It's a busy time for Scott Adkins - but then, when is it not? Not only only one of Britain's top martial-artists but one of the most prolific action-stars around, Impact readers are well aware of his high-profile blockbuster outings (in the likes of the Expendables franchise) but also the cult creations such as Boyka in the Undisputed films. In the last few weeks there's also been the major announcements of roles in Doctor Strange and Hard Target 2. But what else is he up to? Mike Leeder sat down with Scott to discuss the current slate of other projects. (You can read the other half of this exclusive conversation in the next edition of Martial Arts Illustrated, on UK shelves from 10th December...)
IMPACT: Scott, Boyka remains a beloved - if brutal - favourite character for a lot of action fans and there was a lot of talk when you announced you'd be returning to the role. There were a lot of ideas thrown around of what the plot for the new Undisputed film might be, even the idea of Boyka finding religion being mentioned. Were there any other ideas originally discussed for potential plots for a fouth film?
SCOTT: There were a number of ideas discussed before we settled on the plot for the new film, I don't really want to go into too much detail in case they're ideas we use for Undisputed 5! But yeah one of the reasons the film took so long to make was… well, of course, there was the money side of things. While Undisputed 3 certainly got seen by a lot of people, far too much of its viewership came about through piracy which we will talk about a bit later…but a big sticking point was that we weren't agreeing on certain plot points. I definitely wanted to keep him outside of prison, while some people felt that an Undisputed movie had to take place behind bars - as that was the whole vibe of the franchise. But I really felt that this one needed to be about Boyka and his journey, and I wanted to take him to a new environment…
IMPACT: This isn’t just an actor turning up for a generic role, so how do you prepare for it? Is it easy for you to step back into his shoes or do you have to prepare mentally? How much of a physical transformation is it?
SCOTT: Obviously the physical transformation is one of the things I start with first, and that's one of the most difficult things. He's a lot bigger than I normally am, and when you start getting bigger and putting the muscle on, automatically you start to carry yourself differently and - at least for me - I start to think differently as well. I feel a bit stronger, a bit more intimidating… but now when I think about it, I kind of can drop into the role quite easily. Yes, it's a transformation, but it came to me quite easily in the first place and it still does now. I don't need months of preparation mentally, although I will admit that for the new one - because it's a different story and he's been outside of prison for a while - there are moments when the character could be a bit happier, show a lighter side that's not been seen before. We wanted to make him real, a multifaceted character… he can't always just be this one mind-set individual. We were shooting those scenes first and there were a few moments where I was thinking ‘Am I struggling to find Boyka's character this time?’ as we were shooting scenes that seemed so alien to me compared to the way he was in the first two movies he appeared in. Then, as soon as we got back to the grumpier, angrier Boyka scenes, I knew he was back right away!
IMPACT: You're teaming up again with Isaac Florentine. How would you compare Isaac to some of the other directors you've worked with, what makes him SUCH a great director for martial arts and action?
SCOTT: As you know, Isaac is a REAL martial artist, so he knows how and where the punches and kicks should be placed, where the camera needs to be to capture the beauty and the power of the movement…to make it look good. He also understands the editing, the angles, the times to adjust speed, when to go into slow motion etc. He also understands that if you're making a martial arts movie, you need performers who can really do it, and that then you can pull the camera back, take in the full movement, use a longer take and document the action in a way that is in tandem with the choreography…not simply: ‘Let’s put a camera over there, another one over there, and then maybe one over there and then we'll look at the footage and hope we can edit something together out of it!’ Isaac is editing in his head as he shoots it. We'll get this part of the fight as good as we know we can get it, then move on, not try and shoot a master of the whole fight from various angles and then in editing try and figure out the edit points and what they're doing. That doesn't work!
Isaac also prioritises the action as well. On so many films, even if it’s supposed to be an action or martial arts movie, they give the lion-share of time to the acting and the smallest amount of time to the fighting. But if you're making a ‘fight film’, that's what you're selling the movie on, that's what the audience for this film wants to see. So, clearly, you need to spend as much time on the fighting as you do on the acting, 50-50. That's what Isaac does, whereas most people spend 90% on drama, 10% on the action… I like acting, I KNOW that story and drama are more important… but Isaac understands that to make a good martial arts film both sides are important, and we try our best to deliver on both fronts..
IMPACT: The film also sees the return of Tim Man who you worked with previously on Ninja: Shadow of a Tear as the film’s fight choreographer. How would you describe Tim and his style of choreography
SCOTT: Tim does appear in the film, there's no way we could have him on set as a choreographer and not tap into his talents as a screen fighter! He's very much one of the top ‘kickers’ in the world. It's unfortunate for him as he doesn't always like to be roped-in, especially when he's doing the choreography, but yes he's one of the fighters. Tim did such a great job on Ninja 2. I'd not worked with him before but he really surpassed my expectations, he's really prepared. He does the pre-viz for all the fights ahead of time…he's got great ideas as a choreographer and works with everyone's strengths. He actually pushed me to do more kicks in Undisputed 4 than I've ever done in any movie… as well as giving me about ten NEW moves that neither Scott Adkins or Boyka have previously done, some moves which I'd never seen before in any movie so that's pretty cool!
