An Edmonton stunt performer is celebrating after winning an Emmy for his role in Shōgun.
Martin Cochingco has been in numerous productions as a stunt performer, including The Last of Us, Deadpool and Wolverine and Avatar: The Last Airbender. But it was his most recent work on Shōgun that he won an award for.
The TV series is a historical drama based on the 1975 novel of the same name. Filming took place in 2021 and 2022 in B.C., including Vancouver, Port Moody and Coquitlam.
Shōgun won 14 Emmy awards, including outstanding cinematography for a series, outstanding music composition for a series and outstanding stunt performance.
Cochingco, along with Hiroo Minami, Nobuyuki Obikane and Johnson Phan, won for their stunt work in episode four, “The Eightfold Fence.”
He said he was “shell shocked” when they won and that everything after accepting the award is a blur.
“My mind was blank… My mouth was getting dry, and I was looking at my fiance, and I was like, ‘What’s what’s going on? Is it us?’ and she’s looking at me, she’s nodding at me,” Cochingco said.
“I still feel like there’s some other shows that should have won over us, not to sound ungrateful or anything… There’s some amazing performers that we were up against.”
Without spoiling the episode, it can be said the stunt involved the performers being pulled back very quickly.
Stunt performers in Shogun after filming a scene. (Instagram/Martin Cochingco)
“The hard part was these Samurai outfits were actually the same outfits from The Last Samurai back in 2003 and they are traditional leather, metal, all that … (and) we weren’t accounting for rain that day, so everything was muddy,” Cochingco said.
“After each reset that we had to do, they had to hose us down and it was cold and the armour got heavier. We ended up adding on almost 200 pounds per person for each armour set because of how soaking wet everything got.”
That one scene took around two weeks to film, including setup and rehearsals.
“I had my harness, my pads, the overtop, and then the armour itself. I couldn’t use the washroom; I had to make sure that I didn’t drink as much water that day,” Cochingco added.
“We train for that as well; we make sure that we fuel up the days beforehand and make sure that we’re good, and we prepare our minds and our bodies.”
Local stunt talent
Being a stunt performer requires having a seemingly eclectic set of skills, from swordplay to gymnastics, breakdancing to parkour, and even precision driving.
“We train everything from wire work to driving to motorcycle riding,” Cochingco said. “I was a professional dancer before, so that dance background actually helped me do choreography as well.”
Cochingco is one of the owners of the Stunt Garage in Edmonton, which trains both kids and adults in the various skills stunt workers need.
“There’s so many talented stunt performers here in Alberta,” Cochingco said. “We have people that have worked on shows like The Last of Us, The Abandons, Kung Fu, Superman and Lois, that are coming from Edmonton and still working on these shows.
“A big reason for that is because we have a great community here, we’re affordable… The more people that we have out here, the more likely productions will come to Edmonton, will come to Alberta.”
The second and third seasons of Shōgun were greenlit in May.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa