Today Bren Foster talks with Kung Fu Kingdom about the making of “Life After Fighting” and his goals with the film, his martial arts activities in both real life and on film, and other projects he has lined up for the future! Hello Bren, nice to meet you and welcome to Kung Fu Kingdom!
Are you already familiar with our Kung Fu Kingdom website?
Yes, I was already familiar with Kung Fu Kingdom before, and thanks for including it.”Life after fighting” to your list “Top 15 Most Anticipated Martial Arts Movies of 2024“. I showed this to my kids and everyone at school and it was really cool to see!
Thanks Bren, that's great to hear! Before we begin, our mission is to inspire 100 million people around the world to take up martial arts for all the positive benefits it brings, both physically, mentally and socially. What do you think about KFK's goal to inspire people around the world to learn martial arts?
Oh, I think that's great! Sometimes martial arts is one of the most underrated and underappreciated things a person can bring into their life, especially for children.
The amount of benefit and improvement I have seen in children and adults over the years is impossible to put a price on, Brad. A child who learns self-defense and everything related to martial arts benefits greatly: from physical fitness and strength, to coordination and self-confidence, everything changes with martial arts.
In many Asian countries, such as Korea, taekwondo is an educational subject, and judo and karate in Japan are very deeply embedded in their culture.
There are many people who value martial arts, but sometimes in the West I think they don't understand the true value that martial arts brings to a person's life. And I, as an instructor, and in everything else that I do, one of my goals is to try to spread martial arts and try to influence as many people as possible through martial arts.
For example, the other day I was at the mall and a police officer came up to me and said, “Hi Bren, I just want to thank you for how many times your teaching has helped me while I was working. As a young police officer your training helped me stay calm, it helped me physically when I needed to restrain people and I can't thank you enough. Everything you taught me has helped me a lot in my work.” .
I'm grateful that the teachings that I was able to pass on to him impacted his life and helped him, and to me that was the greatest compliment that anyone could give me, and in terms of my legacy in martial arts, that's... what I want to leave behind. So, the impact that I was able to have on his life through martial arts, I was very, very grateful.
Great! Then let's start with where were you born and raised?
In good old Australia.
What's your height and weight?
5 ft 11 in (180 cm) and 91 kg (200 lb).
Martial arts
So Bren, when did you first become interested in martial arts and what disciplines did you study?
My journey in the world of martial arts has been quite - and I don't want to sound selfish - but it has been amazing!
I started karate when I was six years old and did it for a couple of years, then switched to hapkido. Studied Hapkido for quite a long time, until about age 13, and achieved my first dan black belt, which was a grueling ordeal. It was a very traditional, tough school with a Korean instructor, Master Kim.
He made us hit bags without gloves until our knuckles began to bleed. And on the other hand, one of the branches under the leadership of Master Kim at that time had a strong influence of American kickboxing from people like Bill "Superfoot" Wallace и Benny “Jet” Urquidez. And before I even stepped onto the taekwondo mat, I had five kickboxing fights as a child.
Oh really?
Yes, and the fights were quite brutal, they took place in a tournament format, and in my case I had to fight five two-minute rounds. So, as an 11-year-old boy, I did 11 rounds of kickboxing, and I remember waking up the next day with a headache!
I think I was about 13 years old when I started training in Hwarangdo and Taekwondo under another Korean instructor who taught both disciplines, and in the following years I received black belts in Hwarangdo and Taekwondo.
I think I gravitated more towards taekwondo at that time because I was really fascinated and impressed by kicking, and when I was 16 I went overseas and represented Australia at the International World Taekwondo Championships.
Then when I came back I broke my leg and they put a metal plate with nine screws in, so I couldn't kick for a while, so I took up boxing while my leg was healing. Then, gradually, I started doing a little Muay Thai. If you look back, I actually started training Muay Thai at the age of 14, at the same time as Taekwondo.
