Jean-Paul Ly And Law Plancel Echo Hong Kong Action Greatness In Colin Emerson's 2015 Short, DEAD END
The last three years have proven very exciting for me in covering independent action cinema. The internet is full of gems from many directors of shortfilms and once such person would be filmmaker Colin Emerson who has done at least two pieces last year that I know of with UK-based stunt and screenfighting talents, Jean-Paul Ly (Lucy, Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist) and Law Plancel (Green Street Hooligans: Underground, Ben-Hur).
The two launched their own independent film group under their JP/LP banner with the Emerson's Fall 2015 shortfilm, Dead End, the story of two friends in a deal that ultimately goes South, exposing one of them as an undercover cop. The shortfilm itself isn't a big-scale piece, but the drama is doable enough to sell the main centerpiece of this little foray which is the action. You can even kind of tell where they get their inspiration from if you're a big fan of martial arts movies, and even then you'd be hard-pressed to criticize. Save for the more busier portions of JP/LP Action Design, the future looks pretty bright. The two, having recently come off of other stunt gigs including Scott Derrickson's Marvel adaptation of Doctor Strange are now in prep for the July filming of Hanuman helmer Jimmy Henderson's upcoming action comedy, Jailbreak, with Ly also starring, as well as serving as fight choreographer.
On that end, if this is the first you're learning of JP/LP Action Design, consider it a taste of something REALLY badass to come. I've had a few leisurely chats with these two, and even got to meet Plancel late last year as he was visiting New York City, and personally, I'll be damned if these two don't become a bigger deal in the years to come. Dead End has a pretty sizeable number of views on YouTube, but if this is the first you're seeing of it, by all means, I'm happy to make this my first piece here to present to you as a Screen Anarchist. Check it out below, and follow me on Twitter @FCSyndicate!
