He’s known as “The Viper” in the ring, where he methodically stalks his opponents and waits for the chance to seal their fate. However, in The Condemned 2 — he’s the one being hunted.
Randy Orton plays former bounty hunter Will Tanner in the action-packed follow-up to WWE Studios’ The Condemned. In the film, he’s running for his life in a twisted game in which contestants must fight to the death.
Despite the chaotic schedule that’s required when you’re an action star and a WWE legend, Orton had a moment to discuss his career and the incredible and physical experience of starring in his latest project.
Chemistry and preparation for The Condemned 2
CraveOnline: This is your second time working with Roel Reiné (12 Rounds 2:Reloaded). Is there chemistry there?
Randy Orton: There’s definitely chemistry. When I found out he was directing The Condemned 2, I was very happy. I’m fairly new at this, the whole movie game and the acting thing. I’m familiar with it but I haven’t studied it. To have someone I’m very comfortable with the first time around and the second time around that relationship was definitely built upon and I was very comfortable and happy he was the director. He was awesome.
CraveOnline: What did you do to prepare for the role of Will Tanner?
Randy Orton: The WWE schedule is very busy so whenever I had a day or two, I would meet up with an acting coach. WWE would either send me out to see him or he’d come to town and I’d meet him if I didn’t have time to fly out and see him. Every hour and every minute I was with this guy, helped and I was cramming because this is what we do before any movie. You brush up with an acting coach. Alan McRae was my acting coach and I know he worked a lot with the WWE guys and gals. That definitely helped me prepare. Like I said I’m new at this so not as confident but at the same time, when I watched 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded, I saw just what a master Roel [Reiné] was. He’s never sitting in the director’s chair. He’s always got a camera and he’s always on the move. He never sits still so you got to go, go, go at his pace. He always wants to be rolling. If you’re 30 seconds late, you’re getting your butt chewed out. But he’s good like that and he can joke around and have a good time to when there’s time for that stuff. As far as my first and second experience starring in a movie, having Roel and his personality on set every day 24/7 was very cool for me.
Doing his own stunts
CraveOnline: Did you do your own stunts in the film?
Randy Orton: Yes, I did…100 percent of them. It’s a little nerve-racking. I take a lot of bumps in the ring [laughs]. I’m used to throwing my body around. I’m used to taking a punch. I’m used to when I’m trying not to hit somebody so hard, I’m used to cracking their teeth out. I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end of that so all the fight scenes with all the stunt men were awesome. I really enjoyed it. I feel like I showed them how easy it was to work with a guy like me. They told me with a lot of actors it’s like ‘Oh boy’ or ‘here we go’ or they’re uncomfortable doing a lot of things or they’re always calling in a stunt man for the smallest stuff. The guy I worked with, the stunt coordinator, Dickey Beer, he’s well known in that community. He was actually in Star Wars and played a couple of characters including Boba Fett. They [stunt crew] had just done Superman and Mission Impossible and they were talking about how nice it was to work with actors who will do their own stunts so that was a breath of fresh air for them and it made me feel good that I could bring something to this movie besides the acting side of things. It was physical and I’m used to that.
“I’ve got a pistol and I’m running, trying to be all tactical, crawling through the sand and getting up and these things are blowing up right in my face.”
CraveOnline: Did you have a favorite stunt in the film?
Randy Orton: There are a lot of explosions. There’s a character named Cooper [Alex Knight] and he’s an explosives specialist so he’s trying to blow my ass up in a couple of scenes. They had so many mines. They had the same FX guys that worked on Lone Survivor and there’s that scene where they fell down the mountain and all those explosions were happening right next to them. Those were the same men and women that made the FX explosives in The Condemned 2. So I was working with pros, I’ve got a pistol and I’m running, trying to be all tactical, crawling through the sand and getting up and these things are blowing up right in my face. It’s loud. The percussion is insane. Sand and dirt is going everywhere and I got a mark where I cut left and cut right, low crawl and then come up and there’s a sniper up in the mountains shooting at me. They’re blanks of course but they’re full rounds so just the crack from the sniper got me into the moment. It felt like I was being blow up and shot at it and it was easy to react because of that.
