Guns, guns and more guns.

Machina Prime premiered its live-action short “Loadout: Going In Hot” today, which is the latest adaptation of bring video games to life. It’s based on the video game shooter “Loadout” by Edge of Reality and also free for PSN members today on PlayStation.

Wayside Creations recruited Richard Hatch as Captain Gaz, to lead a silly, looney crew of a space freighter against the odds of other haulers and shipping companies who want to steel their business.

The short is directed by Vincent Talenti (“Red Star,” “Fallout: Nuka Break”). It also stars Bonnie Bower (“Fallout: Nuka Break,” “Escape”), Matt Mercer (“Attack on Titan,” “Iron Man: Rise of Technovore”), Jon Enge (“Mars Rising Films”), Becca Hardy (“Off-Season”) and Circus-Szalewski (“Fallout: Nuka Break”).

Latino-Review had an exclusive phone interview with Richard Hatch on his role and his love for good story and sci-fi.

Check out the full interview below and the short film at the end of the article.

Latino-Review: We’re here to talk about Machinima’s “Loadout: Going In Hot.” What attracted you to this project?

Richard Hatch: I love “Firefly.” I love my favorite sci-fi shows. I love shows that deal with space. And I love shows that are well written and well produced. When I read this script, I loved the character that they offered me of this over-the-top captain who had this love/hate relationship with his ship and his crazy crew. It was an opportunity for me to do something that is attractive as a project.

Also, I loved the fact that they’re finding these new creative ways to reach the audience, develop programming and using different formats/business models. We’re in a very changing time in the film/TV/movie industry. There are new ways to distribute. There are new ways to fund. There are new ways to shoot.

These guys are really on the cutting edge. I loved the fact is so often they take a successful series or movie to throw out a fact for a game that is okay to pick up extra bucks—in this case—they take successful games and do a live-action version of the games. They start with the game and then move over to the live-action version of it. I thought that is a brilliant idea. I loved all the elements in it. It was a very attractive package for me.

Latino-Review: Did you have a chance to play the game Loadout yourself?

Richard Hatch:No, I haven’t played Loadout—believe or not. I’ve heard it’s out on Sony PlayStation.

Latino-Review: So you didn’t do any prior research before filming this? Did you watch any videos?

Richard Hatch: It all happened within days of shooting. They came to me. There were some talks. I didn’t know anything about Loadout. From the time that I said yes, I had a few days before they filmed. I don’t have time to do anything. I wasn’t basing it on the game. I was basing this on the script. It’s based on the character and it’s based on the story I saw.

Latino-Review: What’s so special about this script? You mentioned that it’s crazy. I haven’t played the game myself either, but I’ve seen video game footage—it looked wild and crazy itself.

Richard Hatch: Think of it this way—so often we have these post-apocalyptic movies and everything is about the end of the world with some monsters, creatures in a universe—they are all these big epic stories. What I found that was really fun about this, this is the everyday adventure of a broken down freighter and its crew trying to deliver its commodities. They’re trying to make a living.

They’re in this alternative universe with these bigger, stronger companies with ships that they’re trying to get ahead. It’s a very highly competitive environment. It’s like going to war in a sense. You have to strategize. You have to use everything [at your disposal] in order to make a deal and be able to deliver these commodities. Once again, you’re going up against everybody who wants to be there before you.

It’s really the everyday struggles on to out-strategize, out-think, out-play the game against all these adversaries who want to take the trade away from you. In this case, it’s like the Millennium Falcon as a fallen down ship with a million things wrong with it. In somehow and some way, this crazy crew finds a way to survive. They find a way to get in a make a deal. And find a way to hold that ship together to keep it falling apart.

All those elements really lend themselves [for the series]. First of all, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of drama since they’re dealing with all these constant challenges and conflicts just to get through the day. It’s just to get the ship to the next destination. It’s just to out-think all these more sophisticated guys who want to totally takeover their trade. It’s always the little guy against the big guy.

Another fascinating thing is on how does the little guy win again the bigger guy with a bigger ship with more money? That lends itself to a lot of fun, creative stories.

Latino-Review: Like the video game, will there be a lot of violence, gore or possible nudity?

