep up with Double Fist on Facebook.

What the Chuck?! Lone Wolf McQuade

Chuck Norris.  A real American hero.  While the 80's and 90's gave us the golden age of the "one-man" army a la Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme;  Bruce Lee and later Norris kick started a cottage industry of action films featuring fit, fierce and furious fighters who took on the world and triumphed with their indomitable mix of will and skill.  But Norris gets my vote for being the All American Man/Action Hero.  Born Carlos Ray in Oklahoma, "Chuck" grew up in California and joined the Air Force where he served in South Korea.  There, he took up Tang Soo Do and soon would be practicing martial arts religiously.  Upon returning from service, Norris became an undefeated kickboxing champion while opening a chain of karate schools that would eventually be mismanaged.  Facing financial straits and having already appeared in films in bit parts and opposite friend Bruce Lee in 1972's Way of the Dragon; Norris took the advice of friend, student and acting superstar Steve McQueen and enrolled in acting classes.  But McQueen's biggest suggestion to Norris was to let others do the talking and him do the doing.  For Chuck Norris, doing meant kicking ass.

His first headlining film, 1977's Breaker! Breaker! was a low budget flick that combined karate with truckers and CB radios.  The film was a hit and Norris wrote his next vehicle, Good Guys Wear Black which he then shopped to producers.  It was another box office hit and by the early 1980's, Norris was established as a formidable on screen karate man who didn't take revenge but got even instead, with extreme karate prejudice.  He hit a mainstream breakthrough with 1983's Lone Wolf McQuade, the first in our study of What the Chuck?!  An Appreciation of the Real American Action Hero.  Set near the Mexican border, Lone Wolf McQuade introduces us to badass, non-team playing Texas Ranger J.J. McQuade as he single-handedly takes on a gang of mean motor scooters.  He uses guns of all sizes as well as his fists and feet when lethal force isn't necessary.  He drinks Pearl beer and only Pearl beer, sports a sweet beard, a huge rodeo style belt buckle, has a pet wolf and drives a super charged Dodge truck.  While the new, PR seeking, wuss-ified Rangers respect McQuade's record, they don't appreciate his tactics and want him to cool it with the violent heroics.

The only problem is, a ruthless arms dealer and mean sum'bitch by the name of Rawley Wilkes shows up (a post Kung-Fu David Carradine) and messes with McQuade's daughter and her fiance after an interrupted hijacking of military weapons.  The fiance is gunned down, the daughter's car pushed into a ravine and McQuade's mentor is killed.  Now, pissed off and out for blood, McQuade teams up with a fresh faced State Trooper and an in the know federal agent to deliver some hard justice, Texas-Mexico style.  One blood wet burrito, coming up!  Storming Wilkes' hacienda using machine guns, six-shooters and a bulldozer among other things, hero and villain drop their guns and go head to head for a final showdown.  Clad in a white and argyle sweater with black slacks, Wilkes uses some fancy, swaying, kung-fu style hand motions while McQuade's military vest with no shirt underneath to reveal a hairy chest goes for a simpler, put up your dukes, karate style.  Carradine moves fluidly and throws lots of jump kicks, seemingly getting the better of Chuck until McQuade's daughter tries to intervene and gets back hand punched, in slow motion, which calls down the Texas Thunder and we get Norris trademarks like the jump flying sidekick, front leg hook kick and spinning back kick.  McQuade then dodges bullets from a Mac-10 uzi and says bye bye to Wilkes by way of a grenade blowing up the shit out of an ammunition filled shack.

Literally a modern day Spaghetti Western, Lone Wolf McQuade unfolds in long shots, close ups and dramatic music.  Directed by Steve Carver with a script from B.J. Nelson and H. Kaye Dyal, Lone Wolf McQuade manages to mix the modern western motif with some light hearted comedy and karate action.  Norris' character is a little more well rounded here than his previous, straight karate movies and the bits about his preference for beer, talking trash to just about everyone around him and being a softie in regards to his daughter are nice touches.  As is the scene where he's shot and buried in his truck only to wake up, pour a beer on his head, take a sip, spit it out then turbo boost out with his super charged engine.

Produced for an estimated $5 million bucks, Lone Wolf McQuade would gross 3 times as much and be given a 3.5 star review by a younger Roger Ebert.  The film and role would be one of Norris' most iconic and given the team up with familiar to martial arts audiences face David Carradine, it's easy to see why.  His hit show Walker, Texas Ranger would have been called McQuade, Texas Ranger if anyone had asked MGM for the rights.  When Norris popped up in 2012's The Expendables 2 for his meta soaked cameo, he's dubbed "The Lone Wolf".

