The Dark Knight Fight Co Ordinator Interview

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By Pete Mills, on 21-09-2008 17:34

You have seen it on the big screen, now read about the fighting skills that made Christian Bale, a.k.a. Batman kick the bad guys into touch in the Dark Knight. In an exclusive interview we caught up with fight co ordinator and co founder of the Keysi Fighting Method Andy Norman.

Martial Edge: How did the opportunity come about to work on the sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight?

Andy: Well, i think Chris Nolan had done a really good job revitalizing the Batman franchise when he made Batman Begins, it was a great success and that obviously creates the opportunity for the movie studios to make a sequel.

We got to spend a great deal of time with Christian Bale on the Dark Knight, we actually went in early before filming actually started to prep him and get him ready. - Andy Norman

We worked very well with Chris Nolan and he really liked the fact that KFM had an edge to it and a feel that he has been looking for, so he wanted us back to continue what we had started on Batman Begins. Paul Jennings the Stunt coordinator also really liked the KFM first time around, as it was Paul who eventually employed us. I can remember he said to us once, " you have to be really good to impress me, but you've got to be even better for me to employ you" Thankfully he employed us and the rest is history as they say.

Martial Edge: Its been almost 3 years since Batman Begins. Has the Keysi method developed further during in that time and if so what new aspects did you bring to the way Batman fights and moves in this film?

Andy: KFM is constantly evolving, its part of its nature, we believe that we all grow day by day; hence the reason kfm continues to evolve and grow.

Keysi Fighting Method

What new aspects did we bring to the Dark knight, well, because of the cinema rating there was quite a big limit imposed up on us as to how much violence and brutality could be used and the way in which it could be shown, so as you can imagine this restricted us a lot in the way of what we would have really liked to have put on film.

We did however get the chance to slip a few things in there and the fights were shot a little wider this time so you can see a little more of what's going on.

Martial Edge: How much time did you spend with Christian Bale and what is he like to work with?

Andy: We got to spend a great deal of time with Christian Bale on the Dark Knight, we actually went in early before filming actually started to prep him and get him ready. He trained really hard for this film and as a consequence gained quite a good level KFM. The fact that Christian really did like KFM and thought it was very radical made him all the more eager to learn.

Martial Edge: Did he get stuck in with the fight scenes or did his stunt double Buster Reeves do the majority of it?

Andy: Christian trained and filmed all the fight scenes himself, however when you see some of the more dangerous parts like when Batman crashes through an office window before he starts kicking everybody's butt, or smashing onto the top of a moving van, that was the legendary Buster reeves, many of the UK martial artists may know of Buster, he really is quite special and very talented at what he does.


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Martial Edge: With plans currently on ice for a third installment in the franchise do you guys have anything coming up in the pipeline?

Andy: KFM has formed a new company with Paul Jennings (Hollywood stunt coordinator), so Paul is eager to keep the momentum going. We are about to start work on another Major film by Warner bros. and we will keep you posted with that one when we can talk about it a little more.

We will also be working with Gary Powell, for those who don't know who Gary Powell is, he is the stunt coordinator who has worked on many, many major Blockbuster Hollywood movies and also responsible for coordinating the last two Bond films, Casino Royal and Quantum of Solace. We look forward to working with him on, well; I can't say anything yet as we are not quite sure which film it will be, but it will be a big action one, that's for sure.

Plus the latest from America, KFM has just formed another new company over in the States with the Legendary, Chief Master Bill Clark, called KFM Worldwide Inc.

We met him at this year's martial art SuperShow in Orlando, Florida, he's a very special man with an incredible ore about him, yes he's a businessman, but he's also a real warrior of life, and that really impressed us. He spoke with us and said that he had never seen anything quite like KFM in his forty years in the martial arts and that we had something very special that the rest of the world needs to see. After several hours of exciting talks we formed the KFM Worldwide Inc.

Keysi Fighting Method
The Keysi fighting method is a relatively new martial fighting system that has been developed by its Spanish founder, Justo Dieguez and Andy Norman from Britain. Both of these men are qualified Jeet Kune Do instructors but from their respective experience in street fighting and combat, developed their own practical fighting system based upon a fluid and evolving method that could be used in a street self-defence situation.

This company will now be responsible for making and supplying a whole new range of online KFM home training videos. These videos will cover the entire KFM training program and several different formats will be available, for example, people who are training KFM in class will have homework videos available online to X reference and use to develop their training with, and those who don't have any access to a KFM school will be able to go on line and study the KFM Urban X home study program. All in all there's a lot going on right now and its all-very exciting, so watch this space.

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