Last week, the Interterm Stunt Class was treated to a series of special guests. Today, I'd like to share with you some awesome quotes, advice, and anecdotes from Renny Harlin, action movie superstar.

(Process update: we've had a few unexpected issues getting footage edited from the Stunt Class' production, but fear not – burning men, car chases, and stabbings are on the way soon! -JP)

Renny Harlin

On Film School Beginnings

I never blended in too well with the standard film school atmosphere. Everyone else was smoking cigarettes, drinking obscure red wine, and watching Godard films. That wasn't exactly my scene, so it was kinda hard to fit into the environment of a typical film school.

Renny definitely presents himself as somewhat of an outsider in the industry, from his leather jacket and "let's-be-friends" attitude, to his beginnings as a young man scraping for money, and funding, doing just about anything he could to get his first films made. He begins with a story of one of his early film school projects, where the teacher continually encouraged them to place the camera where the audience's perspective would lie, a classic technique in the early Hollywood era films. Renny, ever the rebel, was making a short film involving a slab of butter, in which he insisted on placing the camera from the dairy product’s point of view; that is, peeking out from the fridge. So he thought, what better way to express the tragedy of the lunch meat, than to directly inside the refrigerator. With his now-present ego beginning to develop, he rejected the instructor’s advice, made the short, and was quite pleased as the instructor called him to the front of the class, to present it to the students. He remembers,

In one of my first student films, I explained to the students, I put the camera inside the fridge, so you'd open it up and see his face like, "wow!"

‘Now here,’ said the professor, ‘we have a startling, prime example—‘ (Renny’s heart rose) ‘of exactly what you should not ever do to a camera.’

And so I thought, this isn't the place for me, if I can't put the camera wherever I want, I knew it wouldn't work for me.

And this attitude has clearly remained with him through today, across numerous features, TV Series, and countless death-defying sequences.

On His Early Hollywood Years

He recounted his humble beginnings, first shooting commercials for cash, then essentially cold-calling Chuck Norris, and drumming up enough funding to get him interested, only to have the famous fighting star cancel at the very last minute, with actors and cameras on set, ready to roll.

So we had everything ready, the props and sets built, the actors hired, all the cameras ready to roll, even huge "Welcome to Finland, Chuck!" banners at the airport, and right as we’re expecting him to come through the gate, we get this call that he’s pulled out and couldn’t make the shoot.

Devastated, crying in his friends’ basement, Renny believed this fiasco would bankrupt the small production company. But soon the love of celluloid drove them back, setting their sights on LA and the wealth of opportunity it represented. Since the film was essentially already constructed, they decided to go to LA to make a film.  After arriving, they looked over their footage, expecting a full length feature, and realized after editing, post production, and continuity, they had a grand total of 25 minutes of footage. So they set out to shop the demo around Hollywood, formed a small production company, and eventually found they could barely survive in the expensive town, with no friends or industry connections.

We didn't have a car, we had $5 budget per week for food… I remember how all I would eat throughout the week was a Campbell’s tomato soup – 49 cents, I still remember it. We couldn't go to the movies, or watch any television, so we would read the trades for free at 7-eleven, basically stealing the news and whatever else we could scrounge. When we finally got the opportunity to show some executives this film – that eventually became “Arctic Heat” – we didn't even have time or money to transfer the film into video, so I had to wait outside the lots at large production studios, waiting for people to leave, so we could sneak in the gate to use their film transfer machines. It was crazy.

After minor success with their first short, Renny and friend got the financing to make a small horror film called Prison, an action horror film with ‘terrible’ home-made effects, but his dedication and creativity showed the producers and financers that we had the “stuff to make movies.”

It was this short film which got him in a position, through friends and co-workers’ connections, to be offered the fourth Nightmare on Elm Street movie, a huge commercial success,

and from there, the rest is history you can go look up on IMDb. But up until that time, I basically lived as a homeless person, making use of what money I could get to put into film and reading the trades, sacrificing health and food to my love for film. I really consider myself the luckiest person on the earth. I love movies, and just love making them, and couldn't be happier living here in LA doing what I love.

On making movies today, and the role of computer generated graphics in action films:

It's a tough business. In a way, it's kinda much harder for you, to get your name out there and to open doors, with so many people making movies. But in certain ways, it's much easier for you – for one thing, there was no way to communicate easily with people back then- no internet, no phones, not even any faxes. To get a message or a print to someone, you had to walk it to them – which is more difficult than it sounds with no car.

I have an old fashioned approach to filmmaking. I think CG is interesting and I appreciate what it can do for the industry, as a tool, but I think it has also hurt the industry a lot, because it's so disconnected from reality. I try not to use CG, especially in my lower budget movies.


So you’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth: all it took for one of the world’s most varied action directors to get his start was a burning love for film, and a willingness to overcome any obstacles – no matter the source. I can think of at least 15 Renny Harlin’s in this year’s class alone, people who would do whatever it takes to get their vision on screen. In fact, Dodge College is bursting with them – and luckily, the industry and technology has grown by leaps and bounds, to allow room for everyone with passion to participate.

Are you one of them?