Straw media. Welcome back to behind
the shadows. I'm your host, Harvegien

AK Malila Cruz, the show where
we talk about all things shadows with cast,

crew and celebrity friends. Today's guest
is Emmy nominated director extraordinaire, Tig

fun. We talk about the potential
dangers in the world stunt and his favorite

actor to direct and stunts. Stay
tuned to behind the shadows. Were even

it's so owhelming heart bizarre has so
tell me why would anyone want to be

lying dead? My hair a reputation
before she arrives, but trust me,

we have way more fun in the
after line. We have way more fun

the line. I'm so excited for
today's guest. It's the one, the

only, Tig Fong. Yes,
good, how are you doing? I'm

doing fantastic. Are you? I'm
doing great, Uh Tig, we met

on the set of what we do
in the shadows first season. Now,

for many of you, you may
not know this, but Um, our

friend here is m me nominated for
the show that we are going to talking

about today. Uh Tig is not
only just an amazing uh stunt coordinator director,

but he's also directed episodes of what
we do in the shadows, and

now a lot of people know that. So we're gonna be talking about that

today. First and foremost, welcome
to the show, Tig and uh,

I'm so excited for this episode,
tonight's or last night's. Last night's episode

was a beast. It was one
of my I think it's my favorite episode,

if not one of my top two, because of how much action and

how much planning and stunt work went
into this episode and the way that it

came out last night so seamless,
so beautiful. But people don't know how

much work goes into that. So
why don't you tell us a little bit

of how much it took to make
this come to life? Well, you

know, I mean we we knew
that we were going to build up this

scene to be visually rich, you
know, and that's executed so accidentally by

Shane Fox and the design team and
they made such a beautiful environment and we

really wanted to and then then we
really wanted to punctuate all of that with

with a with a fantastic action scene. And as as we left last season,

we got a taste of GUARAMO fighting
Nandor, and I think that just

it was so fun and I think
it really just left audiences wanting more.

So we knew that we had to
up the anti we had to, Um,

really kind of bring that action up
within the realm of what we can

do, of course, you know, in terms of making sense human versus

vampire, even an especially gifted human. So there was a lot of thought

prior to building a single beat or
move into what made sense for this to

happen and how do we how do
we extend that action? How? How

is it not immediately over because of
what we might guess as an apparent mismatch?

But of course GARMO surprises us with
some athleticism, uh, and some

mastery of weapons that you that you
would have saw last night. So you

know, and hopefully that was delightful
for the audience as it was for me

to watch as much as it was
to build. We had a conversation about

this the last night we introduced that. We were trying to justify if Guillero

could actually you know, there's a
scene where he picks up a long stick

from the car swings it into this
like you know, Um, what would

you compare that to? Like I
always say it's like gambit from X men.

Who controls that stick, you know, that bow, staff movement,

Staff Movement, and I was we
were we stopped for a second and then

it was a conversation like where did
he pick this up? Was it always

in it? But we forgot that
he's been in London for a year and

in a year he's we don't know
what he's been doing. He's been fighting

himself, you know, uh,
emotionally, he's been asking himself questions,

he's been training behind our backs to
perfect the skills that are organic in him.

And Yeah, he comes back with
skills that we were like, Whoa,

what happened that year, which we
never saw, because we fly over,

you know, back to the states, or not fly over, but

get put in a crate again and
and we don't know what's happening. And

so we're gonna be getting sprinkles of
information of what that year untail and one

of those sprinkles was, yeah,
I believe it. I believe that he

became better, you know, at
his like, you know, fighting skills,

and that's how he justified doing that
scene, because that was the big

question, wasn't it was like would
that make sense if he did this right,

right right and and for our audience. And going back to you know,

your question about prep. I mean
this was, of course, the

conversation that you and I had leading
into us. So what, what?

What could we put in there that
didn't jump out and not make sense?

And what could we put in there
to make things interesting? And and this

this this basically this backstory that you
had kind of filled that in for me

and sort of out took the cuffs
off, allowed us to sort of explore

with Sword Movement and staff movement and
other weapons and and and, you know,

tricking and everything. So we were
really, really kind of allowed to

explore much more given, given,
well, your backstory that you put into

this, which is not written explicitly, was never written in the script per

se, but it's something that that
that that you of course came up with,

which which which I loved because you
know, so much room to play.

Yeah, I love when we get
to do work together because, I

mean, as much as uh,
you know, there is stunt work and

all that. Uh, I always
want more. I'm always so greedy when

it comes to stunt stuff because it's
always so fun and I think ever since

we did our big vampire theater,
our theater, vampire massacre. Ever since

then I've been just like hooked and
I just like love it and it's Um.

I think the first day when we
were rehearsing that, which, by

the way, is like, you
know, we get time to rehearse with

tig and Um, the rest of
the stunt coordinators, uh, and go

make this as safe as possible,
because these moves are epic. Like that's

that scene in the in the vampire
theater and the massacre. That was nonstop.

