Cleveland Magazine
Issue Date: April 2014 Issue
Lights, Camera, Action: Dynamic Set

If you make a movie in Cleveland, chances are you'll end up having one of these experienced professionals on your crew. Meet the locals who jump off tall buildings, compose songs, transform spaces, scout locations and film the whole thing for you.

RICHARD FIKE
Stunt and special effects coordinator

For more than 25 years, the former military special ops officer has been throwing punches, crashing cars and blowing up buildings — all safely, of course. With credits in more than 95 movies and TV shows such as Welcome to Collinwood, Take Shelter and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Madison resident now owns the special effects and stunts company Stunt Predators USA and SFX.

Team Player: Fike got his first taste of the film industry in 1986 when he worked on a 15-minute action video modeled after Conan the Barbarian for the Cleveland Browns called Masters of the Gridiron. "It had all the major players during that time — Ozzie Newsome, Kevin Mack, Hanford Dixon — you name it, they were on it," he says of the film that sold 40,000 copies locally. "They were in search of the ring of power, which was obviously the Super Bowl ring."

Movie Misconceptions: "The biggest thing about stunt performers is that we are not daredevils," he says. "Daredevils take unnecessary risks. They take it for the fun of it or for the attention. We take calculated risks." After reading the script, Fike breaks it down for special effects and stunts and figures out how to coordinate those scenes from rolling cars to catching fire to falling off of roofs safely.

Screen Time: His favorite fight sequence to coordinate was from A Better Way to Die shot in 1999 with Lou Diamond Phillips and Andre Braugher. "There was a 12-hour setup for a three-minute fight scene. We rehearsed it and rehearsed it before even training the actors and stunt doubles," he says. "It's very quick. But it's very satisfying to see all the techniques you rehearsed being used on screen."

Action Packed: The martial artist has senior black belt rank in multiple systems such as karate, judo and jujutsu. He even developed his own system, built on eight martial arts, called sanchi-ryu in 1977. "It's a common sense way of stopping an attack," he says. "Our philosophy is to avoid confrontation, but if we are attacked there are ways to deflect it. But if, finally, we have to, we fight back."

Biz Tip: Be the fall guy. "Learn to take the hit and the fall so that you make the stars look good," says the Tri-C Film Crew Tech Training instructor. "Develop your skills to make the other person look better."

Click here to read full article.

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Film Crew Tech Training at Tri-C: Rick Fike teaches the art of punching, kicking, falling and flaming
By Clint O'Connor, The Plain Dealer
March 06, 2014

If you’re dangling 400 feet from a helicopter, you better have the right rope. If you race a van down a highway and ram it into a tree, make sure the driver’s seat is welded down. And if your body is ablaze in flames, double-check that a medic is standing by.

Stunt coordinator Richard “Rick” Fike has crashed cars; jumped from trains, planes, boats and buildings; taught Katie Homes how to handle a weapon; and, in “Marvel’s The Avengers,” run from explosions and hurtling cars during an alien attack. He’s pulled off a lot of crazed and cool stunts in more than 30 feature films, but his mantra is always the same: “Safety, safety, safety.”

What’s really cool is that he is sharing his professional insights with students at Cuyahoga Community College’s Metro Campus in Cleveland.

Fike is one of several professionals teaching the “Film Crew Tech Training” class that culminates Sunday with the making of a short film.

With the recent boom in local film shoots, including “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Draft Day” and “Miss Meadows,” the demand for experienced crew members has increased dramatically. Tri-C teamed with the Greater Cleveland Film Commission to create the course, a practical, hands-on approach to learning the ins and outs of film production. A pilot program led to the first class this past January, followed by the current session, which meets on nights and weekends.

“We’ve been talking about creating a workforce and a crew base here for a long time,” said Ivan Schwarz, the film commission’s executive director. “This is about creating an industry. We have had all of these productions coming here in the past four years, but this is about moving forward.”

Schwarz, who worked in the film industry for many years before coming to Cleveland, also teaches one of the classes.

“It’s about learning the language, learning the culture,” he said. “You’re going to work 12- to 16-hour days. I teach them about who does what, how to read a call sheet, the right shoes to wear, how to talk on a walkie-talkie.”

The class is a special workshop open to all ages and backgrounds, not just Tri-C students. The training is geared toward helping people find entry-level jobs.

“This isn’t just for feature films, this is also for music videos, corporate videos and television productions,” said Simone Barros, an adjunct professor at Tri-C who coordinates the film crew instructors.

“If you have no previous experience, this will help you get that first job,” she said. “It does not require an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree. You receive a certification.”

