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[h1]Randy Orton's 12 Rounds of Terror[/h1][h2]IGN spoke with WWE Superstar Randy Orton about his new direct-to-Blu thriller, 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded, and his opinions of Curt Axel and Bray Wyatt.[/h2]
by Matt Fowler
May 31, 2013
Even though WWE Superstar Randy Orton had a role in the 2011 WWE Studios film That's What I Am, opposite Ed Harris, he's never anchored his own flick. Unlike John Cena, Edge, Triple H and more, Orton's never been that guy; the one chasing down bad guys and dishing out beatings. Now Orton's time has come with 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded (the franchise sequel to the 2009 John Cena film), which arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, June 4th.
Like the WWE's Marine franchise, this sequel has a completely different story and hero, with Orton playing EMT worker Nick Malloy, who gets a phone call one night and is immediately thrust into a deadly "12 Round" game that he himself needs to figure out his role in. I spoke to Orton about his new film, playing an "everyman" character, some of the craziness involved during night shoots in shady neighborhoods, and his opinions of third generation WWE superstar Bray Wyatt's new video and third generation star Curtis Axel's debut.
IGN: Your character in 12 Rounds 2 is more of an "everyman" type. Not like the cop from the first 12 Rounds movie.
Randy Orton: Yeah, definitely. Well, you know, John Cena. He couldn't play an "everyman." Look at him. He looks like He-Man. Put Randy Orton into the EMT outfit however and he can be an average joe. [laughs] But yeah, I agree with you. I thought that was kind of cool. Because when I heard that I was going to be in the new 12 Rounds movie I was like "Okay, get ready, Randy. You're going to be a police officer." But no, the character is an EMT worker and I thought that was different. In a good way. It also gave them a way to cover my tattoos up for the entire length of the movie almost with the long sleeves. So they were thinking. There was some motivation behind my profession in the movie. But it was cool because there's a part in the film where I break a guy's nose down in a sleazy Chinese motel in Chinatown and I tell him to immediately put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. Because I care about these people. My character doesn't want to hurt anyone, or police officers even, but I know that my wife is in danger so I gotta do what I gotta do.
IGN: What did you relate to most about the character?
Orton: I'm married and I have a daughter and I naturally love my family so, for me, trying to find motivation behind the character wasn't that difficult. I just had to think "Okay, what if my wife was kidnapped? Would I be joking around with people and making wise cracks, or would I try to get where I'm going and figure out the bad guy's plan?" You know what I mean? It's high stakes. That's what the acting coach told me. These scenes are all high stakes and so all the actors have to turn it up a notch. The challenging part for me was that, aside from maybe one scene, the whole movie was high stakes. So I had to be careful not to yell too much, or use the same mannerisms too much. And I'm not an actor. I had about 20 hours of acting coaching crammed into the week before I flew up to Vancouver to star in this low-budget action movie. But I'm happy with my performance. Could it be better? Yeah, it could be better. I ain't gonna win no Oscars. But if you go into it knowing what it is, you'll be entertained. And if you're a wrestling fan, you'll be entertained.
IGN: It seemed like you had your adrenaline going the entire movie. The action doesn't really let up once Nick gets the first phone call. There's a lot of running and scrambling to find clues.
Orton: I'll tell you, the running was the hardest part for me. I'm not a runner. [laughs] Middle of the night in Vancouver and it's raining up there. It's late September, early October up there so it's starting to get a little nippy. And I'm wearing the leggings underneath my outfits because it's freezing and the director's got me running up and down the block on a street downtown. And it's like take after take after take. And my shins are burning and my lungs are hurting. And I'm like "This guy must think I'm some kind of sprinter or something." I'm thinking "I'm not in the kind of shape you think I'm in, Director."
Randy Orton in 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded.
IGN: Speaking of the director. What was it like working with Roel Reiné (Marine 2, Death Race 2)? He's known for taking small budgets and making things look big on screen.
