DIMITRI LOGOTHETIS Director Interview — Jiu Jitsu

Dimitri Logothetis has written and directed in a wide range of genres, including action, thriller, horror, and sci-fi. His latest film, Jiu Jitsu, is about how Jiu Jitsu experts face an alien invader in the fight for Earth. According to the promoter, the film “aims to satisfy the millions of martial arts, comic, and science fiction fans across the globe with world-class martial artists joining Cage for formidable, no-holds-barred fight sequences set in Burma”.

Picture This Post (PTP) talks to director Dimitri Logothetis (DL) about his new film Jiu Jitsu, which stars Nicolas Cage.

(PTP) Can you tell our readers about how this project—Jiu Jitsu— came to be? What were your inspirations?

(DL) After I delivered Kickboxer: Retaliation, a friend of mine said, “Hey, have you thought about science fiction and martial arts?”. I thought that would be a really neat idea. When I was a kid, I’d watch The Day the Earth Stood Still on TV. That kind of inspired Brax. And, of course, I love martial arts films. I was a martial artist myself. So I thought about coming up with a story, and the first thing that I did was call my writing partner.

Circling back to Jiu Jitsu—How was it your experience working with Nicolas Cage? Any notable moments to share with Picture This Post readers?

Besides being an incredible actor, Nick Cage embraces genre. He also happens to have trained in Jiu Jitsu with some of the best masters. So he could really pull off stuff. In addition to that, he’s the heart of the film. He lays out the exposition and the story so that you can believe the entire setup. If you didn’t have somebody who was doing that, you wouldn’t buy into the myth.

What inspired your camerawork decisions for Jiu Jitsu—e.g. some scenes having a shaky unstable camera? 

Since my actors are also highly skilled martial artists, I allow them to do an entire action sequence without cutting the camera, therefore, in one particular sequence when Toby Jaa comes to rescue Alain Moussi’s character, the director of photography, the stunt coordinator and I had to design an extremity complicated camera sequence with the series of camera handoffs from one operator to another and ultimately to the stunt coordinator who was mounted on a crane that flew him and the camera over several rooftops. That sequence gives the audience the impression of a first-person video game, however, during the sequence, the audience notices that these are not computer-generated characters in a video game but our martial arts actors performing incredibly difficult stunts.

Jiu Jitsu uses comic book imagery as transitions. Why?

It’s a science fiction martial arts story and I felt I wanted to keep the audience in that mindset occasionally using chapters to move from one story point to another.

Any comments for our readers, aspiring filmmakers, and actors, you would like to
convey about this film and filmmaking in general?

Be patient; don’t lose the childhood imagination; tell your story and make sure you have a lot of fun.

For more information, visit the Dimitri Logothetis website.

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Images Courtesy of JIU JITSU