The noncredit course costs $1,595 and is limited to 15 students. Barros said it was developed by Bob Bryan, Tri-C’s executive director of media engineering and president of the film commission's board of directors, and part-time professor Lee Will, working in conjunction with the IATSE Local 209.

“We have people who teach art department, location management, electric, audio -- we have a director of photography,” said Barros, herself a 13-year veteran of film and TV productions. “Each person teaching a class is a professional.”

That is one of the program’s great strengths. Teachers with loads of experience get the students’ attention with their practical instruction and war stories.

Fike: fighting, fires and more

Few are as attention-getting as Fike. On a recent Sunday, he held his session: “Stunts, Fighting, Falls, Fire, Auto.”
He and his stunt team show the students how to throw and take punches, how to kick, how to fall, how to handle stunt guns and knives, and what protective gear to wear. The classroom work is mixed with clips shown on a large screen in the Black Box Studio inside Tri-C’s sparkling Center for Creative Arts.

Fike breaks down a page from the “Lethal Weapon 4” script. The scene, which featured Mel Gibson, Danny Glover and Chris Rock, involves punches, falls, a gun, a knife, and a live duck used as a weapon.

The students quickly learn that just one page from a big-budget action film can involve multiple stunts and extensive planning.

Fike explains every detail of how to execute such a scene, then adds, “No ducks were harmed in the making of this picture.” He also explains the reality of working with non-humans. “Animals do not go on ‘Action!’ Animals go whenever they want.”

And, as with the other segments, he brings it back to safety. “Every time a gun is used on a set, you’re going to have to check it beforehand.” He holds up a prop gun made of rubber. “I even check these. Some people say, ‘That’s ridiculous.’ Ask Brandon Lee if he thinks that’s ridiculous. He’s dead.”

Lee died in 1993 following a weapons accident on the set of “The Crow.” Four days before Fike’s class, crew member Sarah Jones was killed in Georgia on the set of the Gregg Allman biopic “Midnight Rider,” when she was caught on train tracks as a freight train roared through. Seven other crew members were also injured, and the movie has since shut down production.

Fike, who heads Stunt Predators USA, wears about 20 hats. Based in Madison, Ohio, where he teaches martial arts classes, he is retired from the U.S. Army’s Special Operations unit. He has worked as a stunt coordinator, stunt double, stunt driver, fight choreographer, pyrotechnics coordinator and weapons handler.

Thanks to states offering movie and TV tax incentives, Fike has found steady work in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Indiana. His next big project will be in Michigan, working on “Superman vs. Batman.”

He has worked on all of the recent film productions in Northeast Ohio, from major studio projects to small independents, including “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Alex Cross,” “Fun Size,” “Fear Clinic” and “Take Shelter.”

On “Draft Day,” he coordinated a brief fire extinguisher scene with Jennifer Garner, Kevin Costner and Denis Leary. On “Miss Meadows,” he worked with Katie Holmes until she was comfortable handling a gun. On “The Kings of Summer,” he was the stunt double for Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation”), with whom he shares a stocky, linebacker’s frame.

Fike’s students are a mix of old, young, black, white, male, female.

“The teachers here bring so much real world experience,” said Bill Myers of Stow. “You can’t really beat it.”

Myers, who has a degree in political science from John Carroll University, is especially interested in audio production, the focus of the four previous classes.

Tierra Pitmon, who works for Cuyahoga County’s Children and Family Services, said she hopes to launch a career in film and television.

“I just want to learn everything I possibly can in order to pursue my dreams,” said Pitmon. “Right now, I’m interested in set dressing, props, stunts, special effects and wardrobe.”

The students also learn the most important word of all: Budget. It determines everything.

“The producer is always watching the budget,” said Fike, “but the director doesn’t care. He says, ‘Give me more! Give me more!’ The stunt coordinator looks at the budget and figures out what you can really do. I will save you time and money.”

Fike does not buy the notion that some stud performers don’t need doubles and stunt people.

“You’ve heard about actors who do their own stunts?” he asks. “No. That is not happening. A film cannot afford to have its star hurt and missing days with everyone else sitting around. You hear that Jackie Chan does all of his own stunts? Baloney.”

Instead, it’s up to Fike and company to fake it. Fake it really well.

“We are professionals, not daredevils,” he tells the class. “We are not risk-takers. We are calculated risk-takers.”

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE AND VIEW COMPLETE PHOTO GALLERY

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Congratulations to " Toy's House " acceptance into the Sundance Film Festival and to everyone on the stunt team who worked on this project. Click here to view press release.

