BJJ self-defense fight scene from a heroine film “Austin Strangler ” improvised, directed, co-starring and edited by me JR Rodriguez. I came up with the idea for this short film in 2002 to promote Brazilian Jiu Jitsu using a heroine to give the example against a serial killer set in a save little town like Austin Texas. This was pre- Ronda Rousey. I met Rachael Long while shooting a scene for my friend Lupe’s short film. She was open to the physical aspect of learning just enough BJJ for her role and she was excited by the challenge of shooting the whole fight scene all in one take and keeping it as realistic as possible. She was badass, because she only rehearsal 2 days within 2 weeks and no previous BJJ experience. After a couple of takes we nailed it all in one take. I have many years of training and teaching BJJ so I played the serial killer to make her look good. I came off real creepy in my role which disturbs still today. Didn’t like playing the killer, but we were committed to the method form of acting. My latest Channel Hit and Run Production.

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