I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know filmmaker Tom Botchii over the past few months and I though it was only fair that I shared this pleasure with the Cinapse readers. His new film, Relentless, is out now from Saban Films and its a perfect one for action fans. There’s a solid story in the background, truly a film that’s always focused on the action. Great fight choreography, great chase sequences, just a truly great time.
I reached out to Tom with a short email interview and here are his answers. Check out his thoughts and then go watch the film on your platform of choice. There are links to some of the primary platforms below, but you should be able to find it on virtually any VOD service.
Let’s start with you. Can you introduce yourself and how folks may know you?
My name is Tom Botchii and I hope you check out Relentless, a new action film just released by Saban Films. If you love action it has plenty of fist fights and gallons of blood, so give it a go.
This site covers all types of film, but a good few of us are big genre film nerds. Our fearless leader Ed is an action junkie – and I get the impression you are too. What are some of your all time fave action films and what draws you to them specifically?
Oh definitely Rapid Fire, Ong Bak, The Protector, The Road Warrior, The Chaser… there are so many. What I love about those films as they all have the ability to present great characters in a more physical way rather than because of the dialogue. Also, every one of them have multiple fight scenes and action moments that are very memorable and stick with you for years after watching them.
Relentless is a fantastic action film, with a strong emphasis on the action sequences. What are some of the films and projects that inspired you with this film other than the faves you already mentioned?
Some of my biggest inspiration came from loving the cat and mouse moments in thrillers and I just thought to myself, “Why can’t that just be the whole movie?!”
Besides being the director, you had a variety of roles in this film’s production. Notably, you were the fight choreographer. What prepared you for this and how do you feel about how it all turned out?
I loved being the fight choreographer. The truth is that was the whole reason that I got into films. I am really happy with the way that they all turned out. Especially the fight scene at the gas station. I was really proud to see how that one turned out. Next time out though, I’m definitely going to plan for way more brutality and chaos though. I want to keep pushing it further!
I’ve already told you this when you appeared on my podcast Curtain Jerkers, but I’m a huge fan of the action in this film. So I’d say that you were quite successful in the choreography and the direction. The primary actors and those around them really seemed to make your moves look so good. How did you handle the casting? And was was the experience like working with them?
Casting calls and filmmaking friendships is how I landed Jeffrey Decker and Shuhei Kinoshita. Loved working with them and hopefully we’ll all get to do it again someday.
As I keep saying, the action was what really stood out most for me, but it wouldn’t work without a strong story as a vehicle. You wrote this film. What inspired the story?
I guess you can say the Twitter sphere inspired this world and the story. There’s so much yelling into the void nowadays I thought that’d be interesting to wrap two characters on opposite sides of the spectrum around.
We’ve been working on setting up a podcast episode on my site as just a longer form chat about your film and you. Sadly, life has really gotten in the way on my end, which I apologize for. But I wanted to touch briefly on one of things I often like to explore over at The Farsighted – the intersection of faith and art. While entertainment can be the primary goal of many films, I am a strong believer that one’s spirituality, faith, and worldview always influence the art they put out. With that in mind and without getting to in depth or too intrusive, how would you describe your faith and spirituality? How do you think that influences your art – and, specifically, Relentless.
Ah man I don’t know. The universe works in mysterious ways though so anything that you’re probably focusing on at large you’ll eventually find all around you. It’s interesting to think about but I don’t really know.
Thanks for indulging me. I’ve always been very interested in how faith and art interact. And, for me, my faith is intertwined with my views on everything. One area that I’ve always been very top of mind for me throughout my life has been social justice. Having been a sociology major, I rarely am able to look at the world without thinking about social structures, social forces, and social justice issues. Your film has an element of class warfare, with a homeless man and a significantly more well to-do man as our primary characters. What inspired this and isn’t here something in this class conflict that you are hoping people take from the film?
I think that I just found that aspect added more depth to the characters and so I explored that. It was more so a great fit with those characters that felt organic and leaves you with some deep talking points after the credits roll. I just hope people are entertained. I’m more interested in hearing their thoughts on that aspect rather than my own.
Thanks again for indulging my nerdy interests and I am excited to watch the film again with your thoughts in mind. As we look to wrap today’s short chat. Besides Relentless, what do you think people should be watching these days – both recent releases and some old school watches that you’re hooked on lately?
New releases, anything truly independent. Classic watches, hey fire up The Neverending Story it’s still the greatest film ever made.
We’ll surely talk again soon, but I want to wrap today with a chance for you to share one final closing thought. What would you likely to say to the readers as we wrap.
Thank you for reading and check out Relentless tonight on iTunes, Amazon, Fandango and anywhere that you buy or rent movies. Then give me a hollar on social media and let me know what you thought!
