December 15, 2006

•        Directing "Omega Cop"    

               

  I directed this movie in 1990. The producer Ron Marchini is one of the very first low budget independent producers working outside Hollywood.  I directed his first production "Death Machines"   in 1975, filmed in Stockton California where we were to film "Omega Cop".

  Ron had the production idea, of hiring the name actors Adam "Batman" West, Troy Donahue, and Stuart Whitman before I joined the project.  He also had the story of a policeman that survives a solar flare that devastates the earth.

  

  My contribution was to schedule the production for a 21 day straight shoot using the star names so they appear through out the story, even though we had them for only a limited time. Marchini, who was one of the best karate competitors in the '70s, played the lead.  He had a string of martial arts movies produced in the Philippines that he had starred before starting his own company in America.

  

  Working with him on the script, I change the single female lead to three females that he meets up with through out the story, hopefully to re-fresh the story with each new introduction of a pretty face. Each girl had a unique look and personality, to keep things lively.

   

  

   

  Working on a 21 day shot, I was responsible for getting 4.2 minutes of movie story a day, as the movie had to be 90 minutes. My big contribution to the movie was adding a "Wild Bunch" shoot out at the beginning of the story, before the solar flare happened.  Marchini would have 3 cop buddies with him, and they would be killed in a raid on a gangster slave auction. At the end of that scene the solar flare would happen. He would then be forbidden to re-enter the police strong hold run by Adam West.

   

  Marchini was hesitant about okaying such an ambitious scene of the four cops having a shoot out with 20 gangsters, while 30 slave market customers are running for cover.  It would require a special effects man, for blood and bullet hits, as well as to blow up a car.  All this to be done in two days with a film ratio of 5 to 1. We would be shooting with 3 cameras, one often in slow motion (which burns up a lot of film at high speed), plus paying a stunt man to do a spectacular back fall from the roof of a building to a car top. I always remember Marchini looking at me once the shot was done and the stunt man was okay, "I'm glad that that is over." And then thinking about all the film use to get the slow motion effect he laughed and said, "Man, I heard that camera buzzing at high speed and thought  there goes all our film."

   

  I have to say, that once Marchin okayed that big scene he worked hard both as a producer and actor to get it done. I had the confidence to get it done in that time. I knew how to complete a scene before the sun goes down. The challenge was to get as much action that was possilbe before the sun went down on that second day.

   

  To make up for the large amount of film used on that scene, I had to shoot other scenes almost at a one to one ration. The "Wild Bunch" shoot out is the highlight of the film, but we had to make sure the ending was equally spectacular, so we had Marchini as the Omega Cop running from a building that he had set bombs to exploding just a few feet behind him and gaining on him.

   

  With that large beginning and ending we also had 5 shoot outs and karate action scenes though out the movie.  We'll we did get it on a 5 to 1 film ratio, and finished in 21 days.  I think "Omega Cop" is a great example of what you can do with limited film, money, and star actor's schedules. I'm proud of this movie because of it.

  • 10:55 pm
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