Orton: I think I got so lucky with Roel Reiné being the director. And it's strange because Marine 2 was originally supposed to be me, and then later Marine 3 too. Ted DiBiase got the Marine 2 part though and that was directed by Roel Reiné. This was years ago and I had broken my collarbone so I didn't get to do it. And then SummerSlam rolled around that year and it was in LA and DiBiase invited me over to Roel Reiné's house to watch Marine 2. So I had met Roel and actually broken bread with him in his house before all this. Before I knew we'd be shooting this movie together. So it was cool. I had met him beforehand. He's a little eccentric, you know, but most director's probably are. He just likes being right there in the middle of it. He's not back at the tents by the monitor's calling shots to the cameramen. He's a cameraman himself.
IGN: I've seen that he operates his own camera the whole time.
Orton: Oh yeah. The entire time he was behind a camera. He would use four, five or six cameras at a time. He would return so much footage at the end of a shooting day that, instead of a couple hours of footage, there would be eight, nine, ten hours of stuff. So he was driving everybody nuts. And it was great because he knew what he wanted. There wasn't a lot of sitting around. It was go-go-go. I think he was the perfect director for me.
IGN: These kind of movies are done quickly, but were you able to participate in any sort of content for the Blu-ray and DVD special features?
Orton: Yeah, we did a lot of behind-the-scenes Q&A. All the actors on the movie did. I also know there were plenty of outtakes. I haven't seen them, but there were a couple of funny instances. Once, we were in downtown Vancouver at night. I'm in a car by myself and I'm being pulled. The cameras shooting in through the front windshield and there's a tow truck pulling me along. And you've got Roel and all these other cameramen on the back of this truck getting different angled shots on me. So I'm not really driving. And we get to this stop light and there're all these kids out and they're drunk. It's a bad area, as I was told by the local guys. And this drunk guy walks over and he's now between the two cars. So he's in front of me and behind the tow truck and he's in between the two vehicles and he's waving at the cameramen like "Look at me, I'm drunk." And his friends are laughing. And the light turns green. And the tow truck driver doesn't know that he's behind him, and in between the two cars, so it starts to inch forward. This guy almost died. It was hilarious. He must have been on mushrooms or something. I don't know what kind of drugs the kids in Vancouver get their hands on, but it wasn't just bc bud, lemme tell you. So he popped right up after it looked like his leg should have been broken and he started pounding on my car, and then chasing the car as we drove off. And I'm just looking at him, hands not even on the wheel, screaming at him. He though I had hit him and I wasn't even driving my vehicle. So all this was captured on camera. So I was hoping it'd make it to the outtakes. They'd have to bleep out a lot of the profanity, but it was pretty entertaining. [laughs]
IGN: Finally, being a second generation wrestling star, what's your take on the Bray Wyatt video from this past Monday's RAW and Curt Axel's debut a few weeks ago?
Orton: Well, I'm used to calling him "Husky," but Bray's vignettes are awesome. And the other two guys down there in FCW, who are part of his team, are talented. That little group there looks great. I have no idea what we're in for but those vignettes have everyone's heads turning backstage. And wrestling is in Bray's blood. He's the son of Mike Rotunda - I.R.S. But Curtis Axel is third generation too. And so I think there's been a lot of pressure on Joe [Hennig] just being the son of "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig. I mean, how can there not be a lot of pressure? No disrespect to my father, but Mr. Perfect was around a little more and maybe had more of a following. So people might be more aware of who his father was and because of that I think he has a lot more to live up to. And that whole "Michael McGillicutty" thing? That was just career suicide. But he made it through that. And I think anyone who can make it through having a name like "McGillicutty" for however many years he had it is a survivor. The fact that he made it through shows you that the kid's got some staying power. And now with Paul Heyman in his back pocket? He's golden. Give him a couple weeks, a couple months, and he'll make a big impact.
