ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Obliterated stunt coordinator Marcus Young and military advisor Kevin Kent about the Netflix action comedy series. The duo discussed the dangers that come with a large cast and the series‘ realism. Obliterated debuts on Netflix on Thursday, November 30.
“Obliterated is a high-octane action-comedy that tells the story of an elite special forces team who thwarts a deadly threat to Las Vegas,” reads the series‘ official synopsis. “After their celebratory party, filled with booze, drugs, and sex, the team discovers that the bomb they deactivated was a fake. The now intoxicated team has to fight through their impairments, overcome their personal issues, find the real bomb, and save the world.”
Tyler Treese: Marcus, this has such an ensemble cast. I was curious if it’s more challenging when you have so many different people partaking in stunts and doing action scenes compared to a feature that maybe just has one person primarily doing the action.
Marcus Young: Sure. I mean, the more that you add and the more action that you add, the higher stakes go. And everyone’s about pushing the envelope nowadays — especially with this series. So yeah, the danger factor rises and we either need to put higher safety standards on our side with more people watching after the talent than necessarily if it was just one person doing the action and against other stunt performers.
That makes sense. Kevin, you’re the military advisor, and though this show is very over-the-top, are there any aspects that would surprise people in terms of realism? What was your input there?
Kevin Kent: No, I mean, I think all the cast members came on board expecting a certain level of professionalism, a certain level of learning their character’s expertise. Maya [Kimi Rutledge] is a tech wizard, and [Thomas] Howell’s character is a sniper. All those cast members brought their A-game in terms of learning where they’re going to make their character strengths better and stuff like that.
Marcus, the action looks incredible. Can you speak to the philosophy behind those scenes and the stunt work?
Marcus Young: I guess the answer to that question … the philosophy behind it would have to be the script. I mean, that’s our blueprint that we work off of. Then, making sure that the actors are comfortable with the sequence or what they’re doing and that it fits their character. Checking with our directors, like, “Are we in the vein of the show and their characters? “And then put a little bit of my spice on it, you know?
I think being able to work through those things makes a film production special. I think every department head goes through that same process, and that’s why I think we have a collaborative effort of artists that come together to make something special.
Kevin, Las Vegas is such a character in this movie and there are so many iconic areas, but I assume it was also pretty challenging to film. What stood out most about working within the city?
Kevin Kent: There’s no real bad shots in Vegas. There is such great production value here with the iconic town or city. I think filming Fremont Street definitely added a lot to it. All the stuff right there, [like] Caesar’s Palace. But like I said, there’s no bad shots in Vegas. Just having the town here, it definitely made things somewhat challenging, but at the same time, it adds so much with the shots you get out of it.
