November 2013... A project was already in production (Innocent Gun) and two more were being thrown into the mix, The Challenger 4 & The Challenger 5. We were going to film all the interiors for both of those films simultaneously, since it was winter outside and we couldn't make it look like LA. Before filming began, we cut the first 7 pages of the script right out! Aramis and I looked at these scenes and realized there was no real purpose to it, other than its an action scene. It was going to take up a lot of screen time and it would have made the film a movie, something we didn't want to do yet. So with that cut, we filmed the first scene of the film where Rick Sledge (Aramis Pacitto) approaches captain Mora (Mike Covello) and quits the LAPD because theres something he has to fight crime. Of course he didn't tell Mora this, because Mora wants The Challenger in cuffs and saying that would do just that. During that same day we filmed another scene where Mr. Blacks (Villain that has never been on screen yet) thug kidnaps Mora. Next step was back to the past in December where we filmed Liia Kajak's cameo as Brookyln Astor. The scene takes place in 2002 right before Sledge joins the army. That was it for the 2013 filming...
January 2014, production resumed with a scene featuring Ricci (Dino Mazza) giving a speech to Mora that reveals secrets that the captain was unaware of. We also had Sledge & Gunnerson on set that day and we filmed a death scene. Which of the three hero's fell you ask? You'll have to wait until September 6 to find out. The rest of January we were filming "The Challenger 4: Urban Legend." Then in February, we were back on set with Lucas Wolf (Darius Ban). It was a really good scene, The Challenger pays him a visit in his cell and says one of his most iconic lines of the film... " Whats more deadly? The Gun or the thought?" Onto March... On the 11th of the month, new cameraman Matthew Johnson came to the set and filmed the final battle between, Lawman (me), Wolf, The Challenger & Walker (Chika Mafiana). It was a great scene, two fights going on at the same time... Plus an emotional death.
Towards the end of the month, we filmed another scene in the cellar. A fight that is featured in the trailer between Wolf, Walker and The Challenger. It's in my opinion the best fight of the film. Then in April, we returned to the "Ricci Lair" for the first time since "The Challenger 3:Urban Outlaw." We filmed all the scenes with the Dark Triad in one day, featuring their agreement to make form the unit and their inner conflicts. We also filmed a scene where the Lawman (AKA Gunnerson) and The Challenger go after Ricci to get some info... Sorry no more details can be reveled about that scene. On that day we also filmed a scene that I refer to as Provenzano's (Angelo Di Pardo) return to power... We would go back to the lair one more day to film Ricci's final scene of the film.On June 8 we returned to the cellar where Rick Sledge, trains Gunnerson for combat. The scene features target shooting and pull-ups. Aramis and I worked out for a few months to get into shape for this scene. Aramis got to the size he wanted and he told me how to get to the size I needed for the scene. Another scene we filmed later that month was a fight between Wolf and The Challenger in the woods. It was a great fight scene and one of the best of the film. In July we wrapped filming with a few scenes with the 1973 Dodge Charger. We have night driving power-slides and day driving. That was one of the things "The Challenger 4" was missing and that was the car driving. The car driving plus the character growth of the villains and the heros plus the amazing fight scenes is why this film is a must watch. You can't miss it, its our best film yet and it will be released on September 6. This has been marketed as the series finale... But lets just say it's not a series finale, its a season finale.
- Andrew Di Pardo
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