CraveOnline: I’ve seen the film and it’s crazy action packed. Did you have to do a lot of takes during the physical action scenes?
Randy Orton: The way Roel [Reiné] works, like a lot of times, he gives you one shot and if he’s not happy with it, he’ll load up, which takes some and do it again. The fight scenes we’ll do over and over and over, which is kind of like a match. There’s a lot more choreography than the wrestling ring as far as I’m concerned. It’s a little repetitive. In the wrestling ring, you’ve got one chance to hit right so because of that, the last 15 years of just kind of having one take, it was cool because I would try and perfect these fight scenes the best I could the first time around.
The other actors I was working with were great actors but they had never really done their own stunts. It’s like working with a green kid in the ring that doesn’t know what they’re doing. A couple of these guys are swinging hard at my temple and got a weapon in their hand and I’m like “Man, I’d take Sheamus over one of these guys any day” [laughs].
Working with a talented cast
CraveOnline: You had a talented cast to work with like Eric Roberts and Breaking Bad’s Steven Michael Quezada. What was that experience like and did they have any advice for you?
Randy Orton: They were all great. When I found out [Eric] Roberts was playing my father, I was really excited. He didn’t start filming until halfway through so I was comfortable on set and knew everybody on set by the time he came in. It was a little nerve-racking that first day because you know it’s Eric Roberts. You don’t know what you’re going to get but he’s been around a long time so someone like that could have an ego but he came in and he was so cool and he made me feel like one of the guys right away. He gave me tips and he gave me compliments and he’d boost my confidence and he’d also give me criticisms. Whatever advice he’d give me was dead-on and awesome and helped a lot.
Steven Quezada had that awesome role in Breaking Bad as Gomez and he was great. He and I had a fight scene at the end of the movie and it was funny because he’s maybe 5-foot-7 so I’ve got almost a foot over him so I’m trying to fight like from my knees and squat down and make it look like we’re the same size so I thought that was kind of cool because you can’t really tell that I tower over him and should be able to throttle him at any moment cause of the size difference so that move magic was cool and then Wes Studi who played Magua, the badass heel Indian in Last of the Mohicans. Getting to work with him was awesome too. We had a fight scene in one of the first few scenes of the movie and that was intense. But all of those guys were really nice and wanted to be there. It made for a great environment on set.
Is a full-time Hollywood career on the horizon?
CraveOnline: You got the movie star look so is acting something you’d like to do full-time in the future?
Randy Orton: That’s a hard question only because I enjoy what I do in the ring so much. I’ve got a family in St. Louis and do like a Batista and put all of your eggs in one basket you never know how that’s going to go. I know I’m good right now at what I do with the WWE. Doing a film every couple of years is fun but I don’t know about moving to L.A. and doing it full-time, going to auditions 10 times a week and getting turned down and getting one shot.
I took the family to see The Last Witch Hunter and Vin Diesel is in it. There’s this one spot with Kurt Angle. He has no lines and he’s in it for maybe six seconds and I looked over to my fiancé, Kim, and I was like ‘Yeah, he auditioned for that role and probably maybe enough to buy a Fiji water at the airport.’ It’s either be Batista and become Drax and sign a three-movie deal with Guardians of the Galaxy and work with [Robert] DeNiro and be a heel in the next James Bond movie or have a six second spot as a bodyguard with no lines where you don’t even get put in the credits. It’s tough, man.
I’d rather be a main event superstar for the WWE for the next 10 years rather than try and make it out in Hollywood where all these people study this craft their whole life. The craft I studied was wrestling. I’m good at it and I enjoy it but the whole movie thing, doing a film from time-to-time for WWE is probably going to be the extent of my film career.