There was no bricks. So when
people look at that scene now,

because it's editing a way where they
cut away to the vampire's reactions and like,

oh, they took a break,
I was like no, that was

all one continuous, linear movement of
fighting nonstop. That the take choreographed,

and I say choreographed, remember the
first day when we were talking about this,

like Oh, it's like dancing,
it's like steps, and you're like

it is, but it isn't.
You know, if there's steps, but

there's also like because you're if you're
not on the right beat or the right

foot, someone get hurt. You
know, if you're not on the five

instead of the six and seven and
eight and punch and turn into foot someone.

It's dangerous dance. It's dangerous.
It's a dangerous dance and you want

to be on the right foot and
know your dance pretty well because someone can

get injured. Um. But thankfully
we have uh, such you know,

pros on our team that that hasn't
happened and uh and I just look at

the rehearsal. Sometimes take will take
video and rehearse the scene before it even

get shot and I'm already blown away. And that's like only within an hour

of rehearsing with him, which is
so great. And how's that for you?

Take like, do you like working
with actors who are excited about stunt

work or you're like, here we
go again? Let me think about that.

I mean yeah, I mean there's
two things. There's there's two things.

First of all, I appreciate,
you know, devotion and enthusiasm,

because I am certainly devoted enthusiastic to
making the action for any project that I'm

on and regardless of ability, I'm
just excited. If if the other person

is excited or other people are excited, I'm excited about that. And then

it's the Cherry on top when you
have you know an actor that is an

athlete or a dancer, which which
which I did not know that you were

both. Um, I have to
say, no, no, no,

listen, listen. The audience have
to know. Listen. We talked about

the Vampire theatre fight. So,
as you said correctly, and it is,

it is cut, you know,
to to add inserts and add audience

reactions and so on. Everybody should
understand that. That is when I first

learned about Harvey's ability to do choreograph, choreography rather, and complex choreography,

right, because you don't. We
learned those that sex, that that we

learned that entire sequence and phrases.
That that's how we teach it. That's

how the actors learn it, that's
how that's how Harvey learned it. But

when we perform it, it's a
wonner. That particular one, it's it's

pretty much a winner, like he
runs through and does, can and did

do all of it, all of
that scene, is Harvey. People should

also know that too, that that
particular scene in the Vampire Theater Um,

there's nothing there that we felt was
dangerous and inappropriate, you know, for

an actor to do, and Harvey
did it so well. There was never

really a need to to swap in, you know, a double. So

that was that was a treat and
that's when I first understand how much you

could do, which then again is
like takes us forward to them, the

versus, the Nandor fight and Nandora's
room in that season and then and then

now this, which is, you
know, the so so far, the

ultimate of what we've done. Or
who knows what's coming? Who knows who?

You said that with the twinkle in
your eye, Tig yes, that's

funny thing you said that started.
Thank you so much for saying that,

because people still don't believe that that
was me in that fight scene, like

they want to not believe it,
and people come up to me and tell

me all the times, like oh
my gosh, that's so cool. Who

did that scene? I was like
I did that scene and they're like no,

no, I mean like the moves, and I'm like what are you

saying? And it's like no,
like that must have been like. You

know, that's that can act some
kind of acrobatic person who's doing those kind

of moves, because that's really quick
and and it's the assumption that you assume

someone, uh, mostly someone of
size won't be able to move like that.

It's a the commonly gets done.
You know, you always just a

book by its cover, and I'm
always surprised of how many people still think

that it's not me, even after
we've shown the rehearsal video. We've shown

us like working on it and we
showed all the evidence. You know,

we're like here on her, here's
the evidence, and people are like,

Oh, who's in the video,
and it's like what are you talking to

about? Talking about? That's me. I think at one point, I

don't know I convouch. Maybe I
asked my sister about this. I think

at one point I showed my mom
the rehearsal and she was like, she

literally said Keness, who is that, which is like what? But I'm

glad you said that. I have
so much fun with the sun stuff.

I'm glad that you like pushed me
to do it and because you know,

it's easier to say I'll let the
stunt double do it, and that's fine,

but I like I like to be
you know, challenge, and you

did challenge. We just step up
and you know, when that season when

I need the big fight scene was
coming up, to have that stamina to

do take after take after take,
like you know. Yes, I hit

the gym. I go to the
gym three times a week and and really

commit to myself of you know,
becoming Guillermo. You know, two point,

oh, just so to make it
believable, because this character can do

this, and I mean that Harvey
is the actor, should be able to

do this as much as his ability
as possible. So I you know,

I try my best and and I'm
glad that we gave me a little test,

because then after that I heard that
you went to the producers and said

Harvey can do it, like they
asked, can he do this stuff,

and you went over and he said, Oh, you can do it.

