The ongoing Skyline saga continues in its third installment, Skylines. Continuing where the first sequel, Beyond Skyline, left off, this new adventure sees an elite strike team of soldiers head to outer space in an effort to prevent an alien threat that could unbalance the precarious peace between the remnants of humanity and alien refugees on Earth. The team is led by Daniel Bernhardt's character, Owens, who has a secret agenda of his own that threatens the success of the mission, which naturally leads to high-stakes battles over the fate of Earth and its varied inhabitants.
Daniel Bernhardt got his start in Hollywood when he, in his words, "Played Van Damme" in the low-budget sequels to the popular action film, Bloodsport, and also starred in the short-lived cult classic syndicated TV series, Mortal Kombat: Conquest. He quickly became a frequent collaborator with Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, most notably working with them on John Wick, where he plays one of the only characters in the entire franchise to actually beat the eponymous hero in a fight, throwing him off the balcony in the film's iconic nightclub battle. In Skylines, he plays a hardened soldier, broad-shouldered and devoted to his mission at all costs.
While promoting the release of Skylines, Daniel Bernhardt spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the film, as well as his unique career trajectory in Hollywood. He talks about his short film, Fetch, which was featured as a segment in the anthology collection, Blood, Sweat, and Terrors, and floats the possibility of writing, directing, and starring in his own action movie. He's someone who goes with the flow, letting his career lead him on an adventure through the movie business, whether he's acting opposite A-list stars, coordinating fight scenes for some of Hollywood's most high-octane action movies, or teaching Bob Odenkirk how to be a badass in the upcoming thriller, Nobody.
Skylines is out now in theaters, digital, and VOD.
I've gotta say, Skylines truly kicks into super overdrive when you have your big one-on-one fight, and then it just doesn't let up until the very end. I love it!
The fight I do with Zhi (Cha-Lee Yoon), is very special to me. The guy who plays Zhi is a good friend of mine, Cha. He is an expert martial artist and fight coordinator. And he came up to me and goes, "Daniel, how do you feel about doing an homage to the old Kung Fu movies?" I was, like, "Yeah, that would be amazing!" He's an expert at it, I'm pretty good at it, and we choreographed it together. We said, "How about this?" and "How about that?" a lot. We added some kicks to it, and it became a really fun fight like a Hong Kong movie.
That fight, specifically, is a moment... When me and my friends are free from Coronavirus lockdown and can hang out again, I'm going to show them this movie, just so I can look at their faces when the fight breaks out, because it's so awesome. You think your character is just going to knock him out or kill him or something, but he fights back and it's so great!
What Liam did with Beyond Skyline, he mixed genres. He added action to sci-fi, and I think that's a really nice combination. Skyline is an amazing sci-fi franchise, and I think the third one is very unique. I keep hearing the same thing, everybody talks about it like a stand-alone movie, which I totally agree.
Totally.
It's so well done, it looks like a big movie! I think it can hold up with the big movies, which I'm very excited about. And then you suddenly have two guys doing Kung Fu fighting! How cool is that?
Exactly! And it's also, for you, I think action fans have seen you and been, like, "It's that guy!" But now, I feel like you're finally having your moment where you're becoming a big shot, right?
Oh, thank you so much! You know what? I was very blessed. I don't know if you know my past, but I was very blessed. When I came to Los Angeles, basically my first movie was the lead role in Bloodsport II. I played Van Damme. That was amazing! For the first five years of my career, I starred in lower-budget action movies. That taught me a lot. I learned a lot. And then I switched over to more action roles in movies like John Wick and Atomic Blonde. Now that I'm a little bit older and more experienced, it's all coming together and I have the chance to do acting and fighting and being in even bigger movies.
I've got a thousand questions about The Matrix, but I'm sure you can answer zero of them, so I'll just skip that!
Well, I can answer one!
Okay... Tell me about the whole release change, since it's going to be on HBO Max on the same day as theaters. Are you down with that, or do you feel that this is a big screen movie?
I think it's both. It's going to be in theaters and on HBO Max. And I think you have to go with the flow. Times change. Things change. Things are different right now. It's a different world. I'm sure the movie is still going to do amazing. I'm looking forward, personally, to seeing it in theaters, once or twice at least. And then I'll watch it again on HBO Max! If you can, watch it in theaters, and if you can't, watch it at home. But still, watch it, you know?
Some of my favorite movies from my lifetime, I didn't discover until home video and streaming, so I kick myself that I didn't see them in theaters. I live in New York, so I'm not comfortable going to the movies yet.
