the magazine

Ross W Clarkson shoots people for a living... and they like it. Impact meets one of the most talented action cinematographers in the business...

Hong Kong based Ross W Clarkson has made a name for himself around the world, by shooting people! He’s shot Jean-Claude Van Damme several times in numerous countries, Scott Adkins, Dolph Lundgren, Lau Ching-wan, Simon Yam, Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes - he’s shot them all, hell he even shot a Shark In Venice for Nu Image! And let’s not even get into Sex & Chopsticks: The Forbidden Legend! Clarkson has built a solid reputation with such credits as Undisputed 2: Last man Standing, The Victim, The Suspect, The Mechanik, Replicant, Ninja and most recently Undisputed 3, as one of the best action cinematographers in the business. Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder caught up with Clarkson in Hong Kong for the following interview.

Impact: Ross, how did you first get involved with the industry and at what level? Were you always interested in being a cameraman/
cinematographer?
Ross Clarkson: I always had some interest in filming and photography, but it was when I was about thirteen or so, I saw a news crew filming and thought that maybe I could pursue a career as a cameraman. I spoke to my teachers and they listened to what I had to say and then...

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2009 edition of Impact]

After years as a key supporting player, Danny Trejo has just started filming Machete - a movie that will put him centre-stage at last. He talks to Impact about the project and his views on Hollywood...

A few years ago, we caught up with Danny Trejo during his visit to the Bradford Film Festival. Promoting not just an action movie but a documentary about his own life (Champion) it was clear then that here was a driven man, informed but not defined by his troubled life prior to stepping in front of the camera. He wasn’t resting on his laurels and certainly hasn’t since.

In the last few years he’s been in so many projects, it’s a wonder the IMDB can keep up. From Stargate: Atlantis, to the Hallowe’en remake to Desperate Housewives and Eyeborgs, to providing voices for Spider-man, King of the Hill and generally being an imposing presence in any number of projects, Danny’s Rushmore-esque face and voice are unmistakable.
Now Trejo is re-teaming with his old friend and regular director Robert Rodriguez to fulfil a long-standing promise to create a film around him. The film Machete was first referenced when Rodriguez and Tarantino joined forces for Grindhouse - the Death Proof and Planet Terror double-bill (though Danny played Uncle Machete in the Spy Kids movies and has frequently been named after blades in Rodriguez‘s outings). The film may have been treated fairly ambivalently...

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2009 edition of Impact]

Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder talks to Murderer director, Roy Chow [Chow Hin-yeung].

The success story at the Hong Kong box office this summer has been the first film from director Roy Chow (Chow Hin-yeung) Murderer, starring Aaron Kwok (Kwok Fu-shing) as a man whose life takes a nightmarish turn for the worst. Despite its success at the box office, there has been much controversy surrounding the movie with both Chow and his scriptwriter Christine To, coming under fire, it would appear, for the crime of having made a successful movie. Impact’s Eastern editor, Mike Leeder, talks to Roy about the genesis of the film and the resulting controversy in this exclusive interview.

Impact: Roy, can you begin by telling us how you first got involved with the industry?
Roy Chow: I came into the industry just after I graduated, as part of a new creative development team for Edko Films and, after a year or so, I was given the opportunity to work more closely with Edko’s boss, Producer Bill Kong (Fearless, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). I started off working as his assistant and was given the opportunity to get an insight into many different aspects of film production and development, from reviewing potential projects and scripts, working with directors, working with the...

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2009 edition of Impact]

Impact catches up with Peter Briggs and takes a sneaky-peek at the plans and story-boarding for his all-action directorial debut, Mortis Rex...

We last spoke to Peter Briggs after his aborted but ambitious version of the Highlander movie: The Source which he was hired to write for. Briggs had already shared the screen-story credit for the Hellboy movie, and had penned earlier drafts of scripts for the likes of Judge Dredd, Alien Vs Predator and more. But there comes a time when a writer wants to shake off the big studio notes and committees and get down to business himself, shaping his own work if possible. Flying in the face of the current financial climate, it looks as if Peter will actually get that chance with Mortis Rex - a story that combines the supernatural and the historical as a disgraced roman commander takes on dark forces in deepest, darkest Scotland.
“Mortis Rex kinda came about via an odd back-door route. Back in 1997, I was doing Hellboy for Dark Horse, and it looked like I’d be doing some comic-books for them,” Peter explains. “One of the things I wanted to do was a Predator story. I had one that dealt with a Predator tailing a Roman column that was coming back from a battle. The Predator falls off an incline,...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2009 edition of Impact]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen may have got ripped apart by the critics, but does director Michael Bay care? Impact talks to the iconic director for whom no explosion is too loud!

Having spent several weeks in Iowa and hours in screening rooms watching Michael Bay’s movies, I think I’m in a position to know something about corn. While the Midwest US state is wonderful in its very lack of apocalyptic drama (usually), the opposite is true for Bay’s movies. No explosion is too big, no woman too curvaceous, no strut too... well, strutty. Never one to shy away from iconic imagery and chest-pounding monologues, this is a one-man power ballad made flesh - with one hand on the wheel and the other flipping the bird to the last vestige of subtlety if not busy elsewhere. That’s just how it is...
It isn’t a new attitude. From an early age, the young Bay was already creating a unique brand of chaos. “I was actually into train-sets and I’d create my own little worlds, build my towns and I made my first ever Super8 movie by stealing my mom’s camera. I set fire to some of the models, which actually caught the drapes in my bedroom on fire and the fire department came. I got grounded for three weeks. That was my very first movie!” he sighs with distinct gleam in his...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2009 edition of Impact]

Michael Worth is a name that is well known to long-time Impact readers. Mike Leeder caught up with him to discuss his latest projects... including God’s Ears, an acclaimed drama about a boxer overcoming autism...

Most Impact readers know Michael Worth for kicking butt and taking names a in such projects as Street Crimes, To Be The Best, Final impact (with Lorenzo Lamas) and Isaac Florentine’s US Seals 2. His onscreen opponents have included Batman, vampire slayers and rogue Special Forces operatives. In recent years, Worth has begun working both in front and behind the camera on a variety of projects including God’s Ears - a well received action drama about a boxer overcoming autism. Impact’s Mike Leeder caught up with Worth for the following interview.

Impact: Michael you’ve made quite a name for yourself as an actor and action performer in projects like Acapulco heat, US Seals 2 and the PM movies; Ghost Rock, Dual etc... Recently you seem to have been stepping behind the camera more often. What lead you to make that decision?
Michael Worth: I’ve found that whatever creative force drove me into this insane business, it is a little broader and complex than just ‘acting’ can provide. There is a sort of self indulgence to acting that can require a lot of creative thought... but directing and writing tackles another part of my brain and gut...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2009 edition of Impact]

He's the man who taught us to scream AND laugh at the dark. Impact meets the cult film director and promises to never feed him after midnight!

Few connoisseurs of esoteric cinema will fail to recognise the name ‘Joe Dante.’ As a protege of the legendary Roger Corman, the great man began his career cutting trailers for such grindhouse classics as Caged Heat and Cockfighter. Eventually being let loose on his lonesome, Dante would give the world Piranha - a movie which caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, allowing the filmmaker to work on the ill-fated 1983 compendium Twilight Zone: The Movie before shooting to the A-list with 1984’s Gremlins. As an admitted follower of cult flicks it should come as no surprise that many of Dante’s best known epics (a list which also includes werewolf farce The Howling and Innerspace) owe their existence to the wonderful world of B-flicks. Appearing at the annual Edinburgh International Film Festival, the father of Gizmo was happy to admit: “I have been influenced by practically every movie I ever saw. My films come from my own world view, and it’s a very strange world.” (Laughs.)

The filmmaker also recounted how he began indulging his enthusiasm for the fantasy and horror movie genre by contributing illustrations to monster magazines in his teens. Then, after graduating from Art College, he became a...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2009 edition of Impact]

Simon Yam and Anthony Wong took time out from the film festival festivities to discuss their experiences in Johnny To’s upcoming Vengeance. Cannes they survive the experience?

The legendary French movie fest is over for another year, but Impact took the time to sit down with two of the key names in Eastern action cinema and get their impressions of not only their latest project, Johnnie To’s Vengeance, but also the international market. Simon Yam and Antony Wong talk to Laurent Koffell...

Impact: Gentlemen, thank you for talking to us. Let’s start by talking about the fact you’ve known Johnnie To for a long time... How would you describe that relationship?
Simon Yam: There’s lots of good memories. We’ve known each other for over thirty-five years... It’s actually almost forty years of friendship. He has passion and a heart for directing, my passion and heart is for acting. We spend time talking about films, about the world, about everything... and when you do everything by heart you don’t have to have normal communication on the set. You don’t need to talk, you just need to think ‘How does Johnnie want me to do this?’ and that’s good enough. That’s the best way to create something new. I was really happy last night when Quentin Tarantino asked me ‘Hey, Simon, you are in every single one of Johnny...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2009 edition of Impact]

He rose to fame with a classic movie short that collided the worlds of Batman, The Joker, Aliens and Predators... so what does a self-cnfessed geek and enterprising film-maker do next? John Bierly talks to Collora about the feature-length Hunter Prey.

Collora’s short film, Batman: Dead End, was the biggest story at the 2003 San Diego Comic Con, where the director’s gift for effortlessly iconic imagery became an overnight internet sensation. When Batman lands on rain-battered asphalt, his leathery cape rises with him as if it’s alive. After a quick clash with a Joker whose yellowed, bloodshot eyes only barely hide the twisted perversion boiling inside, Batman finds himself locked in bloody combat with Aliens and Predators every bit as nasty and as capable as these monsters have ever appeared on film. It’s eight of the wildest minutes you’ll ever see. Collora’s follow-up, an action-packed Superman/Batman trailer called World’s Finest, debuted to similar fanfare in 2004. Its three minutes and forty seconds bursts with more action and charm than all of Superman Returns.
The New York native cut his teeth sculpting and designing concepts and creatures with the legendary likes of Stan Winston and Rick Baker before establishing his own independent production company, Montauk Films, in 1999. His latest project is a sci-fi action film called Hunter Prey. And if its trailer (at www.hunterpreythemovie.com) is any indication, Collora continues to mature into a modern master of adventure and imagination.
Impact:...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2009 edition of Impact]

It’s been a while since the master of bullet ballet made a film in the East. This month sees the UK release of the international print of Red Cliff - a gargantuan action opus to rival Lord of the Rings. Thomas Podvin sits down with the director to discuss his career thus far.

Contrary to popular belief, the epic Red Cliff (released in Asia in two separate chapters) wasn’t, as many reported, Woo’s first directorial effort in China since he kissed Hong Kong goodbye in 1992 after completing Hard Boiled. In 2005, Woo went to Beijing to shoot a medium-length feature, Song Song and Little Cat - a segment of the Italian-produced omnibus film All the Invisible Children, made for UNICEF and the World Food Programme. The film focuses on two little Chinese girls, and at the risk of scaring hardcore bullet-ballet fans away, there’s no signs of a gun barrel. No explosions. No Mexican stand offs. Zip...

It certainly doesn’t sound like the Woo we knew, but at 59, the Guangzhou-born director made a film he has always dreamed of, a character-driven film - a pure drama. There are signs here of an evolution in Woo’s cinema.

Two years later, Red Cliff was being shot in the continuity of this evolution. Woo not only made a period war epic but also designed a film where female characters were well developed, male bonding and testosterone kept to a minimum, romanticism and sentimentality subdued and drama and action well balanced. He’s proved he was more than...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2009 edition of Impact]

As Salvation hits multiplexes around the globe, John Bierly brings us an overview of the franchise and we talk to McG about what to expect from his take on the series.

Joseph McGinty Nichol is one of those directors who catches far more hell than he deserves. (Though insisting to be called ‘McG’ admittedly doesn’t help much.) And yet his films - Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and the inspiring football drama We Are Marshall - are nothing less than entirely what they were meant to be. Try telling that to the fans of the Terminator franchise, who did more revolting than John Connor in a room full of gun-toting refrigerators when it was announced that McG would helm Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the franchise that began under James Cameron’s infinitely capable care with 1984’s gritty sci-fi/action classic, The Terminator.

Though Arnold Schwarzenegger’s performance as the cybernetic assassin sent back through time (from 2029) to murder Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) before she could get pregnant with her anti-robot Resistance-leading son John was instantly iconic, Cameron initially envisioned Lance Henriksen as the villainous, “I’ll be back” spouting T-800 killing machine. Schwarzenegger was originally considered to play John’s father Kyle Reese, sent back in time by John to save Sarah (and the rest of the world, too). The idea that the Terminator would blend into crowds was quickly abandoned when Cameron...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2009 edition of Impact]

Calum Waddell sits down with the lovely Gianna Jun - star of the live action adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire.

Blood: The Last Vampire is a title that most readers of Impact will be instantly familiar with. After all, 2000’s award winning anime outing was acclaimed across the globe and soon found itself with a dedicated cult fanbase - something that, no doubt, explains the series of spin-off mangas and novels that quickly followed. Without wishing to bore those already overly familiar with the basic plot, the star of the show is Saya - a sultry teenaged samurai whose youthful exterior camouflages the restless soul of a 400 year old vampire vixen! Well, almost: See, our lass is half-vamp and half-human (thus known as a ‘Halfling’) and her mission is to rid the world of the real deal - the toothsome night crawlers that exist to suck our blood and/or make us one of the un-dead... Hey - just another boring day at the office, right?

In the new motion picture, also entitled Blood: The Last Vampire and released to UK cinemas on June 19th, Saya is eager to hunt and destroy an evil patriarch called Onigen (think of him as the feature’s Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee - the ultimate in fanged nastiness!). Perhaps inevitably, especially considering the scope...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2009 edition of Impact]

It’s officially the Impact office’s favourite franchise reboot! We talk to the actors and director, JJ Abrams, about bringing the long running series up to date for a new generation and bring you the lowdown on the movie.

It’s 11:00am on a Monday morning and I’m in Iowa. Oh, physically, I won’t be there for a few weeks yet, but in a crowded screening room in Central London I’m one of the first people in the UK to be seeing a young James Tiberius Kirk joy-riding through the US state as he tries to forget the legacies of the past and the potential of the future. But this isn’t William Shatner and not quite the Trek you remember. History, you see, has been ever so slightly changed and this young whippersnapper who we think is destined to grow up to be a famous starship captain, has a new weight of expectation on his shoulders.

And so does director J J Abrams. Abrams is the man who brought us the television hits Lost, Alias and Fringe and helmed the big-screen likes of Mission Impossible III and Cloverfield. He has now taken the reins of the most famous science-fiction franchise in the world and has given it a temporal spring cleaning. Sure enough, there’s Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov and Sulu... heck there’s even a guy in red who you just know isn’t going to last long...but this is...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2009 edition of Impact]

After the pages and pages of coverage we’ve given this movie throughout it’s production, it’s finally available to watch in the UK! Impact sits down with cast and crew to look back at the making of a UK action classic.

It’s a sad fact that for every big screen action movie like Taken or Transporter 3, there are at least half a dozen direct to DVD action films that slip almost under the radar direct onto the shelves of your local DVD store, and for every one of those, there will be at least another ten that will go unreleased. The UK’s Modern Life team consider themselves lucky that not only did their first film, Left For Dead get a DVD release in several countries (including the UK), but that it also managed to achieve a certain amount of cult status. Following up on your first feature is never as easy as one might think, and in the spirit of truly independent filmmaking, two years and several aborted projects littered the way to the film they finally settled upon. A back to basics hardcore British revenge thriller inspired by such films as Get Carter and The Long Good Friday. On the eve of the film’s UK DVD release, producer Phil Hobden takes a look back at the production with some of the cast and crew.

Ten men destroyed his life, taking away everything that Ryan ever cared about....

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2009 edition of Impact]

Your mother is an acclaimed teacher of the martial arts. Your brother is one of the great action stars of his generation. Was there any real doubt that Chris Yen would follow in their footsteps? Impact meets a ‘sister streetfighter’ who’s doing it for herself.

Growing up in a household where her mother is world famous martial arts teacher Bow Sim Mark, and her brother Donnie is a world famous martial arts movie star, is it any wonder that both martial arts and movie making features heavily in Chris Yen’s life? Her credits include her debut in Yuen Woo-ping’s Close Encounters of the Vampire and a scene stealing turn in Protégé de la Rose Noire, and Kenn Scott’s fantasy actioner Adventures of Johnny Tao. Yen returns to the screen in the stylized thriller Give ‘em hell, Malone directed by Russsell Mulcahy alongside Thomas Jane and Ving Rhames. Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder caught up with Chris for the following interview.

Impact: Chris, the last time we saw you, you were stylishly kicking butt as a warrior with a mission in The Adventures of Johnny Tao. What else have you been working on since we last spoke?
Chris Yen: Hi, Mike. I was in an indie film called A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy, which went to Sundance then had limited theatrical release, and now it’s on DVD. There’s also a 20 episode WB project I worked on with Josh Schwartz (Chuck) called Rockville, CA....

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2009 edition of Impact]

Of Rocks and Mountains: It’s a case of ‘Every Witch way but loose...’ as the ex-wrestler adds another hit to his acting resume. Does this family-friendly reworking of an old Disney classic measure up?

If every wrestling star who tried to switch their career track and body-slam into Hollywood did so successfully, then the box-office would need a referee not a ticket-collector. But the actual success-rate is much less. Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper had their stabs in the eighties and current bad-boy John Cena hopes to make audiences see him in 12 Rounds out this summer, but if you had to pick a wrestler who might not have been the obvious choice to achieve success it was The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson. Johnson knew how to rock an audience but many thought his cinematic outings might be confined to traditional ‘heavies’, cameos and straight to DVD outings as had been the template of his predecessors. ‘Many’ would have been wrong. What became apparent very quickly was that Johnson was nobody’s fool and with some solid appearances, a good attitude and a healthy work ethic, he started garnering a genuine fan-base amongst audiences and critics alike. And name one other action star, even including the great Arnold Schwarzenegger, who’s had the breadth or savvy to play roles as diverse as action hero, Star Trek alien, gay bouncer, Tooth Fairy, spy and extra-terrestrially abducted cab...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2009 edition of Impact]

The biggest budget film adaptation of a manga. Ever. The 20th Century Boys has just enjoyed a limited theatrical run and is due to hit DVD soon. Impact sits down with the director and manga writer for a chat about the apocalypse...

Yukihiko Tsutsumi:
Director of 20th Century Boys
Yukihiko Tsutsumi was born in 1955 in Aichi, Japan. His directorial debut was in 1980 with an episode of an omnibus movie, Eigo ga nanda/To Hell with English, in the movie called, Bakayaro/I’m Plenty Mad. He then moved to New York and directed music videos and high-definition productions. He also directed Homeless with Yoko Ono in this period. In 1994 Tsutsumi joined the founding members of Office Crescendo, Inc., a production company so he could direct a wider variety of material. His broadened expertise includes movies, TV dramas, music videos, commercial advertisements and publications. Recently Tsutsumi directed movies such as, Maboroshi no Yamataikoku/The Lost Legend of Yama Kingdom (2008), Ginmakuban Sushi Oji/Sushi King Goes to New York (2008), Hotai Kurabu/The Bandage Club (2007), Jigyaku no Uta/Happily Ever After (2007), Taitei no Tsurugi/The Sword of Alexander (2007), TRICK, the Movie 2 (2006) and Ashita no Kioku/Memories of Tomorrow (2006).

Impact: Were you familiar with the original manga?
Yukihiko Tsutsumi: I had read it and found it thoroughly entertaining. I can identify with many elements of the story because I come from the same generation as the characters. The way kids played back then and the...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2009 edition of Impact]

After the darkness of Watchmen and The Dark Knight, Impact’s cover story suggests it’s about time we had something for the whole family...

As we’ve often reported, it can be a rocky path ‘twixt game and cinema screen. What, at first glance, may seem like an obvious transition - after all action-fuelled, kinetic entertainment is a mainstay of both formats - can often become a cropper if the interactivity of the game experience is lost and if the story based on the game doesn’t hold water. However in the case of Dragonball: Evolution it’s probably a matter of never mind the quantity, feel the quiff. Because yes, the hero with the hairstyle and eastern cinemas veritable veteran Chow Yun fat combine for a romp that should have the kids and the young at heart perfectly satisfied, if not the more discerning older audiences.

The brainchild of Japanese artist Akira Toriyama, Dragonball began life in 1984 as a manga series, selling some 35 million copies in Japan alone. Inspired by the Chinese folk novel Journey to the West, this story of Goku, a young man who sets out to collect seven mysterious objects known as Dragon Balls, has since spawned three different anime shows, trading cards, video games, action figures and numerous animated films. There’s probably lunch-boxes out there somewhere too.

James Wong was brought...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2009 edition of Impact]

With the ironic JCVD putting him back on the action radar, what’s next for Jean Claude van Damme? Impact talks exclusively to the man about his career and plans.

The universally positive response to JCVD, has given Jean-Claude Van Damme a much deserved career resurgence. While Impact has long championed the man and his movies, it’s only now that the mainstream media seems willing to acknowledge him and the almost universal appeal of the man and his movies. Jean-Claude has recently wrapped on a very personal project The Eagle Path (originally known as Full Love), which saw him wearing multiple hats as writer, producer, director and star. Impact’s Eastern editor, Mike Leeder, a longtime Jean-Claude Van Damme associate, caught up with the man to talk about JCVD, The Eagle Path and what the future holds...

Impact: Jean-Claude, were you surprised by just how well JCVD movie has been received around the world - did you have any idea when you got involved with the project that it would get such response?
JCVD: It’s been refreshing and inspiring to see the film getting such great feedback, and that people have taken the film to heart. (Laughing.) It’s funny as, for a long time, I didn’t really think we would ever make the movie. The first time the project was discussed was after I’d been interviewed for a documentary a few years...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2009 edition of Impact]

Impact bows its head to the socially-aware, deep and meaningful and artistically wholesome outing that is... Lesbian Vampire Killers. Johnny Messias grabs his stake and goes behind the scenes with co-writer and action-film addict Paul Hupfield.

Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle of Death. Two Thousand Maniacs. Blacula. No, not scripts passed on by Judy Dench, but classic examples of one of the best loved clichés in film criticism: it does what it says on the tin!

In this fine tradition you may well have seen trailers for a new British flick which promises to combine the much loved wonkiness of Hammer Horror with nubile women in clothing wholly unsuitable for outdoor pursuits in the British Isles, paying lavish attention to, er, each other.

So, Lesbian Vampire Killers is the tale of two lovable losers, Jimmy (James Corden) who’s been dumped multiple times by his irritating girlfriend and Fletch (Mathew Horne), his best mate whose life revolves around beer and those parts of a woman’s anatomy he can either honk or indicate with his index fingers.

Broke, horny and confused they head off on Fletch’s harebrained hiking trip to stumble upon a Norfolk village in the deep forest where they find a pub with inbred locals who look ready to re-enact Deliverance, a mad Vicar (in the shape of Paul McGann). And naturally, a bus load of horny Swedish ‘students of folklore and legend’ in push-up bras. Will...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2009 edition of Impact]

Ricky Manning takes us behind the scenes of his new internet project: Fusion and discusses the WGA strike, its implications and the enduring appeal of all things frelling cosmic!

Look Ricky Manning up on the IMDB and you’ll note he was apparently a Left Cornerback for the Chicago Bears. It’s at this point that you’ll realise your mistake and put his more formal name. ‘Richard’, into the search engine and come up with an equally impressive résumé (albeit one that doesn’t require as much huddling and helmets - or maybe it does...) that encompasses everything from Fame to Tek-War, from a little thing called Star Trek to a big thing called Farscape.

