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Last update:
18 July 2009
Mark Dacascos -
interview by Carl Fox
So, this is an article that never made it into a magazine due to miscommunication, which was a huge disappointment for me. The magazine didn't get my email originally so it was delayed by a month. Then they needed more photos to accompany the article, which took me a while to get from the film studio. Then they only had room for it if I cut it by 3/4. Then the film had been out for about 2 months so there was little reason to promote it. It's a shame really but that's how things go.
THE HUNT FOR EAGLE ONE
By Carl FoxThe Hunt for Eagle One is the classic story of a search and rescue mission. The US helicopter Eagle One, piloted by Captain Amy Jennings (Theresa Randle), crashes down in the Philippines, behind enemy lines. The surviving members of the crew are captured by a local Al-Qaida backed group, tortured, and beheaded except for Jennings. Sound familiar? It should as this is what is currently going on at the moment in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US Army, led by General Frank Lewis (Rutger Hauer) decides to send in a team of Marines to get the crew out alive. In charge of the search and rescue mission is Lieutenant Matt Daniels (Mark Dacascos), a career military man. Dacascos says, “From what I see, he joined when he was very young, worked his way up through the ranks and he has been through a lot. He is one of those guys with an open heart and one of the things that keeps him going, is that he is still vulnerable. His strength is his weakness and you see that in the film. But he is a career soldier, and he is tough, and he feels and fights for what he believes is right.”
The Hunt for Eagle One is the third outing together for Mark Dacascos and the legend that is Rutger Hauer. “It’s always a treat to work with Rutger,” says Mark. “We did our first movie together in Budapest, Hungary called Redline (release in the UK as Armageddon) and then we did Scorcher where he played the President of the United States and I really like our scenes together because there is a little chemistry that we have.” What you see on screen is a real chemistry between the two. Hauer recently got a small role in Robert Rodriguez’s big screen adaptation of Frank Miller’s popular comic book Sin City. Though I have to say, my favourite Rutger Hauer film is still Blind Fury, which I think deserves the Special Edition DVD treatment. Mark says, “I expect to do a few more movies with him in my career. He is a joy to work with and I like him a lot.”
The movie was shot entirely on location in the Philippines, which adds to the authentic ness of it all. Some people think that film making is easy. You just go into makeup, lounge around in your huge personal trailer, when it’s time do a bit of acting, and then lounge about in the trailer again, playing on your PS2 or watching DVDs. You couldn’t be further away from the truth, as Mark Recalls, “Had I had more time, I would have gone to the Philippines earlier and gotten used to the climate. I had just got off one project, went over there and two days later, we were shooting the film. I wasn’t used to having the fatigues and the packs on. We basically had five rehearsals and we would then shoot on the sixth or seventh take. We were very exhausted and tired, but I love that. When you have that helmet on, everything heats up and all of a sudden, your head feels like a boiled egg. In between takes, I would take off the helmet and use the canteen to douse my whole head – it was like trying to cool off a radiator – it was crazy. A week into it, my body acclimated and I was fine but that first weekend was rough.” Even the other cast and crew were having problems getting used to the climate. “I was looking at the other guys,” says Mark laughing, “and they looked so cool, collected, and fit. I found out after the shoot that everyone was just trying to pose and we were all dying. Everyone was breathing deep but trying not to let it show.”
A lot of films these days tend to be shot in a studio, but shooting on location is more exciting and believable, and it gives the viewer an opportunity to view a place that they probably would have been able to had the film been shot in a studio, and as Mark says, “I don’t like to shoot in studios. I like to experience the culture and I like the feeling of shooting in another country. I have seen some movies where you try to get away with shooting in Hawaii for some place in Asia. To me, and to other people who have travelled, you can tell the difference. Some movies that are shot in the studio, you notice that it is a certain studio’s back lot. I definitely prefer to shoot on location and I like my family to experience the different cultures too. When I was shooting Nomad in Kazakhstan for three and a half months, the first time around, it was really hard. I had a five day break so I came back to see my family and then went back which was a twenty two hour flight. It’s hard on the family but I do enjoy filming on location and if its safe and possible, I have my family come out and see me.”
Thankfully for Mark, the role called for his hair to cut short, to make him look like a real soldier, but this didn’t present a problem for him. “I loved it. As a young man I was so intrigued and romanced by Jet Li, Jackie Chan and all of the Shaolin movies, so any time they want cut my hair short like the Shaolin monks, I’m there.”
Technical advisors on set were Doug McGowen, who was a Lieutenant in the Marines, plus several people from the US Embassy. These are some of the other things that add realism to a film, and they can assist in getting the actors to understand what it would have been like in a real combat situation. Mark recalls, “They loved it when we made mistakes; if we dropped to the wrong knee because that’s what happens. It’s just like being a martial artist because when a fight happens really quick, 70-80% of your training goes out of the window and that is why a good teacher will have you over train and over prepare. It’s just like that on the battlefield. I think once the fire fight begins, it gets pretty crazy and I think that the characters in the movie and the soldiers in Iraq have to know everything about their weapons and their strategy. I think that when the adrenaline is pumping so fast and people are shooting, you don’t know where the bullets are flying from. You have to rely on your training and instinct. You have to have trained your butt off because that is the difference of you surviving or not. We were just shooting with blanks but I can only imagine what it must have been like.”