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Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit Lures HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTIONS Click here to read article.		Analysis and Economic Impact of the Film Industry in Northeast Ohio & Ohio: Click here to read full report.

 

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Posted: 05/03/2012
• By: Michael Baldwin, newsnet5.com
CLEVELAND - The Avengers movie partly shot in Cleveland premieres at midnight. Fans are more than thrilled.

Cinemark in Valley View was scheduled to have a premiere for all the extras that worked on "The Avengers" partly shot in Cleveland. About 400 people were expected to attend. When Newsnet 5 reached out to the theater to see why they canceled the event our calls were not returned. The movie will be released in over 4,000 theaters and is expected to generate nearly 160 million in the U.S., according to Deadline.com.

The Hollywood industry website reports some theater owners may run the movie continually during the three-day opening weekend. Although the numbers are expected to be big, it's not the largest theater opening of all time. That belongs to "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

"It's fantastic. It's great!" says Richard Fike, a stunt man from Lake County who's Madison company Stunt Predators was hired for the film. The company has been around for 25 years and has been involved in over 70 motion pictures. Fike can be seen in the movie running from an exploding cab on East 9th street. He played a New York City cop. "Man this is just fantastic to be apart of this. Just like a kid at Christmas."


Elyria Mayor Holly Brinda has declared this weekend Superhero Weekend. Brinda said she hopes the movie inspires kids to pick up a book. She wants to use the popularity of the movie to forward her campaign on literacy. Some comic book stores in the area are joining in by handing out free comic books.

After watching the movie, Deadline asked fans in an informal poll which superhero solo movie they would like to see next out of "The Avengers." The choices were Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Iron, Black Widow, Hawkeye or Nick Fury. 52 percent of fans chose the character played by Scarlett Johansson. The Black Widow. Marvel executives have not said whether she would get her own solo movie. They have confirmed the character to be in several upcoming marvel movies with at least a cameo.
 

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Akron Movie 3 Day Test
Thu, Apr 5, 2012 - WEWS-Cleveland
Fairlawn Heights neighborhood in Akron becomes a movie set.

Click here to view video.

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RICHARD FIKE HAS STARTED HIS OWN STUNTMAN BUSINESS NOT IN HOLLYWOOD, BUT IN MADISON TOWNSHIP
September 27, 2011 - The Plain Dealer, Cleveland.com

MADISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- The next time you watch your favorite actor pull a crazy stunt in an action movie, look closer. It may be Richard Fike.

Fike, 55, whose motto is "We take the risks. You take the credit" runs Stunt Predators USA from this Lake County community. He has been involved in the stuntman trade for 25 years and worked on more than 75 films and television shows. He travels all over the country for his craft, though he prefers to work close to home.

You will see him as a New York City policeman shooting at alien invaders in next May's "Avengers" movie that was filmed in downtown Cleveland last month.

He's also all over "Fun Size," another movie filmed in Cleveland and Cleveland Heights this summer. He was the film's official stunt coordinator.

He did stunt work for two other movies filmed in Cleveland this summer, "I, Alex Cross" and "Boot Tracks."

When Fike is not leaping through windows, shooting at aliens or getting blown up, he runs Madison Combined Martial Arts where he trains dozens of students from children to adults in his own form of martial arts that combine several disciplines.

Many of his students go on to work with his stunt company and have performed in movies.

"We had 28 local stunt people, including students, work in 'Fun Size,' like 8-year-old Emily Smith of Madison who was the double for little Jackson Nicoll, one of the main characters," Fike said. "Johnny Knoxville kept wanting to do his own stunts, so I worked with him a lot to keep him from getting hurt."

He said he looks for people with specific skills to handle specific jobs.

"First thing they need to know is discipline," he said. "That's the advantage my students have because they already know this. They need to be athletic and be able to know how not to get hurt. Often, directors will need someone who can ride a BMX bike, or skateboard, or jump rope, and we find people with those skills. Once we match a person up, we train him to do the stunt."

He said shooting got a little scary on "The Avengers" film when he and a woman had to dive out of the way of a falling piece of burning building.

"It was safe, but it was scary," he said. "A chunk of building was dropped from a crane on East Ninth Street, and we had to dive out of the way."

Fike has handled stunts, special effects or pyrotechnics ("I'm very good at blowing [up] things,") for more than 35 movies including "Welcome To Collinwood," "Unstoppable" and "The Babe Ruth Story" and lesser-known movies like "The Cut Off," "Bet Your Life" and "Martians From Venus."

He stresses safety, but has had his share of injuries.

