Ryan Burke's brutal character makes for great fun in, "The Academy"

Posted November 25, 2011 at 8:32pm by Michael Knox

Ryan Burke plays the vile villian Stoker in, "The Academy" with a brutal energy. In the movie, he and others are forced to fight for their survival. But unlike others forced into the kill or be killed situation, Stoker enjoys the slaughter.
 
But Burke said Stoker has good reason to be the way he is.
 
"Stoker is the product of childhood abuse. The majority of the characters fought for survival in the final exam but the manner in which Stoker killed was always in relation to how he felt about his victims," Burke said. "My experience playing Stoker was a defining moment in my career. (Director Ken Barr) gave me an opportunity to tell a story with my acting and with Stoker’s violence. On the surface Stoker is a villain with a sadistic appetite. However underneath his actions is a well of human emotion that revisits the darker part of his childhood."
 
"The Academy" tells the story of a select group of convicted youths given a second chance by a shadowy organization: The Academy. They will be trained to become efficient weapons of death, honing into a valued asset the very thing that made them outcasts.
 
They are divided into classes, trained as a unit for three years and isolated from everyone and everything else. The final exam? Over 100 square kilometers, classmates must track down and eliminate each other until only one remains. The rules: They cannot engage each other in public places, in front of witnesses, or harm or cause harm to innocent bystanders.
 
Highly trained and with limited time, friend will kill friend, enemy slaughter enemy across a populated urban backdrop. This is The Academy. Let the exam begin.
 
And with Stoker as such a violent character, Burke said the Academy exam gives Stoker a chance to act on his impulses.
 
"I had to accept that part of him because it drives his actions," Burke said. "Every one of his victims in the film is killed for specific reasons and many of them are personal. Unlike the other characters I saw the final exam as Stoker’s opportunity to do what he always wanted to. The violence I had to depict playing Stoker was enjoyable for him. Adding humor to his violence changed him from being merely vindictive to someone who takes pride in his work."
 
For Stoker, the violence can be fun, but he also uses the exam to end some rivalries. At one point he even battles one person that he brings to the point of death and revives, just to prolong the torture of battle.
 
"When he fights Hewitt, played by Trent Frostad, at the beginning he has many opportunities to shorten the battle but he chooses not to. The fact that Stoker wants to prolong the experience, even revive Hewitt made Stoker’s need for absolute power a reality to me," Burke said. "I even found patronizing humor in reminding Hewitt how Stoker felt about him while playing that scene. Whereas his rivalry with Laughlin, played by Travis Kruger, and with Fyfe, played by Neil Chase, his choices are more practical. These characters are direct threats and although he enjoys the action of fighting his rivals he is focused on trying to win the fights." 
 
The story of, "The Academy" came from director Ken Barr and Burke's friendship, when they were watching a film together.
 
"By accident the spark for 'The Academy' kicked off when we were watching 'Azumi (2003)' and Ken was fascinated by the opening premise; friends forced to kill eachother in order to survive," Burke said. "When I finally went home to sleep he apparently stayed up and wrote almost all of the pilot in one night. I remember talking to him the day after and he said, 'We are doing The Acadamy. And I need you to be in it.'"
 
But Burke was gearing up to move to Los Angeles. They had three weeks to get the project started. It was insane, but Barr still wanted Burke.
 
“There is no one else that can do Stoker. I need you Brother," Barr told Burke who eventually took on the role as well as become an associate producer and stunt coordinator.
 
Burke not only had to juggle different production duties, but also juggle creating a compelling character.
 
"Stoker racks up a heavy body count in this film and with that I had a challenge keeping him human," Burke said. "Unlike a traditional sociopath I wanted to find moments where he had humor or empathy even though Stoker had little regard for society in general."
 
Fortunately the pysical aspects of playing Stoker were already in Burke's background. He had already been practicing martial arts since he was 8 years old. He trained with his brother and stunt coordinator, Andrew Burke.
 
Later, Ryan Burke got involved in the programs, Cougars Boxing Club and Wind Warrior Boxing Club.
 
"From that point on I was dabbling in Muay Thai, Jujitsu, Greco and Judo,"Burke said.
 
Burke also was a perfect choice for an action movie, having been shooting guns most of his life. He competed in a biathlon with his father when he was 6 years old.
 
"Although I quit the sport in my teens I kept up shooting with a group of friends at local ranges and even did courses with Northern Security Training Solutions," Burke said. "Much great of the firearms handling you see in this film are credited to Andrew Burke for his three day training camp at the beginning of production. Andrew Burke’s skills translated into many of the performances you see in the film."
 
