Albert Pyun

Albert Pyun began making movies using his father’s 8mm camera when he was ten years old in Honolulu, Hawaii. His first efforts revolved around “spy movies” escalating to 16mm action and surf films. With his fellow Kailua High School student, producer Tom Karnowski, the pair would end up making dozens of shorts together. While still in high school Pyun begin working as a free intern at production companies around Honolulu like Sensorium (Denny Kull) and Tip Davis Films based in Manoa, Hawaii. After graduating, Pyun was invited to intern in Japan by the Japanese actor, Toshiro Mifune, who had seen one of Pyun’s short films at a film festival. Pyun worked in Japan as an assistant camera person under cinematographer and manga artist Takao Saito (Ran, Kagemusha, Sanjuro), and then returned in 1973 to work at the largest commercial production house in Hawaii, Hawaii Production Center, as an assistant editor. While at HPC (the production arm of KGMB TV, the CBS affiliate in Honolulu at the time), Pyun also became the company’s negative cutter, editor, sound editor and worked on shoots as a grip, electrician and boom operator. He learned editing under the tuleage of Thomas Moore, an award winning commercial film editor.

In 1975 Pyun became a full fledged editor at Camera Hawaii’s commercial arm. From 1974 to 1976, Pyun edited more than 300 commercials and documentaries for major advertising agencies of the time like McCann Erickson, Bozell Jacobs and Leo Burnett. He edited spots for United Airlines, Bank of Hawaii, Dole and First Hawaiian Bank. During this time, Pyun and Karnowski began making more ambitious films, shooting virtually every weekend. The pair moved permanently to Los Angeles in 1976 to begin careers in feature films in earnest.

While Karnowski became a cameraman on a number of multi-camera sitcoms, Pyun went to work at Dimension Pictures, a distributor and producer of 70′s exploitation drive-in movies like Kingdom of the Spiders, Dr Black and Mr Hyde, Rudy Ray Moore’s Dolemite, and Exit the Dragon. It was his first experience with theatrical feature distribution.

While at Dimension, Pyun met Kurt Woolner (who in later years would become a friendly contact for Pyun at the film bonding company Film Finance) and both dreamed of making future films in a different way.^{[clarification needed]} When they could not convince Dimension to back one of their projects they decided with Karnowski to create a promo themselves for a science fiction adventure along the lines of Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars series.

Shot on weekends in 1976 in 35mm, “Sagan”, starring two time Mr. Olympia, Frank Zane.^{[clarification needed]} The producers pitched the project to a diverse number of companies and young producers such as Robert Levy who went on to co-found Tapestry Films. Zane has said that the experience was “very unpleasant” calling the film makers “rank amateurs” adding that “Pyun still owes me two thousand dollars.” The written contract deal between Zane and the production company and producers was a deferral based on the project getting funded as a feature. Future notable film artists like composer Brad Fiedel (Terminator, True Lies) worked on the Sagan project. It failed to convince studios that a fantasy adventure would be a moneymaker. The promo for the film did circulate and a number of companies tried together deals for producing it including Transworld, Crown International, New World and Avco.

1980s

His career has had a number of different phases. His early work in the early-to-mid-1980s was marked by fantasy films such as The Sword and the Sorcerer, Radioactive Dreams and Vicious Lips. Radioactive Dreams marked a collaboration with John Stockwell (Blue Crush, Into the Blue, Turistas) who would go on to write and act in Dangerously Close (1986) for Pyun. Radioactive Dreams is also notable as the second collaboration with Oscar-winning Special Make Up Effects guru Greg Cannom (Dracula, Van Helsing), with whom Pyun would work steadily into the 1990s, and as the first film editing for Oscar winners David Brenner (Wall Street) and Joe Hutchings (Born on the Fourth of July).

Pyun’s first film, “The Sword and the Sorcerer” remains his biggest hit to date. According to www.boxofficemojo.com, the, released on April 23, 1982 in 233 theaters, eventually grossed more than $39,000,000 dollars in the United States. Its widest opening on April 30, 1982 resulted in a gross of $4,100,886 which ranked the film #2 that week in America. It remains the 7th highest grossing sword and sorcery film of all time and the 26th highest grossing fantasy film of all time. The film received a number of awards including Best Supporting Actor Saturn award to Richard Lynch.

Pyun’s career took a slightly more mainstream turn with the acclaimed thriller Dangerously Close, which he followed with a romantic adventure film, Down Twisted, starring Carey Lowell, Charles Rocket, and Courteney Cox.