"We always try to be careful, but I've had broken elbows, ankles and ribs, had my nose broken and had my hair catch fire," he said. "I was in Southern Ohio working with Val Kilmer recently on a movie called 'Seven Below,' and I got knocked out crashing a van into a tree. It happens, no matter how careful you are."

Fike became interested in martial arts while in Madison High School. He continued his training in the U.S. Army. Soon, he was the one doing the training for the military with Army Special Operations.

He can't talk in detail about years working in counter-terrorism in the United States and overseas because of national security, but said they were exciting times that make fighting aliens feel like child's play.

And when he says he can take down and immobilize an opponent in less than a second, he's probably not exaggerating.

He could have moved anywhere and set up a martial arts studio and stuntman business, but he stayed in Ohio out of loyalty to his hometown. Fike looks forward to Hollywood coming to Cleveland.

He said the city is getting a good reputation as an excellent place to create movies.

"There are not many cities willing to close down a street for a solid month and let you film on it," he said. "That goes a long way to deciding where a film is made. And when it happens, the city reaps the benefits of tons of money spent and local people put to work."

He said he would rather see more local people employed on movies shot in Cleveland. For some films, the directors bring in stunt people from Los Angeles to do work that Fike or members of his group could do just as well.

"Sometimes directors get comfortable working with certain people, so they stick with them," he said. "I just wish they would let us show what we can do."

 

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Madison-based stunt team seeing more local work for Hollywood, including recent ‘Avengers’ work
Friday, August 26, 2011
By Mark Meszoros
Entertainment@News-Herald.com

Recently, Richard Fike and his Madison-based team had to drive to downtown Cleveland for work.

There, they were beat up, tossed around and nearly blown up.

And it was all just great as far as they’re concerned.

Fike, who owns Madison Combined Martial Arts on Main Street, also is the leader of Team Stunt Predators, a group of stunt men, women and even youth — typically students he’s worked with at his dojo — available for hire for film work.

“The big thing is we’re not daredevils,” Fike says. “Daredevils are risk takers. They do it for the thrill and the attention. They don’t care if they get hurt or someone else gets hurt.

“Stunt professionals are individuals who are professionally trained, who take calculated risks. The goal is to get the shot for the director.

Most recently, the director was Joss Whedon, the creator of TV series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly,” and the shots were for “The Avengers,” the big-budget movie about the Marvel Comics superheroes that’s been filming downtown.

Fike says when he heard a big chunk of the “Avengers” would be shot in Cleveland, he sent the stunt coordinator a book with his entire Team Stunt Predators roster, about 35 people.

“I try to sell the whole team,” he says.

However, they hired four: Tommy Quinn of Melbourne, Fla., who’s from Ashtabula: John Sundquist of Ashtabula; Todd Emmett of Geneva; and Fike.

“A lot of it was looks,” says Fike, explaining that the production was interested in taller guys and joking that he’s not sure how he was included based on that criteria.

Team members have been included in myriad productions since forming in 1986, mainly in Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and, of course, Ohio. And they’ve earned a tremendous reputation, Fike says.

“The word travels very fast,” he says. “(Filmmakers) don’t want to work with you if you’re a risk.”

Safety is key, he says. Injuries slow down a shoot, and that means added costs. Fike takes pride in them having been called “the one-take team,” meaning that his guys can do it right in one try. He acknowledges, though, that a director typically wants at least two takes to be safe.

For the “Avengers” production, just as with the shoot for fellow Marvel production “Spider-Man 3” a few years ago, a portion of downtown Cleveland is standing in for New York City. Two weeks ago, Fike and his guys took on a variety of tasks, mainly playing NYC cops early on.

“The first day, we were driving patrol cars — precision driving — coming up and stopping to where they wanted,” says Emmett, a Geneva police officer.

“We were responding to an alien invasion,” Fike says.

“As we got out (of patrol cars),” Emmett says, “the aliens were coming out from the top of the buildings and we were shooting up at them.

“I think I got two or three,” he says with a laugh.

At other times, they were pedestrians. Fike says he traded in the police uniform for a pin-striped suit for one scene.

Fike says there are basically two types of stunt person: The doubles the main cast members get, who travel with the production wherever it goes: and nondesignated — or utility — professionals hired for a certain location and basically asked to do whatever’s needed at the time. On “The Avengers,” he and his men were the latter.

“We are the workhorse of stunts,” he says, adding that 12-hour days are typical.

And, as members of the Screen Actors Guild, they all can serve as actors, which they did.

“Instead of paying an actor to play a cop and hiring a stuntman to double him, they just hire a stuntman,” he says.

“Out of 120,000 SAG members, only 7,000 are SAG stunts,” he adds. “It’s easier to become an actor on screen than a stuntman.

