It was inevitable that fans would poke fun at the shocking fight that erupted between Reacher star Alan Ritchson and one of his neighbors, but now one filmmaker has shared a full-blown video parodying the fight that was made with AI.
On Wednesday, the director Taylor Chien shared a humorous ‘movie trailer’ on Instagram for a high-octane fictional version of Ritchson’s neighborhood fight that was paced like an action film.
The video featured AI-generated avatars of Ritchson and his pugnacious neighbor, Ronnie Taylor, both of whom were convincingly portrayed, though the clip suffered the standard quality control issues afflicting current AI videos.
The Reacher star’s neighborhood brawl became fodder for parody videos shortly after police announced that Ritchson would not be charged for punching his neighbor.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Chien said he was intrigued by the original cell phone video of the fight because of it’s ‘single window angle.’
‘It made me think, “What if we could actually see this like a movie scene from inside?” Since I’m a producer and director and have been working heavily with AI lately, I thought it would be fun to turn that viral moment into a cinematic trailer,’ he explained.
It was inevitable that fans would poke fun at the shocking fight that erupted between Reacher star Alan Ritchson and one of his neighbors, but now one filmmaker has shared a full-blown video parodying the fight that was made with AI
On Wednesday, the director Taylor Chien shared a humorous ‘movie trailer’ on Instagram for a high-octane fictional version of Ritchson’s neighborhood fight that was paced like an action film
The video featured AI-generated avatars of Ritchson (pictured in 2024 in NYC) and his pugnacious neighbor, Ronnie Taylor, both of whom were convincingly portrayed, though the clip suffered the quality control issues afflicting current AI videos
Chien’s AI trailer opens with the kind of rumbling narration that was once a standard feature of trailers for the masses.
‘In a quiet neighborhood, one man saw a motorcycle . . . and still chose chaos,’ the booming voice says as a figure that resembles Taylor is seen watching a caravan of motorcycles zooming down a suburban street.
‘Look at the f***ing motorcycle p****s,’ the fake version of Ritchson’s neighbor spits out in a rage as he watches the bikers from his driveway.
‘One terrible decision,’ the narrator adds, foreshadowing the embarrassing fight being parodied as the fictional version of Taylor runs toward the street.
The video cuts to a POV shot from what would have been Ritchson’s perspective as his motorcycle careens toward Taylor, who is now standing in the street, before the Reacher star banks to the side and crashes his bike to avoid hitting his neighbor.
Then Chien adds in a clip of the cell phone footage of the real fight between Ritchson and Taylor for a vérité touch.
The video then switches back to AI-generated footage of Taylor shouting at Ritchson, which appears to be invented dialogue.
‘Hit me, you piece of s***!’ the fake Taylor screams in a hilarious low-angle close-up.
‘In a quiet neighborhood, one man saw a motorcycle . . . and still chose chaos,’ the booming voice says as a figure that resembles Taylor is seen watching a caravan of motorcycles zooming down a suburban street
‘Look at the f***ing motorcycle p****s,’ the fake version of Ritchson’s neighbor spits out in a rage as he watches the bikers from his driveway
‘One terrible decision,’ the narrator adds, foreshadowing the embarrassing fight being parodied as the fictional version of Taylor runs toward the street
The AI version of Ritchson shows his face for the first time, then as he takes his helmet off.
‘Gladly,’ he replies in an extreme close-up, before he winds up for a punch at the camera.
‘This summer, don’t be a little b****,’ the narrator adds for comic effect.
The AI video concludes with a humorous coda featuring a fake version of John Cena, who plays a neighbor calling the cops from the safety of his own home as he looks out his window.
‘I never did like that neighbor,’ he says with a fearful expression on his face.
‘Somebody had to make this…’ Chien captioned his post while tagging Ritchson.
Chien is a jack of all trades who has not only written and directed multiple feature films, but has also worked as a cinematographer and editor.