CraveOnline: Favorite action movie?
Randy Orton: The Hobbit was cool. I love those trilogy movies like Lord of the Rings. Liam Neeson in Taken was cool. I just watched Kung-Fu Hustle with the boys the other night and that of course was awesome too [laughs]. There’s too many cool action movies out there.
The popular RKO vines/trailers
CraveOnline: I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t ask. What are your thoughts on the RKO vines and trailers?
Randy Orton: [Laughs] Yeah, every once in awhile I’ll see a real good one and I’ll tweet it or something. They’re great. I guess it’s been about a year since the first one came out. There’s been so many. I think lately the coolest ones I’ve seen are the Batman vs Superman trailer and making it about the RKO. Then there’s this one called The Ortoning [laughs] and it’s a knock off The Conjuring, which I thought that was kind of funny and re-tweeted that a couple of days ago. What can I say? They’re goofy, they’re funny and for some reason it just doesn’t get old so people keep doing it. It’s not a flash in the pan either. It’s been over a year now. I think that’s pretty cool.
CraveOnline: I saw a great trailer the other day called Unfriended about the RKO and it was ridiculous.
Randy Orton: The kids saw it and they wanted me to see it but I haven’t seen it yet but I’ll make sure I do.
CraveOnline: Favorite RKO of all-time?
Randy Orton: Gosh, the one with Evan Bourne is up there. The one with Seth [Rollins] at WrestleMania is up there. There have been a few real cool ones out of nowhere but the one with Evan Bourne is my favorite.
“I’m a family man.”
CraveOnline: What is one thing we don’t know about Randy Orton?
Randy Orton: I’m a family man. I really enjoy being with my family. I would take going on a camping trip for the weekend or to the lake and renting a boat and doing some cliff jumping. Having a campfire and roasted marshmallows, to me that sounds like Heaven. I don’t know if most people would think that about me.
Proudest moment
CraveOnline: What are you most proud of when you look back on your career?
Randy Orton: I’ve been in the last 12 WrestleMania’s. I think that’s a pretty cool accomplishment. Also, being a 12x world champion is up there on the list. I have done it all and I work with the best and I’ve beaten the best and I’ve had matches of the night and matches of the year. There are just so many things I look back on and I’m proud of but the 12 WrestleMania appearances in a row and the 12 championships are at the top of the list.
“I’d say the kids motivate me.”
CraveOnline: You’ve been in WWE for nearly 14 years and you have accomplished everything possible and you’ve even done action movies. How do you stay motivated?
Randy Orton: The kids kind of revitalized my motivation for being a WWE Superstar just because they’re all big fans. Seeing them light up when they see me have a good match or hear them on the phone talk about ‘Oh my God. It was so cool when you did this’ or ‘I liked it when you did this.’ They’ll give me suggestions and I’ll capitalize on them in the ring and on live television and it makes their day. My little girl, she could give or take what daddy does for a living but now that we have the boys around, they’ve kind of got her interested. I remember being young and looking up to my pop [Bob Orton, Jr.] and everyone thought it was so cool.
I’d say the kids motivate me. The Make-A-Wish kids motivate me, the kids sitting front row that after I beat somebody and I walk around and shake a few hands and see how they light up and the fact that I came over and shook their hand makes their day and they won’t forget that, that motivates me. As a whole, I’d say the kids motivate me now that I’m older and a father and a husband. I now see the importance of it.
CraveOnline: Lastly, describe The Condemn 2 for us in the best way possible.
Randy Orton: Best WWE film ever.
THE CONDEMNED 2
In Theaters and VOD | November 6, 2015
Starring WWE Superstar Randy Orton
Photos courtesy of WWE
Joshua Caudill is a writer for CraveOnline, a surfing enthusiast, an unhealthy sports fanatic, and an expert on all things Patrick Swayze. You can follow him on Twitter @JoshuaCaudill85 or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
