USA TODAY International Edition
Civilian tries not to sabotage training
GARDENA, CALIF. “There is an art to breaching and clearing,” says Joe Manganiello. “There’s a real science to it.”
He would know about this operation where cops bust into rooms, cover buddies’ backs and defend against baddies.
He and his co- stars in the action thriller Sabotage ( out Friday) — including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terrence Howard and Sam Worthington — went through weeks of training for up to five hours a day before director David Ayer deemed them ready to portray an elite DEA team.
Knowing that at least a few Sabotage stars get picked off after stealing money from a drug cartel, I decided to train with the cast just in case Ayer should want to make Sabotage II: We’re Desperate.
All the macho dudes already have a signature hair look — Manganiello’s Joe “Grinder” Phillips has cornrows, Worthington’s James “Monster” Murray is bald, and Schwarzenegger’s John “Breacher” Wharton is Supercuts awful. So I hold off on hair product to adopt a “bed head” look as I prepare to alpha- dog up at a special tactical training center.
My instructors are Manganiello and real- life SWAT team member/ trainer Mark Schlegel. Some rules from Manganiello:
Stay loose. That’s never easy when handling firearms and busting in on a cartel, even if my modified handgun is not loaded and the bad guys are gangster posters on the walls.
But it’s enjoyable to “tap up” my partner Manganiello on the shoulder, as instructed. That signifies we’re “good to go.” But I get distracted by his massive arms. You hit that shoulder, and fingers just bounce back. I confess, there were times in the heat of room- clearing where I “tap up” Manganiello just to hit those awesome guns.
The group moves like an organism. Sadly, this organism has a weak link ( me), even if my “action face” denotes thespian intensity. I’m awesome at shouting “pie the door” and “clear your 90.” But I have no idea what they mean.
Tie your shoes. You never see the commander say that on- screen. But my laces come undone right before entering a “hot” room, and my fellow organism members don’t take well to me calling a timeout.
Eye- rolls aside, breaching and clearing is always fun, until someone trips and loses an eye.
We make it through several rooms, though I have a few stumbles, so I’m surprised Schlegel grades me a 10. “That was for entertainment value,” he says. “Everything else, we’re calling it ‘ work in progress.’ ”
But Manganiello says, “That was a pretty great Day 1. If I ever do a remake of ( Schwarzenegger’s) True Lies, I’d want you to be my Tom Arnold.”