Richard Hatch: I’m not sure. But, what I’ve learned about these shows is that they’re very fluid. When they translate something from one environment to another, sometimes changes are made and things are tampered with. Some things may be neutralized if they feel it was too intense.

In this case, I think all bets are off. Anything can happen. It’s depending on the audience and the responses, I think they can explore a thousand different ideas and push the envelope. Maybe it will get pretty violent?

I don’t know if you watched “300,” but they’ve taken violence like in Japanese and Chinese films where violence and war are stylized. It’s in the shape and way that the audience can accept it more. It’s more animated rather than the super-realistic form. I don’t really know in which direction they’re going with this.

For me, it’s never about the violence, but about the characters and their stories. “Battlestar Galactica” is about surviving every single day against incredible challenges. Here is a civilization cutoff from home and they’re out in space to do everything just to survive. So every day is life and death.

In a weird way, theseguys have to make a living. They have to fix the ship. They have to find resources. They have to find a way to get through the day. That’s just fascinating for me. I think that’s what’s going to be really engaging for the audience to watch these really smart, quirky and talented characters with their own gifts.

Latino-Review: Talk about your character, Captain Gaz. What’s so special about him being the leader of this crew?

Richard Hatch: Here’s a guy who is dedicated to his own ship. It’s like having your favorite car. He had the ship for years and refused to give it up. He refused to buy the new ship with the latest update. You’re stuck with a classic. You’re using Scotch tape to hold it all together.

I love the fact that this guy loved his ship. He wouldn’t give it up for anything. He’ll do everything to keep this thing running. It’s a rusty old ship that finds a way to get to [its destination] and finds a way to get whatever it needs to do. I love that he has this misogynistic relationship with his ship.

He yells and screams at it. He makes love to it. He consoles it. He has this ongoing dialogue with it. There are characters with an ongoing relationship. His number one relationship is with this ship.

Secondly, he has to manage this crew of a group of misfits—these crazy little geniuses. They’re really smart and gifted each in their own way. He has to find a way somehow to bring them together, mobilize and get them to stay on track. They’re like artists. If you ever try to work with artists, you have to keep them on a straight line to get the job done. The artist temperament usually does not fit in a structural environment.

On a ship, you got to have discipline and you got to have organization. Everybody needs to get together and pull their weight. These are a bunch of quirky misfits who are constantly going off course. I love the artfulness of the captain to play the game better than everyone else to get things done.

Latino-Review: You mentioned that your crew is a bit quirky. Could you talk a little more about that? Could you talk about some of their quirks and craziness that they’ll be playing alongside with you?

Richard Hatch: Well, one of the characters named MIck is a weapons craze guy. He doesn’t know how to shoot weapons. If you put a weapon in his hands, then he might end up killing everybody. And yet, he’s brilliant to come up with all these new innovations and weapons that no one has ever seen. Then again, you will never know on whether they’re going to work or not. He’s this little scientific, nerdy genius constantly evolving new kinds of weapons.

Then there’s this little girl who basically becomes his little sidekick who was a bartender. She ends up hopping on the ship. She likes everything that MIck does thinking that it’s the greatest thing in the whole world. She’s like his little cheerleader. She has this little energy bunny that energizes everything. She constantly brings everybody out. She has a great sense humor and funny.

We also have that exotic [girl] that every ship has to have. She’s the second in command. Honestly, she has this quality of mystery, intelligent, and highly capable. She’s a problem solver. She could do things that the captain can’t do. They’re incredible loyal to each other and support each other. Gaz would do everything to protect her. Then again, she’s really independent and doesn’t need protection. You don’t know what she’s thinking and yet comes up with these ideas and solutions that work.

There’s even a character with technology who he can project and overlay over himself to be all kinds of different characters. He’s a little bit like Face on the “A-Team.” He’s the guy who can get into any situation to charm people and find out the information. He can do the covert activities.

Every single character has something unique and special that they bring to the team.

Latino-Review: Loadout, the video game, is about the guns or their own weapons of choice. What’s the weapons of choice for Captain Gaz? Is it just primarily the space ship?

