Author: Emma Loggins
Date: 2008-03-10

Interview:


A decorated US Army Veteran, Ron Blecker is the owner and founder of Def Con 5 Inc. Ron joined the US army at 17, and retired in 1998 at rank of First Sergeant. In his 15 years in the military he served as a member of the 2/75th Airborne Ranger Battalion, 23rd Infantry (Demilitarized Zone) Korea, Light Fighter Cadre 7th division, Special Operations Command, and also served as the team commander for the Special Reaction Team, Ft.Lewis. WA. Ron graduated from Ranger Class 14-84. He is Jump Master, Rappel Master and S.W.A.T tactics instructor qualified. Def Con 5 is a film company that provides weapons trained performers and military and police consultants to the motion picture and television industry. You can see his most recent work in the Hitman (out on dvd March 11, 2008)

We had the honor of sitting down with Ron to talk about what all his job entails, his most challenging project, and why he has to keep quite about the new X Files film! Here's what he had to say:


Can you talk a little bit about your background, and what it is that you do on movies such as Hitman?

Well, I'm based out of Vancouver, but I'm an American citizen. I'm from Rockford, Illinois. I spent 15 years in the United States Army. I was a member of the Special Operations Command particularly the Airborne Rangers out of Fort Lewis, and after my tour in the military, I got out and two weeks later I received a phone call to work in the motion picture industry.

I got started in the industry working on The X Files for Chris Carter. My job is to work with actors and writers, and answer any questions that they may have. I also work with directors, they asked how a scene looks, and I let them know. If it looked like crap, I'll tell them it looked like crap, and then they'll yell cut, and we'll do it again. If I said it looked good, then we'll move on.

How is it working with the actors that you work with? Is it difficult to get them to understand how they need to react with a certain situation or handle a certain weapon?

No not at all. One of the beauties of the job is that I'm the guy that the actors want to talk to. Sometimes I can't shake them off. The casts have typically always been great. In the beginning I had some problems just talking to people, because I had spent most of my adult life in the US Army. I found that I was a little abrupt and abrasive with people [laughs]. So I learned that you can't talk to people that way. Even back then the casts were understanding, but I'm always the guy they definitely want to have around. It's great.