Pat Johnson (right) watches as Hilary Swank practices her blocking techniques on the set of The Next Karate Kid (1994).
	A natural athlete, Jason Scott Lee (right) quickly learned how to perform nearly all the martial arts moves needed for his scenes in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.
	Barbara Bernhardt (far left) and Christine Bannon-Rodrigues (center) join Hilary Swank in a rehearsal for The Next Karate Kid.
	Kickboxing legend Benny Urquidez (left, with Richard Norton and Chuck Norris) has put his ring experience to work on many films, including Patrick Swayze’s Road House (1989).
	Stars of The Matrix (1999): Laurence Fishburne (left), Keanu Reeves (center) and Carrie-Ann Moss (right).
	Richard Norton (right, with Jackie Chan) says the primary cinematic role of a martial artist is to make the star look good on camera.
	Stephen Quadros trained rap star DMX (left) for his role in Steven Seagal’s Exit Wounds (2000).
	Richard Norton has acted in numerous martial arts projects and choreographed the fights in many more, including The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1999).
	Tak Kubota (left) worked extensively with James Caan for his fight scenes in Killer Elite (1975).

Twenty or 30 years ago when a movie’s plot was going to revolve around a hero launching roundhouse kicks at a bad guy’s ugly mug or beating up a horde of drug dealers, a martial arts expert would be hired as the star. He might not have been Oscar material, but there was no doubt he could handle the punching and kicking with aplomb.

These days when a script calls for high-kicking action, a martial arts expert is hired to teach a star, usually an established actor, how to execute the needed techniques. Then, with the right camera angles and editing, Hollywood works its magic and transforms the star into a bona fide fighter.

Unfortunately, it is the star who receives credit for the final product while the martial artist often gets overlooked. Black Belt decided it was time to hear from some of those martial artists who make the stars look good. In this article, we speak with eight experts who mastermind the action behind the camera so audiences around the world can enjoy martial arts mayhem on the big screen.

CREDIBILITY COUNTS

Black Belt Hall of Fame member Pat Johnson has choreographed some of the most memorable fight scenes of the past two decades. He drew from his 39 years of tang soo do training to construct the battles in The Karate Kid, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mortal Kombat and Batman and Robin. His ability to create credible, exciting fight sequences and emotionally engage audiences with a character’s plight is the trademark of his craft, he says.

“Everything I do when I’m working with actors—and actresses especially is thought out because I have so little time to make them look like they’re supposed to,” Johnson says.

For example, in The Karate Kid Daniel was supposed to be a wimp, Mr. Miyagi was calm and relaxed, Kreese the sensei at the local dojo was tough and intimidating, and the teens that harassed Daniel looked like skilled black belts, Johnson explains. He used his training time to create the personality of each character and teach the actors the techniques they needed to know while nurturing the dynamics between them, he says. “I took Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita—who had never done anything—and I trained them together. I put them through a lot of pain, but they moaned and groaned together and they hurt together and they had their little triumphs together.

They developed a relationship because they shared so much.” Johnson’s approach with the tough teens was different. “I trained them like the most disciplined group you’ll ever see,” he says. “I chewed them out, and I made them stand at attention and do push-ups. When they screwed up, I’d say: ‘What are you doing? Don’t you know your right foot from your left?’ That’s what Kreese would have said, so I said it.”

Consequently, when Martin Cove, the actor who played Kreese, showed up on the set wearing a black belt, the kids automatically treated him with deference, Johnson says.

Despite his obvious success in movie making, Johnson insists merely teaching actors how to execute cool moves is not his ultimate goal. “I don’t train people just to train them,” he says. “I train them for their character, and I train them for the story.”

THE RIGHT ATTITUDE

The Next Karate Kid was similar to the first three installments of the series in that it told the tale of a teenager who comes of age and embarks on a journey of self-discovery through the martial arts. This time, however, the protagonist was a troubled girl played by Hilary Swank. Johnson once again choreographed the fight sequences, but he enlisted one of his pupils, Barbara Bernhardt, to teach Swank the moves she needed to know and to provide a female role model for the young actress.

“A man generally takes himself for granted in terms of his bravado and his attitude about being physical,” says Bernhardt, who is a sixth dan in tang soo do. “Not all females have that background, and sometimes you really need to nurture that [belief] to show them they are capable of defending themselves and being strong as an individual.”

Indeed, when Swank’s character faced her tormentors in the flick’s final fight, she relied on elusiveness and the element of surprise—not brawn—to defeat them.

The only specific advice Bernhardt gave the actress while preparing her for the role was to relax and focus on the moves. Swank’s self-discipline, willing- ness to learn and ability to concentrate made her an ideal pupil, and her natural athleticism and gymnastics background enabled her to do all her own stunts, Bernhardt says. “She was such a quick learner and so focused on doing what she did that there really were no obstacles to overcome. She put herself into the role completely, and she was very dedicated to doing the best she could.”

PERFORMING FOR THE CAMERA

Over the past three decades, gosokuryu karate founder Tak Kubota and longtime student Hank Hamilton have worked with dozens of celebrities, including pop star Rick Springfield, actress Nancy McKeon (Facts of Life, The Division) and action stars Charles Bronson (The Mechanic) and James Caan (Killer Elite). Kubota is the man studio executives call when they want to incorporate real karate into their plots.

Kubota is more than willing to choreograph scenes that correspond with what the director has envisioned, but often the needs of the film clash with the teachings of karate.

For example, the linear nature of the traditional front kick is somewhat less than exciting on film, so action directors encourage the use of circular techniques and exaggerated motion for maximum visual impact, Hamilton says. “You have to be able to teach the actors to perform so [the camera] can see it.” Then, if the cameraman gets in close and the actors make their techniques land, the finished product is more convincing. “They might get punched around a little bit, but it’s not that bad,” Hamilton says.

RECREATING BRUCE

Having trained with Bruce Lee for nearly three years made Jerry Poteet a logical choice to train Jason Scott Lee for his role in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Much of their time together on the set entailed going over Bruce Lee style basic moves and footwork, as well as hours during which Poteet’s wife Fran drilled the actor in the best methods for wielding the nunchaku. That did not present much of a challenge, Jerry Poteet says, because Jason Scott Lee was so naturally athletic that he ended up performing all his own martial arts scenes except front flips and back flips.

The jeet kune do instructor also reminisced about the legend’s martial arts philosophies to help the young star understand the essence of the man he was portraying. “I told him about Bruce’s attitudes and the integrity of the individual, and that Bruce was as good as his word,” Poteet recalls.

For example, Lee believed that many people who do martial arts just execute a kick or punch without becoming one with the technique, Poteet says. “He called it the difference between doing— where if you’re kicking, you’re just kicking—and being—where you are that kick. Once I got that across to Jason, he fit right into the role.”

A MATTER OF TRUST

Former kickboxing champion Benny “The Jet” Urquidez is also known for creating believable fights on-screen. Witness Road House, a 1989 feature film in which Patrick Swayze played a martial arts expert-turned-bouncer. In addition to teaching the actor the best cinematic martial moves, Urquidez strove to build trust between Swayze and himself.

“Once I got his trust, I could take him anywhere,” says the Southern California- based Black Belt Hall of Fame member. “The first week, I captured his mind. The second week, I captured his body. The third week, I captured his soul. From there, I could take him anywhere and do anything, and he would never question me. If I told him to jump from this building, he would do it because he trusted me enough to know I would not let him do anything he would hurt himself with. He would just say, ‘OK, sensei, let’s go!’ ” LEAVE YOUR EGO IN THE DRESSING ROOM According to goju-ryu karate expert Richard Norton, in any rehearsal or scene involving a martial artist and a star, it is important to remember who’s who. “Your job is not to show what you do best,” he says. “It’s about how you can get the actor to look his best. If he doesn’t feel comfortable with the techniques he’s doing, it will look awkward, and he’ll look very robotic.”

For example, when Norton learned that The New Adventures of Robin Hood star Matthew Porretta had studied gymnastics, he knew he’d found a starting point from which he could teach him fighting techniques. Similarly, when he choreographed American Ninja, he capitalized on star Michael Dudikoff ’s boxing experience.

“Once you find out what the star can do and what his strengths are, you have to gear everything around that,” Norton says. “If you don’t, you’ll have to get a [stunt] double for him.”

ALL THE RIGHT MOVES

Actors aren’t the only ones landing roles in martial arts films these days. In 2000, rap star DMX co-starred with aikido expert Steven Seagal in Exit Wounds. Former Black Belt columnist Stephen Quadros was brought on board to teach the musician some basic techniques and show him how to sell those moves on-screen.

“In some ways, my training with DMX was to get him to look ‘real,’ ” says Quadros, who now helms FightSport magazine. “I wanted him to look like a fighter. I tailored [the fighting] to him specifically because he obviously had to have a street vibe and be a street fighter. If he had been a yuppie, his fighting style, his attitude and his demeanor would have been different.”