I trained with a Hollywood director (Image: Bad Day at the Office)
A couple of weeks ago, I trained with a Hollywood film director who is bringing classic action back to the big screen. Drawing inspiration from films like Hardcore Henry and Crank, Chee Keong Cheung has shot his new blockbuster entirely in point-of-view, with camera operators donning huge filming rigs to capture the stunts and shootings from behind and letting the viewer in on a unique experience at the cinema. Before Bad Day, the only experience I had with POV filming was Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show – and it’s fair to say that comedy suffers from a severe lack of stunts.
In the advent of CGI and artificially generated images, the acting industry is frightened. It’s a concept we’re all familiar with, from journalists like myself to artists, graphic designers, translators and sales agents. AI “actress” Tilly Norwood caused a stir recently on chat shows, despite not actually existing.
The good news is: Bad Day at the Office has gone old-school. Featuring a stunt team of 22 people, with two first-person POV camera operators also joining in on the action, there is hardly any camera trickery here, and with a dedicated weapons team brought onto the film, the thriller feels like it could have been created years before AI took over. Better yet, the action sequences make the film perfect to experience in 4DX, with moving seats and 3D shots.
Bad Day at the Office stars John Hannah and Radha Mitchell. It follows a man suffering from amnesia, who wakes up in a hotel room beside a corpse – and is forced to untangle a sinister conspiracy, all while trying to recover his memories and escape the police.
Bad Day stars Giedre Jackyte and Ermar Alexander sat down for an exclusive chat with Express.co.uk about making the film, with Giedre admitting the acting industry is “in danger” from AI.
She said: “In terms of being a performer, you are, in a way, in danger. [Before] for a massive scene, they would probably have hired a lot of stunt performers, which provides a lot of work opportunities. Now, they can pick a group of people and just multiply them.
The rig is pretty heavy to work with – this is me wearing it (Image: Davi Aburad)
“But I don’t think you can fight against it. They’re developing more and more advanced technology, so we can’t escape it. Production is always going to cut the budget and get more for less, which is understandable.”
As for what actors can do to keep afloat? Giedre explained: “You have to up your skills and find different ways to be useful to production. You have to think, ‘How can I better survive in this changing climate?’”
Ermar, who previously starred in Marvel movies, explained that the film used more than 100 stunt performers – and explained it makes sense for big Hollywood studios to look for ways to cut down on costs.
He added: “I use AI myself. At the moment, I’m helping AI Claude to grade a short film we shot two years ago. I’m trying to make it more impactful, and the AI gives me information. I’m using it as a teacher, as a tool.”
Giedre added: “We’re working on a few projects that we want to produce at the moment, and we’re going, ‘Okay, what do we need to do to quicken the process?’”
“I know some people are really against [AI], and I totally understand and don’t blame them, because it is scary. At the same time, I feel like the more you deny the fact, the more you’re going to be left behind.”
Giedre Jackyte and Ermar Alexander star in Bad Day at the Office (Image: Supplied)
We also trained with weapons (Image: Davi Aburad)
Giedre and Ermar started out in the stunt industry mostly by accident, with Ermar moving to the UK from the Philippines when he was eight years old. He had a black belt in martial arts by the time he was 21, and eventually opened a private gym in London after a career as a graphic designer.
Ermar ended up training a stunt double working on a Batman film, and impressed him enough with his skills that he was advised to try getting into the industry himself.
Giedre, meanwhile, grew up in Lithuania and moved to London with just £300 in her pocket and a dream of attending dance school. She, too, stumbled into martial arts and the film industry – eventually securing her first job as an extra on Jurassic World.
There’s still a fair bit of imposter syndrome at work; Ermar admitted: “Working with John Hannah, Radha Mitchell and Tamer Hassan – these guys are massive pros at acting, and we’re nobody, telling them how to act in front of a camera.
“We had four months of tests [for the POV rig], five days a week and eight hours a day, so we had it in us. But in your head, you’re like, ‘Well, these guys are massive’. That was the hardest part, seeing these big actors coming into our gym and thinking, ‘Oh damn, we’ve got to tell them what to do.’”
Thankfully, it worked “really well”, and Ermar praised the “amazing” stars of the movie.
This was me and my prop gun going all guns blazing (Image: -)
I got to witness them in action when I was invited down to Ermar’s gym, Hybrid FMA near Harlesden. The POV rig is no joke – essentially you’re wearing a giant GoPro on your head, with a battery pack attached to your back.
Five of us – myself and four content creators – tested out the rig in various scenarios, putting my shoddy improv skills to the test. One scene required two of us to act as ‘school bullies’, desperate to extort money out of whoever was wearing the rig.
Wearing it is a whole different ballgame. You have to be constantly aware of where your hands are – too low, and the camera will miss them entirely; too high and you look like a human who’s never encountered the appendages before. You also have to be careful not to land on your back while taking a fake punch, or else you’ll crush the equipment there.
There’s also a lot to remember when faking a punch or a kick – remembering to keep a safe distance between actors, and reacting at the right time so it looks better than a pantomime fight. With the POV filming, it’s harder to employ camera trickery to make hits look more real, as things are rather more head-on.
Next up was weapons training with Redd Nicholson and Ty Hopkins of Dark Roc, which provides firearms training and armoury services for various productions. Redd has worked on everything from Coronation Street to Rivals, while Ty has been on the stunt crew for Fast X and starred in Kraven the Hunter.
We learned how to handle prop Airsoft pistols and rifles, which use a gas-powered system to simulate the recoil of a real gun. Then it was time to try it out with the rig – I wore it first, brandishing my pistol, and headed into the gym where a hostage scenario was taking place. It was my job to rescue said hostage while taking out the bad guys, armed with rifles of their own.
Honestly, that was my favourite part of the day. I really felt like an action movie star while ducking and weaving through obstacles, with Redd showing me how to load the gun with a pop before firing at will on the unsuspecting baddies.
Truthfully, I doubt AI will ever be able to replace that human touch, no matter how good it gets at fakery. Chee, Giedre, Ermar, Redd and Ty all bring so much passion to the project that anything less would feel hollow.
Bad Day at the Office releases in cinemas on October 30th.