And because you know that's always a
question like should we put the actor through

this? If, if, if, they can't do it, is it

gonna be dangerous for them? Is
it gonna be and and and I'm glad

that you said that. And look
at the work that's come out of it,

you know, like the Nandor Gullermo
fight scenes, another favorite. People

make edits of that on instagram and
TIKTOK. Have you seen those videos?

I haven't seen those. I haven't
seen the edits. No, oh,

people make videos of your like stunt
choreography all over online, like it's all

online and it's like people edit it. I'll have to send you some of

these. And they add to it. It's so good. Some of it

it's like, uh, you know, like I'm a I'm a boss as

bitch, you know, like songs, and some of them are dresses.

Look really cool edits that people,
people love the you know, the work

that you're doing. Uh, it
really shines through and I and I thank

you for it because it makes the
show that much better just to have that

kind of caliber of stunt and that
work be put into it. It makes

a whole difference. Wait, let's
talk about bomb mass bitches for a second.

So, so, so, you
know, conceptually, we we we

built this thing and I built pieces
of it and and are the stunt coordinator,

jff La Chapelle, Um, you
know, who who actually has a

karate school and and is an advanced
and gifted martial artists himself. Um,

there was we knew there was a
bow staff pass a section that we wanted

to put in there and and I
was actually, I think I was off

directing second unit. So anyways,
he was, he was doing that work

with Harvey and he sent me the
rehearsal video of of Harvey doing the bow

staff work. But this is this
is maybe day one. I. Okay,

maybe there was one rehearse before that, but this was this was what

was it? It was day one. It was day one. So here

it was day one in the hern, in the hern, right, we

were in the hern. Yeah,
they were here, and we'll insert the

video right here. We'll show you, guys, a video now, and

there you go. This, this
so, so, so JF sends me

this, you know, just this, sending me to over the phone and

I'm like, well, who is
she? My God, this is Harvey.

This is Harvey swipping this bow staff
around and then hitting like a superhero

pose at the end. I'm like, God damn, that's definitely making it

into the movie. That's not going
to be the stunt double shot from behind

or something like that, you know. So I was that day. I

was like just so thrilled. Just
this is one section and then of course,

if you watch the height there's quite
a lot going on. This is

just one section, but this one
section just blew me away to watch harvey

doing it and in my own mind. I'm like, okay, well,

we're not. Definitely, there's no
cheating this one here. WE'RE gonna BE

WE'RE gonna be looking at Harvey.
Who is she? That's literally what I

asked myself all the time, right, yeah, it's a that's that's that's

what I'm saying. Like, you
know, when we showed that was the

first day in the her rehearsal and
it was sent to you and that's sort

of what you were like, Whoa. That's the same feeling that I got

and people got when you videotaped the
rehearsal for the vampiric massacre theater. Uh,

that's the same thing. You're always
like. I'm always going away that.

It's like we just learned this and
we're putting it together and it already

looks so cool. I can't even
wait till we have more days with it

and we get to polish a little
bit sharper and whatever. It already looks

cool on its on its feet,
you know, and it's just fare like,

you know, trying to beginning stages
of the whole process, which is

a lot of work and people don't
understand that a lot goes into that.

So my question to you is,
what does it take, or what goes

into preparing for a scene like?
Let's use example for let's start off with

the first one that I remember.
That was a major one, the vampiric

massacre, vampire theater. How what
is that process like? How does that

start and where do you go from
there? Well, I mean I think

everybody's process. Obviously, what's going
to start with the script and looking at

it, and then my process is
about here is an here, here is

the action slug. You know,
but you see the and and you know

they fight or you know, and
germo Um kills a bunch of Vampires.

It's it's usually pretty vague like that. Um. So then what you really

do is you look at the over
arching storyline, everything that we've done prior

to that in terms of what guermo's
Harvey's character as Guerrimo has done, and

then then you look at, well, okay, what's what skills could we

insert here and what we didn't start? We inserted some Cali fm a with

knife work. Uh, you know, we inserted and we started comedic gags.

Um, kylencheck thought it would be
funny if you're spraying in a circle

of of holy water. So and
I thought, okay, well, we're

really funny doing this in slow motion
and spinning around with two hands at the

same time and you know, and
it just and and that, by the

way, it takes me back to
kind of like a mantra or or or

a guiding question about all of the
action that we make. I had no

idea. I've done I've done action
for for for big action shows and Superhero

shows and so on. Action is
very often it's usually serious, I mean,

isn't it? I mean people,
people are getting hurt. It's shootouts

and car hits and all that stuff. And the action has consequences. On

our show vampires get killed and sometimes, you know, uh, familiars get

killed. People get killed. So
it's not it's not without consequence. But

but you are making action for a
comedy show. And so the question always

is for me, as we start
building, imagining the action and then building

the action, is yes, but
is this funny? Right? And so

a lot of that, like stabbing
somebody in the foot and pinning into the

ground, is would be in the
vampiric theater. Stuff like that is effective,

is brutal, it's violent. It's
also funny, you know, and

so is the way that he deploys
the the holy water spinning around in a

circle, so is grabbing somebody from
behind and pouring it down their throat.

