Revenge Of The Desperate: Behind the scenes.
Red X17: Hello there everybody! Immaninja41 and I have been talking to each other for a long time, since Jun 19,2012! In that time, we've sent each other over 4,291 pm's! After a few weeks of talking together, I through her an idea about a character, and after a lot of debate and discussion, jay talon was born! It took a long time for Imaninja41 to get the story were she felt it would be right for Jay to come in, so over that time I threw her ideas and helped her out a little, but it wasn't until Revenge of the Desperate that I really started to make any impact on the DR series. I've helped her with a couple chapter's (mainly ones about Jay or Ann) and she's helped me develop as a writer.
And after a lot of groveling and begging, she's agreed to work on a little one-shot type project to celebrate our time together.
Imaninja41: Damn, have I really been talking to you for almost two years? I was about fifteen back then, huh? Must have been such an idiot. I have no idea how I ever managed to get so many reviews. Well, me and RedX17 tend to bond over comics, martial arts, and just about every topic there is to talk about. You know those three things you're not supposed to talk about in public? Religion, politics, and sports. We've talked about all of them, and we still like each other enough not to kill each other over our opinions.
So we were actually supposed to do this when we hit 2000 messages, but I got… lazy, and I was in the heat of writing Revenge of the Desperate, and Next Generation Avengers, so I said I couldn't at the moment. I believe we've actually written over 5000 now, so better late than never right?
Behind the scenes with the characters:
Justin: Uh, hi everybody! Today the writers are allowing the cast to answer some questions about how the series got started, with some reporter from STAR Magazine.
Reporter: How were you approached about the role of Justin Todd?
Justin: Well, the producers came up with the idea to do a series around the Batman family, except they wanted to give it a twist. Not much had really been done with Jason Todd outside the comic books at the time, so the producers found a director that wanted to do a series revolving around Jason Todd finding a woman who loves him, Kimberly Mathilda. It was a short series, and it turned into a spinoff of Jason's daughter, Justin, then Jason becomes more or less a side character.
So they found me taking kickboxing lesson's at my dad's dojo, and they ask me to be Justin. It goes without saying I flipped, since my whole family are big batman fans. Most of the time in training, I used to picture me dad as Batman, and I'd pretend I was Jason Todd. I knew I wasn't obedient enough to be any other Robin, and it helped me take my training more seriously to think an entire city was depending on me. But what I love most about the series is that Kim and Jason and Kenya are my real family!
Reporter: Is it difficult to work with your family on something like this?
Jason: Yeah, somehow the producers got it into their heads to let a family of martial artists play in a 10 million dollar TV series. I think the whole things pretty cool, the family working together, but it can be frustrating at times, working with your teenage daughter. Justin and I have always been close, but unlike in the series, it's Kim she's closest to.
Reporter: What did you have to go through to get these roles?
Kim: When they first approached us to do this, we all had to take like a three month acting course, but my husband and I had to work on the Blue Jay mini-series, so our lessons were at double speed. Since my husband and I were already in our mid-thirties, the company decided to make Blue Jay using CGI. We still did the voices and motion capture, and we understood that it wouldn't have worked out with us playing teenagers and young adults. We aren't uncomfortable with getting older, and I still feel the company made the right choice. Besides, after Blue Jay, I'm mostly on the side lines now.
Reporter: Do you like working on the DR set?
Kenya: Yeah, it's my favorite thing to do! My mom and dad adopted me when I was three, so the people who write the scripts added that in. I haven't gotten to fight yet, but the writers are talking about me doing more action scenes as I get older. Justy promised to teach me some moves, and Daddy's always wanted to teach me to fight anyways. The main writer, AJ, she's talking about me having my own team of super heroes when I get older, with a couple other little kids, like Kyler's younger siblings, and Alyssa, maybe more kids as the series keeps going.
Reporter: How were you two chosen for the role of Ann?
Ann: In the second season of Desperate Revenge, the producers decided they wanted to add two new characters to the universe for their new series Revenge of the Desperate. Ann, Kim's clone, is my character. I went over to my cousin's house for dinner one night with my boyfriend Jay and the producers saw how similar we all looked, our parts were decided on the spot. I'd never done much martial arts, so the stunt crew have to help when my gymnastics and dancing skills just don't cut it. I'll be getting more action farther into the series, but at the moment I've been focusing on getting in shape.
All the actors have to go through what we've nick named the "Batman Boot camp" it's several weeks of overall fitness and conditioning workouts, along with training in the skills we would need on set. At first we needed to get up to speed with fighting ability, gymnastics, and body coordination, I quickly learned that maximum fitness demands variety—challenging, changing workouts—plus a small arsenal of equipment. The entire cast has do circuits, throw medicine balls, hoist sledgehammers, flip tires. Sometimes we do a downward progression, taking a circuit of exercises and doing 10 reps of each, down to 9, then 8, all the way to 1, and then finishing the final round with 10 reps of each. And that's just so we can look the part, it gets more intense preparing to do some of the crazy kung fu shit on screen.
Jay: Ann and I had been dating for about a year before we got offered the chance to work on the show, and we've gotten a he'll of a lot closer since. I've been studying Wing Chun for 7 years, and Tricking for 2, but that damn boot camp nearly kicked my ass! And it was even harder for Ann, since she's never done much stage combat. I'd been a stuntman for about 6 months before I got the offer to do the show, so I had a little more experience coming in acting then some of the other cast members did. I can't really tell you much, but I can say that we've all been working harder than usual, and I'm going to be getting some more action soon.
Reporter: How did you take the transfer from Jason Todd's Daughter to DR?
