A Monologue by Rick Sledge (THE CHALLENGER)

     My names Rick Sledge… I was recruited to fight in the Iraq war in 2003. I was a green beret. I risked my life for the sake of others. Lucas Wolf was a mercenary in the war, and he held a crate that contained a weapon with no serial number on it. It was untackable. Wolf is a killer and I couldn’t let him keep the crate. I kept thinking to myself, “Imagine what would happen after the war if Wolf had this gun. Many people would die because I gave it up.” I didn’t want that kind of blood on my hands. When I made it back to LA in 2005, I had a hard time adjusting to life behind the warzone. That’s when the Captain of the LAPD approached me with a job. He wanted me to become a detective and work alongside Tom McCoy. I hesitated at first, but thanks to the help of my girlfriend, Brooklyn, I decided to take the job.

     For years I worked with McCoy, until one day when Lucas Wolf came after me. He wanted the crate back so he could do the crime without doing the time. Wolf then kidnapped both my girlfriend and my trusty partner and threatened to murder them. I was a man who always followed the law by the book. Until that day. I managed to reach Wolf and take down his men. But then…Then… He killed them. He crossed the line and I was angry. So I grabbed him by the throat and held him over the building. He begged for his life, saying that I couldn’t kill him because I was a cop. I didn’t care about the law at that moment, all I cared about was justice and revenge. So I threw him off the building. I though he was dead. But his body was never found. That moment was the day that I became “THE CHALLENGER.”

I now followed my own rules… “If you’re Bad… You’re Dead.” I didn’t let any criminals get in my way. I gave criminals a chance to go to prison. But if they challenged me… I fired back. I don’t believe in warrants… I believe that “Proof is overrated.” If you know where the criminal is and what he’s done, why do you need warrants? Because a book says so? I don’t think so. I still am a man of the law, but in a different way. Justice can be defined in many ways. The criminal doesn’t have to be alive for justice to be served. Most of the time they are better off dead. The Challenger has no rules, no limitations. That’s why the criminals fear me. They don’t know what I will do next.

- Rick Sledge (The Challenger) Monologue was written by Andrew Di Pardo

PS: This monologue does not connect to "The Challenger 3:Urban Outlaw (Which premiers on December 6th)"

MAN OF WAR - July to September 2013

         Filming for "MAN OF WAR" began during the "The Challenger:Unlimited" sessions in July of this year when Aramis Pacitto went on a trip to Muskoka, Ontario. The basic story of "Man of War" is: "The CIA needs someone with experience to handle their latest assignment... So they go on the hunt for a former CIA operative who is 41 years old, retired but not dead. He is as deadly as they come. His name is: James Ryan AKA Colt." On July 1st (Canada day), Aramis Pacitto began acting for the first time as James Ryan in a flash back scene, where Ryan says his famous line "I may be retired but I'm not dead." Since I didn't go with Aramis on that trip, I was unable to watch the scene live. But a day after it was filmed and edited I got a email from Aramis with the scene attached. That was all that was filmed in July, next was in August when Aramis and his family went to Miami, Florida. Aramis Pacitto got to drive the new Lamborghini Avantor for a scene at the end of Man Of War. 

       "It's like being in the cockpit of a stealth jet- what a rush - I don't no how I'm gonna go back," Aramis said about his experience driving the Lamborghini. Aramis and his camera crew, Delaina, Mikayla & Frank Pacitto went on a long journey in Miami to film the cinematic parts of the story. They filmed everything you  can imagine to make this film great, the only thing they were missing was the action and the introduction of the head of the CIA, Derek played by Angelo Di Pardo and Faye La Perla played by Angela Di Pardo... So that's where I come in. On

September 6th 2013, It was day 1 on the Man Of War set for me and I had to act, film & direct. It was a tough 4 hour shoot with Chika Mafiana (famous for playing Walker in "The Challenger 2") as Agent Johnathon and Aramis Pacitto as James Ryan. Before I get to the filming aspect, I forgot to mention that I was also the hair designer for the day. I had to put the gray in Aramis Pacitto's hair to make him look 41 and that took a good 20 minutes to get it perfect.

         Once the hair issue was resolved, it was time for me to act as Doctor Stoaks in the first scene of the film. So I began to run through the bushes in the forest and Aramis was the cameraman and he followed behind me, but I was so fast that I lost the cameraman and we had to do it again. I was like "THE FLASH" in that take. So after Aramis found a way to keep up with me I had to pretend to get shot and fall off the cliff. I did and it looks like I may have died, but rest assured it was only acting. Next I had to get back behind the camera and film the rest of the scene with Chika and Aramis. Chika was once again great, he was not playing Walker for the first time and was able to adjust like a snap of the finger. As for Aramis, he was also great, he pulled off playing a 41 year old like no 21 year old has done before.

        Our next filming day was September 8th with Angelo Di Pardo as CIA boss, Derek, Angela Di Pardo as Faye La Perla, me as "The man at the bar" & Aramis Pacitto as James Ryan. Angela and Angelo had instant chemistry when they were acting in their respected roles at the time. Maybe its because they're married... But it looked professionally done and we had a lot of bloopers that will be released on the DVD... DVD for us means Youtube, since we don't have the funding from our $0 production to make a real DVD. There was one blooper for me that stuck out and that was when Angelo forgot a line and sang a line from one of Duran Duran's songs called "My Own Way." After that scene was complete, Angelo's work was done, but Angela and Aramis still had a scene to do.

        It was a scene that was supposed to take place at 12am, but instead we filmed it at 10am and made it look like night... We have a lot of tricks up our sleeves. Everything went well in that scene except when Angela took a page out of the "Young and the restless" and grabbed Aramis's arm and in dramatic

Sop-opera type style and said "Denise - VAN - HOSE." But aside from that, the scene was a good dramatic scene. Next on our to do list was the final scene on our list, the ally scene with Anthony Digiovanni and Matthew Quan-Yin. Those two were playing 2 hoodlums that thought they were going to steal some old mans money, but they ended up running into James Ryan who beat the living daylights out of them with a crowbar and his Colt gun. We filmed that scene in public with weapons and this time we didn't get arrested... Thank God. "Man of War" will be released on October 4th.

- Andrew Di Pardo

PS: Aramis Pacitto himself will be writing a post on his experience next week.