I've done another film with Tim since, and he's become a great friend. I will continue to work with him not just because of that, but he's such a good choreographer. He understands the camera, which is the most important thing when it comes to choreography, anyone can come up with some cool combinations or techniques for a fight, but its knowing how to shoot and edit it properly that's the most important thing. Isaac knows how to do it, and so does Tim and that's why I want to keep using him on other films.
IMPACT: How long was the shooting schedule? How would you compare a drama day to an action day?
SCOTT: We had five weeks to shoot Undisputed 4 and there's as much action as there is drama. We spent a lot of time on the action obviously… it’s a fight film and that's where we have to deliver, but we also balanced with the drama, it's not just fight-fight-fight and no drama. As for comparing an action day to a drama day? On a drama day I get a chance to sit down, I don't sweat as much, nobody's kicking me in the nose, I'm not getting injured, I'm getting more of a mental workout as I work the brain hard. (Laughing) I actually look forward to drama days on a film like UD4 as most of the time you are getting the crap kicked out of you and this gives you a bit of time to recover, to recuperate, It’s good, I like drama days! But on the flip side, sometimes you can be SO tired from all the physical stuff you’ve done leading up to it that the drama CAN suffer because you are physically destroyed but that’s why not many people can do it!
IMPACT: People still don't understand how hard it is to shoot and stage good fights…for an action/fight day. What kind of hours are you pulling?
SCOTT: It's a minimum of a 12 hr day for a fight day, but it’s pretty non-stop. You get in the ring - or whatever location - and you're pushing, and pushing, you're trying to get the shots you need. You yourself know how long it takes to shoot good action, Mike. You need those shots, multiple takes. I'm trying to extend the fights, see if there's a new section we can add, always trying to raise the bar, not just the same old moves, new kicks, new combinations, new reactions, things that haven't seen before. We want the audience to be entertained and inspired, the way we were watching movies when WE were growing up. But you know… they've shrunk the budgets on us; they cut the amount of shooting days we have… it’s getting harder and harder to accomplish that, but we always try our best. (Laughing)
Of course the problem, sometimes, is that you pull it off on this one with limited time and money… THEN they try to get you to it again on the next one even quicker! It's really hard work to be honest, I wouldn't say I always enjoy it. It’s frustrating - you're getting hit, you get injured sometimes. You come so close to getting that perfect take but you look at the playback and see something's amiss, the rhythms off or something's just not right… its slightly out of focus or someone's head is out of frame or an extra is looking down the lens of the camera! BUT it's all worth it in the end when you see the finished product and you get to see the playback and you know you got it. There's a big sense of achievement and it inspires you to keep moving forward, you apologise for shouting at whoever you just shouted at and move on to the next bit of pain!
IMPACT: Without giving too much away, what CAN the Undisputed fans look forward to with the release of UD4 beyond what we've already mentioned?
SCOTT: I don't want to give too much away, but I have seen the first cut of Undisputed 4 and I'm happy to say that it's f-cking brilliant! I don't know if it's better than 2 or 3 yet, as it's hard to tell when you're looking at the unfinished version of the film… it's not graded, scored, there's temp tracks, it's still in its rough form. But I can say that ,at least in terms of action, I think it's even better than Undisputed 2! I don't want to pass judgment just yet, I need to see it a few more times and, of course, see how an audience reacts to it… but I am really happy with what we've done, and if you liked UD2 and UD3 then you're definitely gonna love this one! But go out and support it with your money! One of the biggest reasons we waited this long between Undisputed 3 and Undisputed 4 was unfortunately because Undisputed 3 didn't make the money it needed to make, because so many people downloaded it for free, it was pirated across the world and the businessmen who finance these movies want to make money, they don't want to lose money. So, if you want to see Undisputed 5 within two years of this one coming out, make sure you pay for it! Otherwise it might take another six years like this one did… or worse than that - maybe it'll never happen at all. So if you're a fan of the genre, support these films, don't download it illegally, otherwise you're not gonna get these films anymore.
IMPACT: Lets expand on the whole issue of 'piracy'ere still seems to be this consensus that somehow downloading and pirating movies, isn't a bad thing, that they are sticking it to the man, as opposed to affecting the industry they claim to support. Let’s have your thoughts on this...