As a writer his pen and keyboard have covered several genres and several decades and he’s still having fun. But, like many in his chosen profession, the WGA Strike at the end of 2007, left writers with a problem: Where to channel their creative inspiration during the time-out? If work couldn’t be done for actual profit, perhaps it could still be done to keep the creative juices flowing. Ricky decided to strike while the iron and the strike were still hot. Perhaps echoing back to those heady days of the New York School for the Performing Arts... it was a case of ‘let’s do the action show right here!’ Now... all he needed was an...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2009 edition of Impact]

Finally. It’s here. So did the ‘unfilmable’ graphic novel live up or down to expectations? Impact editor John Mosby meets the cast and crew prior to the premiere...

There were those who said it shouldn’t be made. (Alan Moore, please stand up). There were those who said it wouldn’t be made. (You lawyer types that nearly cost us the March release date, we have your number!) And there were those who said it couldn’t be made (Terry Gilliam once commented it couldn’t be anything other than a mini-series). And yet, it’s here. The atomic clock reads five minutes to midnight, but at 4:30am, and mere seconds after Danny Boyle has danced like Tigger at the Oscars, I’m hitting the road down to London to see if Watchmen the movie has been worth waiting twenty years to watch. I wouldn’t do this for just any film, but Watchmen is... well, a film less ordinary.

When Zack Snyder was announced as director for a cinematic version of Watchmen, the choice was met with both a few raised eyebrows and more than a few resigned shrugs. In context, this was a film that had been either the Holy Grail or poisoned chalice of comic-book adaptations for over twenty years. The human genome had been mapped, wars had been won and lost, but bringing the ultimate story of flawed superheroes to the screen...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2009 edition of Impact]

What do Tango & Cash, In Her Shoes and Tremors all have in common? They all feature stunts or fight coordination by Jeff Imada. Impact catches up with the acclaimed stuntman to talk about his career.

Pop Quiz, Hotshots... what do Tango & Cash, In Her Shoes and Tremors all have in common? Well apart from the fact they all feature in my DVD collection (let me assure you In Her Shoes is more down to my fiancé than me!), they also, and more relevantly, feature stunts or fight coordination by Jeff Imada. And whilst Imada may not be a name you instantly recognise, you have certainly seen his work.

Jeff Imada was born and raised in Inglewood, California, USA, where he began studying martial arts at the age of fifteen. While in college studying medicine, he started working as a movie ‘extra’ which led him through to stunt work and, eventually, some years later, fight and stunt coordination. Today Imada is a member of highly regarded US stunt team Stunts Unlimited and one of the most respected men in the industry. In the past twenty-five years alone he has worked along side directors such as John Carpenter, David Fincher, The Coen Brothers and Tony Scott and choreographed, worked with or appeared alongside Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Brandon Lee, Nicolas Cage, Steven Seagal Clint Eastwood, Stallone, Eddie Murphy... the list goes on. And on.

Impact: When...

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2009 edition of Impact]

We interview the cast and crew of The Bodyguard : A New Beginning.

We’ve covered the production of the independent action feature The Bodyguard: A New beginning since shooting started and, after the first UK review of the film, we thought it was time to speak to some of the cast and crew about the project.

Impact: Can you introduce yourself and tell us your role in the production of The Bodyguard: A New Beginning and how you first got involved with the project?
Chee Keong-cheung: I’m the writer, director and one of the producers. My family are originally from Hong Kong and China, and I was born and raised in the UK. I studied film and video and after graduating with a BA Hons degree, I set up my UK based production company, Intense Productions in Sept 1999. I started out working in short films, music videos and documentaries while developing larger projects and have been able to work with several high profile individuals including former Vice President of 20th Century Fox Tim Hampton and Oscar winning cinematographer Jack Cardiff OBE. I first got into action film making after being introduced to mark Strange who rapidly became a very good friend and partner in several projects. I felt there was a lot of...

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2009 edition of Impact]

Director of Drive, one of Impact's favourite Hollywood martial arts movies, and a SFX wunderkind, we interview Steve Wang about his new version of the Japanese television action classic, Kamen Rider.

Director Steve Wang brings the legendary Japanese series Kamen Rider to an international audience with the new American Kamen Rider TV series, which promises a healthy mix of mysterious aliens, costumed super-heroics, car chases, monsters and high impact martial arts action. Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder caught up with Steve for the following interview...

Impact: Steve, for those of us who came in late and aren’t really aware of just what Kamen Rider is... can you give us a brief intro as to what your new show is about?
Steve Wang: The Kamen Riders are characters created by the late Shotaro Ishinomori. It originated as a comic first then adapted into a live action kid’s show in 1971 in Japan. It’s been on the air, on and off in Japan and different parts of the world ever since and has a huge following. There are different types of Riders shows. The most famous are probably the first three, Ichigo, Nigo and V3. They were basically soldiers created by an evil organization called Shocker, among others, to be used to conquer the world, instead they defected and decided to use their powers for good to fight the very organization that created...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2009 edition of Impact]

Peter Wingfield gives some insights into his latest projects, including the new season of 24, Sanctuary, 10,000 Days and War of the Worlds.

Time waits for no man. Well, technically that’s not true. In Highlander, Peter Wingfield played an Immortal who was at least 5,000 years old but looked barely thirty. In 10,000 Days - an upcoming Internet project - he’s braving a future arctic cold and, in his latest project, the role of Emmerson in the long-overdue return of 24 this month, he’s only got a single day... maybe a few hours at best given the mortality rate of characters on the show.

For the moment though it’s 9:00 on a rather atypical chilly and wet Los Angeles morning. Winter has come to America’s west coast and though it may not be as cold as Iowa or as sodden as Yorkshire, the famous City of Angels to which Peter now formally makes his home is facing a more bracing air than usual. “It’s cold, man. It’s not ‘England’ cold, but... I know it’s the middle of December and everything, but... I really don’t need it to be single digits,” he sighs.

Good then that Twenty-Four will be back to warm the cockles of our hearts and preserve truth, justice and the Jack-Bauer-way one stress-filled minute, nuclear explosion, corrupt politician and bullet at a time....

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2009 edition of Impact]

Directed by British film-maker Gareth Evans, Merantu showcases Silat Harimau, a branch of the Indonesian martial arts style of Pencak Silat. Could this do for Indonesia what Ong Bak did for Thailand? Impact's Eastern Editor Mike Leeder investigates...

This year sees the release of Merantau, an Indonesian martial arts action movie, written and directed by a British film-maker, Gareth Evans. The film will showcase Silat Harimau, a branch of the Indonesian martial arts style of Pencak Silat and could well do for Indonesia and Pencak Silat what Ong Bak did for Thailand and Thai martial arts. Merantau will feature action choreography from renowned master Edwel Datuk Rajo Gampo Alam and his action team Silat Hariamu, and showcase rising Indonesian action star and Silat practitioner Iko Uwais. Impact’s Eastern Editor Mike Leeder catches up with Gareth to talk about the genesis of the project, what attracted him to martial arts movies and what to expect from the project.

Gareth Evans: Since I was around five years old, when I first saw Enter The Dragon on VHS, I’ve had a great love for martial arts cinema. My friends and I would scour the video shop for anything that looked vaguely like a martial arts film. If it had a ninja, a samurai or a hero doing a flying kick on the cover we’d rent it immediately. Back then, as kids, we’d talk of remaking all our favourites: Fist of Fury, Big...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2009 edition of Impact]

Silvio Simac, world champion martial artist has made the transition to action actor, appearing in a variety of projects, facing off against everyone from Jet Li to Scott Adkins, and recently worked on The Transporter 3 battling British action hero Jason Statham. Impact caught up with the rising dragon.

Some people succeed in sports, others in films, but only a select few have the talent to succeed in both arenas, Silvio Simac has managed just that, the world champion martial artist has made the transition to action actor, appearing in a variety of projects facing off against everyone from Jet Li to Scott Adkins, and working with the likes of Yuen Woo-ping, Corey Yuen and Luc Besson. Simac was recently back on the big screen in the Luc Besson production, The Transporter 3 battling British action hero Jason Statham. Impact caught up with the rising dragon for the following interview...

Impact: Silvio, how did you first get involved with The Transporter 3 project?
Silvio Simac: In January 2008, I was contacted direct by Europa Corporation office and Luc Besson’s niece with whom I had worked previously on Unleashed. They expressed they were keen to work with me on their next project, Transporter 3. Having been big fan of the first two Transporter films, I naturally, instantaneously took the opportunity. It just literally landed in my lap. No castings, no auditions, no agents, no manager...

You had previously worked for the film’s action director Corey Yuen (Yuen Kwai) on DOA: Dead or...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2009 edition of Impact]

He's apparently about to be one of Stallone's Expendables, but before that the veteran action star is back with a Command Performance.

Dolph Lundgren was born in Stockholm, Sweden and graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology and has a Masters degree in chemical engineering. Lundgren made his feature-film debut in the James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985) playing a minor role as a KGB henchman. His big breakthrough came when he starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV the same year, which catapulted him to fame. Since then, he has starred in more than forty films, working alongside the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brandon Lee and Keanu Reeves. As well as continuing to star in films, he has turned his hand to directing. I caught up with Dolph when he was in the UK editing his new movie Command Performance at Pinewood studios.

Impact: Dolph, let’s talk about the early days of you growing up in Sweden?
Dolph Lundgren: I was brought up in a middle class family, my dad was an academic engineer and my mom was a language teacher. I was kind of a very shy kid, didn’t have many friends - almost like a cliché story where I had some problems at school. But I was good in the arts and started getting good grades...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2009 edition of Impact]

In the second part of our Leverage coverage Gina Bellman uncouples herself from Coupling and Jekyll and tells us about her role in the hit caper show.

A few days before Christmas and my cell phone rings. I’m in the middle of a supermarket doing the last items of seasonal shopping and I’m getting a call from Gina Bellman. Arranging to chat a few hours later, I return the call to find the situation reversed. It seems that interviews, like scams, are all down to perfecting the timing. Gifts firmly stowed, it’s time to chat about the new US show, Leverage.

Impact: You’re well known to UK audiences, but how did Leverage, shot in Chicago and Los Angeles, come about?
Gina Bellman: Dean Devlin had already hooked up with John Rogers and John is a huge fan of Steven Moffatt, who, as you know, wrote Coupling, Jekyll and is now the head guy on Doctor Who. He had followed a lot of Steven’s shows and had seen me in Coupling and Jekyll and he showed Jekyll to Dean and they really loved that show and my role in it - which was very flattering and great. I did have to send a video tape, but I think you always have to do that in America because they have to clear it through all the channels.

The show has a...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2009 edition of Impact]

Impact meets erstwhile Irish film director, Seamus Walsh, to talk about his Hong Kong directing debut, the impressive short, Somebody to Love.

Irish action film-makers never seem to take the easy way out do they? George Clarke decided to make his directorial debut with Battle of the Bone, a full blown Zombie martial arts action film with a budget that wouldn’t have provided lunch on 28 Weeks Later, and Director Seamus Walsh decided to make his debut with an impressive short film, Somebody to Love, shot entirely on location in Hong Kong! The trailer for the film highlights not only some very impressive martial artistry and production values, but also an interesting sense of humour. The film features actor and fight choreographer Phillip Ng (House of Fury and Hands of the Dragon) as the leading man, and features action choreographed by the UK’s own former Hong Kong stuntman Jude Poyer. Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder caught up with Seamus to talk about the project...

Seamus Walsh: Somebody to Love is a martial arts romantic comedy! A lot of action films have a romantic sub-plot which then comes to the forefront if the hero's girlfriend/wife is kidnapped by the bad guys. This is where the films become the most interesting to me, as the hero now has something really invested in the action. I...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2009 edition of Impact]

The infamous director of numerous videogame adaptations and genre classics such as Resident Evil and Event Horizon talks to Impact about his career, Death Race and the emergence of videogames as Hollywood’s next muse.

The man I’m speaking to was actually born Paul Anderson, but later added the initials W.S (which, by the way, stand for William Scott ) to avoid confusion with the Indie film maker Paul Thomas Anderson. Allegedly, that somewhat backfired and he’s now often confused with Wes Anderson. Other than the surname, he has little in common with either of those other Mr. Andersons, and is possibly best known for his big screen adaptations of video games including Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil.

His first outing as writer/director was in 1994 with the violent and controversial Shopping, which attracted wide critical acclaim despite being temporarily banned in the UK and going straight to video in the US. It starred some of the most notable young British talent of the time: Jude Law, Sean Bean, Sean Pertwee and Sadie Frost as well as veteran songbird Marianne Faithfull. Next came the first of his many game adaptations, Mortal Kombat, arguably providing Christopher Lambert with his most notable post-Highlander outing and which proved popular with fans but, perhaps wisely, he declined to become involved with the inevitable sequel.

It was another seven years before his next attempt at adapting a video game - Resident...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2009 edition of Impact]

The first of two Samuel L. Jackson offering this month is the Will Eisner based The Spirit. A comic book movie with a difference. We talk to the cast and director, Frank Miller.

In a little film back in the Eighties, Melanie Griffiths’s Working Girl claimed she had ‘...a mind built for business and a body built for sin.’ Two decades later and perhaps it could be equally said that the very different writer/producer/artist/director and general provocateur Frank Miller has an acumen for business in Hollywood and a body of work built on sin. From the streets of the eponymous Sin City to the unadulterated mainline machismo of the historical/hysterical 300, Miller has taken the work that he did in comics and leapt onto the silver screen. The strokes are broader than the broads and dames he would kill for, but in a distinct territory that he has made his own, Miller is a force to be reckoned with.

Frank Miller is also someone who divides opinion and in his solo-directorial debut The Spirit, there’s a distinct feeling that difference of opinion will continue. As with the preview trailers that have sashayed their way across cinema screens in the last six months - with all the panache of screen siren in heat and so startling in their almost monochrome look that you could slice paper with the contrast control - this is a film...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2009 edition of Impact]

And you thought all that wire work that typifies Hong Kong cinema was dreamt up by Yuen Woo-ping... Think again as Impact meets veteran stuntman Loren Janes.

Your first day at work can be a very stressful time, all those new faces and names, ensuring the impression you make is the right one... It can be a tough day for even the most hardened and confident of people. Now imagine that your first day on a job sees you standing at the edge of a cliff, staring down at the coastline of California. Golden Globe winning director, George Sidney, is on the megaphone calling the shots on a film called Jupiter’s Darling and your job is to perform a cliff dive ninety-foot straight down, past the rough jagged cliff face into the harsh, unforgiving, cold seas below. The average person would run a mile. Janes remembers his first day in the business like it was yesterday. “When I got there I asked them ‘What’s it like down below?’ and they said ‘Don’t worry, it’s plenty deep’. I wasn’t convinced so I said ‘I wanna go look!’ They wanted to get on with it but I insisted! They took me out in a boat and I took a look... Under the water, going forty-feet, out was a shelf! If I’d done it how they wanted I would...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2009 edition of Impact]

Diana Lee Inosanto - god-daughter of one Bruce Lee - adds another string to her bow as she proves herself a capable director with the festival award winning The Sensei. We talk to Diana and her co-star, genre stalwart Keith David, about the movie.

The action film industry can often be viewed as ‘shallow’ to say the least, but now and again you’ll come across an action movie which has a much deeper theme to that which the observer sees at the outset. Diana Lee Inosanto - aka D L Inosanto, who many will know as the late Bruce Lee’s god-daughter, has evolved in her career to a point where she is pursuing movie projects that go beyond portraying martial arts action alone. In fact, as much as she is proud to be associated with the greatest martial arts legend, she is finding her own path in pursuit of excelling further. Sensei is the first film she has directed, and one which has won various awards at film festivals. I recently managed to interview Diana and co-star, well known Hollywood actor Keith David (Something About Mary, Crash) to get the inside story of the film which is currently being shown on the festival circuit in the US before its release.

Diana Lee Inosanto
Fiaz: Diana, how did the concept for Sensei come about?
Diana Lee Inosanto: Actually, it goes back to the early 1980s Aids epidemic in America. My honorary uncle Bruce Lee...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2009 edition of Impact]

Impact chats to executive producer, David Fury about 24’s upcoming season seven and the recent two hour special, Redemption.

Jack Bauer has saved life as we know it on an annual basis since 2001, but despite facing down crashing airplanes, nuclear bombs and surviving more diabolical moles than you could throw at a conspiratorial dermatologist, he couldn’t quite beat the might of the writers’ strike. He was due back on TV screens in early 2008, but the new season will actually arrive nearly twenty months after the last ‘day’ finished. In an exclusive interview with John Mosby, executive producer David Fury discusses the recent two-hour special ‘Redemption’ and looks ahead to Jack’s full-season return in January...

Impact: David, fans of the show have waited a long while for the return of Jack Bauer. Their first glimpse was Redemption, the two-hour television movie that just broadcast on both sides of the Atlantic. How much were you involved in that?
David Fury: I was very involved with it actually. A lot of the story would have been part of the original plans for the seventh season. The whole process of shooting part of the season in Africa and then trying to get Jack back to the States in the course of a two-hour period... it would have been difficult and we...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2009 edition of Impact]

Impact meets Dean Devlin - the man behind new US heist action show, Leverage. Plus, we chat to the cast members and round off our interview with Mark Sheppard.

Think The A-Team. Perhaps The Equalizer. A pinch of Hustle and a dashing of Ocean’s 11. It’s clear that the public loves a story of criminals with their eye on the prize, their sticky fingers grasping at pocketfuls of diamonds but ultimately demonstrating hearts of gold. Leverage takes the premise and gives it a nice spin. Due to a series of events in the pilot’s plot a group of cons decide that rather than just helping themselves, they’re going to help the people who can’t help themselves. In short, their pay-off will be payback.

“Basically it’s a group of hi-tech con-men and thieves who become modern day Robin Hoods. They make more money than they thought they’d ever make, but they’ve lost their main motivation for their life of crime,” Executive Producer Dean Devlin explains. “However they’re still addicted to the thrill of it so they decide to use their talents to help those who cannot help themselves. They go after the mighty, the corporate, the corrupt government officials, the Mafioso... anyone who is oppressing someone who can’t defend themselves. They try to level the playing field.”

In an industry with hard-hitting dramas like The Shield, The Sopranos and Deadwood having...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2009 edition of Impact]

Ong Bak 2 has endured well publicised production difficulties but, prior to its Thai release, the re-united production team seem to be in accord that it’ll surpass Ong Bak!

It’s been a troubled production to say the least, but Tony Jaa’s highly anticipated follow up to Ong Bak is complete and will have opened theatrically in Thailand by the time you read this issue. The film began with Jaa wearing multiple hats as leading man, fight choreographer and director and, perhaps that was too much for even the ‘Force of Jaa’, and filming was completed with Jaa’s mentor action choreographer Panna Rittikrai co-helming the movie, and Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong/Warrior King director Prachya Pinkaew serving as producer. Shortly before the film’s premiere, the trio behind the original Ong Bak and now Ong Bak 2 met the press and Impact’s roving reporter Ricky Morris was there to report back for us.

Tony Jaa: I feel very healthy, happy and excited at the same time, because Ong Bak 2 is very nearly here. I see a lot of progress and development in myself, as both an actor and a fighter. I consulted many people, to learn where I needed to focus on the action and the drama, and yes there were times when things didn’t go as well as originally planned. But things soon smoothed out, because I always had...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2009 edition of Impact]

In part two of our exclusive interview with the Watchmen creator, Alan Moore holds forth on the subject of comic-to-film adaptations...

There is probably more chance of Hannibal Lektor turning up at an all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet than Alan Moore ever sitting down with Hollywood moguls to discuss further adaptations of his work. Been there. Done that. Got the litigation paperwork. And yet over recent years, Moore’s work has remained of interest to Tinseltown. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendeatta and Watchmen were lauded literary works, but the first two had controversial adaptations and the third foxed some of the industry’s best talents for two decades.

AS previously discussed LXG (an example of the almost obligatory shorthand often assumed by the movie industry) was a venture steeped in problems and though V for Vendetta was an infinitely better movie in and of itself, it still divided the fans over the final product. So when it comes to the PROBABLY almost-upon-us Watchmen, Moore can only give a wry smile over the movie’s recent legal problems concerning rights issues between Warner Bros and Fox.

“Oh, yeah. I was laughing as I lit the curse candles, so you can imagine how much I was laughing later,” Moore says with a wry smile. “I doubt the film will ever be coming out!”

Perhaps that’s a tad naïve....

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2008 edition of Impact]

...while Moore’s co-conspirator, the outstanding comics artist, Dave Gibbons, discusses the creation of Watchmen and the forthcoming movie version with considerably more anticipation than his old sparring partner!

There’s something un-nerving about finding my old Watchmen t-shirt, the autographs of both Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons faded but still distinctive upon it, and realising that the item is now over twenty years old. The autographs were obtained at a signing taking place at the long-gone Odyssey 7 comics-shop in the centre of Leeds and so there’s a Watchmen-level of symmetry in that, two decades later, I’m meeting Dave Gibbons a few hundred yards from that site at OK Comics to discuss his career and the upcoming movie adaptation of the famous graphic novel. Gibbons is still one of the most respected artists in the industry and unlike my t-shirt, Watchmen itself has refused to fade away.

“I suppose from the age of about seven, I knew what I wanted to do was comics. Obviously for a kid from the Home Counties of England to want to draw American comic-books... it seemed a very unlikely thing. I was quite bright academically and the school I went to did not exactly encourage art. There’d be a couple of lessons a week. My parents felt I should probably have a career that was more financially secure. When I got to the...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2008 edition of Impact]

Doug Jones, the real life Abe Sapien from Hellboy, Pan from Del Toro’s Labyrinth and the voice of the Silver Surfer the in Fantastic Four sequel, talks comic adaptations and prosthetics.

He’s the real face behind Hellboy’s Abe Sapien and the voice of Fantastic Four’s Silver Surfer, but under all those prosthetics and CGI effects, Doug Jones says it’s all about character...

Impact: Doug, how does one start out on the road to become half-fish, half-man?
Doug Jones: (laughs.) I think I was at grade school and I was the awkward, skinny child that other kids would always make fun of... sounds sad, doesn’t it? (laughs) I used to watch the variety shows... the Ed Sullivan Show, Sonny and Cher, Donny and Marie, and the sit-coms with Dick Van Dyke, I Love Lucy... where there were families that could resolve all their problems in half an hour and with a hug at the end. That was a world I wanted to be a part of. When I got to Hollywood I started auditioning for commercials and went through what every other actor goes through.

In all seriousness, you have a really diverse résumé - you’re an actor who has managed to explore an incredible range in physical and vocal roles. Does it take a special kind of role to get you to take part, despite the fact people may not see your...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2008 edition of Impact]

We covered her outstanding film debut last month, and this month Impact chats with Jeeja, the petite powerhouse star of Chocolate to find out just what being kicked in the eye feels like...

An autistic female chocoholic who uses the martial artist skills she developed from watching TV to settle her ailing mother's debts by seeking out the ruthless gangs that owe her family money? That’s the plot of Chocolate, the latest film by director Prachya Pinkaew. Pinkaew is of course best known for directing two of the most acclaimed martial arts movies of recent years, Ong Bak and its follow up Tom Yum Goong/Warrior King which introduced the world to a young man named Tony Jaa. Pinkaew’s latest project, Chocolate, is drawing similar acclaim for its action sequences and for introducing another ferociously talented martial arts prodigy, but this time round she’s a girl. Meet Yanin ‘Jeeja’ Vismistananda, aged 24 and standing only 160cm in height, she has become one of the hottest properties in martial arts cinema.

