Watch Trailer of The Asylum’s King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

We are incredibly proud to be involved in the production of The Asylum's latest film, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Filmed in Thailand, the film is a modern retelling of the of the classic tale, starring Sara Malakul Lane, Eoin O’Brien, Byron Gibson, Svitlana Zavialova, and Elidh MacQueen. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is directed by Jared Cohn.

Synopsis: The Legends Return this May! Facing certain defeat, Merlin banishes the evil enchantress Morgana and her son Mordred to the ends of universe. Vowing revenge, Morgana and her son return to Earth, hell-bent on destroying every last descendant of King Arthur and his Knights.

Ufone Ad - The Restaurant

This fun and exciting ad for Ufone is the first in a series of four large scale ads shot in Bangkok over a stretch of 6 days. The location was chosen for its sophisticated European look to contrast with the sudden change of mood. Some of the ads, like this first one, are extremely action heavy, involving many stunts, and required a great deal special rigging. These are ads are sure to please.




Don't forget to check the Benetone Films Facebook page for behind the scenes production stills.

Toonpur Ka Superhero - Coming Soon!

Scheduled for release this December is the mixed live action and animation film (think Space Jam) Toonpur Ka Superhero. We worked with Stunt Director Jack Gill (Death Race, Wild Hogs, Talladega Nights) and a US based stunt team to pull off some hectic sequences.

We got permission from the aviation department to land a helicopter in the middle of the sea on a huge (over 100 meters) barge that we had to modify to accommodate the helicopter's massive size and weight. It was the first time anyone has been given the permit allowing such a maneuver.





We rigged two barges to pull off a stunt where a jetski does a jump and complete flip over a pier.





We also shot a stunt at the Hilton Arcadia in Phuket with a huge rigging that carried a motorcycle across two buildings (over 200 meters).




It was a great shoot and we cant wait for the release of this one. Check out the official movie website here.

The Most Expensive Bollywood Movie Ever Made

Deep crystal blue water and intense action scenes are the formula for the new Bollywood blockbuster hit BLUE, set to be released this Diwali weekend (October 16th). Shot on location in The Bahamas and Thailand (nice!), BLUE is the most expensive Hindi movie ever produced. For Hindi movie fans this is a long anticipated project, and with the nods it’s getting from viewers outside the traditional fan base, the movie promises to be an international mega-hit.
BLUE is the story of three friends (Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, and Zayed Khan) living in the Bahamas in search of a sunken treasure. Lara Dutta plays the character of a glamorous beach babe and Katrina Kaif makes an appearance to round out the star appeal of the film. The story is fueled by danger, deceit, and action. Lots of action: In the air, on the ground, and for the first time in an Indian film, underwater.

One of the biggest draws to this film is its “international” feel. Director Anthony D’Souza made it clear that he “tried to make a film that looks like it is from Hollywood but is in fact a 100 percent Bollywood film.” And producers spared no expense to help him, bringing in some of the best film technicians from around the world. Specialist cinematographer Pete Zuccarini (Pirates of the Caribbean, Deep Blue Sea) was brought in to capture the beauty of the ocean and underwater sequences. Fast paced action sequences – we closed roads and highways and blew up all kinds of vehicles for these shots - are guaranteed to get you wide-eyed thanks to James Bomalick (Fast and Furious – Tokyo Drift, Live Free or Die Hard).

Make-up artist Nickolette Skarlatos (Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3, The Soloist) and hair stylist Clarabelle Saldanha (Transformers) brought their expertise even adding that Lara Dutt’s look was very similar to Hollywood star Megan Fox.

To impress music fans, the Oscar winning pair of composer A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire, Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and sound engineer Resul Pookutty (Slumdog Millionaire), were brought on to compose the tracks and handle sound for the film. More publicized, however, might be mention of Australian sensation Kylie Minogue, who was brought on to sing and dance for two of the most talked about songs and became the highest paid (more than $1 million) foreign star ever in a Hindi movie for doing so.

All in all, BLUE has the makings of a fantastic movie and Benetone Films is very proud to say we were a part of it. Here’s the official trailer (all the stunts not underwater were shot in Thailand), take a look and set aside some time in October to see the film:

Nasser Khan – Sights Set on Bollywood Star in "Shadow"

Before you read this article I’d like you to close your eyes and, while keeping them closed, go to the kitchen and pour yourself a glass of water... Okay. Close your eyes and go to the closet and select what you’re going to wear tomorrow... Alright. Close your eyes and go ride a motorcycle… drive a jet ski… and jump off a building.

I'll wait here.

....

Did you do all that? Did you remember to keep your eyes closed the entire time? Good. Now you have some idea of what it’s like to be Nasser Khan, one of our personal heroes and star of the new action film “Shadow – The Dark Side of Truth”.


See, Khan was born with cataracts and has lived his life with only 10-15% vision in his left eye, completely blind otherwise. Despite this disability though, he was top of his class until visibility became too much of a problem and he was forced to drop out (in Class VIII). He then studied electronics repair and the tannery business, and in 1995 opened his own tannery. He became increasingly interested in the IT sector and in 2000 became the first blind man to pass all four Microsoft certification courses (MCSE, MCSD, MCSA, and MCDBA) which carried him on to opening several computer centers. Next came investments in real estate, and then insurance. He's also an accomplished musician on various instruments.

He's basically Donald Trump and Stevie Wonder.
And now, he’s tackling the big screen and performing all his own stunts... which mean he's also Jackie Chan.
He's Donald Wonder-Chan.

For “Shadow – The Dark Side of Truth” Khan co-produces, acts, sings, dances, and performs a series of incredible stunts (ahem, you heard me right the first time: without the help of a stuntman). We line produced a good portion of this film and were blown away by his story and his performance. Apparently we weren’t the only ones - his beautiful co-stars Sonali Kulkarni and Hrishita Bhatt had nothing but praises for the man who Bhatt said was “a dream person to work with."




Yes, the movie is deliberately (and overtly) being marketed for the appeal of Khan’s real life story (he is, after all, a businessman first). But no, it does not come into the actual film where the integrity of the story and the rest of the cast is well maintained. This is an intense, energetic, and novel Bollywood action film and we highly recommend you checking it out – especially the parts in Bangkok!

*Author’s notes:

The movie was just released in India last week, so it won't be available right away for most of us, but I'll keep you posted as that changes.

I'm including this picture of "Shadow" stars Nasser Khan and Hrishita Bhatt for many many many of my own reasons:

Also... I will assume you didn’t actually try any of things I suggested when we started… but if you did, I hope you’ve cleaned up the floor, put away your work shirt and bicycle shorts, and I hope you were wearing a helmet. And from now on leave the wild stunts to the people who are actually visually impaired and know how to do them.