Director Oz Rodriguez Says ‘Miguel Wants to Fight’ Seeks To Turn Tyler Dean Flores Into One Strong Fighter

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Miguel Wants to Fight, the latest comedy for Hulu, showcases Tyler Dean Flores and his quest to become the word’s strongest fighter.

The animated and action packed comedy stars Miguel, (Tyler Dean Flores) and his quest on becoming One Punch Miguel. Miguel takes inspiration from popular anime and depictions of strength even though he himself lacks much of it in the beginning.

Tagging along with his three best friends David (Christian Vunipola), Cass (Imani Lewis) and Srini (Suraj Partha) things change for Miguel as he faces the possibility of losing his friends as he moves away. Aiming to change that outcome, the group of high school juniors enter a series of misadventures as Miguel looks to get into his very first fight before moving away.

'Miguel Wants To Fight' fight scene. Courtesy of Hulu.
‘Miguel Wants To Fight’ fight scene. Courtesy of Hulu.

 

The coming of age movie is filled with references to fighting legends in media including Bruce Lee, Mortal Kombat, One Punch Man, and many more. Cutting through real life and animated experiences, 17-year-old Miguel looks to the powerful figures from fantasy movies and action heroes for strength.

In a conversation with What’s Trending, Director Oz Rodriguez stated, “It is at the end of the day a comedy, so I wanted to make sure all of the jokes landed and we cast all the right people that could make all the jokes sing but also we wanted to find the right people for the cast that made these characters believable.”

And when it came to pulling off an action film, Rodriguez admits that it was no easy feat to accomplish.

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'Miguel Wants To Fight' fight scene. Courtesy of Hulu.
‘Miguel Wants To Fight’ fight scene. Courtesy of Hulu.

“Every day there was someone throwing a punch. The big action scenes were really challenging but really fun to do. It’s something we prepped for months to try to accomplish,” the director stated. The director also went on to admit, “Kudos to the actors, especially Tyler, who thought they were signing up for a fun comedy and then I’m like ‘hey by the way you have to train for a month and a half to be like Bruce Lee.'”

Rodriguez, known for a lot of his comedic takes from SNL, told What’s Trending that he had a strong grasp on the comedy but wanted to make sure the action scenes not only felt believable but “cool.”

'Miguel Wants To Fight' fight scene. Courtesy of Hulu.
‘Miguel Wants To Fight’ animated scene. Courtesy of Hulu.

“I come from SNL, i’ve done a lot of comedy so I felt really comfortable there. […] I really wanted to make sure the action felt good because that was completely new to me.”

Rodriguez even admits that he did extensive research, prep, and so much more to make sure the cast and crew were prepared for production.

“It’s a different sort of muscle the way action scenes are shot versus comedic scenes. I went deep, I talked to stunt performers, I heard interviews with Chad Stahelski the director of the John Wicks […] and we really worked our buns off.”

Miguel Wants to Fight debuts on Hulu August 16th.

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