Cityonfire.com presents an interview with Scott Adkins, a mega-talented movie star and star of films such as "Undisputed 2-3","Killer games","Universal Soldier 4" and "War of the Wolves" In this exclusive interview, Adkins talks about his new film "Near distance" and the following projects: "Undeniable 4" and "Hard Target 2", and much more. Enjoy!
Zach Nix: You've worked with Isaac Florentine several times now and seem to have turned the low-budget DTV action sector into a force to be reckoned with. What was it like working with Isaac on your latest film, Closer? Tell us about your relationship during filming.
Scott Adkins: It's always a pleasure, he's my best friend. You could say it’s like being your own uncle. He paved the way for me to Hollywood and I am forever grateful to him for that. He gave me my first screen break in Undisputed 2. He likes working with me because he is a fighter himself and understands how responsible I am in my work, that I give my best to film the fight scenes quickly and efficiently. It's not easy, you get injured all the time.
In my opinion, he always knows how to shoot action. There are a few of my films that I'm very unhappy with because some people don't understand how to do action scenes. It just kills me. And with him I don’t have such problems, because I know that he knows how to shoot action. And if we take a good script and do the action right, that's when we get things like Undisputed.
Nix: One of the nice things about watching your and Florentine's action films is that you can fully see every movement and understand what's happening on the screen. Do you specifically achieve this effect with him so that the movements look as clear as possible?
Adkins: Well, you see, when they use a shaky camera, close angles and too many cuts, this is done for only one purpose - to hide shortcomings in the performer’s technique, for example... I don’t want to name names. You know who I'm talking about.
Now it has reached the point where shaking the camera has become a new tradition, even if the performer has good technique, even if he is a really good fighter, they still use a shaking camera, simply because it is now accepted. What we want to do is show the beauty of hand-to-hand scenes. If it looks good on camera, it means it! All this jagged editing is not needed. The stunt performers have no choice, because the directors cannot show stunt doubles.
«Near distance" opens with a fight scene where you take out several drug cartel members to save your niece. This episode looks like it was shot in one shot. Is it actually shot like that, and how long did it take to rehearse it?
Yes, it was filmed in one shot. One continuous shooting. Before we started filming, we rehearsed with the guys who were involved in this scene because they had to move very precisely.
You know, this is a difficult situation - when you are one of the stuntmen, you try not to forget your movements, especially if I have already worked for a minute and a half of the take, and then you forgot your movement, can you imagine how unpleasant you would feel? I mean, I have the lead role, but it's a tough situation for the guys who do the stunts, and they did a great job.
Clearly, Close Range is a modern Western with all the trappings: a desert ranch, lots of cowboy hats and head-to-head confrontation. Are you or Florentine a fan of the Western genre, and were you inspired by any specific Westerns when creating the film?
I'm a big fan of Sergio Leone and his westerns. Perhaps we went a little overboard with the cowboy hats there. We didn't have a lot of real Mexicans, so we just put cowboy hats on the actors and said, "Hey, here come the Mexicans." There are several faces in the film that don't look very Mexican. It was more important for us to find good stunt performers. The influence of Sergio Leone can be seen in all of Florentine's films. Especially in music.
You recently completed principal photography"Hard Target 2", the upcoming sequel to John Woo's classic film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. What was it like working on this film and following in Van Damme's footsteps into yet another franchise?
You know, when I was first offered this role, I said to myself: no, I won’t do this again. People will think that I'm specifically chasing Van Damme films, or that I'm some kind of crazy Van Damme fan who, as a child, made it his life's goal to become a movie star so that he could star in the sequels of Van Damme films. No, that's not the case here. When I was offered the role, I thought: do I need this? I already associated myself with Van Damme in many ways. But the truth is that I grew up watching Van Damme films and was so into him, he really had such a big impact on my personality that only I can know what it feels like, and it felt like everything was right. I felt: if anyone is going to do this, why not me, because Van Damme influenced me so much as a child that when you see this film, see the character I play and know the plot, you will understand that for There's really no one more suited to this part than me. I get compared to Van Damme all the time, and I've worked with him a couple of times before, coincidentally, but I don't even know - if you need someone for this sequel, who else could you take?
During your career, you had the opportunity to fight on screen with many famous movie fighters. Among them are Wu Jing, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham and so on. Is there any actor you'd like to be your opponent or star in a film with that you haven't worked with yet?
Yes, of course: I really want to work with Tony Jaa. I would really like to star with him, but on the condition that our roles in the film will be equal, something like me and Van Damme in “Killer Games.” And, of course, I would really like to work with Donnie Yen. But most of all - with Tony Jaa, me and him, that would be great. Tony would have loved it too.
Now that you and Florentine have released Close, it appears that your next collaboration on the release schedule will be Undisputed 4. Do you have any other films planned together after Undisputed, and do you want to continue working with Florentine?
Yes, I will continue to work on films with Florentine, he is the best in the business. Viewers will get a real treat when "Undeniable 4" We are going to release the teaser trailer for Undisputed 4 within the next two weeks.
Source: Cityfire
Translation: Viktor Egorov
Thanks for the translation.
Thank you. I’ll definitely check out Hard Target.
Once again, thanks to Victor for a good job!