While Burke had the training to bring Stoker to life, it was his background in acting that helped him devlop Stoker's character. He first discovered acting through his mother, who taught high school at Old Scona Academic. As one of her students he took drama and theator before getting hooked on acting.
 
His training helped develop Stoker for, "The Academy" and create a fresh character. And while some audiences may not care for his character, he finds some redeemable aspects about Stoker.
 
"His positive attitude and sense of humor are unshakeable," Burke said. "I do not think Stoker is comedic but having fun while he does the unthinkable is redeeming. Even though Stoker has an ego he is not beyond making fun of himself especially when he cathartically tells his classmates he was trapped by his own impulses at the beginning of act three."
 
And though his character is violent, Stoker does have a sense of order.
 
"I personally loved interacting with minor characters to show on a social level that Stoker is generally very nice until his buttons are pushed," Burke said. "On the city streets Stoker has no desire to harm anyone and when interacting with a receptionist at the Academy building he is very polite until he is met with rude dismissal."
 
For Burke, Stoker and all of the characters in, "The Academy" added up to a movie that is starting to generate a cult following, and something for Burke to build his career on.
 
"At the Action on Film Festival this year, when the third act of the film kstarted the multi-layered battle I loved hearing the audience get swept into the action. It was dead quiet and the audience was still," Burke said. "At first I was nervous but when I heard them laugh at Stoker and Fyfe’s jibes I knew the film had them.  I hear mixed reactions about Stoker. He is judged to be loved or hated depending on the individual. I think it is a compliment when a character can have such a dramatic impact."
 
Burke also talked to Modern Film Fest about creating great fight sequences, developing a background for Stoker and the challenges of filming a tight shooting schedule. 
 
MFF: Did you develop a background on Stoker in order to portray him? And how did that help you as an actor?
BURKE: "Ken (Barr) told me Stoker was treated as a slave by his family. In social isolation Stoker garnered strength and intelligence until he reached a breaking point with his family."
 
"Although the film understates the gravity of his crime it clearly states in his wrap sheet that he killed his parents, his sister and then engaged in cannibalism. The ritualized murder of his family is a defining moment in his life because he realized that he could recapitulate the same feeling of powerlessness on others." 
 
"I have to connect with Stoker’s judgments and the circumstances of his life to give him life. Working with Ken to define his past rooted me in the film and I think it translates onto the screen even if the audience does not know the details."
 
MFF: There is a great sequence where you literally crash through a wall and tackle one of the participants in the exam. How difficult was it to shoot that sequence and did you even have the ability to re-shoot it if anything went wrong? And how painful was it crashing through that wall at full speed?
BURKE: Wall smashing was surprisingly easy! We did some tests with Drywall, foam and concluded that it could be done with either material safely. The Technical issue was predicting where the other actor was on the other side of the wall. We had two takes for all of the wall breaks and we got great footage on all of them. 
 
MFF: One of my favorite sequences in when you square off against the guards in the junkyard, Can you elaborate on that and what were the challenges of shooting that sequence?
BURKE: "The junkyard scene is the best exploration of character and action I have done yet. Vic Hoon, Dan Brodribb, Graham Brennan and Bruce Sawchuk were amazing. They took direction and told an important part of 'The Academy' story."
 
"The primary challenge we had for this sequence was trying to get enough guards for what we needed. Once we had enough people we could choreograph the sequence of events and add visual effects in post.  I was lucky enough to have my friend Travis Kruger onset that day to give additional technical direction. Travis Kruger, who played Laughlin, is an amazing friend to work with and although we are adversaries in the film we are like brothers in real life."
 
MFF: What advice do you have for directors to get the most out of their actors?
BURKE: "The best directors I ever work with are directors who have done some form of acting themselves. Every time I work with a director who has some of this background the language in direction becomes very specific and trusting. Aside from the millions of other issues directors have to do they should know how to talk to their actors."
 
MFF: What advice do you have for actors to give their best performance to directors?
BURKE: "Listen to your director and develop a professional dialogue with them. Start watching playback and dailies with the director if you can. I think acting is a sport and it should be handled like one. You need to see what your work looks like in order to improve it. Internal character work happens before you get onset but what matters is what reads onscreen. Listen to your director to get your work perfect. "
 
MFF:How would you describe your actor/director relationship?
BURKE: "I describe my director relationship as professional and constructive. Kenneth Barr was a good director and experienced at getting what he needed from his talent. On or offset we had a consistent dialogue about our work. To this day I still check my phone for messages from Ken regarding any of our shots from the film."
 