In the late 1980s, Pyun made Alien from LA, a PG children’s fairy tale featuring supermodel Kathy Ireland’s acting debut, and Cyborg which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme. Cyborg opened as the #4 highest grossing film in America on April 7, 1989. Cyborg is ranked as the 26th highest grossing cyborg/robot/android film of all time and the 86th highest grossing martial arts film of all time. Cyborg eventually grossed $10,166,459 in the US

During this era, Pyun also made his three-day cult classic Deceit for $25,000. It is still considered one of his best experimental efforts. In 1989 he began the ill-fated Captain America which was severely hampered when the financing fell out.

Pyun has been working with MGM on a possible release of his director’s cut version of “Cyborg” for release on Blu-ray.^[5] His version of the film is imagined as a rock opera with the original rock opera score written by the film’s original composers Tony Riparetti and James Saad. Pyun with MGM, is releasing a special DVD audio commentary which also contains the original Riparetti / Saad score on May 6.

1990s

The 1990s found Pyun moving from film to film with very little in the way of personal cinema. The exceptions were his minor science fiction success Nemesis, starring Olivier Gruner, with a young Thomas Jane; Brainsmasher… A Love Story (1993) with Teri Hatcher and Andrew Dice Clay; and Mean Guns (1997) with Christopher Lambert and Ice-T. Mean Guns is regarded as Pyun’s best film,

Nemesis opened in theaters on January 29, 1993  and remains the 36th highest grossing cyborg/robot/android film of all time.

On June 14, 1991, Kickboxer 2, written by David Goyer (Ghost Rider, Blade, The Dark Knight) and directed by Pyun opened in theaters. Kickboxer 2 ranks as the 29th highest grossing sequel in history.^[9] Kickboxer 2 received mixed reviews

Pyun founded the Filmwerks production company in 1994, which he left in 1999.

2000s

Pyun parted ways with his longtime producer Tom Karnowski and cinematographer George Mooradian. Twitchfilm.net did a story on Ticker with behind the scenes footage on Pyun on set.^[12] Pyun directed and produced “TICKER” in May 2000, which featured Steven Seagal, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Hopper, Jaime Pressly, rapper Nas and Ice-T plus Chilli of the R&B group TLC. The film was made for Artisan Entertainment and became their second most profitable film in their history after the Blair Witch Project. It was awarded the VSDA’s 2002 Best Non-Theatrical Independent Feature film.

Pyun was interviewed at length by genre site Planet Origo, discussing his long career and his filmmaking philosophy.

Pyun is also in post production on an upgrade of his original Nemesis (1992). A promo for the upgrade was featured in a story on the QuietEarth website: This upgrade is being done even as Pyun announced his intention to make a sequel to both the Cyborg and Nemesis films.

In 2002, Pyun put together two feature films shoot on the Big Island of Hawaii for Andrew Stevens and Phoenician Entertainment. Pyun co-directed one of the films. Both were financial successes. In April 2002 Anchor Bay re-released his first film, “The Sword and the Sorcerer” on DVD in North America.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002 and early 2003, Pyun worked with Chuck Norris and Norris Entertainment and NBC to try to establish a possible series for Norris concerning the Coast Guard in Hawaii. The series was never picked up.

In 2004 Pyun went to the US territory of Guam and, along with film producer John Laing, convinced the Guam government to put up a $800,000 loan guarantee to finance their film Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon.^[17] In his effort to convince Guam officials to approve the loan guarantee, Pyun told them that he and his producer (Laing) had a “sterling financial record” and that neither he nor John Laing had ever defaulted on a loan.^[18] In 2006 producer John Laing defaulted on the film’s loan, and Guam lost its guarantee. According to a 6/13/07 article in The Los Angeles Times, Laing blamed Pyun for the failure of the film. Also according to the Times article, Pyun told Guam officials that he would make as many as six films a year on the island if Guam would “put up $800,000 in cash as collateral to secure a $1-million loan from Comerica Bank” to finance his film Max Havoc.

Guam Senator Ben Pangelinan, in the Times article, accused Albert Pyun of “dealing in bad faith” with Guam officials in his quest to get Guam to put up money for the film. The matter is currently in civil litigation, both in California and in Guam. The loan recovery lawsuit in Guam Superior Court, which involves allegations of fraud, goes to trial on April 5, 2011. Matt Borden, attorney for the Guam Economic Development and Commerce Authority, said: “The public interest factors are very compelling in that Laing and the Max Havoc film makers came to Guam with the specific purpose of defrauding the government and basically getting any kind of money they could out of the people, and they did. Then they left and didn’t keep any of their promises. As of yet, Pyun is not involved in the litigation, even though he allegedly played a large role in securing the $800,000 Guam loan guarantee for John Laing along with convincing Guam businesses to donate cash and services to the film in the amount of one million dollars.