You know, this stuff is it's
funny. I mean it in terms of

its action. If the tone were
different, it could have fit into into

a blade movie, could have been
well, snipes doing all this right,

except that's that's right, exactly easily. But our tone, of course,

is we do it in a way
that you laugh at it, but you're

also impressed by it, by what
Garmo is doing. So yeah, that's

that's really what goes like in the
very, very beginning is you think of

it like why would we do it? What could we do? And is

it funny? Right? And and
then, and then you only work backwards

from there and say, okay,
well, how much of this can the

actor do? Because then you'll think
about, okay, we know, we

know, we have stunt people,
we know we have stunt doubles. We

could to the whole fight very typically, depending on the level of the ability

of an actor in any given project, you okay, well, we'll insert

they them whatever here, or they
am them here, their faces maybe a

little bit of the action. It
all depends on ability. But in this

particular instance, you know, as
as you just said, once we walked

through it, we're like, well, Harvey's going to be doing this all.

You know, that's what I came
back with. But that's the beginning,

is those questions and then getting together
with some stunted people and just walking

the action, exploring, playing,
uh, and it's always the Yes,

and what would happen if this happened? Then what's the next thing? That

makes sense. Most of the stuff
this kind of happens in my head,

uh, in weird lucid TC induced
dreaming or something. But you know,

and then I wake up the next
morning and I'm like, okay, I

actually think I already have this fight
open my head. That that part of

the trade secret. There secret reveal. That's the process that everyone should try.

But you know what, looking at
this last episode from last you know

from last night that that must have
been one of the more massive, Um,

you know, undertaking, because it's
just there's cars, there's jumping from

cars, there's running, running upstairs, there's stick work, there's all this

and and it's all, like I
heard when I got to set, that

day to rehearse. I feel like
we're in a movie. I feel like

we're actually in a movie because the
caliber of this show feels it's always elevated

and this, the night market episode, has been elevated to a different level.

It just looked like we were in
a movie, like the details and

just thinking about the stunt and jumping
from car to car and going upstairs and

then falling down, you know,
from the third floor into all of that.

Uh, it's just it blows my
mind, like how. What do

you say? That's one of the
bigger Um things that we've done in shadows

stunt work wise. Yeah, what
do you think about it? There's there's

five choreography, there's there were wire
ratchets when you get hit by Nandor after

the staff work, because that was
his sort of it was like a call

and answer type thing. So that
was your call at that point, flipping

over the cars, throwing some stakes
and then doing your staff work, and

then his answer was to blast you
out off of the set. Um.

So wire ratchets, wire work,
high falls, as as you just said,

and then there was the prior to
the high fall. There's the wonderful

sword play that we built into which
is another thing that I you know,

just another phrase of action. And
starting with the question of how do we

extend this? How does Guarrimo continue
to fight Nander, who is a superpowered

vampire? And I guess I thought, well, what if we involved weapons?

What if, again, Garmo's travels
in, in, in, in

his travels, he's he's come across
this type of weapon training. And by

the way, that the sword work
on Nandor side was informed by actually Chinese

swordwork, Straight Sword Gim and to
contrast that, on on Garamo side of

it, that sword work was more
Filipino, with a little wishoe flare there.

That he did. Um. So
there's quite a mismatch of styles.

And don't for all you martial arts
fans out there who saw the action last

night, and we'll see if you
picked up in any of that, that's

a little bit of Geek Trivia for
you. There, UM and again again.

You know, Harvey did all of
that and I really have must say

at this point. I mean you
know it's your show, but Cavan did

all of that too. It was
just it was just so beautiful to see

these two actors doing stunt work intricate
stunt work. You know, not very

long, but nevertheless sword fighting routine
that actually had real techniques and that,

that's the other thing, is I
don't like. I don't like mimicking technique.

I like to incorporate real technique into
things because it's foundational to the movement.

You really have to pay attention to
that. You can put your own

flare on it if you want,
and of course it is a movie,

but nevertheless I think everything should be
rooted in real techniques. It just makes

it that much more satisfying, it
makes it land better and it feels so

organic to to really allow these two
actors to, once they know the moves

and the steps and the you know, and the actual tools and weapons that

they're holding, to let them live
and breathe in that moment, because that's

what makes it look real, as
opposed to make it look like, you

said, a mimicking move. It's
actually you know it. It's in your

head. Now, incorporate body,
the your voice, what we're talking and

moving and hood and efforts and grunts
and all that. They feel natural in

that moment, you know, and
that's what makes it look so real and

cool. I remember Cavan, who
committed to it completely, uh, you

know, and over his steps over
and over in our downtime we go over

it, Um, I go over
to his place and we go over it,

because we wanted to be so part
of our bodies that we weren't thinking

about the move. It just was
happening and organically, because it's so engraved

into us that we could actually be
breathing as the characters as well and talking

to each other. It's like it's
like your little rascal, you know,

and all the lines and the funniness
too, and the joke and the comedy

and, you know, uh,
to let it breathe. But getting the

steps down was the first and getting
the stunt work was the first step.

