INTERVIEW: Alexander Nevsky is ready for his ‘Showdown in Manila’
Made in the same spirit as The Expendables, the new movie Showdown in Manila follows two detectives on the hunt for an international terrorist called The Wrath in the jungles outside Manila, Philippines. The action-packed thriller stars Alexander Nevsky and Casper Van Dien as the two detectives, in addition to Mark Dacascos, Tia Carrere, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Matthias Hues and Maria Bravikova.
The film, directed by Dacascos, is now in theaters and available on video on demand and digital HD.
Nevsky, the Russian actor and former bodybuilder who has starred in Black Rose and the upcoming Maximum Impact, is responsible for the story behind Showdown in Manila, and he was greatly influenced by The Expendables franchise starring Sylvester Stallone and many other action stars.
“To be honest with you, I’m a huge fan of The Expendables franchise,” Nevsky said in a recent phone interview. “Sly always was an inspiration for me. … I loved Rocky, especially the first Rocky. I think it’s one of the greatest movies about sports ever made, so Expendables, the franchise, was a huge inspiration. But I think there were so many people who I personally wanted to see in The Expendables and didn’t see them. That was kind of a little upsetting, so my idea was to get everyone together who was supposed to be in The Expendables that didn’t make it.”
Nevsky said shooting Showdown in Manila was difficult, especially for first-time director Dacascos, an actor best known for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hawaii Five-0 and Iron Chef America. Nevsky knows some of those directorial challenges himself because he served as a first-time director on Black Rose.
“On Black Rose, I was a director, and it was my directorial debut,” he said. “Showdown in Manila, first of all, it was really tough for Mark Dacascos, who was making his directorial debut. He did a great job. … We didn’t have three months for rehearsing and preproduction. We didn’t have it. We shot it really in Manila, in the jungles outside of Manila. It was tough. It wasn’t easy, but first of all it was tough for him. He did a great job, and we all supported him. And he supported us.”
Nevsky said there were 20-hour shooting schedules and a lot of action sequences to contend with, but the experience, his first time in Asia, was a fun one.
“I loved it,” he said of the Philippines. “I like it when it’s tough. This first experience in Asia, it was pleasant. It was pleasant. Again, it wasn’t easy, but it was pleasant. It’s an independent movie. The only thing I think, which is tough, there’s not much time for pre-production. … We had to do everything fast, and because we had to do everything fast, that’s tough.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Showdown in Manila is now playing in movie theaters and available on VOD and digital HD. Click here for more information.