In addition to directing the 2021 horror film The Resort, he directed a music video featuring Jamie Foxx and Snoop Dogg from Foxx’s 2022 film Day Shift.
The video cuts to a POV shot from what would have been Ritchson’s perspective as his motorcycle careens toward Taylor, who is now standing in the street, before the Reacher star banks to the side and crashes his bike to avoid hitting his neighbor
‘Hit me, you piece of s***!’ the fake Taylor screams in a hilarious low-angle close-up. The AI version of Ritchson shows his face for the first time, then as he takes his helmet off. ‘Gladly,’ he replies in extreme close-up, before he winds up for a punch at the camera
The AI video concludes with a humorous coda featuring a fake version of John Cena, who plays a neighbor calling the cops from the safety of his own home as he looks out his window. ‘I never did like that neighbor,’ he says
More recently, the Emmy winner has shared his experiments making short films featuring approximations of recognizable stars via AI on social media.
While speaking to the Daily Mail, Chien said what interested him most about the challenge of making the AI video was ‘taking a real moment people were already reacting to and expanding it the way your imagination naturally does when you watch a clip like that — adding perspective, drama, pacing, and humor.
‘I think Alan is a bada**, which made it even more entertaining to build around,’ he explained. ‘The John Cena ending honestly just popped into my head because I’m a huge fan of his comedic timing, and I thought it would be funny if someone unexpected was the one filming from that original house angle.’
Chien explained that a similar project would usually take him a ‘week or two’ to construct because ‘there are so many creative decisions and iterations involved,’ but he pushed himself to complete the video dramatizing Ritchson’s fight in just six hours because ‘people were still talking about it.’
He admitted that he was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the video.
‘I’ve never had this many comments so quickly, with people saying it should be a movie, calling it one of the funniest things they’ve seen, and joking that I deserve an Oscar for it, which has been fun to watch.’
Chien added that his ‘goal was simply to make people laugh and enjoy it.’
Earlier on Wednesday, Ritchson made his first comment since police ruled he was not at fault in the bloody street fight with a neighbor near his mansion in Tennessee.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ritchson made his first comment since police ruled he was not at fault in the bloody street fight with a neighbor near his mansion in Tennessee
The 43-year-old star wrote on Instagram about wrapping up season four of his show Reacher when he remarked he had a ‘crazy week.’ It is not clear if Ritchson was commenting on the furor over the fistfight near his home or the work he has put into the fourth season of Reacher
The 43-year-old star wrote on Instagram about wrapping up season four of his hit show Reacher when he remarked that he had had a ‘crazy week.’
It is not clear if Ritchson was commenting on the furor over the fistfight near his home or all the hard work he has put into the fourth season of Reacher.
‘Happy to be back in the booth after such a crazy week,’ the actor shared in a reel posted for his 5.2 million followers.
The booth refers to an acoustically treated and soundproofed room used for capturing high-quality audio recordings, specifically voiceover (VO) and Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR).
There was also video of the star looking happy as he was in the booth while in a white shirt and a black cap worn backwards.
‘That’s a wrap for me on post-production — Reacher season four. This is without a doubt the most gripping season yet. I think we hit our stride. Firing on all cylinders…as it were,’ he also said.
He shared in the video, ‘This thing is going to be hitting the airwaves soon, best season yet.’
The Hollywood veteran spun around in the booth to show off the TV screens as he seemed to be in an upbeat mood.
‘Happy to be back in the booth after such a crazy week,’ the actor shared in a reel. There was also video of the star looking happy as he was in the booth while in a white shirt and black cap worn backwards
The fight with his neighbor, Ronnie Taylor, happened in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tennessee, on Sunday
The fight with his neighbor, Ronnie Taylor, happened in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tennessee, on Sunday.
Clips of the incident went viral, with fans tending to take Ritchson’s side as his neighbor was the one to begin the physical fight when he pushed the actor off his motorcycle, as seen in bodycam video taken by the actor.
Local police concluded on Tuesday that the star acted in self-defense and they did not charge him.
