If These Fists Could Talk – Press Page

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If These Fists Could Talk: A Stuntman’s Unflinching Take on Violence is the strange but true story of indie action pioneer, stuntman, and SuperAlloy Interactive co-founder Eric Jacobus getting the contract of a lifetime: a 3-year gig motion capturing and designing action for God of War Ranarök. How did he do it? By creating a science of violence, a product of years of research.

Jacobus’s theory is that human violence is simply defined as reciprocal, object-based aggression (ROBA), a property possessed by all humans, and humans alone. Taking ROBA as the prime differentiator between humans and animals, Jacobus hypothesizes that we didn’t acquire language, religion, and culture to survive in the environment; we have these things to survive each other. His book If These Fists Could Talk: A Stuntman’s Unflinching Take on Violence tells the story of his research adventure and many of the implications of the ROBA Hypothesis.

Jacobus was born and raised in Redding, CA. A child of the 80s, he started computer programming at the age of fifteen, hope to make video games one day. He then discovered filmmaking and was a pioneer in the indie action movement with his team, The Stunt People, with which he produced hundreds of short films including the award-winning Rope A Dope Series. Jacobus’s starring roles extended beyond his own team, giving him lead roles in The ABCs of Death 2, Mortal Kombat Legacy: Season 2, and the viral hit Blindsided: The Game. He also produced and directed feature films such as the 2006 cult hit Contour and the 2011 film Death Grip, as well as the viral Tekken In Real Life Series. In 2015 he was discovered by Santa Monica Studio and became the stuntman for Kratos in God of War. He continued his motion capture career with Mortal Kombat 11, The Last of Us II, Demon’s Souls (2020), and after founding SuperAlloy in Las Vegas he worked on the aforementioned God of War Ragnarök, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, and Mortal Kombat 1.

Jacobus is a frequent speaker; he’s been a panelist at San Diego Comic-Con on Ric Meyer’s Superhero Kung Fu Extravaganza, as well as hosting his own panel, The Science of Action Design. He’s spoken at game conferences such as GiC, DevCom, and PaxDev Seattle. Jacobus is also a member of the Generative Anthropology Society, the American Anthropological Association, and the Colloquium on Violence and Religion where he gave a talk in 2024.