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Straight Blast

(2001-02)


plot summary
 
Taking its title from the martial arts technique developed by the late Bruce Lee, Straight Blast is the story of Paul Thorn, ex-special forces soldier and assassin, who is pulled back into the world of high-tech espionage and murder after the death of his best friend leaves him in possession of a valuable technological secret. Paul kidnaps a young woman whom he falls in love with , while being relentlessly pursued by Karl Detmers, a cold-blooded assassin. Paul blasts his way through this thriller causing a shortage of body bags. Three Days Of The Condor with kicks, bullets, and action.


This Film is being produced by independent filmmaker Julian Lee who for the last 20 years has been a master teacher of Taekwondo in U. S.. During his career Lee has produced several films and numerous videos. His executive produced feature film Iron Heart (Directed by Robert Clouse) has returned over 5 times its original budget and has recently been re-released on Showtime.


director/cast
 
Lawrence Riggins

Director

Julian Lee

Paul Thorn

Dolph Lundgren

Karl Detmers

Mako

Arlo

Brian Litrell


genre Action
production co(s) White Tiger Entertainment / Branded Films
budget $2.2M
producers Julian Lee
Robert Gosnell (Associate Producer)
Peter Garrity (production manager)
writers Lawrence Riggins and David Smith


pre-production notes

Dolph Lundgren
An outstanding attribute of Straight Blast is the inclusion of action star Dolph Lundgren. Currently, Mr. Lundgren receives over $1 million as the lead character in a film production; our intent is to have Mr. Lundgren portray "Detmers," the Villain of Straight Blast. Mr. Lundgren's commitment will be for less than twelve days of our forty-days shoot and, therefore, his fee will be significantly lower while his inclusion raises the market value of our film.

Exhibition
Straight Blast
will enjoy a limited U.S. Theatrical release in the Southeastern United States via the Malco theatre chain, which has over 300 theaters. This will result in not only revenue from the domestic distributions, but also an increase in the amount of revenue from the standard foreign markets.

Finance
Dolph Lundgren people; the company's producer contacted the Mr. Riggins (Director) and wants to move forward; she is very excited, and will furnish up to $1.3 million via pre-sales

Product Aspects
After 7 weeks of pre-production on location, filming commences for 6-8 weeks in Denver/LA (on a 6 day per week schedule) and crew is about 50 people. The entire scope of the production from preparation to final print delivery, is approximately 35-40 weeks. There are several special effects and a lot of exciting martial arts stunts in the film. Some of the filming will use steadicam rigs which will allow for a higher speed of production.
Most of the equipment will be rented from a reputable equipment house in Denver/LA, which saves on transportation and time.
The film will be shot in 35 mm color film stock and transferred to video for non-linear editing on the AVID (a computerized editing system). After a final cut is complete, the original negative will be conformed and printed, resulting in 35 mm theatrical exhibition film prints. The anticipated rating from the motion Picture Association of America for the film is "R".

(from White Tiger Entertainment)

news & updates

Written by Lawrence Riggins (Replicant, Van Damme's best) and David Smith, starring Julian Lee, Dolph Lundgren, Mako, and Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys, who is also working on the soundtrack for the film. Production : White Tiger Entertainment, Branded Films. Budget : $2,2 million. According to Julian Lee's website, it was planned to shoot in February 2001 in Toronto, it's no new set date to begin filming, in Denver or in South Africa.

UPDATE April 2002
"Production of Straight Blast was delayed last year and White Tiger may now out of the picture (though they have not changed their website). The pre-production office was slated to open in Denver with shooting scheduled to start in early March (though you never know in this business). Interesting additions to the cast are Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys and his wife. Rumor is that the Backstreet Boys have a piece of the picture now, too.

Instead of opening up pre-production, they decided to totally revise financing. I don't know if this has any connection with rumors that the Backstreet Boys are splitting up. While Straight Blast is still supposed to be shot this year, I have not heard any projections about schedules. I know Julian Lee is starting pre-production on another film this month, so I doubt there can be any work on Straight Blast before June. I believe the Littrells are still involved."
from DOLPH the definitive guide

UPDATE May 4, 2002
"The production is continuing to be something of a soap opera behind the scenes. At the end of last year, it all looked like everything was ready to go: funding for the project was already in the bank, and Brian Littrell had said he'd wanted to get in on the project, but my understanding is that instead of getting started on the production, Branded Films was trying to parlay it into a ten-picture deal with additional investors. Even if that might have been great in the long run, it kept dragging on and the investors on Straight Blast were getting impatient, so right now the word is that Robert New is negotiating on pulling the project out of the aforementioned multi-picture deal and just get it into production. A few months ago, they'd been talking about possibly getting it into production by late May, but I don't think they'll hit that date, not only because it's still in negotiations, but also because Julian starts on another film around the end of May as well.
I was going to meet with Robert New last week, but I managed to break my foot in practice that day, so I'm less up-to-speed than I otherwise would be. It's hard to say when (or how) it will all shake out, but in theory they could get it started at any moment (or it they might argue over details for another year)
."
from Trygve Lode, actor and friend of Julian Lee

UPDATE September 23, 2002
"He [Larry Riggins] was telling the world (including some foreign investors) he was going to start pre-production in January 2002 and it never happened. Since then he keeps say "next month" "next month". Some of the investors have tired of the delays and he had to recruit others. Latest rumor is that he wants to shoot it in South Africa. We'll see.

Larry has written scripts that have been made into movies before but this is his first attempt to direct and I think he is enjoying the scouting and pre-pre-production part too much. So I really don't know when he will settle down and shoot the film.

Julian Lee has gone on to do two other films this year and turned down a third that is currently in production. He is talking with some people who want him to do another this year and some next year. He's just not going to wait for Straight Blast. If Larry pulls it together, he'll do it."

from Darlene Cypser
Inferno Film Productions, LLC

UPDATE January 8, 2003
Do you have any news about the "Straight Blast" project, is it given up because the official White Tiger Ent. website was shut?

"Actually White Tiger fell apart over a year ago. But that does not mean "Straight Blast" is dead. White Tiger was a partnership between Julian Lee and Kenny, and they had a disagreement. The website finally died when the renewal fees were not paid. (There were many errors on the page anyway.)

The real mover behind "Straight Blast" has always been Larry Riggins, who wrote the script and plans to direct it. Last time I talked to Julian he said that it was still in development and that Larry as visiting different
countries looking for an appropriate filming location. Last I heard Larry was thinking of filming it in South Africa but he keeps changing his mind.

Will "Straight Blast" ever be filmed? I don't know. Sometimes these things can be in development for many years. I thought it was going to pass from the development stage to the "pre-production" stage earlier this year but it did not happen. It is too bad because it would have been quite timely with the current Korean dispute. Instead Julian Lee went on shoot "Kudzu Christmas" and "Dancing Bear" this year. I don't know what Dolph Lundgren was doing this year but I am sure that he made other films as well."
Darlene Cypser, Inferno Film Productions, LLC

UPDATE September 11, 2007
"
There really isn't much to tell about it. The producer told me they were trying to get Dolph, but I never heard anything further." email from Lawrence Riggins

UPDATE April, 2010
Straight Blast
a.k.a. Serpent Rising finally went into production completed principal photography in Colorado, still directed by Larence Riggins and Starring Julian Jung Lee and John Savage. Official site

 

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