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For the Syfy Channel’s latest show on their supernatural roster, WWE’s SmackDown is making their epic entrance with the help of director Jose Gomez of Shilo. Leading the charge with The Undertaker, Big Show, Kane, Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio, these heavyweights are shaking the ring. Click through for some behind the scene shots of the shoot and my interview with Jose.
Sheina: Hey Jose, are you ready to ruuuuuummmbbble?!
Jose: What?! Oh. Right. Yes.
Sheina: So, you just wrapped up your latest project with Syfy for their new show WWE SmackDown. It seems like an odd pairing, wrestlers on a science-y channel. What did you think when they approached you?
Jose: For the most part the pairing surprised me too, but the more I thought about it I realize this could be a really good thing. I see Syfy as a premium network and what I really wanted to do with the creative was to elevate the production value to almost a cinematic level. Showing these wrestlers in a light where they haven’t been shown like this before. Everything you have seen these wrestlers in has been event based. We wanted to raise this in value and show them in that new respect and doing it in a way that could elevate the Syfy brand itself.
Sheina: Well, when I think of Syfy, I think of an audience that’s somewhat Trekkie like, but when you add in the element of WWE, the viewership seems like they’re interested in the supernatural human.
Jose: It’s very much like that, Syfy calls them “Superstars.” We focused on each of the characters, Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker, Kofi Kingston, Kane, and Big Show, all who have their own signature moves and characteristics that have a really big entertainment value. They’re almost superhuman. That’s what I really wanted to hype up, their strength and agility, and having that augmented with cool animation and post work that would give a little more of a personification of that power.
Sheina: When you had to concept for the project how did that go down? Did they just hand you a list of wrestlers and said “make it awesome”?
Jose: We looked at the history. When we got the talent we did a lot of research on each of their personalities, personas, and what their big moves are. We took a look at their abilities and based the creative off of it. The preparation, the drama, the intensity, the build up to that one big release or the attack created the climax. For the Undertaker, his maneuver is the “Tombstone Pile Driver.” So, what we did was come up with creative that turned the rig into a graveyard when he executed this. Tombstones and trees came up and out of the ground. There are a lot of different things that we honed in on and based our graphics around.
Sheina: Speaking of graphics, there’s some really great animation and VFX in the pieces. How do you feel about design and live action coexisting?
Jose: I think from a directorial perspective that’s something I really hold dear, because our (Shilo’s) roots are in animation and design. I also think at the end of the day, I want to tell really great stories and focus on really great characters. And the most exciting thing for me with this project was to work with great characters and have really interesting stories at the same time. David Lynch once said, that the most amazing thing about film is that you have the chance to mix imagery, sound, graphics, and editorial, and the only thing that was missing was the sense of smell. I think that combining graphics and live action is such a beautiful thing because it heightens the experience. It gives you a forum to tell a story in a shorter amount of time. Mixing the two mediums is a special art form.
Sheina: These guys have their go-to combat move and you as a director; did you give them specific direction to capture the right movements? Did you say, “Hey Kane, can you smash that guy’s head with your left hand instead of your right hand?”
Jose: When it came to it, I wasn’t really concerned with which hand to move here, there and do whatever. I wanted it to feel as authentic and natural as possible. I let them perform the way they would typically do it. I really wanted to capture the moves in a real sense and as well capture the tonality in the spot. Letting that intensity in their personality come through the direction. To be somewhat voyeuristic in a sense of capturing their movements, and that’s why we had two cameras on set. I had a hand held as a B-camera and the main A-camera. I let the hand held run around and capture moments from different angles and the A-camera was our preferred set up. I just wanted to capture a moment in time and the rest directed on a lot of emotion.
Sheina: Where did you do the shoot for these spots, it looks like a really interesting location?
Jose: Yeah, we shot it in Los Angeles in this abandoned milling factory. We scouted a bunch of different locations, but this one kind of rose to the top really quick because it’s has such an interesting backdrop and location to set up a ring. I wanted it to feel like these guys were going to battle off the grid. No rules or no crowds. This was not for show, a crowd, or for entertainment, this was just for them. That sense of underground and rebellion really came through in that location. It was a little rough at first, since it’s an abandon factory and there were so many dead rats and all sorts of dead animals. We ended up having a lot of clean up to get it to a place where it was workable, but that’s the kind of stuff you do when you find a really great location.
Sheina: What about getting into a ring with a man twice your size. What was that like?
Jose: Oh man, I think Big Show must have been seven foot something. I’m six two and he dwarfed me. And when he shook my hand it was like I had a pillow surrounding my whole hand, it just engulfed mine. It was a little intimidating at first, but those guys are true professionals and they are really good at what they do. At one point, I was having them do a lot to things that they weren’t used to doing or acting in a way that they’re not used. It was a little bit outside of his comfort zone, but I wanted to show them in a more dramatic and kind of filmic light. Wrestling can be conveyed in a lot of ways as being over the top, kind of for shock value in entertainment and taking things to the extreme. For this, I wanted to show a little bit more restraint and build the story in a way where you weren’t at constant insanity the whole time and build up to that kind of powerhouse.
Sheina: Looking at the spots, I really like that you got these close up shots of Rey and his masks and the other wrestler’s tattoo shots. I thought those gave a more humanized look at these characters.
Jose: That’s a really good word, I really wanted to humanize them. They are superstars and are made out to be superhuman, but I wanted to make them a little bit more down to earth and human than that. More real.
Sheina: In terms of the current times, these wrestlers are like modern day gladiators. I mean the Undertaker is still somewhat a really recognizable force.
Jose: They’re all very friendly and accommodating to what I needed from them, and that made my job a lot easier. I didn’t have to deal with egos or anything like that. Outside of that, when you’re in the middle and you’re in the thick of it, working a stressful 12 hour to14 hour day, you’re not really thinking about their fame and how big a name they are. You’re there and you’re working with them and time flies by. After the shoot is done you step back for a second and you look at this guy and he’s like 7 feet tall with tattoos and a crazy presence and it strikes you. You think, “Huh, I just shot a whole bunch of spots with the Undertaker, Kane, Kofi and the Big Show and that was a blast. It was fun.”
Sheina: Well, if for some crazy reason you were thrown in the ring and had to make the career change, what would be your wrestling persona and signature move?
Jose: If I ever enter the ring I would probably get snapped in half. My signature move would definitely be to run away in fear. I think I have to think about that a little more and maybe come up with something interesting and witty to say.
Sheina: You could just say you’re not really a fighter.
Jose: That’s true, I’m not really a fighter. I think I’d be the announcer guy.
Sheina: You mean like Michael Buffer, the “Lets get ready to rumble” guy?
Jose: Yeah something like that. I would be that guy. That would be funny.