Chocolate began filming in 2006, finishing early the following year with a script written especially for his new muse. "The plot was drawn from my impressions of Jeeja," said Prachya recently, "Firstly, I thought I would make a movie with a female as the lead and that she must be masculine with a traditional Thai look. Jeeja, however, was a real surprise. Who knew...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2008 edition of Impact]

Genre journeyman and scion of an acting dynasty, Mark Sheppard, currently starring in Battlestar Galactica, met John Mosby at the recent Collectormania to discuss the current state of action television and the greatness that is BSG.

Mark Sheppard has given form to some of action entertainment’s most charismatic characters. From mutant pyromaniacs to extra-terrestrial lawyers, he’s carved a particular niche in roles that make you sit up and take notice. John Mosby talks exclusively to the acclaimed actor and finds out that it all starts with the write stuff...

“Fear makes a rotten companion. You want to walk, he starts to run. Try to speak up, he steals your voice. You say you’re out to seek? No problem, he finds you a hiding place. Fear is your manager, your ruler, your Siamese Twin with a bigger mouth, a stronger grip, and a pocketful of all you never wanted. I’ll tell you what. Fear is a wrecking ball... I have no room to carry him in this coat.”

The above speech comes from the character Romo Lampkin, the intense and crafty lawyer in the critically-acclaimed Battlestar Galactica (actually in a scene not originally transmitted). Lampkin may have been a secondary character but actor Mark Sheppard’s performance and the words from the pen of acclaimed writer Michael Angeli’s still make it memorable.

“Give me that poetry! God, how much of that quality do you get on network television? Not a lot,”...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2008 edition of Impact]

So, you’re shooting a Thai action film and your hero is a seven foot, aussie ex-wrestler... just who are you gonna cast to fight against him? why, another seven foot, aussie ex-wrestler of course. Meet Conan Stevens...

He’s no barbarian, but Conan Stevens could certainly play one, and give Schwarzenegger a run for his money in terms of showing people that brains and brawn do go together. Clocking in at 7’1/4” and 319 lbs, Australian actor Conan Stevens is well on the way to becoming the ‘World’s Biggest Action Hero!’ He’s been a pro-wrestler, a soldier, a scriptwriter, an actor and stuntman and he’s also been a recent cover star for the UK’s Mensa Magazine which called him the ‘World’s Biggest Bright Guy!’ He’s making a name for himself in Asia and internationally with stand out performances in such projects as The Bodyguard 2, Bangkok Adrenaline (which he co-wrote), Hannuman, Som Tam (see previous pages) where he manages to make the hulking Nathan Jones look up to him and, most recently, wrapped Warner Brother’s first Bollywood movie Chandni Chowk to China where he appears alongside Gordon Liu. Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder caught up with him for the following interview, we’ll let him introduce himself and tell us what brought him to Asia.

Conan Stevens: I am a seven foot tall Australian actor based in Bangkok, Thailand as it provides better work opportunities than Australia for myself. I...

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2008 edition of Impact]

Bond is back, but who’s providing all the real action moves? Impact meets the man making a Quantum leap: stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell.

For Gary Powell the stunt business is his family business. His father, uncle and brother have all been involved in the stunt industry at the highest levels, working on some of the biggest blockbuster movies to hit our screens. Gary, born and raised in London, is one of the top stunt co-ordinators in the business and has now worked on five ‘Bond’ movies including the new Quantum of Solace for which he was the stunt co-ordinator. Impact caught up with the very down to earth Gary Powell to talk about his career highlights as well as the new action packed Bond film which hits the big screen end of October.

Fiaz Rafiq: Gary, when and how did you get into the stunt business - I believe your family has been involved for a long time?
Gary Powell: Yes, it’s a family business as such. Since I was a little kid, my dad was always going off doing films and later my brother joined in. There’s a ten year age gap between me and my brother... Later on in life I found out what it was all about when I got interested and became a stuntman too.

I heard you performed your...

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2008 edition of Impact]

Our cover-star Simon Yam is one of the hottest talents to come from the East in a long time. In this exclusive interview for Impact, we look at his career and current projects...

Few Hong Kong actors are as prestigious as 53 year old Simon Yam (who, in person, looks as if he is only just kicking 40 - and that’s in spite of a notable chain-smoking habit. Tut tut). Although boasting credits from as far back as the late ‘70s, the performer has only really become an internationally well known name recently, thanks largely to his turns in such Chinese blockbusters as 2005’s Election, its superior 2006 sequel and - more recently - Exiled. Of course, as this indicates, Yam has a special working relationship with director Johnnie To, with the two also having collaborated on such features as 1999’s The Mission, 2001’s Fulltime Killer and 2003’s PTU. However, Yam’s Asia Extreme credentials also date back to the ‘heroic bloodshed’ classics Bullet in the Head (1990) and Fatal Contact (1993), the dubiously titled Naked Killer and the super-controversial splatter opus Dr Lamb (both 1992). However, when Impact catches up with Yam it is at the annual Cannes Film Festival where his latest production, Ocean Flame, is being shown as part of the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section. For those who have never attended Cannes, what this means is that Ocean Flame is not...

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2008 edition of Impact]

Actor, director, Scriptwriter and Producer are just some of the many hats worn by Dennis Chan (Chan Kwok-san) in the Hong Kong and Chinese film and TV industries. But to international audiences he’s best known as an actor, playing the mischievous martial arts master Xian in the Kickboxer series of movies. Dennis talks to Impact about his experiences...

Impact: Dennis, the role of Master Xian is the character you’re best known internationally for. How did you first get involved with Kickboxer?
Dennis: It was thanks to Teddy Chen (Director of Purple Storm and The Accidental Spy). Back then he wasn’t a famous director, he was working as a scriptwriter, an assistant director and sometimes a casting director for various projects. We’d known each other for many years, having worked together at ATV (Hong Kong’s second major TV channel) when it was known as Rediffusion TV. He was casting this co-production between Salon Films and an American company, the movie was going to shoot in both Hong Kong and Thailand, and he thought I would be very good for this character called Master Xian, so he asked me to come in and meet with the director. I think what also helped was that I could speak English! There weren’t really that many people in the industry back then who spoke English.

I went in and met the director David Worth, a really very nice guy - he had been a cameraman and Director of Photography on a lot of projects before this one. (Worth’s credits as DOP include Clint Eastwood’s...

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2008 edition of Impact]

Everybody’s favourite horned demon turned crime fighter returns in Hellboy II, with a Hong Kong flavour to his action scenes courtesy of Jackie Chan Stunt Teamer Brad Allan. Impact talks to Brad Allan about the film and its action sequences.

Facing off against Jackie Chan on screen is something many people would consider the pinnacle of their career, while for Brad Allan it was just the beginning. A student of Chinese martial arts and culture for many years, he was given the opportunity of a lifetime when he was recruited into the illustrious Jackie Chan Stuntman Team. Allan proved himself to Chan as a performer and co-ordinator, working with Chan on such projects as Gorgeous, New Police Story, Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights and the Rush Hour trilogy. As a choreographer, he’s put together the action scenes for such projects as Peter Pan, The Chronicles Of Riddick and The Pacifier. His latest project gave him the opportunity to work with Guillermo del Toro, and saw him designing the action for this fantasy adventure. Impact’s resident hell-spawn, Mike Leeder, caught up with Brad for the following interview...

Hellmike: So, Brad, how did you first get involved in Hellboy II?
Brad Allan: First, I just want to mention that this movie saved me from career suicide! I was just finishing up on another project which had been a great disappointment on many levels, and was actually contemplating leaving the business. It was then that...

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2008 edition of Impact]

Fresh from saving the universe in Doctor Who, Noel Clarke turns his hand to being a director, writer and actor in adulthood and proves he’s a talent to watch.

Yes, it’s ‘Mickey’. Let’s get that out of the way quickly. Noel Clarke is the actor that gave the newly rebooted Doctor Who its first ‘Huh?’ moment when his character almost met his demise by being swallowed by a wheelie-bin. Two series later and he was saving whole parallel universes - such is the learning curve when you travel with a time lord. However the actor sitting a few feet from me today is less concerned with the stars and is remarkably down to earth. Away from the daleks, cybermen and Rose Tyler, Noel Clarke has his feet firmly on the street and that is where he’s had the most personal success.

Clarke first appeared as ‘Wyman’ in the last two series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and followed that with appearances in the likes of Metrosexuality and Judge John Deed. He also won the 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer of 2002 (for his performance in Where Do We Live at the Royal Court Theatre). The character of Who’s Mickey Smith catapulted him into the mainstream.

But at the same time he was honing his skills elsewhere. “I started acting in late 1999 and just continued working hard...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2008 edition of Impact]

As Mark Millar’s Wanted scores some impressive reviews across the globe, John Mosby catches up with our favourite Glaswegian for an exclusive chat about Hollywood and beyond.

When Mark Millar rings, you pick up, he’d be happy to do the same in return, if only he could find the phone. Talking to him on his land-line is the only option as, despite the echoing ringing around his Casa Celtic of Solitude, he's unable to find the damn mobile he's about to pack for tomorrow's trip to LA.

“It’s here somewhere because I can hear it,“ he mutters. “But I’ve just spent two hours looking for the damned thing. This is the sort of situation that brings you right back down to earth, no matter what else is happening”

And a LOT is happening. Not content with writing some of Marvel Comics’ most seminal works of the twenty-first century to date (The Ultimates, Civil War and the current ‘1985’) he’s also being courted by Hollywood. At the end of June, Wanted hit the cinema multiplexes and passion pits and created a real buzz. An outing that crosses La Femme Nikita and Quentin Tarantino, it was a wonderful, stylistically romp for discerning adults with an underlying subtext about father issues, violence and redemption. Oh, and it was pretty to look at too!

“I’m glad you liked it, yours was the first feedback...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2008 edition of Impact]

Paul Jennings is one of the top British based stunt co-ordinators in the movie buisness today as the man behind some of the action in Batman Begins and the new Batman movie The Dark Knight. we catch up with Paul to discuss his experiences working on The Dark Knight...

Paul Jennings is one of the top British based stunt co-ordinators in the movie buisness today. He is the man behind some of the action in Batman Begins and the new Batman movie Dark Knight which hits our theatres early July. Paul has worked on many blockbuster Hollywood productions both as a major stuntman and stunt co-ordinator. In the this exclusive interview for Impact, Paul ruminates on his experiences working on Dark Knight...

Fiaz Rafiq: Paul, let’s talk about when you first entered the stunt business...
Paul Jennings: I started doing a stage act at 16 years old using my gymnastic background to create an act. I met a stuntman called Stuart Fell who showed me how to fire-eat and juggle so I could develop my act. He was the first stuntman I knew and was my inspiration to get the qualifications you require to become a British film and TV stunt performer. It isn’t easy but it’s the first step on a long ladder.

For the benefit of the readers, can you comment on the effort and dedication required to make it as a professional stunt person in this highly competitive business?
Like with martial arts, if you want to be...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2008 edition of Impact]

Jon Favreau is the man at the helm of mega-hit Iron Man. While we wait to see if he WILL be back for a sequel, we find out how he got involved to begin with!

For most people, Jon Favreau has been one of two things: either the actor/writer of cult hit Swingers which hit cinemas in 1996 or ‘that guy off Friends who Monica went out with for a while...’ Since his acting debut as a taxi-driver in the horribly unfunny Folks! in 1992, he’s been alternating between acting and writing with a fair degree of success. It’s been the last decade which has seen it all pay-off.

Firstly, he starred as Franklin ‘Foggy’ Nelson, Matt Murdock’s best friend in the somewhat under-rated Daredevil (2003) opposite Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. A keen comic-book fan he made an impression in what could have been a one-note part. The same year saw him step behind the camera for the Will Ferrell vehicle Elf, an engaging comedy for all the family that did much better than anyone suspected it would. In both directing and acting capacities. Favreau was getting noticed. The year 2005 gave him the chance to direct the Fx-laden Zathura (effectively Jumanji in Space). Critics liked it, but audiences failed to turn up. Was the career stalling? Not so much. Take a look at Iron Man’s $250 million first week on release and at least...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2008 edition of Impact]

As another season of Doctor Who comes to an end, Tom Baker takes us back to the classic series and discusses his career to date.

When it comes to genre action, every viewer has ‘their’ Doctor, the incarnation of the TV Timelord that brought them into the fold. For many it was the longest serving Doctor to date, the fourth face of Gallifrey’s errant knight as portrayed by Tom Baker.

Meeting Baker in the flesh is always an interesting experience. His personality is undeniably... well, bigger on the outside. He’s well known for his mischievous, devil-may-care and somewhat eccentric personality and though it’s been nearly thirty years since he hung up that distinctive scarf and scoffed his last jelly-baby, Who is still an indelible part of his resumé. On film he’s played mad monks (Rasputin), a ghost (Randall & Hopkirk Deceased) a villainous, moustache-twirling nemesis in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and a swamp-dweller in the TV versions of the Chronicles of Narnia. In real-life he’s been a monk, a soldier, an actor and a fully-fledged character in his own right. It’s a life and career less ordinary...

Many actors take up the profession to explore things they’d never do in real life, but with such a colourful history, was that true of the young Tom Baker?

“Yes, I think that’s fair. But every person in the whole...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2008 edition of Impact]

Martial arts journeyman, Dave Lea, returns to talk about Salsa dancing and its application as he choreographs football violence in the upcoming Cass.

British martial arts maestro Dave Lea has travelled the world through his experiences in the worlds of martial arts and movie making. He’s studied martial arts in Malaysia, in London’s Chinatown and been called upon as a bodyguard, a performer, a fight choreographer and actor, a personal trainer and much more. He’s worked with many of the biggest names in the industry from Sylvester Stallone to Sammo Hung, Ben Affleck to Colin Farrell, Quentin Tarantino to Ben Stiller and many more. His credits include Batman and Batman Returns, Tango & Cash, Demolition Man, Double Impact, Daredevil, Alias and more. His most recent project Cass, based upon the true story of Cass Pennant and his often violent life, brought Dave back to the UK and Impact delivers the second part of its interview with him this month...

Impact: Recent years have seen ‘Wire Fu’ styled action choreography being called upon for a lot of movies. It works very well in movies like The Matrix and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon etc..., how do you think it works as a whole?
Dave Lea: You go back to the early days of Hong Kong Kung Fu cinema, Shaw Brothers, Golden harvest back in the 1970s,...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2008 edition of Impact]

Troubled, outrageous, a law unto himself, a dictionary definition of the word ’reputation’. Are we talking Tony Stark or Robert Downey Jnr himself? Impact meets the man behind the Iron mask.

Acclaimed actor Robert Downey Jnr has survived a self-destructive streak that saw him make tabloid headlines for years, but like billionaire Tony Stark, the actor seems to has come out the other side a more thoughtful person - albeit with a wicked glint in his eye.

John Mosby: A lot of people say you were an inspired choice for the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man. What was it that attracted you to the role?
Robert Downey Jnr: I’d like to say that I was (originally) on NOBODY’s list to play this role. But Tony Stark offered me the chance of a lifetime. It’s rare in movies like this... the first thing you get is a release date, then a poster, then you talk about a trailer, then you think about a director and casting and maybe at some point a script. What was really great - and some of this has been for reasons which are obvious enough - was that John and I got to have a series of conversations when he was meeting other people who were putting money up. There was a point where Jon just didn’t think it could work out and I said ‘I’m going to...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2008 edition of Impact]

It’s been a while since the Wachowski boys have brought anything new to the screen, but this month Impact takes a look at the neon hued, kinetic car ballet that is Speed Racer.

Dina Burgess caught up with Joel Silver and stars of the movie, Emile Hirsch and Susan Sarandon while they were in London for the UK premiere...

Flinging itself on to the screen like an explosion in a fluorescent paint factory, Speed Racer is a garish mixture of live action and technicolour CGI aimed primarily at audiences of pre-pubescent boys and gamers. In fact, it’s probably the nearest thing you can get to playing a video game without actually having a console in your hand.

Speed Racer’s heritage is never completely forgotten though, with some affectionate references to anime throughout the movie. The creator of the original cartoon, Tatsuo Yoshida is also acknowledged in the writing credits.

Emile Hirsch plays our hero, Speed Racer who is not only struggling to come to terms with his older brother’s death on the track, but is forced to choose between working for a corrupt sponsor and earning a fortune, or supporting his father’s car building firm and potentially never winning another race.

The actor jumped at the chance of taking on the lead role, having been a fan of the anime series since he was a child and was also keen to work with Andy and Larry Wachowski,

‘I...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2008 edition of Impact]

Comic book writer and occasional Who scripter, Paul Cornell sits down for a chat with our absent editor (enjoying a month off in Oz), to discuss his reboot of Captain Britain - lesser known cousin to the recently deceased Captain America - who has merged with Cornell’s own Wisdom series to create an interesting cross pollination.

Even in death, Captain America is a flagship character (in every sense) for Marvel Comics, but his transatlantic ‘cousin’ Captain Britain has had less exposure even in his native country. Sure there’s been acclaimed outings with no less than Alans Moore and Davis providing popular runs on his solo and team titles, but he’s remained something of an enigma, representing different things to different creators and too often snatching defeat from the jaws of victory... While he’s come a long way since Chris Claremont penned a ‘magical’ origin story in which young aristocratic Brian Braddock is charged with protecting the island kingdom by no less than Merlin himself, a firm, consistent style has remained annoying out of reach.

Not any more. Paul Cornell, a writer whose credentials read like the Who’s What of officially cool geekiness is bringing the character back to the land of his birth, surrounding him with equally enigmatic and driven heroes and giving him the chance to be the inspirational hero he should be.

“The idea essentially sprang out of the Wisdom limited-series comic from Marvel and I think it’s best described as ‘superheroes in an Intelligence context versus the supernatural’. For reasons that will become clear,...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2008 edition of Impact]

British martial arts legend Dave Lea has made quite a name for himself as a fighter, a stuntman, choreographer and trainer. Impact talks to him about movies, martial arts and much more.

British martial arts maestro Dave Lea travelled the world studying a variety of martial arts and fighting styles, including Karate, Wing Tsun, 5 Animals Style Shaolin Kung Fu, Eskrima and Jeet Kune Do, before making the move into film-making. He began his film career doubling for Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s Batman, and Warner Brothers were impressed enough by his abilities and attitude to bring him over to the States for Tango & Cash, and he’s gone on to appear in, choreograph and train actors for such projects as Batman Returns, Demolition Man, The Crow 3 & 4, Daredevil, Alias, Martial Law, and many more. His most recent project Cass based on the true story of Cass Pennant and his turbulent and often violent life, brought Dave back to the UK where we caught up with him for the following interview about martial arts, movies and more.

Mark Holland: Dave, how did you first get involved in the martial arts?
Dave Lea: It all started when I was about 14 or 15, and it’s taken me on a hell of a journey. I started off in Karate, then I got into Wing Tsun with Joseph Cheng, then Pak Mei, bits of...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2008 edition of Impact]

Adrian Paul (you know, from Highlander...) is back on home turf and chats to John Mosby about the making of this Brit-grit gangster movie, co-starring Gary Stretch and Vinnie Jones.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2008 edition of Impact]

The brothers Strause are currently promoting AVP: Requiem but here they discuss both that movie and their SFX work on other blockbusting franchises and the affect the video-game industry is having on Hollywood action.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2008 edition of Impact]

Whilst at the Deauville International Film Festival, our French correspondent team sat down with Johnnie To for a few words about his latest projects for Milkyway Productions, and take time out to review his latest movie, Mad Detective.

Impact: At the end of Election, the future of the son of Louis Koo is quite vague. Was that on purpose to prepare for an Election 3?
Johnnie To: Yes, that’s a possibility, but nothing is planned. The most important thing is to know that I have this possibility. I wanted to conclude this film on a question mark about the future of the Hong Kong triads. I have absolutely no idea of what will happen to them. But at least for now, we know that the triads are under the control of the Chinese government, they are not like the ones we used to know in the past.

You used to direct romantic comedies to finance your personal films. Now that your films are in competition in famous festivals, it does not seem to be necessary any more. So how come you directed Linger last year?
I always write during the shooting - I never work with a finished script. So, most of the time, it implies some interaction with the actors - I change the script by watching them work, we become creative all together. This is how I’ve worked now for maybe ten years. That’s also...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2008 edition of Impact]

Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell chat to editor John Mosby about life as an Irish hitman in a provincial Belgian town...

Sitting in a small screening room in the heart of London’s Soho you find yourself noting the body-language and camaraderie between fellow Irishmen Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson and being amazed that this is the first time the two have worked together. Farrell has made a reputation for being the intense but honest, flippant but intelligent character both in big budget Hollywood outings and also off screen and Gleeson has been the go-to man for more under-stated but no less watchable character parts in a variety of key movies over the last decade. It was a team-up waiting to happen.

Farrell and Gleeson play two hitmen who are ordered to lay low in the city of the title. Ray (Farrell) feels he’s trapped in an obnoxious foreign climate with nothing to do and a troubled cloud hanging over his every action. Ken (Gleeson) is the older hitman trying to shepherd him through the patient waiting and trying to broaden his outlook. Imagine ‘The Odd Couple’ with revolvers and cursing and you’re getting close to the mark. The fact that both actors’ involvement is also bolstered by a tight, emotional, action-filled and wicked-funny script is an added bonus and the...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2008 edition of Impact]

Phil Hobden goes head to head with Hollywood stunt guru Jeff Imada and previews the action that is going to be the hallmark of Vivendi’s take on the Bourne franchise.

Firstly - to say this is a film adaptation isn’t strictly true. Whilst the game does take ‘moments’ from the first movie, the makers, High Moon, worked closely with the Robert Ludlum Estate as well as Tony Gilroy, the writer of all three Bourne movies, to craft something that is more of a companion piece than a direct adaptation. It’s also worth noting that this isn’t Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne. For whatever reason he decided not to be involved so High Moon have created a ‘new’ Bourne.

So, whilst the Paris Mini Coupe chase is all present and correct, you’ll be spending equally as much time ‘flashing back’ to Jason Bourne’s previous life as a top shelf assassin... the aim being to immerse the player in a cat and mouse style espionage action adventure where you can utilize the environment as your greatest weapon.

Before we get to play, after a short presentation by High Moon, we were shown the game in its full glory. What struck me most was that at times it’s so cinematic that watching it being played wasn’t unlike watching a top notch action set piece from a Hollywood movie. With special...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2008 edition of Impact]

Hollywood continues to devour Asian horror and regurgitate it as their own. Heroes star James Kyson Lee discusses his role in the remake and John Mosby also looks at another Eastern remake, The Eye.

Those of us old enough to remember when cameras actually had FILM in them, also remember all too well the potential for double negatives and ‘ghost’ images on the subsequent prints. But in the case of the newlywed couple in the upcoming thriller Shutter - a western remake of the hit 2004 Thai thriller of the same name - the images from their camera are more frightening and the possible reason, much more deadly. Joshua Jackson (Dawson’s Creek) and Rachel Taylor (Transformers) are the couple in question with paranormal investigator Ritsuo (James Kyson Lee) trying to give them advice. Impact caught up with Lee, best known for his role as Hiro’s affable side-kick Ando in the hit series Heroes, to get the big picture...