“It’s very unique. They use us for everything.”

Fike and his guys have been even more of use to Hollywood of late thanks to Ohio’s tax-relief-based efforts to bring more productions to the state. Along with “The Avengers,” Team Stunt Predators has taken part in filmings of, among others, “Fun Size,” a Halloween comedy starring Victoria Justice, Johnny Knoxville and Chelsea Handler; and “Boot Tracks,” a thriller starring Michelle Monaghan and Willem Dafoe.

Not surprisingly, the guys love when they can work in Northeast Ohio.

“Obviously, it means that we get to stay home,” Fike says. “We can work more because we don’t have to travel so far.”

Of course, the stunt work means extra cash for the guys, but the benefits go beyond that.

“It’s part of expanding our martial arts training in a way,” says Quinn. “We all grew up watching Bruce Lee, so you think, ‘This is kind of cool.’”

"It’s just fun,” says team member Tom Dziak of Madison, who wasn’t on “The Avengers” job but was hired as Knoxville’s double on “Fun Size.” “It brings out the kid in all of us.”

Few productions are like “The Avengers,” which will bring together Marvel heroes Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

According to Fike, the movie boasts a $300 million budget. If the guys couldn’t tell they were on a pricey production based on the explosions and pieces of phony buildings falling around them during the shoot, it could be the fact that each had his own trailer.

“When it’s all said and done, it will be marketed as the biggest action adventure to date,” he says. “For us to be part of that was an honor and thrilling.”


URL: http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2011/08/26/life/doc4e56695b13e8e197203659.prt
© 2011 news-herald.com, a Journal Register Property
 

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PRESS RELEASE – Madison, Ohio 23 August 2011
Ohio based Stunt Professionals; Stunt Predators USA has had a busy summer. All totaled, they have worked on five feature films, most recently wrapping up with Marvel Studios super feature “The Avengers” a $300 million dollar film that is reported to be the biggest action super hero film ever made. "The Avengers" features, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson.

Besides “The Avengers”, Stunt Predators members have worked Paramount Pictures “Fun Size” starring Victoria Justice, Johnny Knoxville and Chelsea Handler, Cuyahoga Brothers film “Boot Tracks” starring Willem Defoe, Michelle Monaghan and Stephen Dorff; “Seven Below” with Val Kilmer, Ving Rhames and Luke Goss, and they currently working “I Alex Cross” starring Tyler Perry, Jean Reno, Matthew Fox, and Cicely Tyson.

Richard Fike, Director of the Team Stunt Predators is extremely proud of his team and noted that this is his 25th anniversary in stunts. It started back in 1986 with the NFL Cleveland Browns fantasy video, “Masters of the Gridiron”. Since then he has worked in and stunt coordinated over 70 feature films, commercials and videos. “I never had an interest in moving to LA. My family, martial arts school and church are located here, and I would have to give up too much to leave. My team will travel on request to work films, but it is nice to have them moving into Ohio to produce their projects. The waiting has finally paid off.”

“I am fortunate to have a strong base of stunt players to build from. Many of them have been with me for over 20 years, and I am currently developing more stuntmen, women and children from by martial arts school here in Madison. I do get requests and accept applications for membership from throughout Ohio and also receive a large amount of contacts from other stunt professionals from around the country.”
“My dojo has been here for over 23 years and I know that my students are disciplined and talented. That is why I draw most of my stunt team from my martial arts school. I know them very well and they know me and understand what I expect. I have high standards and require strict requirements to enter this industry. Safety is priority and skill is second. My team members are very respectful and work very hard to perform at the level necessary to compete for work in film and television. We are from Ohio not LA so we must work even harder to keep our skills sharp and offer what “Hollywood” Producers and Directors expect from Stunt Professionals. With over 120,000 Screen Actors Guild members, only 7000 are professional stunt players. It is easier to become an actor then a recognized stuntman.”

“I would really like to note the hard work and effort provided by the Greater Cleveland Film Commission for spear heading these feature films to the Greater Cleveland area. Executive Director Ivan Schwarz seems to appear everywhere promoting Cleveland and our skilled talent, vendors and crew that we have right here in North East Ohio. Hollywood is definitely listening and it doesn’t look like we’re going to slow down anytime soon. Also, I want to thank Jason Drake the Cleveland Office’s Production Coordinator for his work and support; he is always ready to help and answer your questions. Production companies need a strong connection – strong communication with the venue they plan on shooting in; without the support from the Cleveland Film office and Gail Mezey from the Ohio Film Office, nothing would be happening.