In 2021, One Shot blasted into motion followers’ hearts, making full use of Scott Adkins’ different talent set. It’s a high-octane tactical motion film with a enjoyable gimmick: The entire film is designed to appear to be one steady take.
The newly launched sequel, One Extra Shot, now out there in every single place you lease or buy films digitally, is a extra assured, polished effort than the unique, including a compelling and acquainted action-movie setting (an airport), extra motion legends (Tom Berenger and Michael Jai White), and a string of thrilling struggle sequences that profit from the situation, the vanity, and the expertise.
One Extra Shot additionally reunites director James Nunn with Adkins and struggle choreographer Tim Man, who’ve every labored with Nunn 4 instances. However this film is Nunn and Adkins’ most achieved collaboration but. Polygon spoke with Nunn concerning the difficulties of taking pictures an motion film in a single take, following within the wake of Sam Mendes’ Oscar winner 1917, hiding the cuts, what he discovered from the primary film, and his hopes for the way forward for the collection.
This interview has been calmly edited for size and readability.
Polygon: As somebody who’s filmed extra standard motion films, like Eliminators, what do you suppose is completely different for the viewers when a film is portrayed as one steady take?
James Nunn: Nicely, it’s humorous, as a result of it began as an train in How can I push one thing? How can I be completely different? How can I be distinctive? How can I exploit Scott’s uncooked, superb skill to one of the best? And the way can I exploit my technical knowhow? So it truly began as extra of an experiment in simply proving to individuals, I’m actually good technically, he’s actually good bodily and on digital camera — merge them expertise, make a film. That was the place the preliminary pitch got here from. However as time went on, and as we began filming it, actually, I’ve sort of fallen in love with doing it this fashion. You notice that you simply’re pushing this immersion in your viewers.
All films have a ticking clock. That’s the premise of numerous tales: You’re going from A to B, or A to Z, nevertheless it’s not concerning the letters, it’s concerning the journey between. There’s all the time a ticking-clock narrative, particularly in motion films. Whether or not it’s a bomb going off or saving your beloved as a result of she’s about to fall into acid, there’s all the time a timer. And I feel what occurs while you don’t manipulate time with cuts is, you’re truly forcing individuals to, virtually on a unconscious stage, simply really feel that timer a bit extra, really feel the urgency, and be a bit extra current in it.
Now look, numerous issues include the model, as a result of you possibly can’t movie Scott as one of the best martial artist on the earth, essentially, as a result of you possibly can’t do the angles that actually showcase what he can do. Equally, he can’t be like, spinning round doing superb butterfly pirouette kicks, as a result of it could simply be of a unique world. So the format comes with restrictions. And we all know what we’re doing. We attempt to maintain again on the flashiness and go for, like, this grounded CQC [close-quarters combat] navy vibe, which inserts rather well. I feel the elongated take of it, whether or not you prefer it or not, you’re simply being sucked in.
Sure actors will actually rise to the event and be one of the best you’ve ever seen, as a result of they’re like, I don’t need to be the one on this 10-minute take who messes it up. So that they change on to this stage of authenticity and focus, and you’ll really feel that as properly. However then equally, in case you’ve obtained a barely weaker efficiency, it’s tougher to cover away from that.
I’ve fallen in love with it. I received’t do it without end. I’ll return to regular, standard moviemaking quickly, I’m certain. However I’m having numerous enjoyable. And I’m so happy with the reception that we’ve had.
What did you study from One Shot that you simply utilized to One Extra Shot? The film feels extra assured — did it really feel that option to you whereas taking pictures?
For certain, we did. And I say “we” as a result of I’ve obtained a really strong core group who I really like working with, and so they’re all on the identical prepare with me. I feel the primary film, though I used to be assured… Look, I attempted to maintain it a little bit of a secret within the first one, however everyone knows there’s hidden cuts within the film. Don’t get me improper, I’ll run a take so long as I can. There’s three causes to interrupt: security, geography, or actor availability, if you must shoot out of sequence. These are actually the explanations I reduce. If not, I’ll go for so long as I can inside that timeframe. So that you’re actually , like, eight- to 10-minute takes.
On the primary film, I knew we may do it, however we hadn’t finished it, in that we hadn’t truly hidden cuts earlier than. So I put numerous the main focus within the first film on ensuring that we may cover the cuts. The distinction with the second film was that weight had been lifted. We’d finished it. I knew we may do it. I knew how one can do it. I knew how one can get myself out of a bind, even when one thing wasn’t engaged on the day and I wanted to get out of it. As a result of we’d tried and examined it earlier than.
In order that weight had been lifted off my shoulders. So it’s like, OK, properly, now I’ve truly obtained the time to suppose a bit extra about being extra elaborate with the digital camera. And likewise, we had a tiny bit more cash on this one. So we may do stuff like hand the digital camera out of the automobile and throw the digital camera down a stairwell on a rig and know it could be OK. We have been capable of be a bit of bit extra tricksy.
How did you handle filming at London Stansted Airport?
That was probably the most troublesome a part of this complete course of, filming within the working setting of a global airport. We knew we wished to go greater. The fan response to the primary one was overwhelmingly constructive, and far more than we’d anticipated. Clearly while you set out on these ventures you consider within the film — you must, in any other case you wouldn’t do it. However I actually wished it to land. And it didn’t essentially get the massive push I hoped for, due to COVID on the time, nevertheless it did sufficient to actually discover an viewers.
