Peter Brusso Interview: Inspiration for George Clooney Film The Men Who Stare at Goats

Peter Brusso never stares at goats, with psychic destructive intent at least. However in the George Clooney film The Men Who Stare At Goats, Master Brusso's spirited presence is keenly felt. He never actually appears on screen, but Clooney and co-star Ewan McGregor memorably showcase his innovative self defense tool, the Defender. It's an unassumingly effective device, perfectly reflecting its creator. Brusso's life experience flows impressively, like the streaming, enigmatic chi energy from martial arts he's mastered. He's traveled the world, fought many, taught even more, and lived to tell the tale. In our Skype chat, Master Brusso spoke of his connection to George Clooney's movie.

Brusso survived war torn Cambodia jungles, invented gadgets found in basketball arenas, and conducted a solo symphony of pain with Jon Ronson at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. British journalist Ronson did a documentary Crazy Rulers Of The World, from which sprang a book The Men Who Stare At Goats, in turn inspiring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey's movie of the same name. It's a fictionalized account of the U.S. military studying psychic powers for combat applications. Most subjects Ronson profiles in his UK documentary come across less than stellar, but Pete Brusso's kinetically entertaining performance speaks for itself.

Jon Ronson dubs him a "maestro of violence", after Brusso insists he experience his self protective Defender firsthand, by being on the receiving end of a psychic disincentive session. Ronson at first tries to escape becoming a test subject. He tries to evade the truth of how well a Defender works, but what's the alternative? It's said, "You can't know the taste of tea without drinking." Watch the documentary, Crazy Rulers Of The World, to see the painfully funny taste of truth Ronson gets delivered from Master Peter Brusso. When you see George Clooney similarly trounce Ewan McGregor, you'll realize what a big impact Brusso gave to the feature film, from his documentary contribution.

Give us a sense of your martial arts training, and your real life fighting skills background.

Basically I've been training in martial arts since the age of six. My birthday is upcoming, and I'll be 56, so the easy math calculation is 50 years. I started out in judo and went into Hopkido, Wing Chun, then later in to Ninjutsu. I also formulated my own brand of martial arts, way before it was the thing to do. The name of that fighting art is Anjing Banfa.

I'm also a subject matter expert for the United States Marine Corps martial arts program, something which makes me quite proud. I also spent 10 months in Cambodia in 1972 fighting in the jungles. Coming home with a real world, hand-to-hand, knife to knife, machete to machete, experience really opens your eyes to what's considered traditional martial arts and survival arts. I think I was always into survival arts versus sport arts. Most martial arts today are sport arts and really have very little real world up like ability.

You have an engineering background and you're an inventor as well?

Yes. I also have a degree in electrical engineering and have worked in the aerospace industry for many years. I also am the inventor of a rotating sign like the ones you see in the basketball arenas. So I like to say that I'm not just another pretty face, but rather have done something real, and substantive with my life and my business.

How much involvement - if any - did you have in making the film based on Ron Jonson's book 'The Men Who Stare At Goats'?

Well, as to the actual feature film The Men Who Stare at Goats, I had no input on or consultation with whatsoever. However, I'm certainly in the book that the film is based on. Prior to that, which actually started this whole adventure, was the making of the UK TV documentary called "Crazy Rulers of the World". It's a three episode documentary and I'm primarily in episode number one. I haven't seen the George Clooney feature film in its entirety yet, only short clips, and of course there's one clip on my tool or self-defense weapon then known as "the predator." Now my self-defense weapon is known as a Defender.

The producers sent me the movie script, but in the screenplay I scanned over, there was no mention of my Defender or Predator self defense tool. I was shocked to see the scene in the trailer, which shows my predator tool being used by George Clooney on Ewan McGregor, similar to my demo with Jon Ronson.

Overall the film appears to have a decidedly comic tone or theme - your feelings?

The film is a very dark comedy based on the book, which is sad because there is so much technology to Colonel Jim Channon brought to the military based on his development of the First Earth Battalion. At this point, one can only hope that people who see the film might actually do a bit research to find the truth.

In the movie, George Clooney playing character Lyn Cassady uses your Predator/Defender tool on Ewan McGregor. Did you or someone from your company train him to properly use it? Did he do a passable job?

I didn't teach George Clooney the techniques you see in the clip, however you can see it was taken directly from the UK TV special. The words and the phraseology that George Clooney uses are literally mine, which I used as shown Crazy Rulers Of The World.

George Clooney did a reasonable job with my Predator. There are some exceptions. You don't really see him perform any real techniques. You'll notice that the camera angles are such that you really see nothing. He is mimicking what I did, again, in the Crazy Rulers of the World documentary. He does portray the predator properly in that you wouldn't expect it to do what it does. To that degree, I have succeeded with the tool.

The Men Who Stare At Goats opens up in America on November 6, 2009. Directed by Grant Heslov, the feature film comedy based on Ron Jonson's book stars George Clooney, Ewan MacGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey and Robert Patrick.

Learn more about Master Peter Brusso and his Defender here http://www.pdws.biz/