And speaking of first steps, how
did you get your start in stunt work?

Oh Gosh, I didn't know.
We're going to go there. Um.

I growing up, you know,
in the east coast of Canada.

I community there as an Asian American, well Asian Polynesian Child. I was

looking for for role models and I
kind of, I guess I found them

in martial arts films. I found
them in Bruce Lee films and in jently

films and and those watching those strong
Asian characters. Just it made me want

to learn martial arts and it made
me want to do specifically martial arts and

film, not not, not just
you know, in life, and that's

set about a very meandering, winding
road of acquiring skills, dreaming about what

I wanted to do and having no
idea how to get there. Took Years,

took decades to stumble onto a film
set as a as a as a

stunt performer, and then never getting
to do the martial arts that I trained

my whole life to do. That's
the irony, by the way. That

is the irony and that is the
reason for my the changes in my career

right reinventing myself. I had to
go from being a performer frustrate to wanted

that, to a five coordinator,
to a stunt coordinator, to a second

director, to a director, to
to really do what I wanted to do,

which never ended up in me doing
the really cool stuff on camera.

But I'm so blessed and happy to, you know, create that for you

and and people like you and to
and sometimes there directed and shoot it like

it's it's a wonderful thing. It's
it's very, very fulfilling. Well,

it's wonderful that you started that way, in the trajectory that it all takes,

you know its course, just because
it leads you to things like you

have directed episodes of what we do
in the shadows and and my question is,

how does that? How is that
cap like putting on a different cap

as like a stunt you know,
director, to like I'm directing this comedy

with these actors. And how how
do you approach to how? How is

that different? UH, well,
the directing, the stunts, it's just

sort of you grow up doing the
action and then you are choreographing and creating

the action as a fire coordinator,
and then you're planning it and overseeing the

execution as a coordinator. So second
AR director, I mean we're often required

to, as stunt coordinators or fire
coordinators, shoot little mini movies that we

in our business we call previous and
of course you know, uh, you've

seen my work there, and that
really is a lot of you're just you're

just practicing to direct at least action. Well, now you're talking about,

as a director, directing actors.
Yeah, everything felt natural right up to

them and then that that was terrifying. I'm like, Oh my God,

I gotta, I gotta direct people
that talk. What do I do?

How do I get them to do
what I want? I was, I

was, I was, I have
no trouble admitting this. I found it

terrifying. I still find it terrifying, I suppose, and I told myself

even as I was directing my first
episode, I've done since the second one.

There there may be more. I'm
not going to say more than that

right now, Um, um.
But you know, if you're if if

your heart isn't in your throat,
you know, are you making art and

Are you challenging yourself? And I
would say no. Right. So I

tried to embrace that terror. Uh, and the you know everything that went

with that. But I mean you
guys, you know, all of you,

all of the casts on this show, what we do in the shadows,

are just so talented and so but
also such warm and lovely people.

You know, it was about as
less horrifying or terrifying for me as it

could have been really, because I
did feel like I was with family,

to be honest. Yeah, I
can see that we would be, you

know, intimidating to try something new. It's funny because I remember the first

dawn set where you were teaching,
you know, stunt and you know that

inside out and you've done it for
so long, and then went to jump

into the director like when you're you
took a different approach and it was like

a softer tig where it was like
nurturing, nurturing the craft, where it's

like stunt tig, it's like,
Harvey, go over here and move over

here, want to three? It's
okay, good, and then it was

like yeah, I gotta Tig.
You got a coach, you know knows

that. And then when in the
acting element, you were softer tig and

it was like Um, harvey trying, tried that again and do like it

was the adjustment. The approach was
softer where it was like putting. I

could see you putting on a different
cap and it was so nice to be

like Oh, tigs, like you're
putting on the director had this is like,

because I imagine directing as a stunt
directors like okay, there's no it's

just black and white. This is
that, this and that. You go

over here, don't hit anyone and
be careful when you don't. Don't hit

there or whatever. It's so different
because it allows you to feel, you

know, comfortable and trying things,
you know, and try and be like

okay, okay, let's try that, because it's it's the warmth that you

give to as well as a director
that allows you to feel, you know,

like you could also be yourself,
you know. So that's good,

that's great to me. That's so
nice. I mean, thank you.

