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The Prodigy

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Truman Fisher has got a problem and his problem is coming after him full force. Truman's problem goes by the name Claude Rains

."The Prodigy", a new crime thriller film by director William Kaufman tells the story of small-time enforcer's (Truman Fisher) vicious conflict with a sadistic assassin who has chosen the unwilling Truman to be his successor. The assassin, who goes by the alias Rains and whose exploits has become the source of legend among Truman's underworld colleagues, drives Truman, through the pressure of constant violence and grief, to understand his own capacity for both bloodshed and compassion. Ultimately this reveals to Truman that he as with all of us, must find our place in, as Rains would say, "the grand design. "This action begins quickly as Truman meets with a turncoat from a rival gang. This tenseshowdown erupts quickly into

mayhem, when Rains makes his unexpected entrance. In the wake of the ensuing bloodbath, Truman is forced to reevaluate his own role in the small, violent world he inhabits, suddenly aware that there are larger powers at work. It soon becomes obvious that the strongest of the powers that be is Rains, whose jarring introduction into Truman's life is only the first in a series of carefully calculated steps meant to change Truman in to Rains' warped perception of his "grand design." During the course of the film, Rains, after kidnapping

[the nephew of Truman's boss], will force him into the role of detective, spurring Truman to assemble a rogue's gallery of underworld contacts in an effort to find his nemesis. But Rains has an agenda more ambitious than merely terrorizing minor hoods; he soon begins to threaten Truman directly, menacing Truman's love, Nicki, with whom Truman hopes to soon escape from the drab meanness of his life. Rains will also threaten Truman's few true friends (played by Matt Beckham as Pat Doyle, Diana Lee Inosanto as Ash Carter, Mirelly Taylor as

Nicki, Lawrence Varnado as Kinyon 'King') and sow deadly confusion among underworld enemies and allies alike. Striking with murderous effectiveness and leaving behind fewclues, Rains uses his own near-mythical reputation to cloud his presence and even his own existence. Truman struggles to find his mysterious enemy while at the

same time attempting to understand why Rains has chosen him as his target - and as his inspiration. Kaufman came to martial artist Ron Balicki to set up the innovative and never before attempted fight scenes for this movie. It was understood from the start that Kaufman wanted Raines to be a martial artist without creating a martial arts movie. He didn't even want Rains to look like a martial artist. What Balicki and Kaufman came up with was a character that looked like someone who may have been a Special Forces soldier or a well seasoned street fighter. When Balicki came up with the fighting style for Rains he drew upon his years with martial arts great and father in law, Dan Inosanto.

	Ron Balicki was quoted as saying " I wanted to show a martial art that was a no nonsense system that could look like something a professional killerwould use. I did not visualize arts that used a lot of kicking like Tae Kwon Do or Muay Thai. I love

these arts but they were not going to be in this movie. For this movie I wanted to combine Filipino Kali, Maphilindo Silat and Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do." Balicki stated, "It was surreal getting in to Raines outfit. I actually started to act differently once in it. I remember working on films where you would see an extra get in to a policeman's uniform. That day you would see him start to act like a cop, even when the camera wasn't rolling. The same with others who had to put on a prison uniform; they started to act like hoods even when the camera wasn'trolling. With me I started to feel the character. I didn't want to kill anyone, well... (Just kidding). It was seducing how powerful Raines's character was."According to Dennis Harvey of "The Daily Variety magazine wrote: Special kudos are due fight choreographer Ron Balicki for visceral combat that looks punishing rather than cartoonish .Harvey had it dead on right! This

	character is the scariest thing to come on film since the Exorcist. Rains is a killer without a conscience and a burning desire to destroy and punish everything in his path.

Producer, Actor Holt Boggs had the arduous task of facing Rains. With this mission put before him he spent several months in a gym with Balicki going over the fights for "The Prodigy". When asked about Boggs, Balicki was quoted as saying "Holt is an amazing talent and aggressive fighter. He would have been a great ring fighter if he had wanted to be. He made my job easy". If you're into scary, creative and aggressive movies that make you think about the good and bad in us all, then "The Prodigy" is for you. A must see for every serious
martial artist.

Cast:

The screenplay for The Prodigy was written by Kaufman and Holt Boggs (see below) with Matt Beckham (see below). The movie's cast includes Holt Boggs as Truman Fisher, Glen Vorhis as James/'Claude Rains', Matt Beckham (PDF file) as Pat Doyle, Diana Lee Inosanto as Ash Carter, Mirelly Taylor (a.k.a. Ruth Osuna) as Nicki, Lawrence Varnado as Kinyon 'King' Taylor, Marc Hebert as Ricky, Marc Jeffreys (PDF file) as J.T. Baker, Jay Moses as Danny, Tery Corkran as Sam, Dameon Clarke as Chris, Gabriel Buentello as Jesse, Mark Hanson as Jimmi, Jimmy Costello as Leon, Ivan Melgarejo as Cesar, Jeremy Rives as Mick, Ron Balicki as Frank, Steve Simpson as Big Ed, Christie Sanders as Michelle, Aaron Garrett as Smiley, Josh Jordan as Johnie, Michael Rodrigues as Mad Dog, Russell White as Larry, Lorenzo Mercado as Jonny Perez, Christian Craft as young Truman Fisher, Robin Robinson as a CPS counselor, and William B. Laureano (a.k.a. Willie Laureano) as Miamoto.

View Trailer:

The Prodigy trailer #2 (downloadable 6.1 MB MOV file)
The Prodigy trailer #1 (downloadable 12.1 MB MOV file)
The Prodigy official website
Film Threat : Review of The Prodigy
Variety: Review of The Prodigy

Ron Balicki