Exclusive: James McTeigue Unleashes Ninja Assassin!

CS: But you have all these weapons being used, whizzing around Rain and the stunt guys, and all that blood flying, so one imagines a lot of it still has to be done using CG. Do they actually have some of those weapons being used live?

McTeigue: Yeah, you do. For example, Rain in the movie uses this blade and chain weapon, but when we're training him, it's with an actual martial arts weapon called the rope dart, so he trained with that so he knew how to swing it around, because then ultimately when you get into it, you need something for him to physically use. He'll use that, and the visual FX guys will put tracking markers on it, so that way, it gives the stunt guys something to react to and then we'll replace it later. But with swords and katanas and other things, sometimes we'll use bamboo painted silver for example, they're actually real sometimes.

CS: I know you worked with Rain on "Speed Racer" and he did a little bit of martial arts for that, but not quite this much. Did he have any idea what he'd be in for to train to be a ninja?

McTeigue: I don't think he did. (chuckles) I think he was excited to first of all do a big American movie, and when we spoke to him, he just said, "Look, just tell us where to be and I'll be there." Obviously, he has one image in Asia and I was excited to make him into a great martial arts star, (hopefully I guess) and he trained really, really hard. He has incredible discipline, so he trained for five or six months. First he started with the physical training, and then you start folding in the fight choreography. I think he didn't actually know how hard it was going to be (laughs again)... at the end, I think you can see he always has cuts on him and he's covered in blood. That stuff is a sticky mess of red stuff and prosthetics and he had to be really physical but have that stuff all over him...

CS: So you weren't implying that those were all injuries from his training then?

McTeigue: No, no... (laughs)

CS: You didn't train him like we see them training the young ninjas where they hit them with a cane if they mess up.

McTeigue: "Here's a real sword... Whack!!!" (laughs) No, we didn't do that, but he really got into the spirit of it. I think some people wouldn't have gone as far as Rain did, but he really went to the edge of anything that I've experienced, because I've trained a lot of people for "The Matrix."

Source: www.comingsoon.net