Impact: James, you don’t normally get much of a hiatus between seasons of Heroes, so what was it about Shutter that attracted to you to the project?
James: Well, I didn’t know anything about the original, but I read the script and it was fantastic right from the very beginning. I started feeling chills and goosebumps - and that’s always a good sign. I did end up seeing the original after we finished filming. I...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2008 edition of Impact]

George Clooney’s latest outing takes the action to the sports-field for a rough and tumble action comedy set in the early days of Professional American Football. John Mosby talks to Hollywood’s leading leading man about Leatherheads and beyond...

It’s the 1920s and long before the corporate superstars of today, the muddy fields of Pro American Football are looking decidedly shabby. While college sports show huge followings, the ‘professional’ side is lost amongst lack of money, support and talent. However one man is determined to hold his team together and if he has to smooth-talk, lie and even cheat a little, he’s more than willing to do so.

That man is Dodge Connolly (Clooney), a charming, brash football hero who knows that this burgeoning sport is currently attracting, at best, a smattering of loud, drunk fans who can’t conceive of paying top dollar to attend an event. His games are free-for-alls that devolve into fisticuffs, brawls and sleight-of-hand and the situation is quickly deteriorating. But the captain is determined that it’s possible to guide his team and league from bar brawls to packed stadiums. After the players lose their sponsor and the entire league faces collapse, Dodge convinces agent CC Frazier (Jonathan Pryce) to secure his rising college football star, Carter ‘The Bullet’ Rutherford (John Krasinski) who is filling stadiums with every game - for his ragtag ranks. Dodge hopes his latest move will help the struggling sport...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2008 edition of Impact]

Impact talks to the rising star, Shawn Ashmore, about his success in the X-Men and his new project: The Ruins.

In LA it’s an atypical cloudy, rainy day. The sun SHOULD be shining - after all, the climate is usually toasty in California, the writers strike is over and within an hour in each direction Shawn Ashmore can choose between surfing and snowboarding. Add to that that his new film, The Ruins, is due out at cinemas in April and even the weather can’t get him down. All is good. “It’s probably one of the FEW days when it’s better weather in England!” he jokes.

You’ll recognise Ashmore from any number of projects, though he became a ‘face’ after the success of the X-Men trilogy in which he was one of the few supporting actors to appear in all three movies. As Bobby ‘Iceman’ Drake he romanced Rogue (Anna Paquin) and showed the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants that he could throw more than a mean snowball. But his acting career began much earlier in his native Canada when he and his twin brother Aaron (who appears in Smallville as Jimmy Olsen) were spotted by a casting agent. “I started acting when I was ten years old when I was at High School and I realised I didn’t particularly like...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2008 edition of Impact]

Making a film is one thing, getting it released is something altogether different. Impact talks to Black Horse’s Malcolm Granger about distributing for the action genre.

Making a film is one thing, getting it released is something altogether different. Over the last few years, Impact and HK Homegrown have followed the shooting and development of numerous independent film productions. From my very own Ten Dead Men, to Tough Justice, Soul Searcher and The Silencer. Making the film is just half the battle, however. By far the hardest part is getting the film seen and this is the bit you don’t often hear about. While your local Blockbuster may be stuffed with films, look on the back and you’ll see that the vast majority are from the same ten or so companies, the big studios or leading independents that dominate the market and in truth have little time for us upstarts and our modestly funded digital movies.

Each year I attend Cannes. No not the glitzy festival, I mean the real Cannes. The market where films are bought and sold like the ‘products’ they are. And every year I see literally hundreds of films that, for one reason or another, will never make it onto our screens, let alone our local Blockbusters. Because, for every film that is picked up by the studios or major independents,...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2008 edition of Impact]

Impact continues its interview with Hong Kong’s most prolific film-maker - Wong Jing - the actor, writer, director and producer responsible for many of Hong Kong’s most popular and infamous movies.

Impact continues its discussion with Hong Kong’s most prolific film-maker - Wong Jing - the actor, writer, director and producer who has been responsible for many of Hong Kong’s most popular and infamous movies from God of Gamblers and City Hunter, to Naked Killers, Naked Weapon and Raped By An Angel, Magic Crystal to New Legend of Shaolin and beyond. He’s worked with Jackie Chan, Cow Yun-fatt, Sammo Hung, Jet Li, Jackie Cheung, Andy Lau, Chingmy Yau and Maggie Cheung, and he’s never been one to mince his words. The controversial and colourful Wong Jing continues his chat with Impact writer Thomas Podvin.

Thomas Podvin: What do you think of Stephen Chow’s more recent films, as a star and director for instance?
Wong Jing: I liked Shaolin Soccer better than anything else. With regards to Kung Fu Hustle, I thought that the first sixty minutes and the final ten minutes were lousy.

Chow used to be very prolific; there were certain years when he seemed to release a film every month, now it seems to be more like one every three years or so...
Pressure! That’s why I gave up trying to climb higher and higher. That’s what...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2008 edition of Impact]

Impact talks exclusively to Tony Ching Siu-tong, the go-to man for action.

Anyone with more than a passing interest in Asian action cinema and television will be aware of Tony Ching Siu-tong and his unique style of action choreography and direction. His credits range from epic Chinese language productions such as Hero, House of Flying Daggers and, more recently, The Warlords, to Japanese swordplay in Dororo, Bollywood super heroics in Krrish, Fantastical swordplay in Uwe Bohl’s In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, and even Steven Seagal in Belly of the Beast. Ching’s trademarks often include silk and fabric used as a weapon, flying swordsmen, exotic framing and often epileptic editing. For more than 30 years Ching has been defying gravity and realism in his action set pieces. The 54-year-old multiple-award winning filmmaker discusses with us his style, his new approach to action, his collaboration on Peter Chan’s late-2007 box-office hit The Warlords and his fellow HK action directors.

Impact: Many Chinese directors are said to be influenced by Japanese films. During your formative years on TV productions you were influenced by King Hu, who was himself directly inspired by Japanese films...
Ching Siu-tong: Of course, we have tried to mix all the best techniques from all over...

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2008 edition of Impact]

Shy, retiring, modest Scotsman seeks wannabe hero. Must be willing to fight, cuss and entertain thousands. Form a queue...for our kick-ass Q&A.

Mark Millar is the go-to man for kick-ass superheroic action, so it was only a matter of time before he created a comic of that very name. Kick-Ass hits the shelves this month and is one of several projects Millar will be helming over the coming year for Marvel (he takes over writing chores on Fantastic Four, pens 1985 a story about the Marvel Universe crossing over into our own in said year) and examines the later years of an ageing Wolverine from late summer. Oh, and he’s been hanging out with Angelina Jolie on the set of the film adaptation of his comic Wanted. We hate him.

Impact: Who’s the most kick-ass action star of all time?
Mark Millar: There can be only one: Chuck Norris, of course. Accept no substitutes.
What’s the most kick-ass action movie of all time?
Easy. Enter The Dragon... My brothers used to have posters of this all over their walls when I was a wee boy and the minute we got a video I had to see this. It didn’t disappoint.

Favourite all-time kick-ass comics industry story moment?
Batman fighting the mutant leader in Dark Knight Returns. It remains the dirtiest, most...

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2008 edition of Impact]

Wong Jing is one of the most prolific and controversial filmmakers in Hong Kong. This issue we begin a interview in which he explains many of his creative decisions...

Prolific because he has directed, produced and written more than 150 films in a three-decade long career. Controversial, because his films - blending exploitative low-brow comedy, parodies or mere copies of international cinematic hits (from Basic Instinct to Matrix), with action, sexy actresses and other blatant commercial elements - have been very successful at the Hong Kong box office, even when general box office draws were down, his films have continued to be successful. We didn’t say Wong was the best filmmaker, but he surely is a hell of an entertainer and his philosophy is to provide 90 minutes of pure pleasure to his audience. Wong is also a very honest and straightforward person who has been quoted as bitching about everyone in the film industry.

Mind you, the rotund, multi-hyphenate filmmaker is one of the smartest (well educated, he holds a degree in literature and speaks fluent English), most honest and sincere moviemakers we’ve ever met. In late 2007, Impact’s Thomas Podvin sat down with Wong to discuss his film career, his personal philosophy and much more in this two part Impact interview.

Son of Wong Tin-lam, a veteran prolific and successful Hong Kong director from the 1960s himself,...

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2008 edition of Impact]

Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge discuss the upcoming Stargate DVD movies and the heaven and hell of future projects...

This has been the first season without a regular SG-1 outing in ten years, has time flown or is this a moment to breathe out and relax a little?

Michael Shanks: There’s mixed emotions. I’ve done nothing for ten years before. I haven’t stayed in the same school for ten years, never had a job before this for ten years - or nine of the ten years on Stargate. Just to have a job in this industry, a steady place to go and be in a city you like... to have that kind of comfort is great. But to not have that situation, to have that family with me, to have your schedule be wide open as opposed to - I hate to say it - telling you what to do... It’s like being institutionalised and then being let out of prison... what do you do NOW?

After ten years I have thousands of options. But looking back, it’s been a tremendous achievement. You’ll always ask what would have happened if you’d chosen a different route. You realise that’s not an option, so don’t waste the moments. We’re very proud of what the show accomplished. It’s now down in history...

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2008 edition of Impact]

He’s known as the Godfather of Gore, but as George A. Romero exclusively tells Impact, he’d rather be mixing with zombies than watching the modern horror industry’s torture-porn.

George Romero. He’s been called the Grandfather of Gore, the Elder Statesmen of the Circulatory-Challenged and, rightly, the absolute king of the zombie genre. If zombies had a pulse, his finger would be on it. In a career that stretches back to the late 1960s when he began filming shorts and commercials, he’s carved out a niche for himself with no-nonsense suspense and horror. The film that put him on the map was 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, a movie financed on a shoestring budget which involved Romero and his friends forming ‘Ten Productions’ and inputting $10,000 each to the project. The back-to-basics formula which existed in a time where there were few other choices anyway, allowed him a certain creativity which one could argue is missing in a modern Hollywood so dominated by the bottom line and its passion for FX budget alone. Here was a man who wasn’t interested in bureaucratic paper-cuts but more visceral slicing and dicing as long as there was method in the madness.

Over the last forty years he’s returned to the ‘Dead’ scenario a number of times, including Dawn of the Dead (1978) which was named one of the top cult...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2008 edition of Impact]

Artist Adi Granov was launched as one of Marvel Comics’ ‘Young Guns’. Now he’s working on designs for the upcoming Iron Man movie. In an exclusive interview he talks about hardwiring Hollywood...

During the course of last November we had two opportunities to meet up with top comics artist Adi Granov. The first was the Thought Bubble event forming part of Leeds Film Festival at which Adi was taking part in a Q&A panel. The second was a week later in Dublin at the city’s Comic-Con. On both occasions it’s clear to see that Granov is both enjoying and a little bewildered by his success. In a few short years he’s risen through the ranks of the comic-book artist firmament and in the last year has found himself courted by Hollywood and giving the film industry’s art departments some pointers. But the truth is that while he’s enjoyed the experience, he seems just at home hanging in the bar with the other professionals or chatting with the fans about his career. For a man who was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, lived in the US and now makes his home in Leeds, West Yorkshire this has just been another year of passenger flights, painting and Photoshop.

“I think... the first time I realised I could do this as a real job was pretty much the first time somebody decided...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2008 edition of Impact]

There’s still ten of them and they’re still dead. Impact covers the final days of production...

If I asked you to think about what you remembered most from films like Police Story, Hard Boiled or KickBoxer I’m guessing it will probably be the action sequences. Hard Boiled for instance... who can forget the opening shoot out that left your mouth open, jaw to the floor. Or the dramatic hillside car chase in Police Story? Like these films, our intention with Ten Dead Men is to make a film with action scenes that will be remembered for years to come. Sitting in the edit suite with director and editor Ross Boyask I have just watched the final shootout through for the first time. It’s action pure and simple. Five, fifteen hour, long days, boiled down to several gun blazing, explosive minutes. From the start we knew that as good as the story is, as strong as the acting or direction... it’s what’s onscreen action-wise that will make this film rise or fall. Over the past year, with Jude Poyer heading our action unit and some of the UK’s best stuntmen working alongside him, we have fought at Wembley in a Cage, blown up buildings, squibbed up, shot, set fire to and jerk-wired stuntmen galore. It’s fair...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2008 edition of Impact]

Impact's editor interviews Supergirl aka Helen Slater

Not long after Christopher Reeve rejuvenated the character and launched a whole slew of sequels, the idea of a cinematic spin-off was suggested. The premise: Supes, but with a better figure. Taking its cue from the existing comics-character, Superman’s cousin Kara, Supergirl, was soon soaring through the mid-1980s big-screens heavens in the form of young-twenties ingénue Helen Slater. Though the film might not have been such a huge critical success, Slater made a big impression and in the years that followed she appeared in high profile projects ranging from The Legend of Billie Jean (alongside Christian Slater - no relation), The Secret of My Success and City Slickers.

The Nineties saw more television roles and guest appearances, balanced with marriage and motherhood. But sitting next to Slater in a few minutes break from her appearance at the recent Collectormania event, it seems impossible that so much time has passed. No less striking and with the air and poise of someone who looks as if they’ve just glided out of a Marks & Spencer’s commercial, she smiles warmly.

Impact: It’s impossible to believe that over twenty years have gone by since you won the role of Supergirl. You’ve had hundreds...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2008 edition of Impact]

Impact continues its Sunday lunch with Ray Winstone, Mark Ryan and Jason Connery.

There’s some irony to the fact that we’re gathered in the Robin Hood pub near Sherman Oaks in Los Angeles. It’s as good an approximation of an English pub as you’ll find within five hundred miles and while the beer, the traditional surroundings, the landlord and the company are excellent, the fact that it’s already hit eighty degrees outside can only be ignored for so long. This may be a little piece of England, a watering hole for ex-pats and well as locals - an undiplomatic embassy if you like - but it’s still a long way from Sherwood. So it seems fair to ask how Ray, Mark and Jason have found the differences during their time on the opposite side of the Atlantic.

“It was strange here for a long time,” Jason admits. “I got married, then divorced and I was going to head back to the UK. But I made a life-changing decision and decided to stay. You have to. America is different, but I like California as a place to live. Look around you. From here, through the winter into the spring is a great time to be here. You can go camping in Yosemite, go...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2008 edition of Impact]

From Power Ranging, to fight arranging, to voice -animating... Impact talks to Bosch about his career.

Bosch took time out from his busy schedule to talk to Impact’s Andrew Skeates about anime, Kung Fu, Power Rangers and his work with Alpha Stunts, one of the best stunt teams in the business. The easy going and down-to-earth Bosch is as likeable as his onscreen characters and, as this interview and the upcoming release of Broken Path shows, he is much more than just a ‘Power Ranger.’

Impact: Welcome to London. You’re here for the London Expo show, mainly to talk about your anime and video game voiceover work. So how did you get into the voiceover work - you’ve been doing it for a while now?
JYB: Yeah. One of the shows, Bleach I believe, is just starting over here and I’m mainly here to promote that. I got into it around 1998/1999. It was after Power Rangers and I was doing a film with Koichi Sakamoto (from Alpha Stunts) called Wicked Game (aka Extreme Heist) and we had to do an audio re-dub on the film. As I was redoing my audio, Koichi and the producer kept punching in and saying ‘Hey, Johnny, you have a good hero voice.’ Eventually the producer said ‘I...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2008 edition of Impact]

He is perhaps the greatest cinematographer working today - and he’s as happy working on martial arts epics as he is indie auteur projects. Calum Waddell sits down for a chat with Christopher Doyle...

Christopher Doyle is has shot some of the greatest movies to ever be released under the Asian Extreme banner, including Wong Kar Wai’s gritty triad thriller Days of Being Wild (1991), the epic martial arts drama Hero (2002), the instant-classic Infernal Affairs (also ’02) and 2004’s shocking Dumplings. On the eve of the DVD release of Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Invisible Waves (which should be on your shelves from Tartan by the time you read these words), Impact caught up with the multi-award winning cinematographer at the annual Edinburgh Film Festival for the following chat. Currently hobnobbing in Hollywood with such pictures as Lady in the Water, Paranoid Park and the upcoming Downloading Nancy, Doyle is a slightly shy, but nonetheless forthcoming, personality who is proud of his standing in the Hong Kong film industry.

Calum Waddell: I guess my inevitable first question is to ask you how you got your start as a cinematographer...
Christopher Doyle: Basically someone gave me a camera (laughs). I was a student studying Chinese and we were doing a film about music. None of us had any idea how to put the film and the music together and, secondly, we were shooting in very low...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2007 edition of Impact]

Our Editor at large, John Mosby, has the hardest job... sitting in the only proper pub in Hollywood, drinking beer and eating pies with Ray Winstone, Mark Ryan and Jason Connery - aka: The Merries.

Ray Winstone is talking about bears. Not the kind that you see in old adverts for Heineken or the cuddly ones advertising BBC telethons. No, this is the scary kind that you see when you pull open the curtains of your hotel window and see unexpectedly in the neighbouring, wild European landscape snarling at you. He sighs. He wishes it was a unique experience...

“And another time...I’ve just gone to my room. I go to draw the curtains to go to bed and there’s a rhinoceros outside my window and I’m just stood there silently thinking ‘What the hell did someone put in my drink?’ I just turn, go to bed and lie there totally paranoid. I wake up in the morning and wondered if I was crazy or on another planet. I draw the curtains back and there’s the rhinoceros. Turns out that the hotel is right next to the Berlin zoo. Back in England I did a show years ago called Cat’s Eyes. I went to bed and as I draw the curtains I looked out - snow everywhere across Kent - and I see a guy, naked except for wellington boots, running across the...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2007 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder catches up with Adam Torrel, head honcho of independent distributors, Third Window Films, and a man on a mission to bring cool asian movies like PTU, Dasepo Naughty Girls and Teenage Hooker Became a Killing Machine to our attention!

It’s always good to see more of our kind of films getting an official UK release and, with the recent launch of Third Window Films, we’re getting a chance to see some great if often overlooked and under-rated films from Korea, Hong Kong and Japan hitting the UK, both on DVD and, in some cases, as theatrical releases. Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder caught up with Adam Torrel, the man behind the mission at Third Window Films, and discussed how he first got interested in Asian film and his plans for the label and some of the films they hope to release.

Mike: When and what initially attracted you to Asian films, as a fan first? Which directors, genres, country really made you think this was something special?
Adam: I’ve always been a big movie and music buff and collector, mainly focusing on the obscure whether it be movies or music (I’m a massive vinyl collector of mainly rare soul 45s). I got into Asian cinema in the early ‘90s through mainstream Hong Kong cinema with directors like John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark getting me hooked. Then through tracking down dodgy third generation vhs copies of obscure...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2007 edition of Impact]

Our very own Ian Powers continues his conversation with Mike Leeder on the ups and downs of life behind and in front of the camera.

Mike Leeder delivers the final part of his interview with Beijing based American martial artist, actor and stuntman Ian Powers, who has been carving a name for himself on the Jade screens both big and small...

Impact: Now you’ve also had the opportunity to work in Japanese action cinema, with Kenji Tanigaki of Masters of Thunder fame...
Ian Powers: It was the beginning of 2003 and SARS had hit Hong Kong and China very badly, everybody was afraid and a lot of productions got put on hiatus until the crisis was under control. Now my girlfriend at the time was Japanese and had talked me into leaving China with her until SARS was under control. So we go to Japan only for her family to decide that while both of us had come from a country infected with a disease, only I might have caught it so I couldn’t stay with them! I ended up staying with a friend from University in Tokyo, but things were a little tough money wise as Japan is a very expensive place to stay if you’re not working. Luckily for me, that’s where you came in and bailed me out of trouble (not for the...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2007 edition of Impact]

Get camera, gather friends, shoot... That’s the mantra behind the current explosion of British action films - most of which we’ve covered during their making. Phil Hobden gathers the talent at the head of this new wave of Brit film-makers and sits ‘em down to discuss their experiences...

It wasn’t long ago that the UK film industry was known for little more than a near endless stream of romantic comedies, mostly starring a fellow named Hugh something or other. But underneath this, discontent was brewing. As more money came into the industry, from the likes of the Lottery and Film4, so the range of films produced here seemed to narrowed even further. Those of us wanting something different found ourselves drawn to US Indies or the new wave of Asian cinema, that the internet gave us almost unlimited scope to seek out. The UK just didn’t seem interested in making genre films. But then came the arrival of cheaper digital technology and a fellow named Tarantino, who showed us film school needed to be little more than your local flea pit cinema or blockbuster video. With no money available for these films, but with technology becoming cheaper and cheaper, wannabe film-makers were able to just pick up cameras and start making movies.

Okay, it wasn’t as simple as that - it took breakthrough Indie movies like Blair Witch to make both low budget and digital film making commercially viable mediums but out of this a growing movement...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2007 edition of Impact]

Neil Gaiman is one of Britain’s home-grown comic book writers currently taking Hollywood by storm. Here he talks to our comic obsessed Editor about Stardust and the upcoming Beowulf.

When last we spoke with Neil Gaiman he was involved in the production of Mirrormask, a labyrinth-like tale of fantasy and stop-motion marvels. But he is, of course, a multi-award winning best-selling author and the creator of key comic-book titles and characters and though it can be argued he didn’t invent ‘Death’ he certainly made the cosmic entity all kinds of Winona-Ryder-circa-1980s-cute.

As the year draws towards a darkness more than Christmas, Neil has been involved in two key releases. First is the much-anticipated Stardust, previewed last issue, and based on his original book illustrated by Charles Vess. It’s a fantasy romp in the vein of The Princess Bride and all those swashbuckling films of yore and, ultimately, is one of those feel good movies that is fun enough for adults and clever enough for the kids...

The second is the upcoming Beowulf project, with Ray Winstone (currently shooting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) as the hero of the title, Crispin Glover as Grendel the monster he must defeat and the impossibly golden Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s evil mum. Neil adapted the story for the screen alongside Roger (Pulp Fiction) Avery. The key fact...

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2007 edition of Impact]

Impact contributor, Ian Powers, turns interviewee to discuss his burgeoning career in the Chinese action entertainment industry. Err, nepotism... us?

A lifelong passion for martial arts and movies has been combined by American martial arts actor Ian Powers, relocating from North America to China has given him the opportunity to carve a name and career for himself on the Jade Screens both big and small as an actor and fighter. Powers has worked alongside such names as Jet Li, Frankie Chan, Richard Ng, Cary Tagawa, Yuen Wah, Ritchie Ren, Michael Madsen, Sik Seal-lung, Michael Madsen and many more... Recently he co-starred in Alfred Cheung’s Contract Lover which was one of this summer’s major successes at the Chinese Box Office and, occasionally, he even finds time to write for Impact. Our Eastern editor Mike Leeder talks to him about martial arts, movie making and more in the first part of a two part interview...

Impact: Where were you born and raised, and how did you first get involved in both the martial and performing arts?
Ian Powers: I was born and raised in America, spending half my time in New York and half in Connecticut, as both of my parents worked for the airlines. I think I grew up like most other kids, although I did travel a lot which...

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2007 edition of Impact]

As Day Watch gets a long awaited Western release, Impact catches up with the director responsible for bringing Western action sensibilities to a Russian audience raised on State sponsored cinema.

A few years ago, many in the West had written off - or more accurately - knew very little about the Russian film industry. Nowadays that’s changed somewhat. Not only have actors/producers such as Alexander Nevsky managed to make their projects truly international, but it seems the Russian industry can produce movies such as Night Watch that compare favourably with blockbusters like The Matrix.

When Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor), was released in its native Russia in July 2004, it became an instant smash-hit, breaking all film gross records in post-Soviet history. Made for a mere $4 million, the film out-grossed both Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Spider-man 2 at the Russian box office, eventually taking in more than $16 million. Now, Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) has done even better, grossing over $30 million. This month you’ll get the chance to see it here...

This sequel continues to revolve around the conflict and balance maintained between the forces of light and darkness - the result of a medieval truce between the opposing sides. This ancient war between the forces of Light and Darkness is reaching a tragic outcome. Each side has gained a powerful ‘Great Other,’...

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2007 edition of Impact]

Jet Li has most often played the hero, but in this month’s War he gets to be the villain of the piece for a change. Impact discovers how Li travelled to the dark side and the production team designed the action...

War screenwriters Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley had been long time Jet Li fans and disciples of the Asian-influenced action genre when they created the role of ‘Rogue’ and they did so expressly to accommodate their screen idol. Many screenwriters write scripts with particular stars in mind, but in this case, producer Jim Thompson actually managed to get Smith’s and Bradley’s script to Li, who signed on to play Rogue.

“It’s one of those rare occasions where the writers had a vision, they had one guy in mind, and we actually made it happen,” says Thompson. “We got it to the guy that it was intended for, and the movie actually happened with him in the part, which is rare.”

Steven Chasman, who represents Li and acts as one of War’s producers, says he was surprised by Li’s strong endorsement of the War’s script. “When I first read it I didn’t think Jet would be interested because the character is really the antithesis of almost everything he’s ever played in a movie. But to my surprise he responded enthusiastically.”

“I’ve never played this kind of character before,” agrees Li. “I don’t know whether he’s good or bad. I only...

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2007 edition of Impact]

The classic sci-fi action series gets a revamp for radio, but how will fans feel now that it’s a new Avon calling?

It seems that everything old is new again. In an era where technology is expanding in leaps and bounds, there is something to be said for taking advantage of more tried and tested means. In the cases of Blake’s 7, the classic BBC series about fugitives in space, it really is a back to the future approach, exploiting a mixture of the internet and good old fashioned audio presentations.

Many readers of a certain age will remember the Blake’s 7 series. In a dystopian future, Roj Blake is an agitant that the imperialistic Federation can’t afford. He’s mind-wiped but the wipe doesn’t completely take and with only the vaguest appearance of a free trial he’s whisked off to a prison planet, Cygnus Alpha. The prison craft comes across an alien space-craft and decides to use the expertise of some of its inmates/passengers to see if they can salvage it. However the likes of Blake, hacker Kerr Avon; and the feisty smuggler Jenna have other ideas and manage to steal the craft, ultimately freeing some of their fellow prisoners, including the locksmith Villa and murderer Gan. Now Blake has his ‘Liberator’ and the makings of a team with which they...

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2007 edition of Impact]

Mark Millar has written some of the best-selling comics of all time and saved the universe. So, what is he up to next and why does it involve Angelina Jolie and sun-cream?

There’s many an adolescent who has saved life, the universe and everything from the relative safety of his room and just in time for tea. What child hasn’t dreamed of being Superman and jumping tall buildings in a single bound - at least until the notion of bounding and jumping with the fairer sex takes precedence during your teenage years - and how many kids have climbed the walls emotionally until they discovered fellow nerd Peter Parker who did it for real? It’s less usual to be able to turn that fountain of imagination into a veritable sea of profit, a solid career and award-winning dream-spinning. Mark Millar may still save the universe from his bedroom (or more accurately a study with walls covered by movie and comic posters) but today he does it for a living.

And it’s a good living too. When Impact last spoke to Mark he was still working on the second volume of The Ultimates, a recreation of the early days of Marvel’s Avengers team, re-imagined for their Ultimate imprint. The volume came to a close after thirteen issues, riding on a sea of acclaim and only slightly bruised by the severe delays en...

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2007 edition of Impact]

No recent John Woo big-screen outings? ‘Console’ yourself with this digitised outing from the master of the bullet ballet.

He’s one of Hong Kong cinemas most famous directors and responsible for many of Impact’s favourite movies - from A Better Tomorrow to Hollywood high action like Broken Arrow. The movie that played the biggest part in breaking John Woo’s heroic bloodshed, bullet ballet style of film-making to Western audiences was the non-stop, bullet-fest that is Hard Boiled. The film featured Chow Yun-fat as Inspector Tequila, a no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners kind of cop who uncovers a huge arms dealing operation beneath a hospital. Shoot ‘em Up (reviewed elsewhere this issue) is just one of the Hollywood films to take stylistic cues from Hard Boiled but pretty much every time you watch an action hero dive across the screen in slow motion with two hand guns blazing, remember, it’s John Woo who pioneered that look.

Woo is currently working on a film adaptation of a game, featuring The Rock as Spy Hunter, but this month sees things cut the other way as Midway releases a gaming sequel to Hard Boiled in the form of Stranglehold. Impact sat down with Mr Woo to discuss the game and the return of Inspector Tequila...
What is Stranglehold about?
Stranglehold™ is the continuation of Inspector...

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2007 edition of Impact]

From Sherwood to Hollywood and from the Irish battlefield to outer space, the versatile actor/choreographer/action-man Mark Ryan tells us about the ‘buzz’ surrounding this summer’s Transformers.

The last time we caught up with Mark Ryan he was fresh off a muddy irish field full of axe and sword-wielding hordes and the legendary Clanranald where he’d been helping make the battle sequences in King Arthur look brutal, dirty and crisp celtic candy for the eye. Still well remembered for his role as Nasir in the classic ITV Robin of Sherwood series, Ryan is the type of guy who keeps popping up in high profile projects, but not always where you expect. Years on stage, originating the role of Magaldi in the West End’s Evita? Check.

Fight choreographer in King Arthur? Double check. Penning a DC comic? Absolutely! Cameo as a prison captain in The Prestige. Totally! But as a hulking great robot from another planet in the year’s most anticipated blockbuster? Well, actually, yes... when the normally silent Bumblebee has something to buzz about, that would be Mark’s vocal chords and the funny thing is, he was the prototype voice for all the mechanical cast. So how did the Yorkshireman end up saving the known universe? It all came about when the Transformers team needed someone to talk the walk... for ALL the characters.

“The casting...

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2007 edition of Impact]

The best-selling crime author tells Impact about his latest novel, The Overlook and why he’s looking to ‘Equalize’ the odds with his new screenplay.

For much of the past decade, Michael Connelly has been considered one of the best novelists in the business. With his tales of Detective Harry Bosch and the blend of procedure and contemporary drama, his books have been instant best-sellers. As Connelly’s latest book - The Overlook - is published in the UK and he turns his hand to reviving a classic ‘80s hero, Impact meets the man himself.

Michael, your latest Harry Bosch novel, The Overlook, is slightly different from your other books. Is it right to say it was originally created as a serialised story for the New York Times?
Yeah, I think it’s different on a bunch of different levels. Most notably it’s a leaner, tighter story. The original story was serialised and after that I was able to rewrite it and do with it what I wanted. But I still felt that the story - which takes place in only twelve hours - dictated that it would still be a tightly drawn narrative. That’s one difference. Also I think that the subject-matter - in this case Harry Bosch gets called out on a normal type of investigation, a homicide investigation but it very quickly takes...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2007 edition of Impact]

He’s been a bodyguard to the stars, a record-breaker (literally!) and now an actor and producer. Vancouver-based Rick Faraci talks about philosophy and martial arts with Impact’s John Mosby.

Hollywood is full of those who make a career of acting tough, but a handful of those would-be performers are the real thing. Rick Faraci once handled security for The Rock and the series Smallville (in this day and age even superheroes need protection) but you’ll also have seen him on screen. When he’s not acting or breaking world records for breaking things (if you’re a slab of ice, the end is nigh!) he’s also working on his own producing projects with major plans for later in the year. When Rick attended the recent MarCon event with Impact’s editor John Mosby, the two men got chatting...

John: When talking to people for Impact, a good question to start with is how a career began. Is there a definitive moment when you started seeing martial arts as an important part of a career?
Rick Faraci : I started when I was five. My brother started when he was ten. It was down to my brother. Because he was doing it, I got to do it. By the time my brother was about twelve or thirteen he was dropping out of it, but I was still enthusiastic. By the time...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2007 edition of Impact]

Phil Hobden catches up with his old University mate and fellow movie-maker, Ed Evers-Swindell to discuss his home-grown zombie sci-fi actioner Infestation.

When you think of stand-out British genre directors, who jumps into your head? Danny Boyle? Naturally. One of the UK’s finest exports with 28 Days Later and more recently Sunshine. Or maybe Neil Marshall, the deft hand behind The Descent and Dog Soldiers. How about Ed Evers-Swindell, the director of Brit horror actioner Infestation? Who? From award winning student projects to ground-breaking short films, he’s been a film maker for more than fifteen years. Most recently his first feature film Infestation has been wowing critics across Europe and grabbing fans across the world.

Infestation was a real labour of love. I’m sure you’ve heard the story before... a film shot for a very limited budget over a period of years, a cast of unknowns working in less than ideal conditions being paid a wage that wouldn’t even get you Tom Cruise’s stand-in for a hour. But Infestation has something different from your average low-budget British independent film. It has scale, and lots of it. Big budget, Hollywood-style scale. This isn’t a movie about two angst ridden guys in a room discussing lost love, no, Infestation is something very different.

Thirty years in the future, mankind has been forced underground...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2007 edition of Impact]

She takes the punches in productions as diverse as xena, Warrior Princess and Kill Bill. Zoe Bell tells Impact why the hits just keep on coming...

It would be easy to describe hanging atop a speeding Dodge Challenger while being chased down a rural Texas back road by Kurt Russell with murder on his mind in Quentin Tarantino’s half of Grindhouse as ‘just another day at the office’ for action actress extraordinaire Zoë Bell. That’s the sort of thing Hollywood tatlers love to write, but, in this case, it just ain’t true. Truth is, what may be the most memorable car chase to hit the silver screen since Bullitt was actually a few weeks at the office (so to speak) for the wünderfraülien stunt pro and newly-minted thespian, and according to Zoë, it was anything but just another day. Speaking just after wrapping the high octane, highly dangerous and highly anticipated death-defying car chase where she clocked the majority of her screen time OUTSIDE the vehicle, she gushes “Dude! I just spent a couple of weeks hanging on the bonnet of a speeding car! It was SO f***ing cool!” [Note for American readers: ‘bonnet’ = ‘hood.’]

While her co-stars may have opted for stunt doubles, or at least to sensibly stay inside the cars during all the attempted vehicular homicide, the...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2007 edition of Impact]

Greg Nicotero creates the kind of effects that make you squirm. But are there now limits to what can, or should be shown? Impact goes behind the scalpel and prosthetics.

If you’ve ever seen a cinematic effect that makes you think ‘How did they do that?’ or a sequence where you wince because the action and injuries look so real, then there’s a good chance you’ve seen the work of Greg Nicotero. His skill with prosthetics and visual effects have graced the likes of action films such as Kill Bill, Minority Report, Serenity, The Hills Have Eyes, Sin City, Grindhouse, Hostel and its upcoming sequel, to name but a few. Impact asks the make-up maestro about the changing nature and challenges of the job...

Greg, right now the industry must be a busy place for you...
There’s a lot of running back and forth. I’m working on six different projects right now. I’m trying to juggle the second Narnia film... and there’s a certain irony to having Prince Caspian on one end and Alexandre Aja’s Mirrors on the other end - which is a gut-wrenching horror movie, the exact opposite end from family fantasy, fawns and centaurs...

What are the main challenges of the job?
For me, I guess because of my upbringing and the fact that I watched all those zombie movies as a kid and loved the...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2007 edition of Impact]

In the age of the Net and YouTube Mark Hicks has become infamous for a stunt that went wrong... but it looks like he may yet have the last laugh.

The video clip of an ‘afro’ wigged stuntman performing a flip, only to make a bad landing and come up stunned but still determined to twirl his nunchucks, dubbed the ‘Afro Ninja’, rapidly became one of the most infamous and widely seen internet clips of all time. The man in question was actor/stuntman Mark Hicks who we at Impact knew from his work on such projects as Spawn, Money Talks, Rush Hour 1 and 2 , Gen-Y Cops and many more film and TV projects. The ‘Afro Ninja’ clip is still widely circulated and with the news that Hicks had just completed Afro Ninja: Destiny, a feature length martial arts misadventure chronicling the origins of the character, we knew it was time to catch up with him and get the true story behind the origin of Afro Ninja...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2007 edition of Impact]

David Wenham talks excluisvely to Impact about his action roles in the cinematic epics, 300 and Lord of the Rings.

David Wenham won a whole army of fans with his appearance as Faramir in the ground-breaking Lord of the Rings trilogy. With 300, already the largest March opening for a film ever, those numbers could well multiply by the title’s amount. In an exclusive interview with Impact’s editor John Mosby, the Australian actor talks about the practicalities of Hollywood’s march to war...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2007 edition of Impact]

Impact’s Eastern Editor Mike Leeder brings us the final part of his interview with action man Jesse Johnson.

The UK’s own Jesse Johnson has worked as a stuntman or second unit director on all manner of major motion pictures including, most recently, Mission Impossible 3 and Robert Zemeckis’ upcoming Beowulf, but his true passion behind the camera is as a writer/director of his own projects. Johnson’s feature debut was The Honorable starring world class martial artist Domniquie Vandenberg who would later star in Pitfighter, the movie that really introduced both of them to a bigger audience. Johnson has recently wrapped production on The Last Sentinel (starring Don Wilson and reviewed last issue), the sci-fi thriller Alien Agent with Mark Dacascos, and is currently wrapping the dark thriller The Butcher. Impact’s Eastern Editor Mike Leeder brings us the final part of his interview with Jesse.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2007 edition of Impact]

The producer and director of the UK’s first Hong Kong styled action movie analyse the post match report on their movie - finally released in the UK last month.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2007 edition of Impact]

The UK’s own Jesse Johnson has worked as a stuntman or second unit director on the likes of Mission Impossible 3 and Robert Zemeckis’ upcoming Beowulf, but his true passion behind the camera is as a writer/director of his own projects. Impact begins a two-part interview.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2007 edition of Impact]

In the second part of our Ghost Rider coverage, we talk to Nic Cage about his starring role as the ‘Spirit of Vengeance.’

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2007 edition of Impact]

Ghost Rider director Mark Steven Johnson sits down for a one-to-one with Editor John Mosby to talk about bringing the hell-raising, soul-tainted spirit of vengeance to the screen.

The devil is one slippery customer and - as the classic book Faust and many a Hollywood movie has shown - the price of selling your soul is usually way too high. Making a movie in Hollywood can often be an equally fraught experience so when Marvel Comics secured a deal to bring their iconic Ghost Rider character to the screen, there were many who wondered if the project would work. The character is not as well known in the mainstream as the likes of Spider-man, The Hulk or X-Men but there’s no denying that his look is every much as iconic. Despite the mythology changing and expanding over time, the idea that a man would sell his soul - not for wealth, fame or power, but to save those he loves - and have to pay the price while trying to do good is a compelling narrative.

The devil is one slippery customer and - as the classic book Faust and many a Hollywood movie has shown - the price of selling your soul is usually way too high. Making a movie in Hollywood can often be an equally fraught experience so when Marvel Comics secured a...

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2007 edition of Impact]

Impact talks with Lane Garrison about his work in Prison Break, Shooter and life away from the camera.

Prison is meant to punish and rehabilitate, but as all good viewers know, it’s also provided entertainment as the back-drop for many dramas - both on film and television. Think OZ, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and several Jean-Claude van Damme outings. Probably the most recent use of the idea has been in FOX’s Prison Break, a quite literal break-out hit in the US and internationally. The first series introduced us to Michael Schofield (Wentworth Miller) who, bizarrely, stages a bank robbery and immediately gives himself up to the police. Unlike most rational people, it appears that he wants to go to jail and we soon find out why. His brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell - also known for his Blade:Trinity and John Doe appearances), has been wrongly convicted of a crime, the murder of the Vice President’s brother and he’s about to face a death sentence. Michael designed the prison holding them and is determined to bust his sibling out. However, once inside the brothers find themselves both facing threats from within the prison population and from outside forces determined to make sure Lincoln never leaves or learns the full truth. Alliances are forged and the plan begins...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2007 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder talks to one of the east’s rising stars, Vincent Sze about his career...

Impact: Vincent, can you give us some biographical details about where you were born and raised, how you got into the martial arts and then the entertainment industry?
Vincent Sze: I was born in Hong Kong but I moved to France when I was about three years old. My father had a real passion for France and the language and the culture, and wanted me to grow up and experience life there, so I pretty much grew up in France speaking French as my first language. Chinese and English are my secondary languages. I got to spend some time in Hong Kong while growing up, for holidays etc... but most of my early life was spent in France. As for how I got into the martial arts, well I was really a big fan of Bruce Lee, and I still am today. When I saw him in action, I wanted to run around and throw punches and kicks like I saw him doing. So I wanted to take up martial arts and the first style I got into was Taekwondo. I know now that Bruce had come from a very different martial arts background, but when I was a kid...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2007 edition of Impact]

Paul Cornell, writer on Marvel Comics’ Wisdom, TV’s Doctor Who and Robin Hood discusses the UK action revival...

With so many imports hitting the screens it often seemed that UK television channels - particularly those with a remit for action - were solely dependent on foreign product to keep their schedules in order and pulses racing. However, in the last few years the UK has started to prove it can give as good as it gets and export it further afield. Spooks (or MI-5 as it is known in America) showed that you don’t have to be Jack Bauer to win friends and kill people. Dramas like Cracker, Prime Suspect and The State Within have scored highly. In the last few years, the likes of the revamped Doctor Who has also won good ratings across the Atlantic and hot on its heels is the like of Robin Hood. Action for all the family is firmly now back in the spotlight…

With so many imports hitting the screens it often seemed that UK television channels - particularly those with a remit for action - were solely dependent on foreign product to keep their schedules in order and pulses racing. However, in the last few years the UK has started to prove it can give as good as...

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2007 edition of Impact]

Impact continues its no-holds-barred interview with Wushu maestro Wu Jing. In the final part of the interview, we discuss his return to action in Wilson Yip’s dark classic SPL alongside Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen and Simon Yam and more...

Impact’s Eastern Editor Mike Leeder continues his no holds barred interview with Wushu maestro Wu Jing. In the second and final part of the interview, we discuss his return to action in Wilson Yip’s dark classic SPL alongside Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen and Simon Yam, working with Sammo on both SPL and the upcoming Twins Mission, Fatal Contact and what the future holds for him...

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2007 edition of Impact]

Anime covers all ages and has inspired other countries to offer their own alternatives. This month we look at Avatar: The Last Airbender (aka The Legend of Aang on UK’s Nickleodeon).

When I was young, my dad never paid much attention to ratings or parental advisement. I watched Robocop when I was five, and I still turned out (sort of) normal. He taught me that a good show appeals to certain audiences. A great show, however, transcends age and targeted demographics. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a great show. It plays to a simple truth that many shows, even the ones geared towards adults, tend to easily forget: children are smarter than we give credit, so treat them with the same respect you would an adult and the show will thrive. Avatar is an ambitious undertaking, because it believes in its story first and seems to be intent on finishing the tale with quality all the way.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2006 edition of Impact]

Mamoru Oshii’s Patlabor 2 and the finale of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2 share a great many parallels, Impact investigates...

Mamoru Oshii is THE name in near-future, mechanized sci-fi anime - and he has enjoyed that position for some time now. Ghost in the Shell was the movie that introduced his work to most Western audiences and is the franchise to which his name remains inextricably linked but, prior to that breakthrough, he already had an impressive portfolio of animated features to his name.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2006 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder sits down for a tete-a-tete with Wushu Wunderkind, Wu Jing and then reviews his latest action-fest, Fatal Contact.

Mainland Chinese Wushu maestro Wu Jing first jump kicked his way onto the Jade Screen as the youthful star of Yuen Woo-ping’s kung fu comedy Tai Chi 2/Tai Chi Boxer, before carving a name for himself in the world of Chinese martial arts dramas on the small screen. Wu worked for director Tsui Hark on Legend of Zu, and Lau Kar-leung for Drunken Monkey, but it his cameo role in Wilson Yip’s dark classic SPL/Killzone that re-introduced him to cinema audiences across Asia. This month Wu Jing headlines a dark martial arts thriller Fatal Contact, which sees him drawn into the world of illegal martial arts fights. Impact’s Eastern Editor Mike Leeder caught up with the man for the following interview.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2006 edition of Impact]

He’s the man who puts the art into martial arts. From Big Trouble in Little China to Highlander, the acclaimed fight choreographer charts his career and attitude to creating all the right moves.

Watch Vernon Rieta choreograph a fight and you’ll quickly see he’s not only teaching and working through specific positions, his every movement is evolving a story as he paints a picture in the air. Martial arts instructor, fight choreographer and all-around enthusiast, the Hawaii-based sifu talks to John Bierly about putting the art in martial arts.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2006 edition of Impact]

Highlander star Adrian Paul talks about his recent work on The Source and his attitude to the martial arts.

Sir Ian McKellen once said that actors are noble vagabonds, moving from one place and one character to the next - always prepared to keep evolving and surviving by their passion and hunger for experience. If that’s true then the road more travelled by Adrian Paul has proven an interesting and rewarding one. It’s close to a decade since he played Duncan MacLeod on TV screens and made the spin-off Highlander series an international success story. The actor, dancer and martial-artist brought that combination of talents to a character and series that required them all to be at their peak. On a weekly basis, he not only decapitated villains, but addressed some of the more theological problems about living forever. The creative heart of the writing department, David Abramowitz, described the show as ‘Talmudic ass-kicking’ and if that’s true, Adrian Paul was the kicker in question. But since laying down the katana he hasn’t been resting on any laurels.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2006 edition of Impact]

She’s doubled for Milla Jovovich and Maggie Q, trained both Tom Cruise and tear-away kids... but how did Ming Qui acheive such success? John Bierly talks to the stuntwoman to the stars.

Nanjing native Ming Qiu has rocked more than just the wushu world over the last seven years. A fluid, 5’3” blend of capability and reliability, Ming has quickly established herself as one of the top go-to talents in the world of Hollywood stuntplay. It was Nia Peeples who first noticed Ming on a performance tape and personally invited her to become her Walker, Texas Ranger stunt double. More television and film work followed, culminating in Ming being chosen as Lucy Liu’s stunt double in both the Charlie’s Angels films and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1. Her upcoming film project is the comedy Balls of Fury, doubling Hawaiian sensation Maggie Q, whom she also doubled in this summer’s Mission: Impossible III. Impact recently caught up with Ming to talk about her work training Milla Jovovich on the ultra-violent Ultraviolet, her one-on-one training with Tom Cruise and a variety of other topics ranging from the movie business to the wushu classes she still finds time to teach.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2006 edition of Impact]

His name may not be immediately familiar to our western readers but in the Far East, Tony Wong has a similar profile to that of Marvel’s Stan Lee in the US and Wilson Yip’s adaptation of his Dragon Tiger Gate comic book series was as much of an ‘event’ movie as the X-men. Mike Leeder managed to catc

Impact: Tony, what was the initial attraction to the world of comics?
Tony Wong: I grew up in Hong Kong, and I'm not really sure why but I was always attracted to the world of comics, Chinese comics, Japanese comics, American comics, it didn't matter where they came from, just I was always really attracted to the world. It was a form of escape I think. I would rather read a comic book than a normal book. Comics can be entertaining but also very educational and inspiring. I was always happiest when I was reading comics and that inspired me to start drawing and eventually writing my own comic books.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2006 edition of Impact]

Impact rounds off its coverage of Korean action-fest City of Violence with the final part of our interview with Ryu Seung-wan and Jung Doo-hung and an overview of the movie...