One such Guam business, GUAMCELL Communications, was promised a promotional commercial by Pyun and Laing in exchange for wireless devices and services for the making of “Max Havoc”, but received nothing. GUAMCELL president Mark Chamberlin said of his experiences with Pyun and Laing: “It seems like on the front end, they came into (Guam) and they want everyone to participate and they want favors, corporate sponsors. Once they got here and started shooting , it was ‘me, me, me,’…”  Other Guam businesses who felt ripped off by Pyun and Laing include Outrigger Hotel, Payless Markets, Primo Surf and Triple B Forwarders.

At the German film website Manifest Das Fimmagzin, Albert Pyun claims that he was paid in full for working on Max Havoc: “I left the Island earlier and got my salary, so I have no idea what happened there.” However, once the Max Havoc scandal hit the Guam press/international press/internet, Pyun suddenly changed his tune in regards to being paid for the film. In 2008, in the blog theinferior4, Pyun claims “I was stiffed with the crew and I was owed my salary” ^[26] In Manifest Das Fimmagzin, Pyun blames his Max Havoc film crew from Los Angeles for the failure of the film, calling them “inexperienced and questionable” without elaborating. Pyun ends his interview at Manifest Das Fimmagzin by saying that he had “nothing to do with the loan transaction”.

His 2005 film Infection, was praised for its unconventional camera work and cinematography^[27]: 68 minutes in length, it is one uninterrupted shot from a surveillance camera mounted inside a police car. The film won Best Picture and Best Director at Spain’s 2005 Estepona International Film Festival and was acquired by Lions Gate Films for release on December 18, 2007. It also screened at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film to great acclaim. The film was entered in more than 20 film festivals around the world. The title of the film was changed by Lions Gate Entertainment to Invasion so as not to be confused with an earlier Lions Gate release.

After the success of Invasion Pyun increased his directing activity. The films Cool Air and Bulletface came in 2006 (winner of Best Experimental at the 2006 Northwest Projections Film Festival), followed by Left for Dead and From Beyond in 2007. In 2006, eight of his films were re-released, including his sole romantic comedy, Brainsmasher… A Love Story and in 2008, “The Sword and the Sorcerer” in Australia.

On September 8, 2007, Pyun won Best Director for “Left For Dead” at the 8th Edition of the Estepona International Film festival of Horror and Fantasy. Victoria Maurette won Best Actress honors on November 1, 2007 at the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre International Film Festival for her lead performance in the film. On November 1, 2007 in Cape Town, Left For Dead received the Audience Award from the 2007 Horrorfest South Africa. The film was acquired for North America distribution in 2008 by Grindstone Entertainment, a division of Mandate Pictures.

On December 18, 2007 Invasion AKA Infection was released in the United States on DVD by Lions Gate Films.

“Invasion” opened at number four on the Rentrack rankings of direct to dvd releases for the week Dec 18-23. It was number seven the following week.

“Left For Dead” will be released in North America on March 4, 2008 via Lions Gate Films and opened at number 6 in North America (DVD non-theatrical rental).

In July 2008 Pyun directed “Road to Hell” starring Michael Pare’, Clare Kramer, Courtney Peldon and Deborah Van Valkenburgh.Official website is www.roadtohellmovie.com. Film is currently in post production. It is screening as a work in progress at 2008′s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. According to iMDB.com, the picture has a release date of June 2010.

In September 2008, Pyun began production on his long delayed “Tales of an Ancient Empire”. Shooting began on October 12, 2008 with Christopher Lambert and Kevin Sorbo. The film is scheduled to be released on April 23, 2010.^[33] Tales of an Ancient Empire had its world premiere at Louisville’s Fright Night Film Fest. On Pyun’s facebook page, he announced that Newmarket films (“Pasdion of the Christ”, “Memento”, “Whale Rider”, Agora” and “Monster”) will be releasing Tales of an Ancient Empire next year in the US as well as another Pyun film called Red Moon.^[35] Tales was first released on Oct 7, 2010 in Thailand

He is reported to have begun pre-production on his sequel to his 1997 cult film “Mean Guns”. No cast has been announced but it is supposed to begin shooting in November 2009 in South Africa. Pyun is presently scouting locations for the sequel to “Tales of an Ancient Empire” entitled “Red Moon”. In his iTunes podcast interview on August 2, 2010, Pyun stated he’s begun production on a docu-drama called “A Young Girl and the Sea” which was inspired by Abby Sunderland’s ill-fated attempt to sail solo around the world and the controversial aftermath of the attampt’s failure. Pyun claims to have studio backing for the low budget effort. Its expected to be released in the Spring of 2011. Shooting was done in Key West and South Africa. Pyun did not name the stars or any further details.