An Interview with Larnell Stovall, Fight Coordinator for ‘The Continental: From the World of John Wick’

THE CONTINENTAL: FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK -- Pictured: "The Continental: From the World of John Wick" Key Art -- (Photo by: Peacock)

Larnell Stovall is an accomplished stunt coordinator, stuntman, and fight coordinator and currently, he serves as the fight coordinator for the Peacock series, The Continental: From the World of John Wick, and we here at NTG the distinct honor of sitting down with Larnell to discuss his incredible work in this series.
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John Betancourt: How did you get into fight coordination/stunts?

Larnell Stovall: Okay. Let's see if I can do the cliff note version. Okay, I saw a movie by the name of Blade, okay? I was in a martial arts competition at the time. Blade basically made me realize that I could see us stunt guys too, because I remember seeing a few Black guys fighting Wesley Snipes. And I was like, “Oh, I want to do that.” And students were like, “You want to be Wesley Snipes? Like, no, I want to be the guy he's fighting. So needless to say, I stayed after the credits, looked up the stunt coordinator and the fight choreographer and went home and got on my AOL dial up. And I reached out, you know, and a guy by the name of Chuck Jeffries responded. From back there, we exchanged emails back and forth, sent him a VHS tape of me in competition. He said I had a lot of potential and then not too long, shortly after that, I was on a Greyhound bus to LA to try to pursue stunts. The fight coordinating, fight choreography thing that came later because there weren't a lot of African Americans that could double to keep steady work. So, I kind of leaned back into my kata days of creating my own fight scenes and the did the whole independent thing, shorts, test shoots, small budget films, low budget films to build up credits and footage, and kept working and making my way around.

John Betancourt: What is that you love about doing stunts and action in this vein?

Larnell Stovall: Well, it's funny you say that, because, um, you know, I used to love doing stunts, but I feel like my love now has really shifted into action design, you know, I appreciate what the physical body can do. And I am so amazed at looking at people day in and day out, stick to a diet, stick to a certain amount of training. I used to be there I used to be into the gymnastics in the evenings, running in the daytime, martial arts in the afternoon. Eating three, four small meals a day. Because you never knew if the ability to feed yourself or get your next job might be determined by when you walk in. And first thing they say is take your shirt off. And, and it may have nothing to do with your skill. None of it. You know, so you always had to be ready as much as you can. But yeah, look, I admire what stunt people are doing, stunts have increased because the audience demands more nowadays, concern and action. So, I'm very amazed by the level of talent that's out there.

John Betancourt: Since you’re shifting into fight coordination, what kind of prep work goes into putting together fights and action and stunts that are this ambitious?

Larnell Stovall: Okay, well, it starts with the script. But when you don't have a script, I would say for me, research, watch foreign films, play video games, I'm still into comic books, I'm still into manga, I'm still into anime, I'm always thinking, “Oh, wow, that would be cool. That could be different or that look at that camera angle and look at this character design or development”. So, I feel like you know, if you do that, then by the time you get a project and have a script, you can have maybe fresh ideas, you know, and maybe not just recycling or rehashing the same things over and over. So that way people feel like, “Oh, my God, I would have never thought of that.” And that's your job, you know.

John Betancourt: What kinds of challenges did you run into in putting together the breathtaking fights here?

Larnell Stovall: I will say the ambition was based off the schedule. Because, you know, we're coming from the universe that was done based off of films. So, the audience, like I've mentioned to some people before, you have to understand what the audience expectations are these days, like John Wick Four just got released this year. We're the first season of The Continental. So technically, by audience's expectations, they will want action that they just saw in John Wick Four in our first season, when technically we are considered John Wick One, if that makes sense. Because they have room to grow. They have room for the action to design to increase. They have room for the sets to get bigger, action to get bigger, but we're coming from behind (John Wick) four. So, we kept that in mind by saying hey, look, we know where we are. We know the schedule we have. Let's just be as creative, as brutal, as visceral as possible within the timeframe that we're allotted, and hopefully, the audience embraces us and understands that, hey, we're the New Kids on the Block. And we this is how we're starting out. But we will give you remnants of that world. And hopefully you feel like it's a fresh take.

John Betancourt: What does it mean to you to be part of this iconic franchise now?

Larnell Stovall: Well, it's intimidating, but I will say, I'm glad to be a part of the universe. And it's an honor. I hope, if there is a season two that, you know, we get a chance to go back and be bigger and better. And, you know, take every valuable lesson we've learned from season one to season two. But for me, I look at it as being on the outside looking in at the John Wick world, and finally, truly, being a part of it. Even if it's a branch off and an extension. It's like a badge, you know, where I'm glad to carry that badge. But within that I'm saying, it's teamwork. And I couldn't have done this without a great team behind me, the US team, the Budapest team. So, the only thing I can say is hopefully, if I'm allowed to lead the ship again, we come back with even more fresh ideas so I can keep wearing that badge proudly.

John Betancourt: What it means to have your complete body of work here on display?

Larnell Stovall: Oh, yeah, this week, if it's okay to discuss that we are coming up on the finale, this week, I know what the finale is going to display, I know what the audience is going to see. It's been exciting, because for those that felt like we could have had more action, or the action could have been longer. I feel like a lot of that will be solved in this final episode. So, I'm just grateful people decided to stay with us. Stick with it, allow it to grow. And let us hopefully give you a payoff, because to me, it's all about that last 15-20 minutes, that determines if something was worth your time, if you think about it, when you watch a movie or you watch a series, you're going to forget the first 6,7, 8 episodes, but when you get to episode 12 or something, they got to wrap it up in that last 20 minutes, that may determine your rating, your score, your loyalty, your decision to move into the next season. So, we kept all that in mind and decided to keep elevating each fight to make sure that it ended with a bang versus, you blow your wad, so to speak, in the beginning, you know, so we wanted to keep track of that. And yeah, I really hope the audience walks away with feeling like it was worth their time.

John Betancourt: What you most proud of when it comes to your work on this show?

Larnell Stovall: I'm most proud of the actors. Here's why. When you're thrown into this universe, you have people who have never done a fight scene before, ever. And then they're stepping into this universe on a TV schedule, having to compete with the monster that is the Wick universe, where, you know, it's been said, and it's true, that some of the actors have months and months of rehearsals and training, to sometimes do something as simple as a two minute fight scene, we may have to do a minute and a half fight scene within four weeks of training. But the audience deserves and wants and expects the same result as if someone had to three months of training. So, I'm more proud of the actors, because there was a lot of pressure, a lot of challenges, a lot of obstacles to overcome, a lot of mental hurdles to get through as well. But each one of them stepped up, each one of them trusted me, you know, most of them call me coach at the end of the day, because you know, I try to get them through this, I try to do my best to allow them to be their character. But yet remember their foundation that they’re still fresh with. So that way when they incorporate the two, it looks so seamless on film, that you'll never be able to tell one of them, or many of them never did a fight scene in their life. So, I'm more proud of the final product and their efforts.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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