A woman with mysterious time freezing powers infiltrate a dirty car workshop in hopes of gaining information about a nefarious gangster. The mechanics are not compliant to her request and an epic and time-bending fight ensues.

Director’s Vision for ‘Temporal Takedown’

Between bigger projects, a Netflix film and three seasons of a TV series, I felt the itch to go back to basics and make something with my hands. No safety net, no committee, just a group of talented friends and a desire to create something undeniably kick-ass.

I’ve always loved the raw, bone-crunching fight choreography of films like The Raid and the inventive visual language of Everything Everywhere All at Once. Temporal Takedown was born from wanting to combine that kind of brutality and speed with a simple sci-fi hook: what if you could freeze time, but only for one second?
That concept became the engine of the whole film. We baked the time-freeze directly into the choreography. Sarah doesn’t just fight four people, she manipulates their frozen bodies mid-action, turning their own momentum against them. The rule was simple: everything had to be practical. No stunt doubles. The cast designed and performed all the choreography themselves.
We shot the entire film in three days in a car workshop in Oslo for about $1,800. The crew was me, the actors, one DP, two lighting guys and an assistant. I ended up being wardrobe, makeup, catering and AD on top of directing. We took turns holding the boom because we didn’t have a sound person.

What saved us was the previz. We spent weeks designing the choreography, then filmed the entire fight on a phone in a gym and edited it together. That became our bible on set. We knew every beat, every angle, every transition before we showed up on day one. I will never shoot a fight scene without a previz again.
I feel like we only scratched the surface of what the time-freeze concept can do. There’s so much more to explore. More breakable stuff, more creative gags, bigger stakes. Scott Adkins saw the film and asked “when are we making the feature?” I’d love to find out.
Temporal Takedown was made to be a showcase for everyone involved. I think we pulled it off.