We listened to the suggestions of the followers. Not essentially the massive paper evaluations, however the followers. And we tried to answer that on this film and provides them extra fights, give them extra hand-to-hand, give them extra plot, but additionally make it not really feel as low-budget of a location, which was one thing we ran into rather a lot within the feedback.
So as soon as we discovered we got the fortunate alternative to go down the highway for quantity two, we launched into what we’re going to do, and we have been like, We’re by no means gonna get an airport. We’re simply imagining we’re gonna get, like, some personal little runway. It’s gonna be rubber, it’s gonna really feel low-budget anyway. So the producer, Ben Jacques, was tasked with Are you able to get an airport? And as if by some form of miracle, the fourth-largest airport in England, Stansted Airport, confirmed an curiosity. They have been like, Oh, we love the sound of this. Yeah, come on down. And so we did.
So we went down and we seemed, and we thought it’d be good. After which we wrote the script round it. However that is the place it grew to become difficult. The primary film, we had a derelict location, which we may movie for 11 hours a day, no questions requested, easy-peasy. However going to Stansted got here with an enormous quantity of restrictions, the identical restrictions you face as a traveler flying internationally. You’re going by means of the metallic detector, you’re going by means of the screening factor. Getting 100 crew in with weapons, with knives, with faux explosives takes an hour off your day simply.
Equally, you’ve obtained vacationers operating round ready to catch their flights and stuff. Within the U.Okay., you possibly can’t fly between midnight and 4 a.m. They mainly shut it down so that folks can sleep. And that was after we shot the film. So we’d get within the airport at like 7 or 8 at evening, do some rehearsals, have a little bit of meals. After which we actually began kicking off between midnight and 4. It was a tough cease at 4, as a result of the planes have been coming in, or individuals getting on planes.
One specific evening, we have been within the baggage declare space, and we had an extended take and an hour to go. And we’ve had months and months of conferences about this. However you recognize, there’s all the time one man who’s by no means on the conferences who reveals up and is like, Oh, you’ve obtained to wrap in 20 minutes. We managed to get two takes that have been 9 minutes every. The second’s within the film.
Everybody is aware of the structure of an airport, so it turns into rather a lot simpler for the viewers to floor themselves in the place issues are, what access-restricted areas appear to be, that sort of stuff. However it allows you to work together extra with the setting when it comes to the motion. What else did the airport location add to the movie?
It’s sort of like how I really feel about 1917. One factor we confronted popping out after 1917, regardless that [One Shot] had initially been written earlier than 1917, was that folks struggled a bit of bit with the backstory. There wasn’t an enormous quantity of backstory being instructed. And the issue with doing issues in actual time as a one-shot factor is, you possibly can’t cease in the course of a struggle and begin calling your mother or your spouse, as a result of the viewers is aware of what you’re doing. You’re crowbarring in a backstory, nevertheless it simply begins to really feel hokey and never actual.
And the benefit that 1917 had over us is that the nation and the world’s collective understanding of a soldier in World Struggle I — all people’s studied it in class. You instantly have some thought or backstory information of that soldier. So it’s not essentially that 1917 even has extra backstory than we do. However what makes a distinction is that there’s this unwritten understanding of World Struggle I that you simply simply perceive. It’s in your unconscious, usually talking, as a Western viewers.
And that’s the identical, most likely, with the airport. Not all people’s seen a Guantanamo-style base [the setting of One Shot] exterior of a film. Whereas all people is aware of an airport. And I feel that’s the place [One More Shot] heightens as properly, is that we’ve gone to someplace that you simply all sort of perceive: Oh, there’s gonna be an escalator, there’s gonna be this, there’s gonna be that. So I feel to harp in your level, I agree with you completely. And then you definately simply begin having fun with the fruits of what you will discover, you’re strolling round and also you design the [fall] going over the rails, or combating on the metro.
By the way in which, that’s my favourite struggle within the film.
Me too. We don’t reduce through the fights. That’s a part of the rationale that Scott loves doing it as properly, is that we actually make him do it for 2, three minutes. And what I really like concerning the metro struggle is due to the entire foreground, poles, beams, and glass, it’s truly not possible to have even put a reduce in there. So that’s simply two bodily superb on-screen fighters [Adkins and Aaron Toney] actually going for it. And I’m privileged that they did that for us on a shifting prepare at about 30 miles per hour.
What strikes me as one of many hardest storytelling challenges of the format are the transition sequences. How did you strategy getting from scene to scene inside this construction?
[That’s where] the benefit of going to the situation [came in]. Having a 10-page define, discovering the situation, then writing the script across the location, after which doing set visits back and forth. And likewise it being a [real] location, not being one thing we have been constructing that folks needed to try to perceive.
As a result of there’s numerous One Shot that’s truly a set. Like, we use the outside terrain, however truly all of the interiors are usually fudged collectively in a gymnasium on the situation. And that was a lot simpler for [screenwriter] Jamie [Russell] to write down these passages of time. After which I had a few actor pals come down about three months earlier than we shot the film, and on a GoPro, we walked each scene only for script timings.
You need to do one other one in all these? One Final Shot, maybe?
Yeah, I do need to do one other one. I’ve obtained no spoilers for you. There’s no inexperienced mild but. I’m gonna attempt my greatest and knock on each door to hopefully get us there. However there’s no information, aside from the title. And it looks like the web has discovered the title itself.
I imply, you set us up for it.
[Laughs] Me and the producers have talked about it up to now, nevertheless it’s form of organically been like this little little bit of a curler coaster on-line, which is enjoyable and thrilling. So I desperately would love to do this film, however we’re not there but. Let’s see.
One Extra Shot is offered for digital rental or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, and Vudu.