CraveOnline: Stallone brought Ronda Rousey in for Expendables 3 and she’s a real fighter.
Randy Couture: Yes, Ronda and Victor Ortiz are both in the third movie and both great at what they do. Ronda for all intents and purposes is the queen of mixed martial arts right now, and Victor Ortiz is a very, very accomplished professional boxer, both getting ready for competition so it was fun to be around and get to know both of them on a more personal level. Both very, very good fighters and good people.
How is Ronda making the transition for her first movie?
I was actually very impressed. She showed up every day ready to go, prepared. There was no drama, no issues, no nothing. I know my own experience going into my very first movie was a little overwhelming and it can be kind of nerve wracking when you don’t know what to expect. I thought she handled it with grace and ease. She did a great job.
Will we see her as a very difference character than we know her as in the ring?
You know, I think that Sly had her in mind when he wrote the character of Luna so I don’t think it’s going to be a huge stretch for her on the acting front to portray Luna in a real way. Obviously being an Expendable is a very physical thing and Ronda is a physical athlete so she’ll pull that off with no problem.
Back to the fight scene with Dolph in Ambushed, there are some shots where you’re punching down at the camera. Were you essentially straddling the camera for those shots?
Yeah, we had to get a little creative and it was an interesting night because of all nights to shoot in L.A., it poured down rain. So [we were] on the top of a parking structure downtown with this kind of surreal backdrop of the skyline of Los Angeles, and pouring rain. There’s no fake rain in this. It’s actually raining that night so we knew we had to get it done start to finish. Who knows when it’s going to rain again? Definitely a lot of fun but a challenge.
You have to use your strength to hurt women in this movie. Is that hard for you to wrap your head around?
It was certainly, again, difficult to relate to that but you get into the moment, you get into the character. You’re with other actors who are also in that moment and willing to put themselves out there so I think it came off well and we worked together and got it done. I think it’s good.
What was your experience as the producer of Ambushed?
You know, I was happy to be able to get that credit and to be instrumental in bringing all the pieces together, but other than that initially, it didn’t require a lot of work or focus on my part. I have a great team of people working with me, Brett Norensberg at Gersh and Sam Spira as part of my management. They helped me take care of all those things so I can focus on the task at hand which is playing this bad guy.