I just want to take a moment
and sit on that. I mean,

thank you very much, like that's
the first time you said that to me

and it is exactly what I was
trying to do. Like, if you're

talking about the transition from yes,
you're director, when you're the action director

or second director, for sure you
are. Um mostly you're working with stun

people. If their actors doing action, you might be directing them too,

but it's very precise. You know
what action has to be doing. Everybody

has to hit their marks, camera
moves have to be correct. If something

is not correct, you do it
again and your whole day is just getting

that action into camera right. But
as soon as you change over to directing

scenes, it's like, I want
to live in the feeling of it,

and so thank you for saying that. In terms of you know, more

nurturing. I believe I'm nurturing and
stunts. I mean, I honestly,

I'm just gonna stop here and say
that it has been my my mission,

as you know, an in stunts
since becoming a coordinated to really kind of

change the culture of stunts which maybe, let's just say, I wouldn't typified

as being nurturing. Or Yeah,
I mean I think you're maybe he's the

wrong word there, but it is
your nurturing with stunts as well, because

you're encouraging and nurturing to like do
your best. But it's very like you

know that so inside out that it's
like the description of what we're doing is

like and then you go here and
then you go there, and that's it,

Bla Blah, and let's do it, you know. And with that

and with the acting, because it's
such you're dealing with such fragile creatures,

actors, that your your approaches a
different approach, which is like what do

you feel this moment? You know
what I mean, like the asking of

because it stunts. I you can't
ask me what I feel this stunt should

look like because I'm not an expert. You know, you can't ask the

actor to be like what do you
think the stunts should look like? It's

like you can ask for my opinion, but I can't be like I think

it should be a double, you
know, Axel into a Coupleeta move and

like I'm not going to give that
insight, but because I rely on the

on the master of stunts to tell
me and then say how do you feel

about that? Oh, and I
have a question. Then the question gets

answered. But with acting it's more
like asking and like, you know,

what do you feel? Do you
feel okay? How about this? Can

I? You know, can I
or can I suggest this, you know,

approach or whatever? So it did
a different hat and I appreciate both

hats because they're both stylish and both
wonderful. And my must say people might

not know this. Matigue is very
stylish. And when, when? When

tigs on set and he directs and
he just has his ensemble is like tens

across the board. His socks are
always a top of a conversation. We

always remember came on and I were
like, Oh my God, what talks

do you have on today and he
had like socks with like I think it

was like some like puppies on it
or something, you know what I mean.

But it's like stylish like socks,
and it's like a nice slick like

saddle shoe and a nice vest and
a collar shirt and it's rolled up a

sleep like. I think it's a
it's it's just always a nice, uh

visual and we get to set and
we know takes directing because it's always gonna

be like, I wonder what he's
wearing today, because it's it's part of

who you are and it's such a
nice a thing to to come home to.

You know, if you will on
set. We can't have just you

guys looking pretty on the other side
of the camera. Got Something over here

on my side. Okay, you
do. And then one of the questions

that came in that Um randomly moved
to the top, which was here,

says you've have directed a couple episodes, Um, and you've also directed several

of the stunt work. Obviously.
which character is your favorite choreograph? I

don't know where this question came from. So what's a favorite character to choreograph?

Yeah, I don't know what.
That's a trick question. Wait,

did you write that? I think
I just saw you write that down and

read it back to me. That
question was that they went all over the

Internet to look for the number one
question and that question, that's the one

that that the producers picked. So, yeah, well, you know,

as we as we just said,
all the biggest action pieces. What have

we got now? We've got the
vampire theater. We had the wellness center

fight that you did. That that
Oh yes, and that was also harvey.

Everyone who's WHO's listening? I mean
it's that was that was all harvey

too. It's so funny. You
know, the Mirror gag with the Hula

Hoop and everything else. You know, these are all sort of things that

I dreamt up and then we actually
did it, and when we did it,

I went it looks exactly like I
imagine it. I can't believe it.

And also, once again, Harvey
is doing all of it again.

It was just like, I can't
believe. It was like lightning striking twice

by that point, and that's that's
that's preceding last night's work. You know

what I mean. So it was
kind of kind of mind blow. I

feel very blessed. So I'm glad
you're eventually saying the truth now, because

finally we could put this to rest
people who don't think it was me.

I believe it was me. I
was like, it's me, you guys,

Hey, you know, listen,
I mean, you know, I'm

sure it's okay for me to say
this, and Harvey has a wonderful snout

double by the name of Josh,
and there are things right and there are

things we're gonna do. There's not
only reason why you couldn't have done it.

Could you have done the wire ratchet
that gets you yanked out of frame

at the market? Yeah, of
course you could. I could have how

to do it. We could,
we could have done it, but it's

not even time. Is that that? That's a risk that we shouldn't take.