SCOTT: You're right, I've spoken about piracy a lot, I've been very vocal about it, and in some ways I understand why people might try and download something if the ONLY way to get a copy of something was through downloading. When it’s a case of “I'll download it because it’s out in the US and the UK release in a few weeks away…' and sometimes because of restrictions imposed as to where you can view it, or buy it from, it’s easy for people to ‘justify’ But if you CAN legitimately buy the movie, that's what you SHOULD be doing. I can't agree with the “I'll download the movie, and if its good, then I'll buy the movie”, that's just not the way of the world, is it? If I go to a toy shop and want to buy a toy, I buy it and if it turns out to not be as good as I expected well, there you go! Even in a restaurant, you can't keep going back to the same place, and each time order food and then every time say “Oh I didn't like the food, I'm not gonna pay for that!”. Maybe you'll get away with it once or twice, but pretty quickly you'll find yourself being told not to come back, 'You're taking the piss…' and yet that's what people are doing when they download movies… they aren't paying for them, they're watching them for free, and unfortunately it's so easy and so many people are doing it! I wish the internet would make it harder to do it, harder than just typing in a movie name and torrent to find it online. People don't seem to realise that they are killing the industry, the less money the producers make, the less money and time they give us to make a movie.
When I started out, you would get six weeks, 30-36 days to make a movie and you could do a pretty good job, but now primarily because of piracy - that's the main reason - we're now being given eighteen days to make the same kind of movies. Sometimes with certain movies or companies… like on Undisputed… we managed to get five weeks, it’s still difficult but it can be done. I often turn down movies with a lot of these eighteen-day shoots because I worry that we aren't going to be able to deliver on the project. There's some that I’ve taken on because it’s a limited number of locations, like Close Range - most of the film takes place in one location so even with that limited schedule, I felt we could make it work. But at the same time, I'm an actor, this is my business, I have to make money and there's this increasing pressure from producers to do these films within these newer shorter schedules. That's not what I want to be doing. I want people to support my movies, and the movies of other actors that are working in the same genre and same sort of budget range… the ones that care about the films. We need these films to make money or we simply won't be given the opportunity to make them anymore and if people don't stop pirating them and not paying for them, 1) the films will get worse, we will be given less time and money to make them, and 2) the films will end up not happening… and that'll be that!
IMPACT: We discuss 'Close Range' more in the MAI part of the interview, but we also see that ‘ReKIll’ is finally getting a release, after some years in limbo. What are your memories from that project and what do we have to look forward to with this film?
SCOTT: Rekill IS finally getting a release. You know… I shot the film just after we shot Undisputed 3. That was six years ago, that's how long it's taken between us making Undisputed 3 and 4…six years because of all the illegal downloads! Rekill, its finally out, it’s a zombie-action flick and I had a lot of fun making it. I shot more rounds of ammunition during the making of that film than all my other movies put together until we did Close Range. I think it’s a cool little zombie movie. I like the way it's presented…like its an episode of COPS, with a bit of the Starship Troopers infomercial stuff going on… but I will say there's a lot of shakey-cam in the film, so be prepared!
IMPACT: You also played the main villain in Wolf Warrior opposite Wu Jing. Was it refreshing to work with a China/Hong Kong action team again after so long?
SCOTT: Yes, it was refreshing, but I'd forgotten how hardcore and difficult it can be. I've done a lot of movies since I did my early HK stuff, and I've taken some pretty hard knocks and pulled off some hard action, but I'd forgotten just how black and white and raw it can be. There's no mollycoddling or sitting in your trailer on a Chinese shoot, which can be refreshing. But, man… it was hot, we were shooting in Nanjing in a fierce summer, and I was sweating like a mad man. I think I must have sweated out an almost dangerous amount, it was hard going but good to be back.
I really liked working with Wu Jing, I'd been an admirer or his work and he's a great guy to work with, exceptional martial artist. I just wish we'd been able to do more action. I’m really happy to see how well it's done. He put so much into the making of the film, even a lot of his own money, it was a passion project for him, and I'd love to work with him again in future if another opportunity came up.
IMPACT: There's often been talk of you being attached to THE RAID remake or of you working with Gareth Evans, any comments?
SCOTT: I did have some conversations with The Raid remake makers, but as far as I can tell the movie is on hold for now. Gareth Evans and myself have become friends. I'm a big fan of his work and he knows that I'd love to work with him on something…so hopefully somewhere down the line we can make that happen.
IMPACT: Beyond the big projects just announced, what else does the future hold for Scott Adkins?
SCOTT: I have Jarhead 3: The Siege coming out, which I really enjoyed making with William Kaufman… who is a really good director, and we had a really good script to work with by Chad Law. I think that film is going go down well with people. I have the WWE movie Eliminators directed by James Nunn (with whom I worked previously on Green Street 3)and had a lot of fun making that with him, Tim Man and Wade Barrett. I have two big movies coming out that I play a supporting role in, Criminal alongside Gary Oldman, Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones and also The Brothers Grimsby with Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Strong. So it’s really been a great couple years career wise so far.
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