MFF: What projects are you currently developing?
BURKE: "My wife and I are planning to start up our own production company. Our first year of production will be new media oriented with one or two shorts to hit both you tube and festivals on the west coast."
 
MFF:  What were some of the more intense stunts you had to do?
BURKE: "In the opening fight sequence there was a massive suplex I put Trent Frostad in. We did about 15 takes to get the shot and each time I threw Trent I was worried that the boxes would not cushion his fall. In the end there were never any injuries during this stunt and it looked great."
 
MFF: There is a major fight sequence with you and Fyfe in the movie. What was it like filming that sequence?
BURKE: "If I was not with the best guys on the planet: Christian Garon, Neil Chase and Kenneth Barr I would have reconsidered the shoot entirely." 
 
"Shooting action takes forever and we decided, out of necessity, to film the entire battle in one day. I was in school in Los Angeles ... while I was flying on my weekends to complete, 'The Academy.'"
 
"Time was not on our side! To cut down on the production time I choreographed the Stoker/Fyfe battle in Los Angeles with Micah Watterson, a good friend and fellow fight specialist. We filmed the phrases for the fight in a studio and emailed them to Ken and Neil. It helped a lot because Ken could plan his shots around what he saw and Neil could apply much of his new sword training to what I included." 
 
"When we started filming Christian and Ken had already put in a full day of work with other actors and I was running on empty from school, but much to my chagrin, Neil was on point with his choreography! It is worth mentioning that prior to this production Neil had never wielded a Katana but onscreen it looks like he’s been at it for years."
 
"Working with Neil was a breeze.  And so we started what we thought would be a regular night. When we reached the end of the first phrase of the fight at 10 p.m. we knew we were in trouble because we had seven phrases left. After scraping through two more it was 3 in the morning and we were exhausted… we decided to shorten the battle."
 
"It was physically impossible to include everything because like acting, action requires muscles and those muscles get tired after the fifth take.  I noticed in a previous interview that Neil told you about the ‘computer monitor of death.’ Neil tried to slice the monitor and it made the Katana he was holding explode into two pieces, one of which recoiled to injure him."
 
"Following that, I was thrown by Neil into it by accident and my forearm caught the edge of the screen. Somehow the corner managed to impale my forearm between my Brachioradialis and my extensors with surgical accuracy. I had fire run through my entire nervous system and I felt like crying like a baby, but I stayed in the scene and Ken included the take in the final cut." 
 
"At the end of the evening we had great physicality. You could believe that these characters had been fighting all day because we, as actors, had been fighting constantly for 36 hours. This unintended method acting added dimension and our fatigue only worked to our advantage.  Neil! Thank you for being the best sport a stunt coordinator could ever have. You Rock Dude!"
 
 
MFF: What were the challenges of making this movie?
BURKE: "Time, locations and funding were our biggest challenges. My experience has taught me that any one of these three challenges can demolish a production."
 
"Kenneth Barr was stubborn enough to never give in when everything looked bleak.  We quickly found out that production was going to take much longer than originally planned. Between the weather, shuffling outdoor locations, construction crew prices and my U.S. education it was a juggling act to keep the momentum constant."
 
"There were times where we would film for an entire weekend, I’d fly back to LA, and Kenneth Barr, Christian Garon and Sindy Lau would do construction during the week. We would then repeat the same routine the following week.  This routine was the best we could do considering our circumstances although it eventually put us past our original projections in time and budget."
 
"The Academy was a proving ground for the size of production we all dreamed of doing. Kenneth Barr and the idiom family succeeded in confronting these challenges and produced a rock solid product."
 
MFF: How did you grow as an actor from this production?
BURKE: "I grew in commitment. 'The Academy' demanded more than what the regular acting gig would ever ask of you. Kenneth Barr’s detailed direction helped me to see Stoker as someone real and the universe where the exam took place as a possible reality. Very few films ever consume my imagination like, 'The Academy' did." 
 
MFF: What would you like readers to know about the filming on, "The Academy" and how you remember your time on set?
BURKE: "'The Academy,' is an indie full of collaborative influences and a proving ground for many fresh ideas. With an unusually long production time the Idiom Inc. family grew into a permanent extended branch of everyone's lives."
 
"Kenneth Barr was the nucleus that all of us frenzied artists orbited. For me to call him a force of nature is an understatement. I cannot understand even to this day how he managed to produce, do pre-production, principal photography, post-production, sound editing, visual effects, digital effects, festival promotion. He devoted his craft to the talent he worked with using his films to cultivate a new creative crop."