Ben Simms talks Undertaker vs. New Day.
This past October, WWE released a Netflix exclusive interactive movie where fans were able to take Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Big E through the haunted home of the Undertaker in an effort to try and capture the power of the urn.
A supernatural fight that included mystical power potions, lightning powers, mind games, and more would break out near the end of the film.
Speaking to Jeff Ames of Coming Soon, director Ben Simms discussed putting together the fight sequence and why many of the "great" moments ended up on the cutting room floor.
"I really enjoyed choreographing and shooting the fight scene. Having characters that are essentially their own stunt doubles was such a luxury. We had an incredible stunt team working in conjunction with the performers that knew their capabilities and how to push those. As a result of the timing between choices and the age demographic, we ended up really having to tone down some of the fight and lost some great moments to time… Hopefully, someday there will be a version of the full sequence."
A huge part of the interactive Netflix film was the utilization of old film from the WWE library as well as drawing from the backstory and lore of The Undertaker persona. Speaking of this, Ben noted that 30 years of backstory allowed him to flesh out a fun story for all involved while staying true to the character.
"You can always add to the back story. The Undertaker has a lengthy history of over 30 years and we were still able to fill in and add to some of the lore surrounding such an iconic character. If you stay true to the character and build upon that, it can be very exciting and can add a lot of depth to the character and the story."
Undertaker previously spoke about his concerns that there would be too much of a character class between The New Day and The Undertaker persona. You can read his comments here.