When somebody finally gets around to writing the definitive book of Korean cinema, both of the subjects of this interview, Ryu Seung-wan and Jung Doo-hong are sure to feature heavily when it comes to the chapters on the Korean new wave that introduced the majority of the world to modern Korean cinema. Both gentlemen are responsible for a number of ground breaking examples of Korean cinema, both separately and as a team which has resulted in such well received films as No Blood No Tears, Arahan, Crying Fist and more recently the down and dirty City Of Violence. For the latter film, both men pulled doubled duty in front and behind the camera, as the films director and action choreographer, as well as the films leading men. Impact continues its talk with two of the most talented and, at times, off the wall members of Korean cinema.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2006 edition of Impact]

Last month she was the Lady in the Water, but Impact finds out what we can expect from next year’s Spider-man sequel.

We last saw Bryce Dallas Howard running a dangerous errand on behalf of her fellow inhabitants of The Village - in the M Night Shyamalan film of the same name - and she’s currently starring in the director’s latest magical drama, The Lady in the Water. But next year she’ll be riding even higher in one of 2007’s most eagerly anticipated action movies: Spider-man 3. Impact caught up with the busy actress during her trip to London.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2006 edition of Impact]

Superman Returns has had decent box-office but mixed reviews. We caught up with the film’s director to find out how the film eventually made it to the screen.

If you are a cinema-buff of a certain age then there are really only two iconic pieces of music which will guarantee to raise the hairs on your arms and ignite that quick flurry of excitement. They conjure childhood memories of something important, chords and stanzas that, even before they became part of movie legend, heralded something you knew was just that bit special. The first is the Star Wars theme, the second is Superman.

While the music from a galaxy far, far away promised more than it ultimately delivered when we traveled back for the prequels, the Man of Steel’s anthem still remains untarnished. So you can’t really blame Warner Bros for rolling out the classic soundtrack as a backing track when the men (and women) behind Superman Returns fly in to meet the press. (By plane, just in case there were any delusions of grandeur.)

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2006 edition of Impact]

The third and final part of Mike Leeder’s exclusive interview with one of Eastern cinema’s best exports.

Jet Li can currently be seen on the big screen across the UK, as Fearless directed by Ronny Yu plays to packed houses. The film which may well be Jet’s final traditional martial arts epic is currently enjoying its UK theatrical release, and by the time you read this the film will be making its North American theatrical debut. Impact’s exclusive interview with the film’s producer and leading man Jet Li, China’s original martial arts movie star, continues in the third and final part of Easter Editor Mike Leeder’s in-depth interview…

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2006 edition of Impact]

Impact’s first cover star, Jean Claude Van Damme, stars in the upcoming Sony release The Hard Corps, written and directed by longtime associate Sheldon Lettich. Mike Leeder talks to Sheldon about the experience...

Impact’s first cover star, Jean Claude Van Damme, stars in the upcoming Sony release The Hard Corps, written and directed by longtime associate Sheldon Lettich. The two have forged a lengthy and successful working relationship which can be traced back to the original Bloodsport (which was written by Lettich), through to their well received collaborations on classic Van Damme actioners AWOL/Lionheart and Double Impact. The upcoming release of The Hard Corps sees Van Damme playing an elite bodyguard fighting to protect a world champion boxer, while falling for the boxer’s beautiful sister played by Viveca Fox. With the film set to premiere very soon on DVD, Impact’s Eastern Editor Mike Leeder concludes his exclusive interview with Sheldon about the film, working with Van Damme and much more…

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2006 edition of Impact]

John Bierly concludes his interview with the rising action star and discusses the differences and similarities between the Russian and American film industries.

Last issue we talked to Russian-born actor/writer/producer Alexander Nevsky about the changing face of the Russian film industry. Now we continue with our exclusive coverage of his new film Treasure Raiders and talk about the lessons he learned from his previous film, Moscow Heat.

“Since Russia didn’t have a movie industry for twelve years, we lost many film professionals to other industries because they couldn’t find jobs making movies,” Nevsky explains. “When the movie industry got back on track, some of those people came back. But there were also lots of new people who though they had enough experience but actually did not. When you are doing movies in Russia, you have to be very careful. The movie industry is very young right now, and you should be sure that the people you hire are good professionals. I knew about that, and that’s why I decided to bring in as many professionals as I could from Hollywood.”

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2006 edition of Impact]

Impact catches up with Russia’s biggest action export and finds out how the Russian film industry is making new in-roads into mainstream cinema.

Actor/writer/producer Alexander Nevsky might be based in Los Angeles these days, but his Russian heritage continues to play a massive role in his ever-expanding success story. The charming, six-foot-seven-inch mountain of muscle is quickly establishing himself as one of the European film industry’s biggest movers and shakers, in more ways than one.

Moscow Heat, Nevsky’s action drama from 2004, has been purchased by 60 countries and has sold more than 100,000 DVDs in the United States alone. With a $10 million budget it was the largest independent film ever made in Russia, and took in $1.3 million in just 95 scenes in Russia in 2004. The production itself attracted talent from around the world, blending action and character drama in Moscow locations so beautiful that the city itself felt like its own character.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2006 edition of Impact]

The second part of our exclusive interview with the veteran martial artist and Fearless star.

Impact: I think it’s fair to say that a few people were surprised by your choice of director for the film, Ronny Yu is best known internationally for the success of his horror films such as Freddy Vs Jason and Bride Of Chucky… even back in Hong Kong, while he’s know for films such as Bride With White Hair, The Phantom Lover and Legacy of Rage starring Brandon Lee – he’s not automatically the director you’d think of for a marital arts film.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2006 edition of Impact]

The upcoming release of The Hard Corps reunites leading man and Impact’s original cover star Jean Claude Van Damme with longtime friend and associate writer/director Sheldon Lettich. Mike Leeder caught up with Sheldon and asked what we can expect from the new project...

The upcoming release of The Hard Corps reunites leading man and Impact’s original cover star Jean Claude Van Damme with longtime friend and associate writer/director Sheldon Lettich. It’s a very successful partnership that can be traced back to the original Bloodsport and such subsequent projects as Lionheart, Double Impact and Beyond. Impact’s Eastern Editor Mike Leeder caught up with Sheldon for the following interview about what we can look forward to from the new project…

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2006 edition of Impact]

Highlander finally makes the leap to the comic page. Impact talks with Brandon Jerwa about his writing duties on this new arm of the franchise.

For several years Highlander was considered the franchise that wouldn’t die. It wasn’t that people hadn’t tried (more money was being spent on selling Highlander souvenirs than on any forthcoming movie and pseudo-trailer for the fourth movie was an effective suicide note if there ever was one) or that critics hadn’t long ago written off the premise with ironic ‘Only One’… comments, but it simply refused to go away.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2006 edition of Impact]

It’s the big screen meeting Japanese action fans have been waiting for as Sonny Chiba and Yasuaki Kurata go head to head. We meet the director and action choreographer, Kenji Tanigaki, to find out what it’s like working with two legends of action cinema.

Two of the greatest names in Japanese action cinema are reunited in the latest film from Japan’s action maestro and longtime friend of Impact, Kenji Tanigaki. The film is called Master Of Thunder or Seven Monks for the international market, and its two leading men are living legends in the world of martial arts movies. One is The Streetfighter himself Sonny Chiba, most recently seen in Kill Bill, while the other is Yasuaki Kurata from Fist Of Legend, Legend Of A Fighter and many other Hong Kong classics.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2006 edition of Impact]

...are the guys behind the best little Asian film festival in New York. As a preview to next month’s coverage of the NYAFF, Abe Golfarb sits back and listens to the human rant that is Grady Hendrix.

Interviewing Grady Hendrix, even over e-mail, is an experience of uncommon, unmixed delight. It’s like opening up a box of Crackerjacks and finding a firecracker inside. To see him preside over a screening at the New York Asian Film Festival (this years edition runs from June 16th to July 1st at the Anthology Film Archives and the Imaginasian Theater) is to be abducted into a conspiracy of adrenalised fervour and laughter.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2006 edition of Impact]

We’ve been covering Jet Li’s latest martial arts epic for some time and as it finally reaches UK cinemas, Mike Leeder aka Referee Randall sits down for an exclusive talk with the film’s star.

China’s original martial arts hero Jet Li (Li Liang-jieh) made the transition from multiple award winning Wushu champion to a movie star with his first film Shaolin Temple, since then he has carved a name for himself playing a variety of legendary characters from Chinese martial arts history, the great Wong Fei-hong in the Once Upon A Time In China series, Fong Sai-yuk in the two Fong Sai-yuk movies he starred in and produced, Hung Hei-kwoon and Chen Zhen as well as breaking into the international market with such films as Lethal Weapon 4, Kiss Of The Dragon, The One, Hero and Danny the Dog.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2006 edition of Impact]

Star of the French hi-octane actioner and founder of Parkour (or Free Running), David Belle discusses his sport, career and future prospects with Impact.

District 13, a modern day action film, was born from an idea by Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel (making his directorial debut). Having been the main camera operator on many feature films, Pierre Morel was looking for a new project and came across District 13, the first problem was figuring out how to make the stunts and actions credible. This was a hard task since Ong Bak has set a new high standard in martial arts cinema. The casting of Leito and Damien was thus of primary importance. David belle, who was involved with the origination of Luc Besson's Yamakasi, had famously invented the concept of Le Parkour (aka Free Running), a philosophy of action-based movement in an urban environment in which objects such as buildings are obstacles to be scaled rather than circumvented...

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2006 edition of Impact]

Impact favourite Michael Worth sat down with Mike Leeder to discuss his most recent career developments. This is what the bootmaster-turned-auteur had to say...

In 2003, actor/director Michael Worth was sitting in an editing room with a group of producers who were slowly and methodically chopping away at his freshman screenwriting effort, the western Ghost Rock. The then 120 minute drama which followed a gunfighter who is given one last chance at a lost love and an enemy he has a kinship with was being transformed before its creator's eyes. "I remember one of them telling me `all we need is fifteen minutes of action, fifteen minutes of talking heads and repeat"', Worth recalls sadly. "And suddenly I saw how something you can put so much personal heart and creativity into can turn into just some commodity for the market".

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2006 edition of Impact]

For the final part of our conversations with Sword Master Anthony DeLongis he exclusively recounts his experiences working on Ronny Yu’s Fearless, starring Jet Li.

Hong Kong Calling...
It all started with a phone call from Impact magazine's Far Eastern Editor Mike Leeder, he was on an international casting search to find the best fighters for a new Jet Li project filming in Shanghai. One of the roles called for an actor who could portray a Spanish sword expert who was also highly skilled with a whip for two featured fights in the film's final tournament sequences. I'd previously played a Spanish sword master in the Duende episode of Highlander, an episode written for me. It offered a fantastic character to play and also gave me the chance to co-choreograph the action with my old friend F. Braun McAsh - introducing the uniquely Spanish style of rapier and dagger fighting to the screen for the very first time...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2006 edition of Impact]

The final part of Impact’s exclusive interview with one of the martial art genre’s most celebrated figures.

Impact: Your work at Shaw Brothers includes a number of the martial arts movies regarded as classics of the genre, including 36th Chamber of Shaolin and its sequels, Dirty Ho, Challenge Of The Ninja/Heroes Of The East and 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. How did you feel when you finally left Shaw Brothers?
Gordon: It was a little strange... I had been at Shaw Brothers for a long time and learned so much and achieved so much more than I could have thought I ever would have. I had been nobody when I joined the company and, at Shaw Brothers, I really became Gordon Li Chia-hui.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2006 edition of Impact]

Tak Sakaguchi - ‘The Speed Master’ of Chanbara - meets with Impact’s Eastern editor to discuss his much anticipated sword-fest, Death Trance.

Japanese actor Tak Sakaguchi first caught the attention of audiences around the world with his charismatic and highly physical performance in Ryu Kitamura's classic zombie gunfighting, Gung Fu kicking, gory actioner Versus. Subsequently he's delivered strong performances in a number of projects with his most recent film, Death Trance, due for release later this year, getting almost universal acclaim, most recently in Impact's own Asian Extreme column last month. If you're a fan of the original Versus, Azumi, Beat Takeshi's take on Zatoichi and the action and horror genres then you're going to be impressed by the film and its leading man. Impact's Ian Powers caught up with Tak for the following interview.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2006 edition of Impact]

Tarantino fans will recognise the martial arts master from Kill Bill, but Impact readers know he’s a veteran of the industry in his own right. Mike Leeder talks exclusively to the ‘Master Killer’ about his career.

It's hard to believe that it's more than 25 years since Gordon Liu (Liu Chia-hui) first came to fame playing the martial monk 'Sante' in the classic Shaw Brothers martial arts epic 36th Chamber of Shaolin AKA The Master Killer as American audiences know the film, directed by his adopted brother, legendary martial arts choreographer Lau Kar leung. More recently no lesser director than Quentin Tarantino called upon Liu's talents to play two roles in his Kill Bill saga, the deadly Johnny Moe, and the mischievous Master Pai Mei, tutor to Uma Thurman's Bride. Since Celestial's ongoing re-release schedule began in Asia, many of Gordon's classic movies have been released onto DVD in Asia, and this year should see their North American release and hopefully UK releases. When we heard the news that Gordon was coming to the UK to be a guest at this year's Seni show, Impact's resident bald headed martial monk Mike Leeder caught up with Gordon for the following interview about how his career began.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2006 edition of Impact]

He’s one of Hollywood’s biggest producers and a self-proclaimed fan of the ‘big, dumb action movie’. But as V for vendetta causes controversy, what does Joel Silver think about the state of the industry?

Since it was first published in the early 1990s, Impact has covered the action industry and watched it evolve. From Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme and Seagal - none of whom have had a true box-office smash in recent memory - through to Li, Crowe Clooney, Yen and Chan, the industry has evolved into something quite different. As Impact looks ahead at what the next steps in the industry will be, John Mosby sits down with Joel Silver and learns some home truths about the genre's past, present and future...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2006 edition of Impact]

Danny Trejo has had the most amazing on-screen career, but it’s nothing when compared to his off-screen life. In a major exclusive interview for Impact, the actor tells how he survived both San Quentin and Quentin Tarantino.

There can be few more imposing faces and frames in Hollywood, but Danny Trejo's reallife story is a drama unto itself. As two films featuring the actor close the 12th Bradford him festival, John Mosby meets the actor to talk about his life, career and latest projects.

So laughs Danny Trejo, one of the prolific actors working in Hollywood. If the name isn't instantly familiar (and, frankly, for any discerning action fan, it should be) then the face most definitely is. Weathered and lined, this is a face full of stories, a road-map of both a troubled life and professional success, combining to tell one of the most amazing stories of character-building and redemption as you've heard in a long while. It has all the ingredients of a fictional Hollywood blockbuster but a new documentary release, Champion, tells it for real.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2006 edition of Impact]

From East to West, meet the man who whips the competition into shape and who has become a star in his own right. This month, Anthony discusses his work on The Masters of the Universe and Highlander: The Series.

With a lengthy career both in front and behind the camera as an actor/fight director and weapons specialist, Anthony DeLongis has worked with some of the biggest names in the entertainment business on the big screen, the small screen and the stage. He has delivered memorable performances onscreen in such projects as The Silent Flute/Circle Of Iron, Jaguar Lives, Highlander: The Series and more recently Fearless which saw him clashing swords against Jet Li. His credits behind the camera include training performers such as Michelle Pfeiffer to use the bullwhip so effectively on Batman Returns, the swordplay for Secondhand Lions and so much more. Impact's Eastern Editor Mike Leeder delivers the second part of an indepth interview with a true renaissance man of action cinema...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2006 edition of Impact]

Last month John Mosby met up with Lost’s ‘Big Guy’ and resident loveable Jonah, Hurley, aka actor Jorge Garcia.

They say that no man is an island, but if the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 have an everyman in their tropical midst, then it has to be Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes. Larger than life in personality and equally sturdy in frame, this is the dude you want to hang with. Impact caught up with actor Jorge Garcia at the recent GMEX event.

Impact: This is something of a, literal, flying visit for you, isn't it? Into Manchester for a few days and then back to the set...
Jorge Garcia: I get back to the States on Sunday, I spend a night in LA. I leave Monday morning, so I'll have most of Monday to recover, then back on set Tuesday. There is some luck to the fact that we have fourteen regulars, so we do get some days off during the week, which is great. Beyond that... if it's `your' episode, you can be working thirteen hour days for a full week and a half, almost two weeks sometimes.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2006 edition of Impact]

Just before he won his Oscar for Syriana, George Clooney met with Tony Earnshaw to talk about his nominations and what it’s like being Hollywood’s political conscience.

George Clooney's latest films are both up for Oscars. He hasn't hung up the action-man credentials just yet. Impact looks at how the actor / director has quite literally become a heavyweight to be reckoned with and Tony Earnshaw meets the man himself...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2006 edition of Impact]

Action movies are often described as formulaic and shallow. Deeply political films are seen as being boring or merely aimed at the arthouse. But this month, V for Vendetta hits cinemas combining the genres in an unprecedented and provocative way. Impact editor John Mosby talks to its star Hugo Weavi

Action movies are often described as formulaic and shallow. Deeply political films are seen as being boring or merely aimed at the arthouse. But this month, V for Vendetta hits cinemas combining the genres in an unprecedented and provocative way. Impact editor John Mosby talks to its star Hugo Weaving and reviews the year's most controversial film...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2006 edition of Impact]

In part one of Mike Leeder’s exclusive interview with his Fearless co-star Anthony DeLongis looks back on his long and illustrious career as swordmaster to the stars...

With a lengthy career both in front and behind the camera as an actor/fight director and weapons specialist, Anthony DeLongis has worked with some of the biggest names in the entertainment business on the big screen, the small screen and the stage, including Tom Cruise, Jet Li, Tim Burton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Patrick Swayze, Yuen Woo-ping, David Carradine and so many more. He has delivered memorable performances onscreen in such projects as The Silent Flute/Circle Of Iron, Jaguar Lives, Highlander. The Series and more recently Fearless which saw him clashing swords against Jet Li. His credits behind the camera include training performers including Michelle Pfeiffer to use the bullwhip so effectively on Batman Returns, the swordplay for Secondhand Lions and so much more. Impact's Eastern Editor Mike Leeder delivers the first part of an indepth interview with a true renaissance man of action cinema...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2006 edition of Impact]

As Tsui Hark’s epic Wuxia based film gets a UK cinema release Impact chats to the director and brings you the low down on the movie...

Currently enjoying a limited theatrical release in the UK, Tsui Hark's The Seven Swords continues its travels around the globe since opening the Venice Film Festival last year. First reviewed in Impact issue 166, its UK release brings another to visit the mystical Mount Tian...

This time around Tony Rayns chats to renowned director Tsui Hark while Damian Howden gives us a thorough analysis as he looks beyond the hype.

Impact: How did you go about designing the swords for the film? Could they be used in real combat?

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2006 edition of Impact]

British martial artist Silvio Simac is carving quite a name for himself in the world of high impact action movie making with impressive roles in such films as Tsui Hark’s Black Mask 2, Isaac Florentine’s upcoming Undisputed 2 and Unleashed opposite Jet Li. Impact meets him.

Impact: Silvio, you had a very high profile role as one of the major fighters in Jet Li's most recent release Unleashed/Danny The Dog. We've discussed the film previously but could we briefly touch upon the experience of working with Jet Li and Yuen Woo-ping? Silvio Simac: Working with Jet Li, Yuen Woo Ping as much as working with Corey Yuen, Tsui Hark to me has been a fresh breeze from the Eastern shores. As with all the Eastern choreographers and directors I have had the pleasure to work with, the choreography has added more meaning to my vocabulary. Jet Li is the complete professional. He has this immense ability to pick up the movements quickly without prior rehearsals. He has been so much fun to work with. He would occasionally joke with me but took his work very seriously.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2005 edition of Impact]

The acclaimed novelist talks to Impact about his latest book, The Lincoln Lawyer and his dealings with Hollywood.

Michael Connelly has not only tackled characters on the extremes of both sides of the law, but also the even more treacherous waters of Hollywood. John Mosby meets the acclaimed best-selling author and reviews his latest novel.

When it comes to decent thrillers and genuine action, television and film getting most of the review spotlight, there's something incredibly satisfying about a good read. Like the old saying that 'radio has the best pictures', a good novel takes you places that no amount of Hollywood budget can manage.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2005 edition of Impact]

Until now, Phoebe Lee has rarely given a lengthy interview about her legendary brother Bruce Lee. Impact makes up for lost time...

Until now, Phoebe Lee has rarely given a lengthy interview about her legendary brother Bruce Lee. It has been over thirty years since the passing of her loving brother, who took the world by storm in his incredible action packed performances which made him a household name. `Close' can be defined as; one who holds someone near and to them. This definition describes the relationship that Bruce and his sister Phoebe had throughout the years he was alive. From his film career in Hong Kong, to his path of greatness in his martial arts, Phoebe Lee graciously shares with us her memoirs of a man the world calls Legend.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2005 edition of Impact]

His days of being a major Hollywood action hero may have come and gone but Jean Claude van Damme is still making his considerable mark on DVD. Impact interviews one of the industry’s survivors.

Impact's first cover star, Jean Claude Van Damme, makes a strong return to action with the thriller Wake Of Death, which recently received its UK release, and has just completed work on his most recent project Second In Command. A very fit, focused and healthy Jean Claude Van Damme sits down to talk with Impact East editor Mike Leeder about his most recent projects and what's coming soon... It's hard to believe that it's nearly twenty years since he leapt onto the screen in Bloodsport, and with a number of upcoming projects in development, all of which should be of interest to Impact's readership, it looks like we have a lot to look forward to...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2005 edition of Impact]

The last month saw the return of Zorro and James Bond to the film columns. Impact asks Martin Campbell, director of both projects, about the power of myth and the Hollywood machine...

Sequels, prequels, but all too rarely even close to equals. Every studio wants an action franchise on which to hang their hat and a stable of characters on which to build their fortunes. Branding and character recognition is key. This last month saw the return of two classic iconic heroes to the cinematic fray. On one hand Zorro swashed his buckle back into multiplexes across the US and UK, making sunny olde California safe for all and sundry. On the other side of the Atlantic, the new James Bond was FINALLY announced. The man at the centre of both these events was Martin Campbell. John Mosby asks the director about the economics of iconic characters and breathing new life into old.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2005 edition of Impact]

As the crusading epic The kingdom Of Heaven moves on to DVD, Simon G sits down with the film's young star, Orlando Bloom and veteran director Ridley Scott.

So, would George W. Bush take time out from his presidential schedule to watch Kingdom Of Heaven, Ridley Scott's controversial movie, now available on DVD?

"I would like to see his face, just to watch his initial reaction. More than anything I would like to know what he makes of it all, to see whether he takes any of the film's messages on board..." Orlando Bloom politely turned down the offer of yet another cold drink as he thought carefully about the question, as well as the implications. And then there was the playful, mischievous shrug of the shoulders and the cool smirk so familiar to scores of movie-goers who hang on his every word. "I would like to see if he took any notice of the film's message of tolerance and redemption."

