Friends Like Family – Spiro Razatos (Action Director, Fast and Furious franchise) Ep. 29

Fast and Furious action unit director Spiro Razatos shares rags to riches story and how seeing the movie Shaft at age 11 inspired him on his path to becoming a Hollywood Stuntman.

Apple Podcasts users full show notes here: https://languageofcreativity.podbean.com/e/spiro-razatos-friendslikefamily-fastandfurious-action

Spiro Razatos began his career as a stunt man and quickly worked his way into the Directors Guild of America just by asking. Somehow, on the spot producers gave him his very first sequence directing a car chase! Since then Razatos has 2nd Unit Directed major films such as Venom, Bad Boys II and Bad Boys For Life, films in The Fast and The Furious franchise (Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, Fate of the Furious, F9), and Captain America Winter Soldier, to name a few. From Denver, Colorado and the son of Greek immigrants, young Spiro began training himself to be a stuntman after a fateful day when his dad took him on a Greyhound to visit the zoo. His father, who was also blind had saved for six months for the trip, but they never made it to the zoo. Eleven year old Razatos saw the marquee for the movie Shaq and begged his father to take him to see it… that day. “I started crying and said I don't know, I just need to see it now.” He practiced jumping off of roofs (don’t try this at home) and crashing his own bicycles until he was finally able to get a Super Eight movie camera. He’d managed to get his home-made stunt reel onto the set of Heart to Heart, when legendary stunt coordinators Mike Vendrell and Greg Barnett finally called him and told him they would help him come to Hollywood.

In this episode we talk about the magic of visual storytelling, the importance of shooting practical stunts and how CG (computer generated elements) can totally ruin the believability of a sequence, why Spiro always hires his own editor (the one he’s had his whole career) spending hours at the end of every shooting day to present the sequence to the studio. We talk about his work/life balance and yearly trips to the “ashram” to detox. But most importantly Spiro highlights the importance of having a team of people you know and trust with your life. His stunt team, Team Malaka has been with him for over 30 years, oh yeah, and of course we talk about his favorite “team building activity” playing Call of Duty 2.

Guest: Spiro Razatos 

IMDB

On My Radar - Spiro Razatos
ShootOnline.com Bullitt Signs Director Spiro Razatos for branded content spots
CineMovie.tv F9 Car Stunt Coordinator says movie ran out of cars to crash

Host: Steven Leavitt

Site: https://www.icreatesound.com/
Portfolio: http://stevenleavitt.com/

Featured Music

“Haunting Me” by Testing Tomorrow

Episode References

Fast 5 Vault Sequence (YouTube)
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcom Gladwell (GoodReads)
Vantage Point (IMDB)

'Star Wars: Episode VII' Producer Talks Story, Characters, and Practical Effects vs. CGI (Interview: ScreenRant) correction: I said Deborah Winger it was actually Kathleen Kennedy

Shaft (IMDB)
Buzz Bundy (Memoriam JamesBond007.se)

Paul Walker death (The Guardian)
Wiz Khalifa - See You Again ft. Charlie Puth (Music Video - YouTube)
Stunt Coordinator (Wikipedia)
Squib hit (Wikipedia)

Ashram (Wikipedia)
Call of Duty 2 (Wikipedia)

Captain America Winter Soldier (IMDB)
The Russo Brothers (Wikipedia)
Fast Getaway (IMDB)
Midnight Run (IMDB)
The Goonies (IMDB)
The Goonies - ‘Slick Shoes’’ scene (YouTube)
Gainer (gymnastics) (Wikipedia)
Hook (IMDB)

 

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Tags

Fast & Furious, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Bad Boys for Life, Crash, Taurus World Stunt Awards, Justin Lin, second unit director, action unit, cannon rolls, visual effects, VFX, Man of Steel, Debra Winger, Star Wars, practical effects, video game industry, editing, film, first unit, making choices, what the audience feels, mastering, mixing, speed, driving, cars, 100mph, focal length, background, foreground, location, big break, DGA, Directors Guild of America, The Bourne Identity, Denver, Greyhound, Greg Barnett, Michael M. Vendrell, Super 8, Greek American, Buzz Bundy, The Fall Guy, The Dukes of Hazzard, Ronnie Rondell Jr., hiring your heroes, Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, luck, stunt coordinating, stunt coordinator, Robert Blake, taking a chance, long hours, work-life balance, prep, time off, Rome, dog parent, luxurious home, staycation, game-room, spa, travel, enjoy while you can, The Ashram, clean slate, Henry Kingi, Justin Sundquist, clarity of mind, lifestyle, stress, big budgets, expensive mistakes, producers, movie producers, Malaka Stunt Team, playbook, football, experience, the Subi, Subaru, The Bay Bomber, Michael Bay, Bad Boys II, custom camera cars, remote camera heads, camera operator, playground, Xbox, Call of Duty, Phil Culotta, Jon Escobar, caring, loving heart, capture the flag, strategy, people skills, tax write-offs, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel, email, be who you are, filmmaker, The Gray Man, 21 Bridges, Captain America: Civil War, Kong: Skull Island, fun, storytelling, Corey Haim, home theater, home renovation, Prada, Gucci, dog collars, Robert De Niro, Steven Spielberg, 20 takes, Prince, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson