Warning: The following contains spoilers for Army of the Dead
Samantha Win has done stunts and played small roles in almost every Zack Snyder film since Sucker Punch, but Army of the Dead marks her step into the spotlight with Chambers, one of the members of Dave Bautista's zombie-killing heist team. Zack Snyder movies are known for often using many of the same cast and crew in his films, especially when it comes to the stunt team, and Army of the Dead was their moment to shine, both with Samantha Win as Chambers and Rich Cetrone as the main alpha zombie, Zeus.
Between playing a Kryptonian in Man of Steel, an Amazon in Wonder Woman and Zack Snyder's Justice League, and a number of stunt roles including stunt double for Jena Malone in Sucker Punch and Eva Green in 300: Rise of an Empire, she not only knows her way around Snyder sets, but how to produce the kind of visceral action the Snyder is famous for. She credits Damon Caro and others on Snyder's stunt team for her education in producing cinematic action, but she already learned a great deal on her own, with an extensive martial arts background, including her participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a part of the Canadian wushu team.
In Army of the Dead, Win's Chambers comes to the team as a close friend of the zombie killing YouTube sensation, Guzman (Raul Castillo), and while she's one of the first members of the team to get killed off, she goes out in the biggest blaze of glory, earning one of the biggest zombie kill counts of any of the team members. Samantha Win sat down with Screen Rant to talk about Chambers, what it was like working in a new role with familiar faces, and the future of her own career.
Screen Rant: You've got a lot of experience working on Zack's sets. Some people have referred to this movie as a palate cleanser or said the handcuffs were off for him, but then on your end, you have a different role being a part of the main cast instead of stunts. So how was Army's set different from your past experience on Snyder's films?
Win: You could definitely feel an air of creative freedom on the set. So I think that the inkling you had was correct in that,you know, before you’d hear whispers of “oh, we can't do this, oh they said we can't do that, we can't do this,” or “oh, no this part will likely need to be cut down. But none of those talks were being had on the set while we were on Army. I feel like Zack got to create and play and shoot what he wanted and then creative decisions what happened later based on what he and Debbie and everyone liked for the film, but it wasn't as restrictive as he felt with his previous films. So I think that and then also the pressure of, I'm sure, the DC Universe and already established characters and an already established fan base having certain expectations versus an original film where he's the creator and he's the director and he's the DP and he was even the camera operator, so I'm sure on his side he was having that creative freedom and it was very much felt by us on set. And from the performer's aspect, he’s always a lively, vivacious, colorful person, but you could really feel that on army. I think the way that he was able to play and work with the actors in a low pressure setting was really fun for us. I feel like everyone's ideas were taken seriously and played with. No one had a bad idea. Everyone got to have fun and partake in the decision-making part of it. It wasn't a DC executive or certain executives with a certain mold that each actor already had to fit for these pre-established characters. It was very much between the actor and Zack to create the characters for the first time, which was really, really fun.
Was there any specific stamp that you got to put on Chambers beyond what was in the initial script?
Win: I'd like to think so! It's hard to know exactly what Zack had in mind when he was starting out, but the bandanna, for instance, is something that I love about my character. It seems like people seem to think that's a cool part of the wardrobe as well. But that was, at least in the character art, it was more tied on top of the head. And, given my background of the stunts, and just given my casting versus a different actress, we decided to go across the forehead and go full tough Style with braids and bandana and combat boots. I feel like each character took on a life based on what actor was cast for it, which I thought was great to work with your strengths instead of trying to fit a person into a drawing or a mold to really use the full potential of each person.
That's funny for the bandana because I remember when the first cast photo came out people had a strong reaction to that because it looked like Vasquez from Aliens. So if that wasn't part of the original design is that something that was unintentional, or did that come along later?
On my part it was unintentional, but I have heard Zack quote aliens as an inspiration for Army of the Dead several times, so maybe I was like “oh, should I wear like this?” obliviously, but he was like “yes!” and I didn't know why it was such an easy answer for him, but I wouldn't put it past him. I'm pretty sure he was very aware of what he was doing and it's just that I was an idiot.
Well it worked out great. I think that's an interesting point about the character’s look because I thought it was funny in that first scene where the whole crew is together in the warehouse and Dave says “who here hasn't killed a zombie?” So, of course, Dieter is who everyone expects to raise his hand, but Chambers looks so tough, yet you also put up your hand. It was a little bit of a surprise, especially because later when you get your scene, she doesn't really hold back any punches at all. You kind of go straight for the knife, like, right away. Meanwhile, Dieter took the whole movie to kind of get used to zombie killing.
Yeah, it wasn't in the script, so it was just something I got to create for myself and I was talking with Raul about perhaps what our backgrounds were and along with the YouTube influencer part I think it would make sense if we were also gamers, and so we kind of ran with that. Just between each other. And I knew that it was in the script that I raise my hand that I have never killed a zombie before, but obviously given my background I got this cool action sequence where I'd be able to kill a bunch of them, so how does this make sense? And in my mind I think Chambers played a lot of, like, VR shooting games and I think She got practice in other areas. Another thing I thought about, but I think keeping it to the game is more in line with the character, but just because you haven't killed zombies before doesn't mean you haven't killed people. There are a lot of ways I think, especially coming from chambers and Guzman's circumstances and economic background, I think the sky is the limit with where she might have learned something like that. But I really like the idea of VR, possibly some Arizona Sunshine. That would make perfect sense.
That's great. I actually just talked to Damon Caro about that scene in another interview. He said to send his best when I told him I was talking to you, too . He said it was a gift to be able to work with an actor who is also familiar with the stunts, so you made his job easier, but what was it like on your end to be able to do the entirety of the performance instead of doubling for someone else?
It was a whole new kind of experience for me, and likewise, I considered it a gift to be able to shoot that with Damon because he was actually the person on Sucker Punch back when I was a stunt double that was really teaching me how to apply my martial arts to on-camera fighting, so if there is a style in the world that I would embody or that I trained in or attempted to embody, it would be Damon Caro’s style because he was quite literally the one training and bringing me up and molding me into an on-screen player, so the fact that I got to perform it with him behind the camera and him at the monitors was a really neat moment in life. And also, perhaps because I see him kind of like a father figure here in LA, when I first came out here to work I was so young I didn't even have a credit card yet and it hadn't occurred to me, because I guess I was an idiot, that I couldn’t buy food without either American cash or credit card And so I just had, like, Canadian cash, I was not prepared. So he gave me cash out of his own pocket so I could get groceries and buy food from here. And he made sure I had a hotel near his house so I would be safe because I was young and because of that I think I do have an instinctual feeling of wanting to make him proud and wanting to make Zack proud and it was so good in the opportunity to run a whole fight staying in character with his fighting tactics and a style that I'm hoping he appreciates because I tried to learn it from him, it was a really personal moment for me as well.
That's really cool. It's always so neat to see the more you follow Zack’s movies and you look at the crew that follows him to each movie and you get to see not just what he's doing, but you see the development of everyone else around him as well. I actually personally always look to his short film Snow Steam Iron as an indicator of who Zack calls when he wants to shoot a film with an iPhone over the weekend. So what was it like working on that project? Because that was another one that featured you at the front and it’s sort of esoteric, like how did he describe that movie to you? I don't even know how to pitch that.
For me it was the beginning of a new chapter with Zack because every part before was very stunt related or stunt acting and that was the first one where it was the lead actress part, and yes, there was some fights and action bits with it but it was very much, you know, the leader of the short. And I did not expect it by any means because it's not like there was any precedent set for it, so the first moment when he called I was like “hello?” because I didn't have his number stored because he never called me for anything, and when he said it was Zack I was like “oh my God” and then I went into professional mode and he was describing the story to me and it just sounded so beautiful and I was listening for “and then this crazy stunt happens, would you be interested?” But he just told me the whole story, The emotional journey of the character, and then at the end of it he said that he'd written it with me in mind and asked would I be interested? And he couldn't see it, but I just started crying on the phone, while maintaining a super steady professional voice, of course. And I felt so honored and touched. He had known through other people, I think, that I was interested in acting and that I was doing theater and classes and really pursuing it on my own, so it was extremely generous for him to have given me that opportunity with Snow Steam Iron. And when I was on set for that I think it was a uniquely perfect experience for a new actor working with a big director because it was all of the familiar faces who had very much felt like friends and family and there are people who I knew loved me already, so I think the pressure of disappointing or the pressure of someone's going to yell at you or you're going to get fired all of those fears get far less and I really felt like I was in a safe environment to be able to grow, and hopefully not fail, but if I did, those are the people to fail in front of because I know that they know me and love me as any human at the end of the day, no matter what. So for those reasons and then for I'm sure the emotional reasons of the family at the time, I think it was very special for all of us and just being able to spend that time together and, you know, give our hugs and share experience and be creative together coming out of Justice League with everything going on. Yeah. That was beyond what I can describe in words.
And I know recently he's mentioned possibly developing a potential sequel, is that something you're familiar with that at all, did he talk to you about that yet?
Yeah. He did talk to me a while ago about it. And about the story. I don't know if the story has changed since then, but yes there is an idea for a sequel and there's no date set or anything yet, but yeah, I would definitely love to be a part of it. As an artist I think that was definitely one of the most fulfilling projects that I’ve gotten to have been a part of. Even if it was a short film and not quite on the grand scale that Army of the Dead was, for other reasons it was quite special to me. So to do it again it would be amazing. And just to see, kind of like you said, just how much everyone has grown again. Every few years you see the same faces on different projects and everyone's in slightly different places. I just need to see how that functions.
It's interesting because a lot of actors and directors are coming from stunt work now. I kind of associate it with Zack because I feel like a lot of the people involved in this trend kind of came together in 300 and then you can follow their careers branching off from that and you see it spread to the industry as a whole. And you get stuff like the John Wick franchise with Stahelski and Leitch and it's really cool to see that kind of creative control given to people who are primarily from stunts and who are getting to showcase a lot more of that stuff. So as a performer, are you looking to go into action stuff, or are there any other particular genres you want to branch into?
I actually knew I wanted to be an actress from a young age and my decision to even start wushu, which I was competitive in, was very much so that I would have some sort of specialty or some way of getting in the door when it came to acting. So yeah, my aspirations are to branch out creatively and do different kinds of roles and not just staying in the action genre kind of but at the same time, while I'm physically fit and capable... action is so ridiculously fun, why would I not want to do that right now! Especially when coming up within the stunt world and, like you said, so many former stunt coordinators and second unit directors are now becoming big-time directors, I feel like this is the time for that, so if there's ever a moment we're working as an actress in the action genre is ideal see, it would be now. So I'm definitely going to lean into that. And I love that you mentioned 300 for that because it’s something that I’ve thought about frequently. It seems like so many of the big action heads worked with Zack in 300 and it doesn't surprise me that all of these opportunities came out of that because I do feel like Zack creates an environment where you can grow and be creative and he lets people shine and he leans into people's strengths and I'm sure that in that environment all of those positive traits of Dave and Chad and Damon were all nurtured and now they've grown to be the directors and creators that they are today. So, between that and Quentin Tarantino giving Zoë Bell actress roles and using her in all of his projects, I feel so incredibly grateful for all of that trailblazing that happened because at that time I didn't think it was as possible for a stunt person to be able to make it into that world so successfully, but the more it happens I feel like the easier it will be for the next generation and so they have played such a part in making it possible for someone like me to be able to have a significant role and a big movie and hopefully I can pay it forward to the next generation because I do feel at the end of the day we're all humans and all actors are humans and all stunt people are humans, so why wouldn't a stunt person be able to do as much justice to a character as someone who only did acting. I think acting is very much a part of stunts still, so, yeah, I think there are a lot of hidden gems out there so I can't wait to open the doors even more for everyone.
It's really cool because I feel like the focus in the past has always been on actors that do their own stunts, and it still is in many ways, like with Tom Cruise, but now we're getting to a place where people are asking why there aren’t Academy Awards for stunts and stunt teams, and the industry is bringing more stunt people into acting roles, so it’s cool to see people who are the whole package getting cast.
For sure, and I'd like to salute the casting directors for being very much a part of that journey, too. I feel like casting is especially recently, become so inclusive to whether or not you are a stunt performer or an athlete or a minority or diverse in any sort of way from any country, I really feel like all things are considered now. Nothing is held against you. It's really about strengths for the character and so I do feel grateful. I feel like maybe that was a misconception that I was led to believe starting out is that certain prejudices would be held against me because I come from the stunts world. I can't speak to history, but all of the casting directors that I have met now have felt very warm and inclusive to me, so I appreciate it more than they know.
And in addition to your stunt work and your acting work, you've also produced and starred in a number of shorts. Does your background help your familiarity with what it takes to get a project off the ground, or how has that experience been?
Yeah, and funny enough I was very inspired by Snow Steam Iron. I know Zack's purpose was to bring it to art college in Pasadena to have a class to inspire young filmmakers to go out and create content with what they have because we all have phones and you can make films with your phones and so I did take a lesson from that and I thought, you know, I like storytelling and I like creating and I like experimenting and really anything creative and so I got my group together and I'm trying to learn along the way. My most recent one, thankfully I think it's the one I'm most proud of. I know there's a learning curve with everything, so maybe not everything that you see on IMDb I would release publicly, per se, but I'm very much proud of just doing it. I think there's a fear of failure that everyone has and we've got to get over that if we want to grow. You have to fall on your face a few times and get back up and move forward and that's the part I'm in right now. So, professionally, I'd love to take more acting roles and really find myself in that world, but eventually I would like to get into the storytelling creative part of it and I'm just trying to learn the ropes now where I can be a little more discreet about it and prepare. I want to have earned it. So I’m in my knowledge gaining experience right now.
Unwelcome, came out in 2020. So does that mean that in addition to learning to be a producer and put these together, were you also doing that during COVID?
Yes. I think I got antsy during COVID, so my partner and I were brainstorming stories that we could accomplish with a small group of people, so more intimate stories that we had amongst our bubble of people that we were safe seeing, but also comfortable taking tests and following protocols and yeah, we shot it during COVID, we wrote it during covid, we did the whole thing during COVID. And I am extremely proud of it. I think it's a fun watch and it's a short watch. It's only 11 minutes. And yeah, I'm very proud. I was the hair Department, the makeup Department, I co-wrote, and co-produced it. My partner directed it, and so yeah. It's a great experience.
It's always cool to see creativity and productivity come out of a scenario like that. Where it's like, well, is this year on hold, or what do we do with this time? So it's really cool to see some of that come out of that year. Was the idea a treatment you already had, or was that a story you came up with after you decided “let's go do something?”
It was a story that we came up with after we decided to “let's go do something.” We knew that there were certain messages that we did want to hit on. Complicity, for one of them, and we wanted to find a creative way to get that word out there, but to audiences that might not have otherwise been interested in the topic. Or if it sounds like a heavy sensitive material, eh, but if we put it in a world where it's fun and you know you're going to have a good time watching it anyways, maybe that would be a cool challenge for us. So we took that in mind and kind of developed it knowing where the story would go, but making sure that we hit on the messages we wanted to for it. I feel proud of the outcome of it. It was really fun crafting everything to get to the genre twist that kind of happens in the middle of it. Which, if anyone is not sure where it's going, it got completely turned on its head halfway through and then things make a little more sense and you have a little bit of fun.
That's the way the best ones go.
I hope so.
Now, one of the other... you did the work for this a long time ago, but it came out just in the past few months Is Zack Snyder's Justice League. His version came out and you had a much more prominent part in that and it's a character that has appeared in other movies. As this whole campaign is going on to get this movie released, how is it being one of the people who didn't get fully shown in the original? What is it like waiting for that to come out and then seeing your role fully realized?
You know, for his many people that have mentioned that to me, it didn't really occur to me because in my mind I think of all the other actors who weren't even in the theatrical cut at all, so I felt really grateful to have even made the theatrical cut and I almost, I mean I didn't forget what we shot, but I think it was a little lost on me the significance of the moment and how just having some of those in-between moments or the sequence running through the hallway and just small looks here and there with the queen how much it really does lend itself to the story and the connection to the characters. And so I think I wasn't expecting how much more prominent it would be. So there was a hesitancy and like “ oh yeah, they'll be a little bit more stuff,” but I was more excited to see the rest of the story because I had known how much had been chopped up and was just not the movie everyone shot. I know I was a smaller part of that, so I was more excited for Zack finally getting to show the world his version of it, especially after the years of fans supporting and rooting for him. I really felt like one of those, like a GameStop stock moments where the people have succeeded or Against All Odds accomplish something and that was the point that really hit with me, but of course after I saw the cut everyone was texting me and posting about it I was like “oh my God,” I felt extremely flattered and grateful all over again.
It's one of those things where maybe it would have been a little bit harder if you are fully aware. Like if you would see in this version and I took that away and then you had to kind of sit on that it's a lot different than having a pleasant surprise when it comes out.
Yeah. I think that's it. I hadn't been able to see it ahead of time so I didn't really realize what would be what was missing. What could have been.
What do you have coming next?
I have a short coming from a new director, Houston Yang. It will be his directorial debut. It's a super fun,adrenaline-inducing short that involves chasing drones and me climbing out of a window and riding on top of a Jaguar trying to shoot down a drone. Very intense high-impact short film. So that is exciting and Houston is definitely one to look out for. Amazing to work with.
Is that the one I may have seen on your Instagram that looked almost Mad Max-like because it was in the desert?
We shot in a dry lake bed, so it's a very Mad Max environment. Daniel Bernhardt is also starring in it and he's a legend in and of himself with, you know, Blood Sport and his huge body of action rules, so yeah. To work with that is an absolute pleasure.
Army of the Dead is now streaming on Netflix.
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June 04, 2021 at 12:10AM