Richard Hatch: One of the things Gaz is good at is with weapons. He’s a badass. He’s like Clint Eastwood. That’s the one thing he does better than his whole crew. MIcks can create weapons that Gaz could shoot them. He got the balls for this. He doesn’t wait and doesn’t hesitate. He’s dangerous with that. So on whether he’s shooting with his ship or with physical weapons—he’s that badass.

I think any and all weapons are his weapons of choice. He loves weapons.

Latino-Review: Terrific. That sounds pretty awesome. What is the greatest challenge for you on this production then?

Richard Hatch: It all happened so quick. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about Loadout or any of these companies. My friend, Alec Peters, is one of the producers for Wayside. He came on board for this project and I just finished this project called Axanar, this new groundbreaking Star Trek indie film that they had put together. You should check it out, which is already online. It’s called “Prelude to Axanar.” It’s with all professionals and seasoned known actors. They put together something quite amazing and now building the sets. It’ll be a great indie film on the same level of a studio film.

Anyway, Alec told me that [Wayside] was looking for somebody to play the captain and asked if I would be interested. He introduced me and I’ve met the guys. Once again, this is a crazy industry and you’ll never know who you’re going to get or what the experience is going to be like. I was blown away by the quality of the production and how organized it was. The young director, Vincent Talenti, was amazing. He had this quiet authority and knew exactly on what he wanted. Everybody on the project was totally supportive.

Latino-Review: Tell me on why you’re so attracted to sci-fi projects.

Richard Hatch: First of all, it’s not just sci-fi. I love great drama, great writing and great performances. I don’t care on what genre they’re in. But, what I love about sci-fi and fantasy—is that great science-fiction takes a powerful look into the future. It opens up some ideas. It looks at the world in this expanded place. Some of the great sci-fi authors are prophetic. They had a window into the future that no one else had.

So it couples the explorations of theoretical probabilities and possibilities. And it [combines] them with the explorations of the human heart. It’s not just about the technologies, but about the human beings as they evolve into the future. I find that combination very, very exciting. It’s now we’re going at a very accelerated pace. For me, sci-fi and fantasy are on the cutting edge on where the world may be heading right now.

Latino-Review: Richard, could you talk about your future projects that you have?

Richard Hatch: On January 14th, at the Landmark Theater in Los Angeles, we’re going to debut this new presentation of Steampunk. It’s a movie I shot with Malcolm McDowell. It’s called, “Cowboys and Engines,” and you’ll see more PR about that soon. It’s a retro-futuristic perspective that takes place in 1887. We have ships to Mars and to other destinations. It has this beautiful blend of the past and the future, which I love. I love Steampunk.

We’re going to be filming “Star Trek Axanar” was well. They’re renting the studios to put this movie together. I play the Klingon General Karn. It’s a fully professional production from the bottom to the top. It’s full of gifted people that I haven’t seen in quite a long time. I get to play this amazing Klingon character. I spent days on these makeup tests that takes about four hours for that get up. It’s an amazing experience to step into playing a Klingon. It’s already online for “Prelude to Axanar.” It’s just a little intro the world, the characters and the universe.

Latino-Review: I’m going to have to check it out. Thank you for the conversation, Richard. It’s very informative.

Richard Hatch: No, you’re more than welcome. I’ve doing this for over thirty years. I taught and lectured at colleges, universities and high schools on many different subject matters like acting, filmmaking and writing. And even with leveraging your talents on a more effective way. I’ve done that in between productions.

I’m also directing a movie called, “With Honors.” I’ve been scouting different locations in Atlanta. It’s about a Vietnam vet who walked away from the war. He was considered a traitor and we’ll realize that it was not the story. He was a Medal of Honor winner and saved many lives. When he lost a lot of men on one mission, he couldn’t forgive himself. It’s his story on how he came full circle and came back to his career and reputation. It’s a wonderful story written by a Navy Seal. I can’t wait to direct this project.

Latino-Review: Wow, that’s great. Thank you very much, Richard. Hopefully I’ll meet you at some convention in the future in person.

Richard Hatch: That’ll be wonderful. It’s great talking with you. Thank you.

Watch “Loadout: Going in Hot” below.