Behind the Scenes of ECO’s Favorite Action Scene

This week Eric Christian Olsen was kind enough to tell us his favorite Deeks action scene, the MMA fight from “Hand-to-Hand.” If you haven’t seen his video explanation, you really should check out the delightful silliness that he and Daniela Ruah shared. As for the “Hand-to-Hand” scene, Eric explained that it was the first one he shot for the show, and that it was “like a lifelong dream for a kid that grew up in the Midwest and loves LL Cool J.”

I’ve always felt this was an important scene for his character, mostly because it’s his first real interaction with Sam Hanna and the beginning of that sometimes contentious relationship. But when I came across this behind the scenes video shot by Frank Shamrock, one of the many real MMA fighters on hand as extras, it added new levels of appreciation for what went into the shoot. In the video, Frank talks with the other fighters while catching many snippets of LL Cool J and Eric as they relaxed between takes, practiced the fight choreography, and then did some actual filming. Take a look…

The fight scene didn’t quite make my Top 3 Action!Deeks Scenes, but mostly because I had already discussed it at length in the Top 3 Deeks/Sam Scenes. I was so glad to hear the shoot was a positive experience for Eric since the video shows that it was also pretty intense. He had to feel so much pressure, what with it being his first scene on a show where he hadn’t even been hired as a regular yet, all while acting with a childhood icon and handling a ton of fight choreography. It’s actually pretty impressive that the MMA guys assumed he was a stuntman- he must have pulled off the physical aspects of the scene with a high level of skill.

Be sure to come back soon for the latest Q&A with Eric. And keep sending us your questions labeled #askECO, either here on the site comments, via twitter, or on Instagram.