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2005 edition of Impact]

He’s the man who originally created Wolverine, but what does writer Len Wein think of the latest cinematic superheroes?

Len Wein stands amid the hustle and bustle of this year's Comic-Con and looks around at the masses of people scurrying to and fro. There's an organised chaos to such events, but he takes it all in his stride. This is the writer who's something of a legend both here and in the wider comics community. In a career filled with accomplishments, it's worth pointing out that this is the man cited by many - in the latest wave of comic creators - as a major influence and who co-created the likes of Swamp Thing, Human Target, Nova and a certain mutant called Wolverine; back then Wolvie was just an errant Canadian scrapper who had the fortune (or misfortune) to take on the Hulk. One could argue that, in the 21st century, it's still not clear which character got the better deal. Wein looks less likely to go into a berserker, claw-popping rage. He's wearing a hat, t-shirt and badges all connected by insignia to projects he's become famous for. "1 wear the chains I forged in life," he jokes.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2005 edition of Impact]

Kerry Glover got taught all the right moves when she caught up with Master Chiu at the San Diego Comic-Con to talk about his career and the DVD release of Kung Fu Hustle.

For Chiu Chi Ling, the man who played the effeminate Tailor in Kung Fu Hustle, the best part about promoting the movie and. now, the release of the film's DVD is that he also gets to promote the Hung Gar style of Kung Fu. Master Chiu, you see, isn't merely a veteran actor and stuntman of roughly seventy Hong Kong films that include such well-known titles as Snake In The Eagle's Shadow and Duel Of The Seven Tigers. Chiu is the real deal: a Kung Fu master and direct descendant of the originators of the ancient Hung Gar style. This spry, gentle man of indeterminate age is 'very happy' to perform his promotional duties, but expresses surprise that people want to know as much about him as about Hung Gar.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2005 edition of Impact]

The star of cult classic, The Last Dragon, talks about his sudden fame and what happened next...

Twenty years later, the legend of The Last Dragon has grown - along with its fan-base - and a whole new generation has discovered 'Bruce' Leroy Green, 'The Glow' and, of course, Sho Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem. Now, these new Last Dragon fans are adding their voices to those of their elders, asking what the heck happened to The Last Dragon, where's Taimak and when do we finally get Part 2? Never let it be said that Impact left its readership wondering. In the following pages, we've brought you the inside scoop on just what happened, what's happened since, and what may happen in the very near future, straight from the master's mouth! From a theatre packed with rabid Last Dragon fans attending a Sidekick Cinema sponsored, standing room only screening of their favorite Kung Fu flick, Taimak dishes the straight dope and serves up the real deal on the chequered past - and possible future of the The Last Dragon.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2005 edition of Impact]

Bruce Lee’s life-long friend, Wu Ngan, has never before spoken to the media about the martial arts movie-star, until now...

One of the definitions of the word loyalty is; faithful to one's friends' ideals, etc. Wu Ngan is a man who has such loyalty. Wu Ngan came to live with Bruce Lee and his family in Hong Kong at a young age. He did odd jobs around the house and helped take care of the Lee family. Through the years, Bruce Lee and Wu Ngan became close. The Lee parents considered him a son and the children considered him a brother. He was a protector in his own right when it came to the Lee family. With his day to day loyalty to the family, he became one of Bruce's closest confidants. When Bruce moved to the States, they kept close contact with one another, and when Bruce went back to Hong Kong to find stardom, he once again became Bruce's personal confidant and close friend. Until now, Wu Ngan has not granted any interviews regarding his relationship with Lee. In this article, he honours Lee with his words and shares with us the times they both spent together. From Lee's childhood until his adulthood, Wu N

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2005 edition of Impact]

As Doom opens across the world, Impact talks exclusively with the film’s producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura about the film’s progress and the current state of action cinema.

A List actors are the fodder of newspapers. A smaller amount of directors command the samedegree of respect. Producers? It's hard to name more than a few the public would recognise the names of and even less the ones who'd get a double-take in the street. But, ironically, they are largely the people responsible for getting your favourite projects made. Without their marketing skills when there's nothing yet to market, their ability to join dots, talk the talk, walk the walk and get the right people in the right frame for the right job to happen, most movies would never make it out of the already-packed Development Hell.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2005 edition of Impact]

As we wrap-up our special coverage of Serenity, John Mosby meets Summer Glau to find out how she went from ballerina to ballistic...

More buffed than Buffy, more rippling than Ripley? Summer Glau may look like ‘China In Your Hands’, but she’s the screen’s latest (and deceptively impressive) super-power. In the final part of Impact’s look at Joss Whedon’s Serenity, John Mosby talks to the actress about dancing through the dark.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2005 edition of Impact]

DOOMED! He’s switched his battleground from middle-Earth to outer space, but Karl Urban’s feet are firmly on the ground.

For several years it was All Ork and no Play' for rising star Karl Urban, but for his latest action outing he's switched from Middle-Earth to outer space and a long-anticipated video game adaptation. But will DOOM spell salvation? Impact spoke to the actor as he boarded a plane from his native New Zealand to Los Angeles.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2005 edition of Impact]

The action star and stuntman, Robin Shou talks to Impact’s Andrew Staton about his life, career and the behind-the-scenes look at the HK stuntman’s lot that is the long awaited Red Trousers.

In town to promote the DVD release of his action expose of the HK stunt industry, Robin Shou took the time to talk to Impacts Andrew Staton ...
Robin Shou was born on the 17th July 1960 in Hong Kong: he travelled to America when he was eleven years old with his family, which consisted of his mum and dad, two older sisters and one older brother and younger brother He completed his education at California State University obtaining a Civil Engineering Degree. After his mother passed away in October 1994, he became a vegetarian and a Buddhist to honour her memory.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2005 edition of Impact]

Impact goes toe to toe with the martial arts phenomena that is Jaa Penom Yeerum, better known in the West as Tony Jaa...

Thailand’s martial arts phenomena Tony Jaa or ‘Jaa Panom Yerrum’ as he is known in his homeland, burst through the Jade Screen with an incredible mix of spectacular style and bone crunching power in the star making actioner Ong Bak. The film packed cinemas around the world and made Jaa a household name in houses where people like to jump elbow or kick each other in the head. Now Jaa returns in the eagerly anticipated Tom Yum Goong. Matthew Addison was able to catch up with Jaa at one of the press conferences for the film to ask him a few questions for Impact.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2005 edition of Impact]

Andrew Staton discusses The Silent Flute with the legendary actor.

In a bid to increase the profile of The Silent Flute with a view to promoting a UK DVD release, Andrew Staton sits down with David Carradine to discuss the film and flutes in general…

When Bruce Lee was breaking into the movie business, he decided to work with his friends and students James Coburn and Oscar winning screen writer Sterling Silliphant. The team began to write what they believed would be the greatest martial arts film of all time. However, contractual rights and a lack of decision as to where the film would be made meant that the project was shelved and so the legacy of The Silent Flute began...

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2005 edition of Impact]

Action heroine Claudia Black tells Impact that while Farscape may have passed into sci-fi history, there are still ‘unchartered territories’ on Stargate: SG-1.

If there was any rhyme and reason to casting in Hollywood, then Claudia Black should rightly be in line for roles such as Wonder Woman or Elektra and major blockbusters. It's not that she has the archetypal Tinseltown generic vital statistics personified by the flavour of the month, but the exact opposite. Because she's a striking woman and genuinely physically fit, a person who looks like she could actually hold her own in a fight rather than just pose for the poster campaign.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2005 edition of Impact]

In the concluding part of our interview with Michael Biehn, the actor brings us up to date on his recent projects.

Impact: You and Charlie Sheen were the stars of Lewis Teague's Navy Seals, which while having the majority of elements to be something spectacular… is entertaining but never really delivers on what could have been.
Michael Biehn: Navy Seals is a film that I never really thought lived up to its potential. When they first approached me with the script I passed on it, as I didn't think it worked too well. For a film about an elite unit the Navy Seals didn't seem to succeed in any of their missions and they caused the deaths of a lot of innocent people.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2005 edition of Impact]

He’s fought Terminators and Aliens and gazed into the Abyss. In the first of a two-part interview Michael Biehn looks back on his career to date...

He traveled through time to battle the Terminator; he traveled into space and survived a deadly battle with the aliens and conquered the abyss with director James Cameron. He was one of the lords of discipline, led the navy seals into action on the rock, made a memorable Johnny Ringo in Tombstone and studied the art of war with Wesley Snipes. Later this year Michael Biehn brings terror to the streets of Hong Kong in director Daniel Lee's star studded action thriller Dragon Squad...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2005 edition of Impact]

In the final part of our Batman Begins overview, John Mosby travelled to the movie’s massive UK launch and meets Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan and the cast of the year’s most acclaimed blockbuster to date.

In the second part of our look at Batman Begins John Mosby meets the cast and crew of Gotham City’s finest export…

Though many people were impressed by Tim Burton's take on the Batman universe, one thing became very clear - not only through Burton's tenure but also with Schumacher's time at the helm... the villains were the apparent stars. Batman might have his name in the title, but each outing seemed to be built around that chapter's selected nemesis. First it was Jack Nicholson as The Joker, then Michelle Pfeiffer and Danny DeVito (as Catwoman and The Penguin respectively). Jim Carrey was The Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones was Two-Face and Schwarzenegger proved a thaw point with Mr. Freeze.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2005 edition of Impact]

Director Isaac Florentine returns to the action genre with a tale of prison riots and underworld knuckle-dusting. We talk to Scott Adkins and Silvio Cimac about the film...

Director Isaac Florentine makes a most welcome return to action with his latest project, Undisputed 2. It’s a dark tale focusing on one main’s fight to survive when he’s forced to enter the deadly underworld of illegal fights taking place within Eastern Europe’s prison system. Florentine has assembled an impressive cast and crew for the project including leading man Michael Jai White (Spawn), Scott Adkins (Special Forces), Silvio Simac (Unleashed) and talented action director J J Perry (Mortal Kombat 2; Annihilation, Martial Law).

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2005 edition of Impact]

Chris Jones chats to his former employers about making an action classic on a shoe-string budget... a bit like Impact then?

Impact: Gentlemen, can you tell me a little about your backgrounds and how you first became involved with the film industry?
Neil: I started making films as a fourteen-year-old, borrowing my granddad's Video-8 camcorder and forcing my school friends to act in them. By the time I had my first contact with the professional film industry - a short course and shoot called Lonesome Takeaway when I was nineteen - I had a fairly serviceable show reel of action drama, surreal comedy and even computer animation. At the time I was in a gap year with plans to go on to university and study media production, but the Director of Photography on Lonesome Takeaway told me that what I needed to get into this industry was work experience, not a degree. I took his advice - to this day the best piece of advice I've ever been given. I sent my show reel to the company that had organised the course and though it was obviously pretty ropey, having been shot in people's back gardens by a teenager, they mus

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2005 edition of Impact]

He's the loud mouth behind Silent Bob and the writer of the upcoming Green Hornet movie. In an exclusive interview Carl Fox meets Kevin Smith.

According to his new book Silent Bob Speaks, `Kevin Smith is a filmmaker, the author of the Funk and Wagnall's dictionary, a comic book writer, a student of the Cobra Kai School of Karate, the proprietor of a comic book shop, a jet fighter pilot, a husband, a father, and all-round ace character...'

"The Karate Kid reference was more of a boastful claim than accurate by any stretch of the imagination. I have seen the films many times. They just came out in the States, I don't know if they did it here, but they came out with a box set of all the Karate Kid flicks."

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2005 edition of Impact]

Elektra director Rob Bowman discusses the DVD release of our former cover star and its Eastern influences.

He's the man who brought both Reign Of Fire and The X-Files to the screen, Rob Bowman exclusively tells Impact why he was after a very Eastern outlook when he took on the job of directing Elektra.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2005 edition of Impact]

Impact continues its coverage of Sin City as we interview the stars and take a look at the source material behind the shocking stories...

There are many factors in why the film is as powerful as it is; the art of reproducing (almost exactly) the original panels of the graphic novels, the use of spots of colour amongst the mono tone melodrama, but equally, the casting is superb.

"I had told Frank early on that we could get a great cast for this, because I knew that when actors saw what we were doing, making the movie faithfully from the books, they would came running towards it," says director Robert Rodriguez. "When you have material this solid and fresh and exciting - it's very easy to attract a tremendous cast. On day one we met with Mickey Rourke, on day two we met Bruce Willis and it went on like that. It was one of those blessed projects from the beginning. The best part of it was that I had the opening scene to show to the actors. So we'd meet with an actor, show them the books, show them the opening scene with Josh (Harnett) and Marley (Shelton), so they could see exactly how it would translate to the s

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2005 edition of Impact]

Made In England - the Britkicker talks to Impact about his ascending career in action movies.

Impact: You've been working in the industry since you made your debut in the UK lensed Hong Kong thriller Guns & Roses. What do you credit your popularity and longevity to?
Darren Shahlavi: Starting young! I was seventeen and over the years I learned a lot and I'm just reaching a peak as an actor and performer, I have also been fortunate to be offered different parts - not just fighting - in each role I do I play a different character, different look, different accent and voice and even fighting style. Audiences get sick of seeing an actor play themselves or the same type of role, I could never do that, I'd get so bored. People hardly recognise me from the films I do so they certainly can't get bored.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2005 edition of Impact]

As Man on Fire is released to DVD, Denzel Washington tells Impact about its style, success and an alternate ending...

Ever since Denzel Washington won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of a corrupt LA cop in Antoine Fuqua's Training Day, he's revelled in playing the bad guy. In Tony Scott's Man on Fire he plays Creasy, a bodyguard who sets out to avenge himself upon the Mexican kidnappers who snatch the schoolgirl (Dakota Fanning) he has been hired to protect. Continuing this, he will next reunite with Fuqua as a heroin dealer in Tru Blue. It's a new phase for the forty-nine year old actor who began his career as a caring medic in the TV series St. Elsewhere. After moving into film, the former journalism graduate spent the early part of his career playing forthright, articulate martyrs - from Steve Biko (Cry Freedom) to the slave Tripp (Glory), which won him his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2005 edition of Impact]

Tai Seng is the latest company to enter the burgeoning Eastern DVD market in the UK. Cop On A Mission is their premiere release and its star, Daniel Wu, met with Impact’s Andrew Staton to discuss his career and involvement with the film...

Andrew Staton: You were born in San Francisco, when did you decide to go back to Hong Kong?Daniel Wu: Well, I've always had family in Hong Kong, so I went back every summer. I finally moved back in 1997 - I went back to see the handover and then I was going to backpack around Asia for three or four months before returning to the States to find work, but I ended up never leaving.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2005 edition of Impact]

David Duchovny talks exclusively to Impact about life during and after the X-Files.

It's a cold day in New York City, and David Duchovny is ill. "I just wrapped a movie yesterday, so I'm collapsing in a heap," he says with a cough and a laugh. The film is Trust the Man which also features his Evolution co-star Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup (Big Fish) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko). "It's very funny, I think."

Duchovny is best known for his legendary stint as Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X -Files. He's been busy since then, having appeared in projects ranging from a comedic cameo in Zoolander to a more personal film called House of D, which he also wrote and directed. He recently telephoned Impact's John Bierly to talk about life during and after The X Files.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2005 edition of Impact]

Oliver Stone loves a good bio-pic and this year has seen him tackle the life of one of the greatest military minds in history. We talk to the cast and crew of Alexander and see if it lives up to the hype...

Earlier this year, the Hollywood blockbuster machine took us back to the heady days of Troy complete with wooden horses and a CGI cast of thousands. As 2004 heads to the finishing line, the movie industry comes full circle with another historical epic hitting the screens. But despite its prominent cast, acclaimed director and classic source material... will Alexander really be great?

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2005 edition of Impact]

Richard Cooper meets with Chang Cheh’s favourite baddie - martial arts superstar Johnny Wang Lung-wai. You might not recognise the name but any fan of Shaw Brothers’ movies will recognise the face and the moves. Part two follows next month.

He's been the villain dejour for nearly three decades of Hong Kong Action Cinema, his name is Johnny Wang Lung-wai, and if you don't recognize the name, you're sure to recognise the face and the moves. He began his career at Shaw Brothers working for the studio's two most renowned directors Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-leung on such projects as Five Deadly Venoms, Marco Polo, My Young Auntie, Chinatown Kid, Dirty Ho and many more. Wang made the transition to modern day action in projects as diverse as Kirk Wong's Flash Future Kung Fu, Project A2 and Twin Dragons opposite Jackie Chan and many more.

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2005 edition of Impact]

The cast of this award winning feature re-unite to discuss shooting this ultraviolent lo-fi movie - and what it was like to live on fish-soup throughout a wintry shoot...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2004 edition of Impact]

It was the cult TV sci-fi, romance, muppet, CGI, action show that wouldn't die. Kerry Glover sat down with stars Ben Browder and Wayne Pygram to discuss the mini-series the fans demanded!

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2004 edition of Impact]

As I, Robot hits DVD, Impact travels to Milan's top racetrack circuit to talk to top stuntman and champion biker Gaston Howard.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2004 edition of Impact]

In an exclusive interview for Impact, Calum Waddell talks with Old Boy director Park Chanwook at this year's Edinburgh Film Festival.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2004 edition of Impact]

Vin Diesel has come a long way since his days as a New York bouncer. He tells Impact that in a cosmos full of nasty aliens, the most intimidating force in the universe is... Dame Judi Dench?

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2004 edition of Impact]

24 star Reiko Aylesworth tells Impact why she's swapping CTU for CSI.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2004 edition of Impact]

As his recollections of his time in New Zealand hits the shelves, Impact talks to the actor Sean Astin about his Hobbit experiences and his future plans behind the camera.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2004 edition of Impact]

Brendan Maltman has a close shave as he interviews Alexandre Aja about his back-to-basics gore-fest.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2004 edition of Impact]

Get out your bell-bottoms. ..who knew that the 70s were going to be fashionable again? Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson discuss the recent remake of Starsky and Hutch.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2004 edition of Impact]

Andrew Staton asks the questions and Gary Daniels gets animated for this live action version of the classic movie.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2004 edition of Impact]

You reap what you sow and corrupt cop Vic Mackey is doing just that in season three of The Shield. Michael Chiklis talks to Impact about the controversial series and some `fantastic' possibilities.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2004 edition of Impact]

Yorkshireman and veteran stuntman Roy Alon has doubled everyone from Bond to David Jason. Impact caught up with him at the recent Bradford Film Festival to discuss his opinions on how the industry has changed over the decades.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2004 edition of Impact]

Jack Nicholson goes one-on-one with John Mosby.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2004 edition of Impact]

Protege De La Rose Noire marks the film debut of Donnie's little sister. Chris takes time out to talk to Impact about her burgeoning film career.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2004 edition of Impact]

Tony Earnshaw takes an in-depth look at the movie which was supposed to revitalise a dying Hammer Horror film studio and speaks to director Roy Ward Baker about what went wrong...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2004 edition of Impact]

Screenwriter Peter Briggs talks exclusively to Impact about his ideas for the latest Highlander movie and some ideas which didn't make the cut - a monkey called Connor?

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2004 edition of Impact]

From Apocalypse Now to Open Range, Robert Duvall discusses a career spanning some of the greatest movies of all time.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2004 edition of Impact]

Carl Fox catches up with indie auteur Kevin Smith following the news that he has been confirmed as the director of the new Green Hornet movie.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2004 edition of Impact]

Concluding our interview with Peta Wilson, star of La Femme Nikita and LXG.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2004 edition of Impact]

Gatekeeping. Don S Davis on his time at Stargate Command.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2004 edition of Impact]

The Last Samurai has been a huge success for Tom Cruise. Impact's Tony Earnshaw travelled to Berlin to meet Hollywood's Risen Son.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2004 edition of Impact]

Panda Poacher (and power-packing) Brandon Rhea discusses working in Hong Kong cinema.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2004 edition of Impact]

We round off our interview with Isaac Florentine as he brings us up to date with his lengthy and impressive career to date.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2003 edition of Impact]

It's a month of Qs and Q&As. Impact talks to Maggie Q about her career and future

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2003 edition of Impact]

From The Matrix to Bad Boys, Joe Pantoliano has often stolen the show. In an exclusive chat he tells us about his view of the movie industry.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2003 edition of Impact]

From the crow to the wolf, Mark Dacascos and his martial arts talents have made a strong impression. Impact catches up with him.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2003 edition of Impact]

As Tears of the Sun opens, we continue our look at the action industry's veteran with 'Bruno' himself...

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2003 edition of Impact]

Action hero, movie veteran, but what's next for Harrison Ford? Impact was invited to meet the famously press-wary star.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2003 edition of Impact]

Jean Claude Van Damme. Battles, ballet, bottles and bravado: our exclusive interview.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2003 edition of Impact]

In the concluding part of our interview with Richard Norton, we find out how the Aussie actor found success in the US.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2003 edition of Impact]

The legendary director tells us what drew him to the modern remake of the Hulk.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2003 edition of Impact]

Gregor Jordan is the man behind both last month's Buffalo Soldiers and the upcoming Ned Kelly. Impact meets the Aussie director and looks at these rebels with a cause.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2003 edition of Impact]

Meet the man behind some classic and cult action movies. Impact talks exclusively to the director Isaac Florentine and traces his career.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2003 edition of Impact]

Yo-Ho-Ho and a box-office of fun. 2003's sleeper hit leaves other movies in its wake. John Mosby meets Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2003 edition of Impact]

From Eastenders to Eastern action, the second part of Impact's exclusive interview with rising action star Scott Adkins

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2003 edition of Impact]

In the (almost) words of Dr Seuss... Hollywood hears a Hu and her name is Kelly. John Bierly talks exclusively to the star of X2 and The Scorpion King about her martial arts and next big screen plans.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2003 edition of Impact]

In our first look behind the scenes of Mutant X, John Mosby meets Victoria Pratt to see how a hometown girl became a model, martial artist and action star.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2003 edition of Impact]

In the second part of our exclusive interview with the Alpha Stunts' alumni we look at his best and latest projects and what the future holds.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2003 edition of Impact]

The UK's latest martial arts movie sensation talks to Impact about his burgeoning career and the perils of battling Jackie Chan.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2003 edition of Impact]

You may not know the name but his Alpha Stunt team are responsible for the frenetic action of Drive and Power Rangers to name but two. Yuji gives us the lowdown on life as a stunt-man.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2003 edition of Impact]

As X2 hits our cinema screens we interview the stars and special effects creatives, plus we give our considered opinion on the final outcome of the movie.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2003 edition of Impact]

The director of action classics such as Terminator and Aliens sits down for a pow-wow with our editor.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2003 edition of Impact]

No spin-zones here. Literally. The science-fact may be ludicrous, but does the science-fiction action movie deliver? We asked its star Hilary Swank to take us on a journey to the centre of the box-office.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2003 edition of Impact]

We catch up with the long lost `prodigal son' somewhere in China.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2003 edition of Impact]

The man who created Thunderbirds, Joe 90 and Terrahawks ... no strings attached?

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2003 edition of Impact]

Another month and another cult TV show comes to an end. Kerry Glover spoke with the cast and crew of Farscape for this final two part overview

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2003 edition of Impact]

Dustin Hoffman is an industry veteran, appearing in films as diverse as Outbreak, Sphere, The Marathon Man and Moonlight Mile. What keeps him running?

