If Tom Cruise ever found himself in mortal combat against the cast of Kill Bill, at least one expert would put his money on the smirking Scientologist: veteran stunt coordinator Nick Powell, who guided the star through seven months of fight training for The Last Samurai. In preparation for his role as a disillusioned Civil War hero employed by the emperor of Japan, Cruise had to endure strenuous regimens in sword fighting, kendo, jujitsu, and karate, and, according to his instructor, he passed with flying colors. “He’s a natural athlete, and I don’t say that lightly,” says Powell, 39, whose previous pupils have included Mel Gibson (for Braveheart) and Russell Crowe (for Gladiator). “[Cruise] was taking swords with him everywhere -- anywhere while he was doing publicity for Minority Report, even on weekends when he was going home to L.A.” When not working one-on-one with Cruise, Powell made sure his huge cast of extras avoided injury while battling across the film’s New Zealand locations. “The challenge is getting everything to look right in a safe way,” says Powell. “When you’ve got 600 people fighting in a field, you don’t want a guy tripping and landing on somebody's dagger or something."
Tripping The Blight Fantastic
After Mekhi Phifer won us over as a streetwise denizen of Detroit in ?8 Mile, we were shocked to learn that his new movie, Honey, a similarly rough-and-tumble tale of urban inspiration, was filmed in...Toronto. But the ER
star tells us not to be concerned about the film's credibility. "I
don't want to reveal everything," says Phifer, 29, "but you get to
delve into the housing projects a little bit, hustling drugs -- that's
all in the movie. It's not going to be cheesy." In the first feature
from video director Bille Woodruff (R. Kelly's "World's Greatest"),
Phifer plays the boyfriend of Honey Daniels (Dark Angel's
Jessica Alba), a hip-hop choreographer whose career is derailed when
she refuses to sleep with her mentor. "It's like a modern-day Fame,"
says Phifer, but don't look for his character to bust any moves on the
dance floor. "He owns a barbershop," the actor says. "He's the type of
guy who might do a couple of two-steps at the club."