The police investigation was subsequently closed.
On Tuesday, police shared with the Daily Mail that they would not be charging the Reacher actor in the Sunday altercation with neighbor Taylor.
The officers in charge of the case said the Hollywood star acted in self-defense when he punched the neighbor and then told him to stand down.
That is likely because a new bodycam video taken by Ritchson and shared to TikTok showed Taylor initiating a physical fight with Ritchson as he pushed the actor off his Kawasaki motorcycle after running into the street.
The star was with his two children when the incident occurred during the afternoon.
Some who have followed him on social media have slammed him for wearing a Make America Great Again hat. The Daily Mail has reported that Taylor is a 56-year-old senior executive for KPMG USA in Nashville.
The Brentwood Police Dept said to the Daily Mail on Tuesday, ‘The Brentwood Police Department, in coordination with the Williamson County District Attorney’s Office, has concluded its investigation into the incident involving Alan Ritchson and Ronnie Taylor on March 22, in Brentwood, TN.
‘After reviewing available evidence, including video footage and witness statements, authorities determined that no criminal charges will be pursued.
‘Mr. Ritchson’s actions were found to be in self-defense. Although a potential reckless endangerment charge was considered, Mr. Ritchson declined to pursue charges.
‘With the agreement of the District Attorney’s Office, the case is now closed, and no further action will be taken.’
The footage from the bodycam gives a broader view of what really happened between the two men before the altercation turned bloody.
A visibly angry Taylor was filmed approaching Ritchson, 43, and his two young children when they were riding their motorcycles down a suburban street.
Taylor is then seen leaving his property, crossing a sidewalk and walking into the middle of the street where the Hollywood actor was riding his green Kawasaki bike.
At one point, Taylor allegedly stepped in front of the star’s motorcycle with an aggressive legs-apart stance to block him from driving down the street.
Ritchson is seen on his show Reacher, which is in its fourth season
That appeared to anger Ritchson, who then laid down his motorcycle and approached Taylor.
In the tense clip, Taylor is heard lambasting Ritchson for riding ‘like a f***ing lunatic’ as he expressed his concern for the other children in the neighborhood.
The actor then told his neighbor that he was out of his ‘f***ing mind’ and asked if he had been drinking, the bodycam video also showed.
Ritchson then told Taylor that he should have ‘run him over’ with his motorcycle as the neighbor stepped out onto the street.
The star then picks up his motorcycle, gets on it, places his helmet back on and revs up the engine over and over, which appears to infuriate Taylor.
Taylor could then be seen pushing the actor and his motorcycle onto the street twice.
Ritchson appeared to then use his fists to hit Taylor in the face several times. After Ritchson hit him, he demands he stay down.
The Daily Mail has reported that Taylor is a 56-year-old senior executive for KPMG USA in Nashville.
The actor shares three sons with wife, Catherine, whom he married in 2006, after they met while taking a dance class at college; the couple are pictured in 2024
KPMG has been in Nashville for over 65 years, employing more than 300 professionals in audit, tax, and advisory services. The firm supports major Tennessee companies across industries like healthcare, entertainment and manufacturing.
His LinkedIn profile details his role at KPMG, as he is seen in his profile photo with his wife. He also calls himself a British national.
At KPMG USA, Taylor works on partnerships with Google across financial services and life sciences.
His LinkedIn activity suggests a focus on technology partnerships and professional development.
His wife is Amy Taylor, who is often seen on social media.
Some who have followed him on social media have slammed him for wearing a Make America Great Again hat. On Instagram, he often shares photos of his dogs, sunsets, wine, his wife and his motorcycle.
Ritchson shares three sons with his wife, Catherine, whom he married in 2006, after they met while taking a dance class at college.
His other television credits include Smallville, Blue Mountain State, Blood Drive, and Titans.
As for movie roles, he played Raphael in the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot and its 2016 sequel, and has appeared in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), Lazer Team (2015), and Fast X (2023).