Skylines is in theaters as well, right?
Yes.
So I hope people get the chance to see it in theaters. But if they're not comfortable, at least watch it on VOD, which is amazing, too. They did such an amazing job with the visual effects, and we had an incredible DP who made the movie look so good! It deserves to be watched on a big screen.
For sure.
But if you can't, at least watch it on VOD!
You've been part of this club that, I guess started with The Matrix, with David Leitch and Chad Stahelski and that whole crew. You turned heads in John Wick because you're the only person in that whole movie who fights Keanu and wins! Well, the first time.
To this day, I think I'm the only one who one who actually beat John Wick! In the club fight. I'm very proud of that. I think, after that, they said, "I don't think Keanu should lose again!" (Laughs) I'm very proud of that. It was a smaller movie back then. John Wick 1 was a smaller movie, and it turned out to be a fantastic film and everyone just fell in love with it. It became a cult movie. So I'm lucky to have been part of it.
And you're in a new movie, the trailer just came out, Nobody, that you worked on as well, right?
I'm the co-fight coordinator. And I'm the one who taught Bob Odenkirk for around two years. I taught him martial arts, I taught him screen fighting, and I was co-fight coordinator. And I also play a little part in it. You can actually see me in the trailer, I'm on the bus. I almost have a shaved head. I did, like, a crew cut. There's a scene where Bob hits the guy three times in the face with hammer fists? That's me. I like to change my look in every movie. My look in Skylines is very clean cut, I've got the shaved head on the sides, and then Nobody is completely different.
In Skylines, you feel like you came out of a 1980s Cannon film, if you remember those...
Of course I do! I was around in those days! I remember those. That was kind of cool, and something Liam wanted. He is in love with those films. The very opening, when me and Leon meet, we do this kind of arm-slap thing, like in Predator. We like to do homage to those kinds of movies, which are still my favorite kinds of movies. Those movies are just fantastic. We tried to bring a little bit of that into Skylines. As much as we could.
You're a multi-hyphenate. You act, you fight, you coordinate fights, and you train people. Is there one that you find particularly rewarding, or do you like mixing it up and doing all of it?
I like to work. I like to do it all. My mentors, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, always told me, "do everything." The more you do, the better you get. If you direct, you become a better actor. If you act, you become a better director. If you write, you become better. It's all hand-in-hand. If you're a fight coordinator, you'll be a better performer. That's why I took the challenge to teach Bob Odenkirk. It was a challenge for me to teach somebody else. Find a guy who's never done anything like this, and make him look good. That was a challenge for me, you know?
Did you train him in terms of food and exercise as well?
Everything. I trained him for fitness, and for martial arts. But mostly for martial arts screen fighting to prepare for the movie. That was very important. But to go back to your question, I really like to do action movies. That's really my world. My favorite part is something like Skylines, where I can do the acting and the fighting. When I can do both. If I do a part where I'm just a fighting guy or just a stuntman, it's still fun, but I prefer if I can actually create a character. I think, in the last few years, people have brought me in because I'm good at that. I like to do that! I like to bring something to each character. A different look, a different personality, a different accent. I was very lucky with Skylines. When Liam invited me to join the cast, he was really excited. He knew my movies, he thought I was really cool, he wanted me to do a good job with the acting as well as the fighting. It was a perfect combination.
You've directed, as well. A short film called Fetch, that's in the anthology movie, Blood, Sweat, and Terrors. The way you're describing your career, your trajectory, am I guessing or is the next step for you writing and directing and starring in your own action movie?
That's it, 100%. And it's funny that you ask me that question, because there's something in the works. I'm not sure yet, but it's in the works. I wrote, directed, and produced my short, 14 years ago. I did it with all my buddies. Chad and David. But my career took a different turn. Suddenly, I just got offered a lot of really good parts, and I was like, "Hey, I've gotta go with the flow." There was a door opening, and I took that door and did more parts. Directing is something I love and I want to do and I'm working on it.
That's awesome, and until then, your fans get to see you in Skylines!
I work very hard, but I'm very lucky that I still have opportunities, that people call me up and ask me to be in their movies. Hopefully, I can be part of a puzzle and make the movies a little bit better. I'm really excited about Skylines. I think Liam did an amazing job. I think it's going to be a very good movie-going experience for the audience. Sci-fi, martial arts, great acting, great story, great conflict. I think it's something very unique.
Skylines is out now in theaters, digital, and VOD.