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2003 edition of Impact]

Behind the camera, as well as in front, there is a wide degree of talent and style. Impact talks with Spielberg, Scorsese and others about the approach to their work.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2003 edition of Impact]

It's going to be another long day for Jack Bauer, but Twenty Four's Sarah Clarke and Xander Berkley tell Impact why they have the rest of their lives to enjoy.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2003 edition of Impact]

The god of kicking talks exclusively to Impact about his career.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2003 edition of Impact]

In our overview of the influential Mutant Enemy (the company behind Buffy, Angel and Firefly) John Mosby talks to Joss Whedon, David Fury and Chris Buchanan.

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2003 edition of Impact]

Do you want to be the next Steven Spielberg? Hollywood star Kevin Spacey tells Impact how he'd like to help you.

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2003 edition of Impact]

Bruce Campbell on how he escaped the clutches of the Evil Dead and ended up in a boxing ring with Spider-man!

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2003 edition of Impact]

In the second part of our feature on The Shield, we talk exclusively to Michael Chiklis about his Emmy Award and the future of the controversial police series.

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2003 edition of Impact]

We talk with Steven Spielberg about the DVD release of his film Minority Report.

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2003 edition of Impact]

The Fellowship is broken and the Two Towers are in sight. John Rhys Davies tells Impact about filming in 'Middle Earth'.

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2003 edition of Impact]

Thirty years ago Cyril Durrup appeared as an extra in Bruce Lee's directorial debut - here he recounts his experiences on set.

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2003 edition of Impact]

James Bond, 007 is back in business, but will Die Another Day prove that revenge is a dish best served cold? Our coverage begins...

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2002 edition of Impact]

Once upon a time there were three little girls and they went to the police academy. Twenty-Five years later the formula is the same but these angels have dirtier faces. Impact speaks to She Spies star Natasha Henstridge.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2002 edition of Impact]

Impact goes Frell for leather for an exclusive interview with Farscape's leading man Ben Browder and gets the lowdown on the final days of the show as its shock cancellation was announced.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2002 edition of Impact]

Impact talks to Production Designer Alex McDowell about his work on films as diverse as Minority Report and Fight Club.

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2002 edition of Impact]

He first made his name as a wandering holy man and now he's teaming up with the wholly remarkable Quentin Tarantino. David Carradine talks exclusively to Impact.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2002 edition of Impact]

This month we ask one of Mutant Enemy's top movers and shakers to name some of his favourite TV shows, films and influences.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2002 edition of Impact]

From gun-toting nun to a Six Footer who goes the whole nine yards, Impact meets Six Feet Under star Rachel Griffiths.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2002 edition of Impact]

Prior to his rare UK appearance, the man who was the Green Hornet takes us back to the glory days of Batman and beyond.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2002 edition of Impact]

She's the star of Starship Troopers, Johnny Mnemonic and Dragonheart, so why is Dina Meyer heading for Gotham City? John Bierly reports.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2002 edition of Impact]

The veteran stunt co-ordinator speaks to China Beat about the cross over of HK styled action to Hollywood

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2002 edition of Impact]

Robert Rodriguez and Doug Aarniokoski discuss the present and future of digital action cinema.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2002 edition of Impact]

No more Mr. Nice Guy. Tom Hanks discusses the role of gangster enforcer in the critically acclaimed The Road to Perdition.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2002 edition of Impact]

We look back at the favourite cult films and TV shows of those involved in the genre. This month Valentine Pelka admits his passion for such diverse pleasures as Shane and Noggin The Nog!

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2002 edition of Impact]

The final part of our interview with John Saxon.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2002 edition of Impact]

Fancy a cold one? James Marsters exclusively tells Impact about fandom, fangs and rock 'n' roll.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2002 edition of Impact]

As Willow gets released on DVD, star Warwick Davis tells Impact about his adventures.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2002 edition of Impact]

John Saxon recalls his experiences on the set of Enter The Dragon

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2002 edition of Impact]

Impact East talks to the big man about his new series Special Unit: Flying Dragon

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2002 edition of Impact]

She may look angelic, but in an exclusive Impact interview Charisma Carpenter dresses to kill...

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2002 edition of Impact]

The sequel has landed and director George Lucas tells us about some of those Jedi mind-tricks.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2002 edition of Impact]

Hong Kong Homegrown meets Ara Paiaya, the man behind Dubbed & Dangerous

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2002 edition of Impact]

Robert Lee talks about growing up in Hong Kong with a martial arts icon as a big brother

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2002 edition of Impact]

Celestial Picture's CEO, William Pfeiffer discusses bringing Shaw Bros back catalogue to DVD

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2002 edition of Impact]

Buffy getting hot with a cold one? Angel, a daddy? Tim Minear and David Fury tell Impact what went right (and wrong) this season.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2002 edition of Impact]

Sam Raimi loved the comic-book, now fans love his film. How Spiderman became this year's hottest film.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2002 edition of Impact]

Part two of our exclusive interview with actor, choreographer and martial arts master

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2002 edition of Impact]

We have profiled their movies for a couple of months. Now we interview the talent behind the cameras...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2002 edition of Impact]

Even without his Mummy, Impact thinks that The Rock is getting braver and boulder.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2002 edition of Impact]

The martial arts star speaks to Dragon Power about his movies and working with Brandon Lee

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2002 edition of Impact]

From Cracker to Potter, by way of Hell. We meet the charismatic Robbie Coltrane.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2002 edition of Impact]

Will David Soul be in the movie remake of Starsky & Hutch? He tells all to Tony Earnshaw.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2002 edition of Impact]

The controversial departure of Mr. Shanks and the future of SG-1. Brad Wright talks exclusively to John Mosby.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2002 edition of Impact]

In an extract from The Cutting Edge, Bob Anderson looks back at a career of buckles and blades.

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2002 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder goes one-on-one with the choreographer and co-star of Blade 2...

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2002 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder continues his one to one with this thoroughly modern martial arts movie star...

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2002 edition of Impact]

Michael Shanks tells John Mosby why he quit Stargate SG-1.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2002 edition of Impact]

Swords and special effects. John Mosby talks with industry wizard Bob Chapin.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2002 edition of Impact]

Mel Gibson is back on screen and marching as to war. Impact finds out why Mel is playing another American patriot.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2002 edition of Impact]

Lord of the Ring? Artist and actor Viggo Mortensen goes behind the camera with Kerry Glover

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2002 edition of Impact]

How many? China Beat speaks to the people behind Jet Li's upcoming sci-fi actioner

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2002 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder talks to this rising martial arts star about Streetfighter, Crying Freeman and Red Corner

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2002 edition of Impact]

On television, on DVD and exclusively on set! Impact talks to director Tim Minear.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2002 edition of Impact]

Soul Survivor Eliza Dushku on attitude, action and life after Buffy.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2002 edition of Impact]

Meet the man behind the effects of Armageddon and the sword of Highlander. You can simply call him: 'Da Bob'

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2002 edition of Impact]

We conclude our Ocean's 11 coverage by talking with Brad Pitt and Steven Soderbergh.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2002 edition of Impact]

Impact interviews George Clooney about his role in the remake of the ratpack classic, Ocean's Eleven

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2002 edition of Impact]

The cast of The Lord Of The Rings speak to Impact about their year in New Zealand

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2002 edition of Impact]

Kevin Spacey on his Oscar winning movie career and his new film K-PAX

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2002 edition of Impact]

Ewan McGregor, Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer speak to Impact about Black Hawk Down

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2002 edition of Impact]

Peter Weller talks to John Mosby about his role in Robocop

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2002 edition of Impact]

The official face of Star Wars' Mare Jade talks to John Bierly

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2002 edition of Impact]

The best of the East is now making it big in the West. We speak to some of HK's top directors moving out West

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2002 edition of Impact]

From Dracula to the future of Enterprise.

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2002 edition of Impact]

The ever-enigmatic Tsui Hark speaks to Mike Leeder about the up-coming Black Mask 2

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2001 edition of Impact]

Some of Hong Kong’s leading stuntmen talk about the current downturn of their industry

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2001 edition of Impact]

"It's the dough Roper..." Andrew Staton interviews the multi-talented Mr Johnson

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2001 edition of Impact]

Donnie Yen talks to Impact about how Iron Monkey hit box office gold in America…

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2001 edition of Impact]

Highlander star Adrian Paul talks exclusively to Impact about the film franchise and his new SF series: Tracker.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2001 edition of Impact]

Patrick Stewart talks about returning to the UK and looks ahead to Star Trek X and X-Men 2.

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2001 edition of Impact]

Sophia Crawford's awfully big adventure away from the cameras.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2001 edition of Impact]

Tim Burton on this year's controversial and 're-imagined' Planet Of The Apes

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2001 edition of Impact]

We talk exclusively to author Michael Cordy on his 21st century thrillers and movie prospects.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2001 edition of Impact]

From Saving Private Ryan to Daredevil? Vin Diesel gets Fast and Furious.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2001 edition of Impact]

Robert Duncan McNeil and Ethan Phillips bid a final frontier farewell to Voyager.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2001 edition of Impact]

Tom Selleck talks about the classic detective series Magnum PI and why he left Hawaii behind…

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2001 edition of Impact]

Best-selling authors Neil Gaiman and Christopher Golden discuss the evolution of books to movies and vice versa

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2001 edition of Impact]

The final part of Mike Leeder's interview with H.K's rising star

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2001 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan live and direct from Ireland and the set of The Medallion

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2001 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets the cast of Tomb Raider.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2001 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan live and direct from Ireland and the set of The Medallion

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2001 edition of Impact]

The rising star of HK cinema speaks to Impact East in the second part of his exclusive interview

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2001 edition of Impact]

Joss Whedon, the man/nerd/god/demon behind Buffy, talks exclusively to Impact about life, death and ratings.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2001 edition of Impact]

Edward Woodward on the streetwise spy for hire.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 2001 edition of Impact]

Anthony Stewart Head tells Impact about being the librarian from Hell, the end of Buffy… and beyond

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2001 edition of Impact]

Gerard Butler gets his teeth into Dracula, Reign of Fire and rumours of future Bondage

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2001 edition of Impact]

The rising star of HK cinema speaks to Impact East in the first of a two part interview

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2001 edition of Impact]

Revamped? From ‘Dracula' to ‘Star Wars Episode II' and beyond...

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2001 edition of Impact]

Two exclusive interviews from the set of Tsui Hark's sequel

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2001 edition of Impact]

…speaks exclusively to China Beat about beating George Lucas to the Hi-Def punch

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2001 edition of Impact]

John Boorman and Pierce Brosnan spin a very different spy story

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2001 edition of Impact]

Spies like us? Robert Rodriguez tells Impact why he’s happy to have made an action film for all the family

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2001 edition of Impact]

In the second part of our interview Gary talks about City Of Fear

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2001 edition of Impact]

Scott Adkins speaks from the set of The Black Mask II

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2001 edition of Impact]

The Queen Of Swords arch nemesis on life in the bad lane

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2001 edition of Impact]

James Marsters – dead and loving it

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2001 edition of Impact]

Bruce Payne on why being bad is so good

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2001 edition of Impact]

Anthony Hopkins on making a meal of it

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2001 edition of Impact]

About producing and acting in the thriller 'Black Friday'

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2001 edition of Impact]

Starring roles in `Queen Of Swords' and 'Robocop: Prime Directives', busy bloke

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2001 edition of Impact]

How I killed my dog and other confessions

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 2001 edition of Impact]

Crouching Tiger finally reaches our shores and Impact speaks to Ang Lee

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2001 edition of Impact]

Teddy Chen speaks to Impact

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2001 edition of Impact]

Keith Vitali’s meals and thrills on wheels

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2001 edition of Impact]

The team behind Highlander: Endgame speak exclusively to Impact

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2000 edition of Impact]

From ER to Batman, what will Mark Hicks be doing next?

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2000 edition of Impact]

Keith Vitali's meals and thrills on wheels

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2000 edition of Impact]

The second part of our exclusive interview

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 2000 edition of Impact]

‘Romeo Must Die’ but Jet must talk

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2000 edition of Impact]

The ups and downs of the Kung Fu Queen

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 2000 edition of Impact]

IFD’s Joseph Lai recalls the ‘good old days’

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2000 edition of Impact]

The Cat in the Kangol Hat shoots the breeze

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2000 edition of Impact]

Ray Park licks the opposition

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2000 edition of Impact]

Gary Daniels speaks to Mike Leeder in the second part of our interview

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2000 edition of Impact]

Impact reveals the real Mr Jones

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2000 edition of Impact]

Adrian Paul heads back to the Highlands

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 2000 edition of Impact]

Impact meets the stars at the 60 Seconds premiere

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2000 edition of Impact]

Won ‘Sunny’ Jin speaks exclusively to Impact

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2000 edition of Impact]

Gary Daniels speaks to Mike Leeder in the first of a two part interview

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 2000 edition of Impact]

The Starmaiden of Stargate SG-1

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 2000 edition of Impact]

Jean Claude Van Damme establishes State of Independence

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2000 edition of Impact]

Impact talks to cinema legend and tough man to fathom, Al Pacino

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2000 edition of Impact]

Lo Meng, one of the biggest names in Shaw Bros history speaks!

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2000 edition of Impact]

Impact talks to Tim Russ (Tuvok), Voyager's resident Vulcan

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 2000 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets legendary director Oliver Stone

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2000 edition of Impact]

‘Impact’ meets Sigourney Weaver and learns that in space, everyone can hear you scream

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 2000 edition of Impact]

‘Impact' interviews 'Buffy's' stunt co-ordinator, Jeff Pruitt

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2000 edition of Impact]

George Clooney, career choices, and life in front of the camera

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2000 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan talks to Mark Dacascos, the star of ‘Crying Freman’, ‘Drive’ and ‘The Crow’

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2000 edition of Impact]

John Joyce meets the Asian action ace, Jet Li, flying high in western skies

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2000 edition of Impact]

A Midlands warrior in the middle kingdom

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 2000 edition of Impact]

'Impact' one-on-one with George Clooney

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2000 edition of Impact]

Part two interview with the former 007

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2000 edition of Impact]

One-on-one with the king of Canto pop

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2000 edition of Impact]

John Mosby talks to Spanish heart-throb Antonio Banderas

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2000 edition of Impact]

One film star determined not to become wrapped up in himself

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 2000 edition of Impact]

Tony Earnshaw talks exclusively to ‘The Limey' director Steven Soderbergh

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2000 edition of Impact]

The Krishnamurti Connection

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 2000 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder interviews the man who has taken on the biggest names in cinematic martial arts

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 1999 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets Antonio Banderas on his recent trip to Britain

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1999 edition of Impact]

Touching 'Base' with Mark L. Lester

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 1999 edition of Impact]

The Dark Side of the screen persona of Andrew J. Robinson

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 1999 edition of Impact]

Chris Ducker chats exclusively to HK's favourite action cutie!

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 1999 edition of Impact]

Part Two of the Bey and Michael rapfest

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 1999 edition of Impact]

Helmut Schveinhardt meets the fearless vampire hunter, Wesley Snipes

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1999 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan crosses swords with the latest from veteran Hollywood helmer John Frankenheimer

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1999 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets Sir Ian McKellan, renowned actor of stage and screen

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1999 edition of Impact]

Second part interview with actor and fight choreographer Anthony De Longis

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1999 edition of Impact]

The ongoing journey of Benny Urquidez (part three)

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1999 edition of Impact]

Impact talks to Highlander immortal Roger Daltrey

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1998 edition of Impact]

John Kreng meets Asia's most bodacious battling babe

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1998 edition of Impact]

Teddy Chen tackles The Terrorist

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 1998 edition of Impact]

Who watches the Watcher? John Mosby meets actor Jim Byrnes

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 1998 edition of Impact]

John Mosby talks to Gang Related co-star Jim Belushi.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1998 edition of Impact]

Cass Magda shows Dracula how to fight

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 1998 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder meets the impressive Michael Woods.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 1998 edition of Impact]

The ongoing journey of Benny The Jet Urquidez - Part Two.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 1998 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan meets John Benn, the most famous 'unknown' in martial arts movie history.

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 1998 edition of Impact]

Helmut Schveinhardt trades friendly fire with China's most popular martial arts export.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1998 edition of Impact]

Van Damme's double... Exclusive interview with Todd Senofonte

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1998 edition of Impact]

The ongoing mission of Benny `The Jet' Urquidez.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1998 edition of Impact]

Why James Cameron has swapped science-fiction for historical drama.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 1998 edition of Impact]

Morgan Freeman, the historical epic Amistad, the contemporary thriller Kiss The Girls and the action-thriller Hard Rain.

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 1998 edition of Impact]

Jan De Bont at the helm of the Speed sequel.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1997 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets the man who helps save the world from aliens and dinosaurs.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1997 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan celebrates the Hong Kong Handover with its favourite son.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1997 edition of Impact]

Part two of Rick Baker's meeting with Hong Kong's answer to James Dean.

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1997 edition of Impact]

Part two of the one-on-one with Robin Shou, the star of Mortal Kombat, Beverly Hills Ninja and Death Cage.

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1997 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets Reservoir Dog Tim Roth

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1997 edition of Impact]

Mike Leeder goes one-on-one with Robin Shou.

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 1997 edition of Impact]

Impact talks to Cuba Gooding Jnr.

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 1997 edition of Impact]

Kung Fu Queen turns double Yeoh seven!

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 1997 edition of Impact]

Impact meets the latest swashbuckling action man, but who is Steve Waddington?

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 1997 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets Michael Douglas and goes hunting for some facts

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 1997 edition of Impact]

Kung Fu Queen turns double Yeoh seven!

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 1997 edition of Impact]

One-on-one with Arnold Schwarzenegger on Christmas, Batman and future features

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1997 edition of Impact]

Impact exclusive: John Mosby talks to the `Godfather' of Action movies, John Woo

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1997 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets Sylvester Stallone with bigger plans on a smaller scale

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1997 edition of Impact]

David Peterson caught up with young director/producer/writer Brent Houghton in Australia

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1997 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets the cast of StarTrek: First Contact

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1997 edition of Impact]

Blair Moore meets Ron Vreeken, veteran of American Samurai, Streetfighter, Rage And Honour and Iron Fist

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1997 edition of Impact]

Daylight director Rob Cohen on Stallone, hidden depths and disaster movies

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1997 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan catches up with the Jetster

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1997 edition of Impact]

John Mosby speaks exclusively to Profiler star Robert Davi

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 1996 edition of Impact]

Impact talks to Pete Postlethwaite, and looks at the actor's career to date

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 1996 edition of Impact]

John Mosby talks to Sean Connery and director Rob Cohen in the medieval epic, years in the making

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1996 edition of Impact]

Mike Stradford talks to Highlander - Vie Series director Ken Gord

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1996 edition of Impact]

Impact goes on location with Robbie Coltrane and stunt arranger extraordinaire Mark King

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1996 edition of Impact]

Inside the mind of the man behind The Fugitive, Seven, Outbreak, Falling Down and Out For Justice

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1996 edition of Impact]

The former Naked Gun-er tells how he learnt to Spy Hard

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1996 edition of Impact]

Ian Fryer tells all about cop movies

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1996 edition of Impact]

Part two of our exclusive interview with Stanley Tong

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1996 edition of Impact]

Part two of the interview with Bloodsport’s new star Daniel Bernhardt

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 1996 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan meets Rumble In The Bronx helmer Stanley Tong

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 1996 edition of Impact]

John Mosby interviews the lad who has been scoring goals on the big screen, and who will be back on the small screen as Sharpe

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 1996 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan goes one-on-one with Daniel Bernhardt

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 1996 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan enters the ring with movie mastermind Keith Strandberg

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 1996 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets the director's director Martin Scorcese, and looks at his new movie Casino

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 1996 edition of Impact]

John Mosby gets out of the kitchen and talks with acclaimed director Michael Mann

[To read this article in full you must buy the March 1996 edition of Impact]

Michael Wilson, the man who really assigns 007 his mission

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1996 edition of Impact]

Anna Chen talks to Species director Roger Donaldson

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1995 edition of Impact]

John Mosby meets Steven Seagal

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1995 edition of Impact]

One-On-One with the clown Dragon

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1995 edition of Impact]

Anna Chen interviews Red Power Ranger Austin St. John

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1995 edition of Impact]

The next action hero? (part 2)

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1995 edition of Impact]

One-on-one with American martial art actioner Eric Lee

[To read this article in full you must buy the June 1995 edition of Impact]

Anna Chen talks to the director Godfrey Ho

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 1995 edition of Impact]

Impact goes one-on-one with Frank Zagarino

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 1995 edition of Impact]

Impact beams up Talaat Captaan for a few sound bytes

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 1995 edition of Impact]

The Bruce Willis interview

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1995 edition of Impact]

Impact's Harry Lee meets the Highlander star

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1995 edition of Impact]

Impact meets rising star Donnie Yen

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 1994 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan meets the bodacious Mr Yeung

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 1994 edition of Impact]

Joel Schumacher on bats, briefs and other blockbusters

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1994 edition of Impact]

Chinese action actor / producer Roy Horan exclusive!

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 1994 edition of Impact]

Chinese action actor / producer Roy Horan exclusive!

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1994 edition of Impact]

Ol' blue eyes is back!

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 1994 edition of Impact]

Impact talks to one of Hollywood's up-and-coming action men

[To read this article in full you must buy the August 1994 edition of Impact]

Michael Dudikoff back with a new film, and a new TV series

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 1994 edition of Impact]

Seagal flies East

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 1994 edition of Impact]

The making of Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires

[To read this article in full you must buy the May 1994 edition of Impact]

So you want to be a stuntman?

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 1994 edition of Impact]

Meet the American maestro of movie mayhem

[To read this article in full you must buy the April 1994 edition of Impact]

Impact interviews Mark Damon

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1994 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan met the man behind the mayhem

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1994 edition of Impact]

Inside Cynthia Rothrock - Part 2

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1994 edition of Impact]

Michael Douglas speaks for the D-Fens

[To read this article in full you must buy the February 1994 edition of Impact]

Britain's SECOND most famous spy talks about The Avengers

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1994 edition of Impact]

Impact catches up with Stallone and Silver

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1994 edition of Impact]

One-on-one with filmdom's favourite fighting female

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1994 edition of Impact]

Meet the new Robocop

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1994 edition of Impact]

Bey Logan meets the Stone Cold Star, Brian Bosworth

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1994 edition of Impact]

Menachem Golan speaks

[To read this article in full you must buy the January 1994 edition of Impact]

From Tiger Cage to Tinseltown

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 1993 edition of Impact]

On location with Jeff Wincott

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 1993 edition of Impact]

A Death Wish for the 90's

[To read this article in full you must buy the December 1993 edition of Impact]

The same old Williams - Part 2

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1993 edition of Impact]

An action star for the nineties

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1993 edition of Impact]

Fugitively speaking

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1993 edition of Impact]

Jason Scott Lee talks

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1993 edition of Impact]

The last Brandon Lee Interview - Part 2

[To read this article in full you must buy the November 1993 edition of Impact]

The Streetknight speaks out!

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1993 edition of Impact]

Sulu speaks (part 3)

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1993 edition of Impact]

France Columbo tells it like it was!

[To read this article in full you must buy the July 1993 edition of Impact]

Interview with the amiable star

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 1992 edition of Impact]

Impact meets two soldiers of fortune, Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.

[To read this article in full you must buy the October 1992 edition of Impact]

The Warlord of Zendow - Part two

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1992 edition of Impact]

Impact interviews the big Chinaman

[To read this article in full you must buy the September 1992 edition of Impact]