Workout of the Day: Gobble Gobble

It was Thanksgiving AND Bruce Lee's birthday?!  If eater's remorse wasn't enough to get you off your duff, paying homage to one of the great icons of martial arts, fitness and cinema should have been.  The Bruce had a pretty open minded approach to the arts and working out.  Feeling traditional, total adherence to one style was dumb, Lee openly sought out to learn from different disciplines like boxing, wrestling, grappling and the like.  When it came to fitness, The Bruce was known for lifting weights, isometrics, running, jump roping, hitting the heavy bag and sparring to keep light on his feet but able to deliver powerful punches and kicks.

So to stave off the Turkey Day drag, I got in the following workouts:

Deadlift/Goblet Squat/100 Jump Rope Skips x 8
Ab crunches/Trunk Twists/100 Skips x 4

This was a home routine done on an empty stomach, I've been waking up around 5:00AM all week so this simple, 3 exercise routine wouldn't challenge me too much mentally.  This was to work my lower back and keep it strong then the Goblet Squats (holding DB on one end in front of chest) let you get a deeper range of motion.  Keeping my reps in the 10-12 area, 8 sets was a bit much for my lower back but my quads felt good.  Adding 100 skips of the rope is an easy way to get in some cardio and takes under a minute.  According to Bruce, 1 minute of rope is equal to 3 of jogging and with all the treats coming up, the more cardio, the better.  I followed the weights up with some ab exercises, I don't know about you but my stomach always feels tighter when I do some reps every other day.  Just simple crunches of various kinds in the 30 rep range super setted with trunk twists followed by more rope.  Usually I'll do sets of 50 then change to a different foot fall pattern.

On Thanksgiving Day, I hit the empty streets and nearly barren gym for:

1) Standing Barbell Press/Preacher Curl/J-Press
- For mass and I could use one pre-set barbell for each exercise to save on time.
2) Rear DB Raises/Frank Zane Curl (leaning into an incline bench)/Hammer Extensions
- Changing to DB's works the muscles and limbs independently then gives a little more shape from the wrists not being locked in place.
3) Side Cable Raise/Rope Hammer Curl/Rope Extensions
- Going from barbells, to dumbbells to cable puts stress on the muscle differently.  In this case the constant tension is good for definition.
4) Front DB Raise/Concentration Curl/DB Extension
- While I did 3 sets of the previous giant sets, this fourth and final tri-set was more or less to burn out.

Followed by some calf raises, forearms, neck and 4 miles on the bike I was ready to go and try to eat my age in platefuls of food.  Just kidding, I only do that with slices of pie...

Vernal Viewing: The Raid 2

Having just expanded across the United States and playing in 954 theaters, The Raid 2 comes riding a festival and word of mouth hype train following the success of 2011's fan favorite, The Raid:  Redemption.  Picking up after the events of it's predecessor, hero cop and badass fighter Rama (Iko Uwais) is recruited to go deep cover in a bid to take down high levels of organized crime.  A 2 year stint in prison gets him next to the son of a feared crime boss and upon release, Rama goes to work for the family.  Aggressive expansion, ambitious purpose, turf war with Yakuza and lots and lots of violence ensues.

As an action movie and martial arts fan, The Raid 2 left me with conflicted feelings.  Somewhere, in this 140 minute running time is a 95 minute classic.  Like many films today, The Raid 2 suffers from in my opinion, being too Damme long and thinking that an extended run time will equal more gravitas.  From the 2.5 hour indulgence Django Unchained, the nothing much happens Hunger Games:  Catching Fire, five endings Divergent to this, there's a fine line between trying to build an epic and just plain pummeling your audience with low key fluff intended to hype the ending.  The last hour is fantastic, if they could have set up the film faster then moved into the final showdown(s), I think you would have had something really special.

Writer/Director Gareth Evans and team again deliver some truly awe inspiring, jaw dropping, cringe inducing, holy shit action set pieces involving cars, fisticuffs, machetes, baseball bats, hammers and more on the streets, in a muddy prison yard, a subway car and warehouses with plenty of broken limbs, maimed bodies and bloody aftermath galore.  What Evans is able to capture practically is impressive, you never feel like you're watching green screen or stunt doubles or unable to tell what's happening.  Many of the hand to hand sequences are done in long takes with the action clearly discernible.  While elaborate choreography is on full display, I feel a lack of simple technical physical prowess is missing.  Nary a high kick is thrown but there's the tired, "front kick while leaning back and yelling" for days.  While we don't live in an age where high kicking specimens Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White or Jean-Claude Van Damme can headline theatrical films, I missed their acrobatic muscular grace.

