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Peter R. in the movies

There is a German Japanese co-production about German prisoners of war in Japan during WWI. "Paradise of Bart" should be in theaters next June. As a lark I put my name in as an extra and I got a little more than I bargained for.

Tuesday I had my day of fame, fortune, babes and ....... well ok none of the above but I have my bit of screen time doing something other than sitting in seiza.

They had built a traditional (ie: 1916) dojo to exact detail. How does this differ from modern Judo dojos you may ask - well friend its all in the tatami or more to the point how thin you can get and still call it a mat. We are talking one maybe two centimeters on a non-sprung floor. You would think that a big movie production could fake it a little bit but noooooo they were going for authentic.

To make matters worse (for my poor butt) was that authentic extended into the randori ending in a throw - it had to look real. Even the rehersals had to look real although to my disgust the main actors seemed to be given easier throws. I was tossed about a dozen times. Practice and takes for the main throw and a second set of practice and takes for the point after I was thrown. These latter were only a tad more gentle then the actual throws as they wanted me in about the same position. Lines - I didn't have any although I am sure I could have screamed with a German accent if I wanted to.

Notes on the ukemi. Ok it stung a bit but mostly my hand where I slapped. I was quite surprised with how little pain my body was in at the end. My ankle was a bit bloodied but nothing serious and one elbow a little raw. The nage (a built like a brick shithouse Nidan with a cauliflower ear) ended up a bit raw from the way I grabbed his dogi so at least I had a bit of revenge. I will say that I got a bit proud of my ukemi but payback came the next day. My body hurt, and still does, like the devil. I ended up in a hot bath before Aikido class just to ease the pain and for the first time ever, turned down a request for some Judo randori by the Judo instructors at the Judo class before my group. We did discuss and try out the throws from the movie on those nice soft tatami (still not sprung).

Maybe he sees it different but there was a guy claming MMA and BJJ background that kept making comments about Aikido that stopped after the shooting. There were a whole series of extras whose sole job was to sit in seiza and watch. There were only 4 guys who were tossed and 2 doing the tossing. Of those all but myself were regulars on the set. After I got tossed the guy who was supposed to be next (in the movie) was a Grecco-Roman wrestler a few years back. I ended up preparing him so that he looked more like he knew what he was doing in the Judo context - mostly foot placement and posture.

So that was it. I spent the rest of the day wandering around in a leather jacket, shaved head and turtleneck sweater holding a cup of coffee (picture will be posted soon). I got "Damm you even look like a stuntman". Closest I got to adoration - you take what you can get.