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Brian Vickery
23rd August 2000, 18:38
Greetings Obata Sensei,

I'm curious about the "Walker Texas Ranger" episode
you appeared. Did you choreograph the sequence
of techniques that Chuck Norris used on you? The
techniques were obviously aikido based, kotegaeshi
and shihonage were a couple of them. Did you have
to teach these techniques to Mr. Norris?

I've also seen pictures of you showing Dolph Lundgren
some sword techniques behind the scenes during the
filming of "Showdown in Little Tokyo". How much
involvement did you have in setting up the sword
fighting sequences in that movie?

An finally in the movie "The Hunted" in which you
appeared, there was extensive swordplay. Did you
have any involvement in the choreography of the
many sword fighting scenes in that film?

Regards from a curious fan!

Brian Vickery

Obata T
24th August 2000, 01:31
Hello,

Here are the answers...



I'm curious about the "Walker Texas Ranger" episode you appeared in. Did you choreograph the sequence of techniques that Chuck Norris used against you? The techniques were obviously aikido based; kotegaeshi and shihonage were a couple of them. Did you have to teach these techniques to Mr. Norris?

Actually Richard Norton was the main choreographer. But, he asked me how to make the scenes more fun and un-karate like. I gave him a lot of ideas and he ended up using them. Chuck Norris is really friendly, and I have worked with Richard
Norton in other movies so I consider him a good friend.

One movie I did with Richard Norton was called "Sword of Bushido". I taught him swordsmanship to use in the movie...if you have a chance, please watch it if you haven't already! I had choreographed my own death in the movie!
Hahahahaha!


I've also seen pictures of you showing Dolph Lundgren
some sword techniques behind the scenes during the filming of "Showdown in Little Tokyo". How much involvement did you have in setting up the sword fighting sequences in that movie?

Pat Johnson [Action Coordinator for the movie] asked me to teach Dolph Lundgren some sword techniques. He [Pat Johnson] also recorded my Japanese voice to help Lundgren speak Japanese for his part. The sword, targets, and cutting materials were all mine, and he enjoyed practicing with them.

In the fight between Brandon Lee and myself (the part where I die), Pat Johnson let us do whatever we wanted. He had very good ideas for techniques and was a very good, kind, and polite action coordinator.


And finally, in the movie "The Hunted" in which you appeared, there was extensive swordplay. Did you
have any involvement in the choreography of the many sword fighting scenes in that film?

In "The Hunted", my Kohai [junior] in Japan (Mr. Togo) did the choreography. Mr. Togo asked my advice about the fight scenes, and I was also very comfortable because many of the actors were from Japan.

If I have the chance, I would still like to choreograph action scenes in a full budget Hollywood movie and use my ideas fully!!