Ratchets are one of the more dangerous
things you can do. People don't

understand it because you're going to be
pulled into Matt's off camera. Sometimes you

are. Sometimes you pulled into a
freaking column moral wall. You know,

in this case the performer was pulled
off camera, but even that sudden acceleration

and sudden deceleration can cause you to
have a concussion. The last thing we

want, yes, is that we
can't have, you know, one of

our lead actors having a concussion.
After that. So so for that reason

it's it's not even an ability thing. Could you have done the high fall?

Sure you could have. I don't
think you would have been afraid to

do it. To be very honest. Should I, as a stunt coordinator,

risk that note? Will the producers
allow that? No. So there

are things that you know we will
put in a stunt double before, and

for good reason. But you know, so far, of of everything we've

done, I've not seen anything that
you couldn't have done, which is the

reason why you end up doing like
all your own action. And then to

finally answer, this is my very
long way of answering your question, is

guermo has done the more staction on
the show. So you know I mean

by default. It would be my
favorite character to build action for. I

Love The when Colin Robinson got his
powers and he's like swimming through the hallway.

That was a very, very intricate
wire rig from our rigging team.

That stuff is a lot of fun. When when Mandara was floating in the

parking lot, you know, about
to attack somebody and then changes his mind,

like that's a very intricate rig,
using using computer program winches and so

on. So I'm gonna love building
all of that. But those are moments

whereas the Garmo character has had these
these these these well, these action sequences,

like full on sequences. I love
it. I guess the answers the

question that I was asking online,
so I'll just leave it at that.

But yeah, and so thinking back
at I was thinking about the the episode

where the mosquito collectors of the tristate
area. That was a big stunt one

where in the house and that was
a great one. And there was a

scene where I was like coming from
behind the Vampire Uh and, and I

stabbed them from behind, remember,
and they're like from in the go through

their heart. And we had done
that choreography, but we hadn't at the

last minute the way that the camera
worked and the way it was angled,

because this was a troll actress who
was playing that, and then when I

came behind her you couldn't really see
me. So I was losing its momentum.

And so the very last minute,
I remember telling you, I was

like, is it okay if I
just jump off a box, like we

put a box in and I could
like a step up and then down,

and then you're like do you could
do it and I was like yeah,

and he's like okay, and then
the last minute, like we allowed this,

like you know, and it made
that seem totally different. It almost

gave gear almost first glimpse of like
Whoa, how did he get that like

high? You know what I mean, like it's like a little super power

that he might that we we're being, uh, you know, introduced to

that. It was the first time
where he's a vaunt healthine. He's a

vampire killer, but he's also very, you know, quick and and and

Agile and all this like. So
it was the first time that we saw

that and to this day that's one
of the clips again that online all the

keys. They say keep editing because
it's such like a you see the vampire's

head and then behind you just see
and you just see like a punch with

it looks so cool. It's one
of my favorite moments that we shot and

then we had. It just creates
that energy. Yes, yes, yeah,

it just creates that I don't know
that it's a different energy whenever you

see a scene like that. and
Um, that was the one of my

favorite episodes and that episode was written
by Sara Enough Talas all the stonework by

utig and and it was just so
good to like see this Badass side full

blown for Guillermo. And that's also
what we lose Derek. That was the

first time we derek went missing and
then we just saw that, you know.

So, Um, we okay,
that's right. Yeah, it's okay.

Yeah, he came out in season
three. He came back and then

we saw him again, which is
great. Did he come in through?

It was an episode. Was Season
Three? He comes back to the Vampire

Council. Uh, to be sentenced
because he yeah, yeah, he's wearing

he's wearing hot topic. He's wearing
a hot topic outfits. Yeah, he

can't. He doesn't know how to
maneuver being a vampire. Um, so

that's yeah. So, anyways,
we uh, we have so much to

look forward to in season four,
because there's more work coming out, but

also season five and six. We
just got picked up first season five and

six. So I'm really, really
excited about that. Um, but I'm

also Curio is what has been like
the most difficult, not necessarily with shadows,

but if of all your extended work, what has been the most extended,

difficult or challenging stunt that you've had
to put together? Oh Huh,

too many, too many. Well, because there's so many interesting and differing

challenges. First of all, you
know if you're if you're doing television,

if you're doing stunts for television.
And now we've elevated television to to the

level of the big screen, like
many shows, Um, game of thrones,

and and then even here are things
that we've shot titans, the boys.

Um, we do really big stuff. Yeah, the boys is a

big one. The boys shoots next
to us on our sound stage and we're

friends with the boys. I'm friends
with the boys, Karen Jack, all

those guys are great. I I
see. I love that show. It's

great how that looks like a massive, you know, challenging show for stuff,

because it's always fighting. Yeah,
those are, those are sometimes.