A new experience for Mark on this film, was working with a new director, Brian Clyde. The Hunt for Eagle One is Clyde’s second feature film. Some actors love to work with a well established director, where they can draw on the director’s experience and expertise. When you have a director who doesn’t really have a track record, it can be difficult, but somewhat refreshing, as Mark testifies, “The thing about Brian is that in-between takes, if he got a bit crazy or frustrated, he would walk away, take two to five minutes, find a secluded area and meditate. He would then come back and get ready to rock and roll. The guy is a former (American) football player, so when he wanted us to run around and crawl on the ground, he would get down and show us. He was tough and it was cool.”
The Hunt for Eagle One is not the best war film by far. There is no doubt that it will be compared to Ridley Scott’s 2001 Oscar winning film Black Hawk Down, in terms of content and plot. This comparison is unfair when you look at the technicalities between both films. Black Hawk Down had a budget of around $90 million, and that sort of money gets you top of the range CGI, an established and Oscar nominated director, a credible cast of Hollywood A-listers, and a producer that is the powerhouse of action films, Jerry Bruckheimer. You also get a big marketing and advertising campaign too.
The Hunt for Eagle One had a much smaller budget, and with that, you have to make the film as cheaply as possible. Out goes the big name director, and in comes Brian Clyde, a new director, making only his second film. You have a producer, Roger Corman, who is in no way a huge name, but brings a tremendous amount of expertise to a film like this. Instead of a big name cast, you have to settle for B-listers, and this is in no way a bad thing. Rutger Hauer is still a big name and in the right film he is excellent. He is now old enough to be believable as a President or an Army General, but in this film, he isn’t given a chance to shine, maybe due to the lack of screen time that he has.
Mark Dacascos is in excellent form; though he nearly always is (you have to exclude Double Dragon on this one). He is completely believable as the Lieutenant leading the mission. He brings a certain depth to the character. In physical attributes, he is convincing. He has the fitness, the looks and the skills to become a household name but he never gets a chance to showcase completely what he can do. If it’s action he doing, he gets to show off his martial arts skills but that type of role rarely calls for a high level of acting because for the most part, the action loving audience switches off until the next fight scene. In Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf) he was able to showcase his martial arts skills and his acting skills. Though his role contained very little dialogue, he spoke through his facial expressions and especially through his eyes. This is what makes a good actor but he is rarely given the chance to do this, and I personally feel that it is a shame. He was a martial artist who decided to make action films, but as he has progressed and matured, he should be getting deeper roles, and I think that if those roles came along, he would handle them superbly. He puts in a good performance overall, but again I think he has been underused. I can’t wait to see him paired up again with Christophe Gans, Steve Wang or Roger Avary, all of whom know his capabilities. To all the big studios in pre-production on a comic book adaptation (and especially Miramax if they are still developing The Green Hornet) – two words – Mark Dacascos.
Theresa Randle adds some glamour to the proceedings (if seeing women in combat fatigues is your thing) and seemed to be the toughest of the bunch, as Mark recalls, “She is a trouper. It wasn’t the easiest of conditions – it was hot and there were lots of bugs, but Theresa was a woman of the world. She went out, experienced the local food, talked with the kids, made lots of friends and she was fearless. I don’t know of another actress who would have been so tough. She was so good natured and professional under those circumstances and conditions that we were working in, she took it better than the guys. I looked up to her for inspiration.”
If you enjoy war films, you will enjoy this. The fast pacing ensures an enjoyable viewing experience all the way through. The location shooting really helped the film and added that authentic feel to it, though some of the lighting on the film looked a little too dark. Some viewers will be disturbed by the content, especially where Theresa Randle’s character is tortured and raped, and when her colleague is beheaded.
Unfortunately the film is nothing new and you somehow get the feeling that you have seen it all before. The editing techniques help the film to have some appeal but its really the actors’ performances that pull it through.
The sound is good, though it lacks some bass in places. Unfortunately, the only special feature on the DVD is a trailer.
All in all, The Hunt for Eagle One is a decent action romp and if you look at it as a film to entertain you, it’s very enjoyable.
Fans of the film will be please to know that a sequel will be out soon. Dacascos says, “We shot the Hunt for Eagle One in April 2005 and then we had a few weeks of downtime, so I went back to America to shoot some more episodes of the cooking show I do called Iron Chef America, and then flew back to the Philippines and we did the sequel. The sequel is due out in the States in June 2006.”
Dacascos has several films awaiting their release. First up is Only the Brave with Jason Scott Lee, another war film but with more depth in terms of content. It is set in World War II, where the Japanese are at war with the USA. What is interesting about this film is that the US troops sent out to fight the Japanese troops were Japanese Americans. They were fighting on the side of the USA while their families were being held in American internment camps.
Then we have Nomad, a $40 million historical epic set in 18th-century Kazakhstan, where a young man is destined to unite the country's three warring tribes. This previewed at the Cannes Film Festival last year and was picked up by ex-Miramax exec Harvey Weinstein for his new company. The film will be back at Cannes this year as the closing film of the festival.
Last but not least is The Cleaner with Lucy Liu, Nicollette Sheridan and Cedric the Entertainer, which centres on an amnesiac janitor who is fooled into believing he's an undercover agent on the trail of an international arms ring involving the CIA and FBI. Mark says, “Newline and Rat Films are trying to get an August 2006 release. Nicollette Sheridan and I are the bad guys and Cedric the Entertainer and Lucy Liu are the good guys.”