For a film this long, there just isn't enough story to sustain the space between action sequences.  They might have been aiming to make a gritty, urban, organized crime epic but it's not like we're talking the layered nuance of Heat or The Godfather here.  The beats are very familiar and expected, simply highlighted by brutal, brutal action scenes that for me, were almost too much.  That was the problem Jackie Chan had in trying to break the Western audience, he was all about the action but we just can't handle that much action with no story or characters, no matter how flimsy.  When Chan blended comedy with action, POW! we got enjoyable romps Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon.  Action without context or care is pointless.  Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, JCVD, Stallone and Arnold all had personality and charisma.  They were put into simple situations as underdogs and fought their way out.  Deep down we knew they were going to win but we still rooted for them and took the journey with them.  Here, Rama's story and characterization is nearly non-existent.  We don't really care if he busts these guys or makes it back to his wife and kid who are thrown in to remind us that he's fighting for something.  He's already been gone for 2 years, what's a few more months?

Violence in film has always been a hot topic and while it may sound hypocritical that I found one movie too violent than another, I walked away from The Raid 2 thinking, that was too much and feeling a little dirty.  While Lee, Van Damme and Arnold's antics inspired me to become a better and more well rounded person.  Just the changing of the seasons, I suppose.

Sunday driving:

Ask Me a Question: Enter The Dragon

Enter the Dragon, 40th Anniversary.  Would you believe that?  Those badasses at the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences put on a great event that was equal parts celebration, education and entertainment.

Film executive, producer, writer and movie poster collector Stephen Chin was on hand to introduce an original print from 1973 of ETD (something about a transfer where colors don't fade) and discuss the extraordinary life of one Bruce Lee.  Sometimes we forget how extraordinary.  Sometimes we forget that Bruce Lee and Kung-Fu/martial arts movies weren't always a part of the worldwide pop culture lexicon.

An exquisite line up of guests were on hand to speak about the Bruce and Enter The Dragon.  Producers Paul Heller and Fred Weintraub, cinematographer Gilbert Hubbs, Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon, bad guy and Karate stud Bob Wall, co-star John Saxon (of From Dusk Til Dawn!) and 6 time Oscar nominated composer Lalo Schifrin (Bullit, Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry)!

What's great about these events is that they are well moderated so each guest has ample time to speak, a variety of subjects are covered and the lack of audience Q&A means no awkward quemments (question/comment) or long winded, personal diatribes from frustrated viewers/wannabe filmmakers.

- Fred Weintraub knew Lee was something special and tried to find projects for him but Hollywood had no faith in an Asian leading man.
- One project turned into Kung Fu, the TV series starring David Carradine.  Another was a buddy picture with Woody Strode (Spartacus, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Professionals) that stalled out.
- FW encouraged Lee to put some action on film as a demo he could show naysayers.  Lee went to Hong Kong and made The Big Boss and Fists of Fury which became overseas hits.
- It was still a tough sell but Warner Brothers put up half the $400,000 budget to produce ETD.
- Hong Kong super producer Raymond Chow ended up being barred from the set.
- Lee and Bob Wall were training partners for years, probably because Wall could take real hits in sparring and in the movies.  Wall also trained with Chuck Norris for decades.
- Lee and the cast sustained multiple injuries during filming due to his commitment for realism in fight scenes.
- John Saxon almost backed out of the film at the last minute.  Bonded with Bruce over home gyms.
- Lee wanted to meet Lalo Schifrin, who was under great stress to score the film quickly.
- Lee and Schifrin both considered themselves artists who fused thousands of years of tradition in martial arts and music into new forms and styles.
- Lee trained to Schifrin's famous theme song from Mission:  Impossible.
- Thanks to ETD, in the early 70's, 20% of films shown in U.S. theaters were Kung-Fu movies.
- Lebanon was the first territory outside of Hong Kong to screen Bruce Lee movies.

Much, much, MUCH more was discussed but I guess you had to be there.  The film rolled and looked great.  You forget how ripped Bruce Lee was until you see it on the big screen.  Young Bolo Yeung's popping pecs look the same here as they did twenty years later in Bloodsport (JCVD alert!).  I had also forgotten how funny this movie is, due to it's 70's-ness and the quirky performances.

Stephen Chin's awesome collection of martial arts movie posters from around the world filled the lobby.  It was a great reminder of Bruce Lee's living philosophy; be determined, be dedicated, never be dismissed and always be ready to kick some ass.