Hitman Unrated is not cinematic genius but it is graphic, it is gruesome and it is full of lots of explosions, action and carnage. We went right to the muscle behing the movie First Sergeant Ron Blecker, the guy who showed Timothy Olyphant how to bring the deranged killed from the video games to life. Ron Blecker is currently working on X-Files 2 and did reveal some details on that, as well as his work on the X-Men movies.
A decorated US Army Veteran, Ron Blecker is the owner and founder of Def Con 5 Inc. Ron joined the US army at 17, and retired in 1998 at rank of First Sergeant. In his 15 years in the military he served as a member of the 2/75th Airborne Ranger Battalion, 23rd Infantry (Demilitarized Zone) Korea, Light Fighter Cadre 7th division, Special Operations Command and also served as the team commander for the Special Reaction Team, Ft.Lewis. WA. Ron graduated from Ranger Class 14-84. He is Jump Master, Rappel Master and S.W.A.T tactics instructor qualified. Def Con 5 is a film company that provides weapons trained performers and military and police consultants to the motion picture and television industry.
First off Ron thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Explain to our readers what you did for Hitman 2.
The reason they had me to begin with was to make Timothy look comfortable. What I did for hitman was a year before we went to camera my job was first to work with the producers and the writers to familiarize myself with the game and two consulting on the script and different things that were basically, what was cool, what in the script isnt cool, any options for us to do different things.
When it went to camera I was nt on set. I was not able to work on the film set itself because of other contractual obligations. It worked out better that way beacuse of how Timothy Olyphant handled the character. Hes a lone guy. Hes not a soldier. Hes not a swat guy. Hes his own thing. So he interpreted the script very well.
Normally I would be on set. It doesnt happen very often where I am not on set but by the time they got their start date, I already was signed on another film. From my reports from set I could see that Timothy was very involved in trying to apply his character but keep it real and true to the videogame.
Talk about doing a movie based on a Video Game. Especially considering you are the real deal!
The movie is based off of a videogame but in the beginning I didnt know their was a videogame called Hitman or anything like that. So when we had our first intiial meeting they were asking me about carrying double guns and things like that and I kept saying its not feasible or realistic. On the other side I do these films that are a transition from videogame to film so you cant take away the videogame elements and say we are doing it more realisitic its not what fans want to see and its been proven. There are bits of realism that validate these movies for hardcore fans but its also true to the videogame. I think it did very well, and its sucess has proven with that.
I am not gonna be the guy on set saying he cant have a pistol in both hands, thats ridiculous. they wanna see the guy jump off a building, not push the button and wait for the elevator.
Talk about how doing this movie compared to your work on Vantage Point or the X-men Movies
Vantage point was very intensive I was there a total of 4 months in mexico and every day I was running around answering questions, coaching, etc. Making sure everything looked right and pointing out what did not look right. It is rewarding. I am not just catching a suntan wasting peoples time and money. I feel like im involved.
When it comes to projects like X-men and Hitman its where I get to apply some creative license and some reality to situations. Lets face it video games when they first came out were not very realistic. They have gotten much more realistic. So for example in Xmen when we talked about how the striker teams would deploy, what sort of weapons can we make for the humans to fight magneto, etc. Its a different kind of work and its more creative when you are doing things like creating and designing plastic guns so that Magneto cant manipulate them.
Your taking something that somebody from a comic book has done and make it look good and realistic. When X-men 2 came along I had so much fun designing the striker soldiers. I got to help design ther uniforms, their weapons, working closely with costumes and prop departments. They gave me a framed poster of one of the soldiers at the end of the movie. I had so much influence on the design.
What do you think the key is to your role on a film?
I think its important when you involve an expert no matter what it is, you gotta understand your not making a documentary. Its not a documentary about the miiltary, its making the miliatary look as good as possible but keeping the tone of the story. You gotta learn to pick your battles and its very important for any consultant to understand the business and understand the difference between a documentary and an entertainment.
You have to be a good interpretor to be a good consultant. You will get a prop designer, director who will see a photograph in time magazine of a soldier in Iraq and lets say in that photo the soldier is wearing one knee pad. They might think thats the way its supposed to be. I showed up on set all the soldiers had one knee pad. I asked the prop person and he said that was in his research. He pulls out a picture of a soldier from the internet wearing one knee pad. I had to interpret that and explain why they should have two knee pads, and show how the other knee pad is on his ankle. Books nad magazines are not always right, all it takes is a typo to turn a Seargent into a Colonel.
Tell us what you can about your work on X-Files 2.
X-files 2 has been great. Its been a reunion since Chris Carter got me started in this business. Once we finished Harsh Realm I've been doing my own thing its been fantastic. When i got the call to do x-files 2, would i come work on it, it was great. It's been so long since I have seen him and its been a wonderful opportunity to work with him. I get to work with all the people i started in this business with. This movie was a very relaxed and fun film with alot of laughs.
What else do you have on tap in the coming year?
I'm working with a video game company taking game developers out for a week of survival and weapons training in the middle of the territories. Its gonna be alot of fun for me. For them im not sure. I am just getting a training schedule together. As far as films nothing scheduled yet, just lots of rumors nothing is confirmed.
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