We recently had the chance to catch up with martial artist and stuntman Ian Lang (Ninja Kidz TV). While chatting, focus shifted to the recent Batman fight in the Season 3 premiere episode of the Youtube show he creates and stars in, the Red Hood Fan Series.
During our conversation, we learned about the stuntman who played Batman in the new season and the choreography that went into the fight scene. Also, we touched on the parallels between the fight and the warehouse sequence in DC's Batman vs. Superman.
Ian told us a lot about the movie versions of the first two seasons and the plans on relating something similar for season 3. We also got the opportunity to find out what DC and Warner Bros make of the series, which we will be sharing later this week!
To listen to our chat with Ian Lang, click the podcast player below. We also included our previous chat with Ian and the other stars of the series along with the transcript.
4m 52s Literary Joe: I saw a movie version for season two where everything was put together. Is that something you're going to do with season three? Even though there's a different amount of episodes and things are spaced out differently...
5m 5s Ian Lang: Absolutely. The hope for season three is we'll have another feature-length release. So you can watch the Trilogy all together. I like releasing things. There will be some recaps of the previous seasons coming to catch everybody back up to speed. These first couples are prequel episodes that are character building for Red Hood. They aren't standalone, they fit in the season, but they're a little bit more standalone than getting into the main story. They are the warmup for the seasons' story. We'll see some recaps, and we will see some things that happened between season two and season three that we haven't quite seen yet. When it's all put together, then you'll see it all, and it'll make sense.
6m 34s Literary Joe: I know you play Red Hood, but who plays Batman?
6m 41s Ian Lang: Batman is one of our stunt coordinators, Corvette McAllister, and the voice is done by Mark Robarts, who played Death Stroke last season in episode two of season two. He has a great presence, and his voice is awesome for Batman. The original intention was to have him play Batman, but he lives in Florida, and we live in Utah. We were lucky enough to have a fantastic stunt man that has an awesome bat-suit. He's able to play Batman, and we can do the voice, and still have Mark play it, and do stunts. It's the best we've got, and it's pretty good.
7m 47s Literary Joe: How many takes did you do for the Batman vs. Red Hood scene in the first episode?
7m 59s Ian Lang: Corbett McCallister and Devin Davenport are our two stunt coordinators. They are professional stunt guys, sag stunt guys. They had choreographed the fight a month or two beforehand, and they had practiced it quite a bit. Then, they taught it to me, and we shot that scene for maybe five or six hours, which is pretty fast for what we got. The fight turned out pretty cool. It's funny because we practiced it quite a bit, and it looked nice, and some cool stunt moves in it. And then, as soon as I put the helmet on, it shifted around as I was moving and spinning. I can't do all these things that I want to do. We had to amend some of the choreography. It was a long night shooting that.
21m 36s Comic Brooks: Regarding cinematography and the fight scenes, I saw you were credited as one of the cinematographers for it. I noticed in the Batman fight that the way the camera moves along with the fight choreography, it was reminiscent of the warehouse scene in Batman versus Superman. Was that the goal or something that you wanted to pay homage to?
22m 10s Ian Lang: That warehouse fight is super awesome, and Corbett produced that whole scene. He played Batman, directed it, and then Todd, our fantastic action cinematographer, shot the entire thing. That was the whole CBR stunt team. If you are steeped in Marvel lore, you might recognize Chris Pratt's current stuntman and Chris Hemsworths' current stuntman. Some of those guys are in there.
22m 44s Ian Lang: We got some A-list stunt guys in there, and it shows. That Batman fight is so awesome. CBR did an incredible job producing it. To me, as soon as I saw the behind the scenes, it was the coolest thing. I don't care where it goes. This episode was written around that scene. It's Batman hunting Red Hood. He finds him, they fight in the garage, and then it's the implication of Jason's final battle with Batman at that time. It's cool that we could get something so extraordinary out of that scene. It fits in the season so well.
*This interview has been edited for clarity. Comic Brooks co-hosts audio.*
Is this the end of the Red Hood?! Season 3 for Red Hood Fan Series! following the events of seasons 1 and 2, Jason Todd (Ian Lang) finds himself questioning his superhero roots and yearning to put The Batman and Robin days behind him. Being pulled back into the fray by his younger brother Damian Wayne (Son of Bruce Wayne - Ashton Myler) and current Robin, they must solve the mystery of The Court of Owls, and find their former partner and brother Richard Grayson (Nightwing) who is rumored to have become the new Talon. Little do they know, that a much more nefarious evil looms over Gotham City, the unstoppable force of Bane. Can they defeat one of the strongest villains of The Batman? Or will they need the Justice League on their side!?
Season 3 of the Red Hood Fan Series recently launched the first episode, with a new episode scheduled to release this month. Catch up on previous episodes here.