Those are sometimes massive moving pieces that
we're trying to do on on titans,

we had a huge scene with three
superheroes versus a multiple gang of Asian bad

guys. I guess they are.
I mean, uh, my mom used

to ask me, by the way, when she was still alive, you're

such a nice boy. How come? How come? AH, how come

you're always a bad guy, though, in film and I said to her,

well, well, mom, that's
that's just how white people see US

anyways. Um, so it was
a bit of a stereotype. But but

anyways, it was weird because we're
it's a kind of talent scene and it's

all these Asian gangsters, but they, some of them were like even workers

and restaurants and they come running out
and they all know martial arts. But

anyways, Um, we built a
very satisfying and very intricate fights that we

shot at night in the winter.
We had just had to reschedule a night

because of polar vortex had blown in
that was gonna be it was gonna be

minus forty Celsius. So that was
not going to happen. We waited for

a slightly warmer night, but it
was still, you know, freezing out

and intricate action. And then on
the boys we had a high rooftop jump

with a character that had to jump
from one sixty ft roof top to another

high rooftop with about sixty ft span. And you don't know what that takes.

I mean you're you're bringing in multiple
cranes. We brought in a hundred

and ten ton crane to pick up
that act. That that's done person and

do you need a hundred ten time
crane to lift a hundred and sixty pound

performer? No, but you need
the reach between the buildings to create the

pendulum and that's why you need such
a massive crane. These are things that

people don't think about. You have
to have a logistic world. Can we

even park the crane that close to
the building? And so on. So

I'm going down a rabbit hole heir
of of things like rigging and the intricacies

thereof. So I mean every every
stunt can have its own specific set of

challenges. I think you know,
some are easy, some are some are

mind bluggling. is difficult to to
orchestrate. But it's good to voice that

because, you know, sometimes it's
easy to look at a stunt that twenty

seconds on screen, but the audience
doesn't know that it took months and months

of preparation and work and and and
hundreds of hours of like you know,

of like research or actually putting together, finding the right material. Are The

costumes have to be talked about.
All of this is important and it goes

together, you know, in the
final product is just so lovely that people

are like, oh, that was
fun. I wonder how to did that,

you know, and then it's good
to know how they did it,

and I think you've given us an
insight of how much goes into the beautiful

work on what we do in the
shadows with the stunt and also the directing.

So before we go, I want
to ask you. Now that Naja

has her own nightclub, we've been
asking our guests if you had your own

signature drink at the bar, what
would it be called and what would it

consist of? Oh my God,
Um, I don't know for sure.

I'll tell you a couple of one, it will have fruit juice in it,

because it means to be fruity.
And then two, and it absolutely

has to have a live flower H
and an umbrella in it. Absolutely.

And it would be Polynesian. It
could could be in a could be in

a coconut or or a pineapple,
you know, just a hearken back to

heritage. And I'll have to I'll
have to think about what I would call

it, the name. What would
be the what do you think that?

I mean? It sounds like a
like a nice tiki drink, like one

of the tiki drinks. That's right, that's right, exactly. My name

is almost in there already. Takes
Tiki, there it is. Yeah,

we just got it. Wait for
that, coming to a coming to a

bar near you. And what would
it be? The Foundation? Would it

be rum? Would it be?
I would see like something fruity with rum,

with go hand in hand. Right. Yeah, I think that.

I think that's very kind of tropical, right. Yeah, yeah, coconut.

I got those tropical roots. You
know, you got the honey baby.

So, yeah, I could already
see it. I could see like

the flower, I could see the
umbrella. Um, yeah, I love

it. Takes Tiki, I love
it. A NASEAS near you, exactly,

exactly. Well, take. I
want to thank you so much for

joining us and before we go,
is there anything you want to tell the

fans who have now been introduced to
your your amazing work and continue to support

the show and you going forward?
I just want to say keep watching season

four. You're gonna love are you
gonna love it? I love it and

I can't wait for for Y'all to
see my episode. So so, I

don't know, I can't say much
more about it. So but but yeah,

look for my episode and I hope
you enjoy it, and do you

have any if you want to send
takes? Some love take. Where can

people follow you on socials? Oh, thank you. Well, I am

on Instagram at Teak Fong, sorry, at flying the films. I'm also

on Instagram for my photography, at
at Tik Fong. Another hat, another

hat. You guys check out his
work. Yeah, there's another hat there,

another hat. Well, again,
thank you so much. Take and

I'll see you on set. All
right, thank you so much. Behind

the shadows it's a production of Straw
hut media, hosted by Harvey Gean,

produced by Ryan Tillotson, Amda Sanchez
and Tyler Nielsen. Original Music by Trevor

Bumgar and Chris Hendricks, vocals by
Maggie Glass. If you don't already subscribe

wherever you're listening and make sure to
follow behind the shadows podcast on instagram for

more behind the scenes content and tune
in live every Thursday at one pm Pacific

on what we do in the shadows. Subreddit for an a m a with

Harvey and special guests. Even it's
sowhelming hot bizar has to tell me why

would anyone want to be alive deaf, mad hairy reputation before she arrived.

But Trust me, we have way
more fun in the floe. We have

way more fun. See you next
week. He