Justin: After my original series, Jason Todd's Daughter came around, they immediately started working on Desperate Revenge, but it wasn't exactly planned, it was a big surprise. I thought my series was just gonna end, ya know? The entire reason you have a team with me, Conan, Kyler, and Snow is because originally, there were three entirely different series, all written by one writer. She got overwhelmed writing three different things, so she took her three main characters, added a fourth, and DR was born. It was my first time acting with other kids my age, and I had a blast with it! What's cool is that Kyler and I are best friends on the show, and in real life too. Conan and Snow are best friends, Raphael is tight with Tripp, Micheal, and Gabriel, Mary and Valiant are nearly sisters. Weird combo, right?
Reporter: How did you get started with DR?
Kyler: My first professional appearance on camera was the movie, called Kyler, The Second Speedy. I wasn't approached about it, I went to auditions all the time, and I hit a lucky break with Speedy. It was a very physically demanding role, and one of the darkest things I've ever had to do. It was difficult to say the least, because unlike Justin, Kyler didn't have a whole TV series backing up her character. It was one movie, hit or miss. It hit, and it hit hard. I can't even get on the internet anymore without seeing a Kyler Meme.
Reporter: What's your favorite Meme?
Kyler: Uh, you know how in my movie Desperate Revenge: Kyler, I had that one line, "Cheshire, I've been told a lot of horror stories about you over the years. How I'm not supposed to talk to you, how I should be afraid of you, but you know what? You're an idiot, and you underestimated me."? Someone made a meme about it, and it can be pretty funny sometimes. I read one, it said "Chocolate, I've been told a lot of horror stories about you over the years. How I'm not supposed to eat to you, how I should be afraid of you, but you know what? You make me fat, but you understand me."
Reporter: A lot of fuss has been made about the chemistry between Speedy and Black Hood as 'Frenemies'. Does that chemistry just come naturally?
Kyler: Oh hell no. We worked our asses off at that. We tried so many different attitudes towards each other, and the one we use now isn't Frenemies, we're each others best friends. There's no enemy part at all between us. What we do, is sometimes we ground each other down, if our character feels the other is getting to big of an ego.
Reporter: Can you give any spoilers about what's coming next for ROTD?
Kyler: I'd get fired if I said to much, but let's just say big changes are coming, emotional pimp slap after emotional pimp slap. Keep a box of tissues near the TV, you'll be needing them.
Reporter: It's been mentioned several times that Kyler might make a better leader of DR than Justin, what do you think of that?
Kyler: I don't think that's true. I think Justin and Kyler would both make equally good leaders. The problem is, Kyler isn't interested in being a leader. Justin has a huge alpha dog complex, that drives her so hard, in her mind, she has to be leader, there's no other alternative. She's either the best, or she's nothing. Kyler is more of a detective, she likes going off an being independent, doing her own thing most of the time, and checking into DR with her percentages, occasionally working with her teammates. For Justin, that team is her life. It's why she gets up in the morning. She loves being leader, calling the shots, in her mind, it's less of a team, and more of an army.
Reporter: Now that Justin has settled into a romance with Tripp, so you think anything romantic will be in Kyler's near future?
Kyler: No comment.
Reporter: How did you get the role of Conan?
Conan: I went to the auditions, and they just picked me immediately. They didn't even interview anyone else. I just fit the role so perfectly I guess. I had my short series The Clone of a Clone, and I had a blast portraying someone who… just wasn't always quite there, ya know? She was always kind of spacing out, just taking things as they came at her, never really reacting much. People accused me of terrible acting, but that's how the writers wanted me to act, because I hadn't developed much of a personality yet, I was still pretty new to the world.
Reporter: How do you like working on DR?
Conan: Well, my character has come a long way since Clone of a Clone, and I love showing all the little milestones along the way. Her progress in the Boom Tube story arc was amazing, and I loved her freak out scene in the holding cell. She's pretty much all stable now, complete personality, there's not much more development left to do.
Reporter: How did you get the role of Snow?
Snow: I was good friends with Conan and she called me one day, said that the writers needed an albino for a major role in DR. I was immediately down there for the audition. When the writers found out that I was friends with Conan, they pretty much just gave me the part.
Reporter: Are there any challenges to playing Snow?
Snow: Yeah, she's from the dark ages, King Arthur, Camelot, and all that stuff, so I've always got to keep in mind that Snow is still pretty new to modern things I try to take time to marvel every now and then when I'm on set and the cameras rolling. I try to look like I'm uncomfortable being close to technology, but I'm trying to tough it out, ya know? It's like ripping off a Band-Aid.
Reporter: How did you three manage to come by these roles?
Mary: I've done some acting in a few B-rated movies in the past, and I stumbled across this audition. I never really watched the series before that, but I saw this Mary character, and I was like: that's my role. No one else can have it, that's mine, and I'm taking it.
Micheal: I LOVED Blue Jay, and Jason Todd's daughter. I had the biggest crush on Kim, ya know, back when she was sixteen. When I heard they were looking for a guy whose description I could fit, I didn't even hesitate to audition. It took a few tires, but in the end, they picked me.
Gabriel: I wasn't a diehard fan of the series like Micheal, but I had seen it a few times. I really only got into the series when they promised that DR was going to be less lighthearted family stuff, and more ass kicking kung fu madness. I auditioned right away. I was in peak physical condition, so I was the obvious pick over the others who wanted Gabriel.
Reporter: What would you say is unique about your characters, that sets them apart from the rest of DR?
Mary: We're black?
Micheal: Oh my God! Mary, you can't say that in a professional interview!
Mary: Well, we are.
Gabriel: I'd say what makes us different, is that we were a team before we can to DR. We're part of DR, but instead of being part of the team, we're more of a… team within a team?
Reporter: So, we've heard that there's going to be some really action packed things going in on ROTD next season. Any chance of us getting a sneak peak?
Imaninja41: Absolutely. RedX17, hit the lights.
RedX17: You got it.
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