After I recovered from the broken leg, everything started to come together: boxing, kickboxing, taekwondo. Shortly after that I started wrestling and if I fast forward a few years, in 1999 I met Anthony Perosha, who had just received his purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and at the time no one knew what it was. So I started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Anthony and we trained in a small hangar in the Australian outback, just five of us.
I think one of the biggest changes in my martial arts training came when I met one of my current best friends, Rona Balicki. I ended up in a movie called “Punitive detachment” and wanted to expand my knowledge of Philippine martial arts – rewinding a bit, I also trained with Ray Floro, who is a Filipino martial arts instructor - and when I met Ron, he turned out to be a veritable walking encyclopedia of martial arts!
This guy knows so much, and not only does he know, but he's damn good at it. So I started training with Ron to expand my knowledge of knife fighting, and ended up getting him involved in a movie where we had knife fights. During my time in Los Angeles from 2012 to 2020, I learned a lot from Ron in Philippine Martial Arts, Jeet Kune Do, Silate, Shuto style training for MMA, and Ron was a source of a wealth of knowledge for me.
The training never stops, the growth never stops, the knowledge is still available, there are many things that I don't know about that I keep searching for, and I believe that through constant training there is a lot of self-discovery in martial arts.
One hundred percent! So what would you say are your martial arts inspirations?
One of the reasons I switched from Hapkido to kickboxing to Taekwondo was because of the movie “The best of the best“. I watched this film and, especially, thanks Phillip Rea и Simon Rea, thought: “Wow“, and also thanks to training in Korea.
This then became a dream of mine, which actually came true when I finished my last year of high school and ended up in Korea training there. This movie and Phillip and Simon had a huge impact on my desire to train in Taekwondo. Ron was a big influence on my martial arts training and helped me see things from a different perspective.
As for other influences, obviously it was my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach, Anthony Perosh. I had a great team of instructors at Hollywood Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so I want to thank them, in particular Sean Patrick Flanery. Also, I had some difficult moments and surgeries, and a couple of instructors such as Professor Rodrigo and Professor Naito along with my friends Tim and Eddie helped me get back into training.
Obviously, in the early stages Bruce Lee had a huge impact and I really believe that Jackie Chan underrated as a martial artist. If you look at the fights he fought with Sammo Hoon и Benny Urquidez, these fights were quite serious.
They were really getting hit and I remember talking to Richard Norton, and he told me: “Yes, we just put some cotton wool in our teeth to keep them from breaking.“, and they really hit each other with uppercuts.
If you look closely at the work Jackie Chan, it is clear that he receives blows and delivers them. The blocks are hard, forearms collide, shins collide, body shots land, and some kicks to the head land too. I think Jackie is very underrated as a martial artist, so I like to go back and watch a lot of his work, and that was a bit of an influence as well.”Life After Fighting” .
Career in cinema
Well, now let's move on to your career in front of the camera. You are also known for your appearances in the National Geographic documentary series “The Science of Hand-to-Hand Combat.” How did you end up there and what can you tell us about filming this series?
Yes, "The Science of Hand-to-Hand Combat” was a great project. It all started for me with a documentary on Discovery. James Lew, who is my friend, came to Australia with Mickey Stern и John Brancas, and they wanted to make a documentary about extreme martial arts.
At that time there were few such people. I was one of the first to do acrobatics, doing somersaults and breaking six boards in the air before landing. One of the stunt coordinators brought me on to the project and I had a sort of martial arts audition and they did a test shoot for Discovery. But then Discovery - so I was told - wanted to film it in Los Angeles, and I went there, played a small role in a documentary called “Xma” [Extreme Martial Arts], and that’s how my relationship with the Science of Combat team began.
The guys from this show searched all over the world for the best in various martial arts disciplines. I think I was about 27 years old and I was there rubbing shoulders with legends like Dan Inosanto, Rickson Gracie, sensei Toshiro Obata, so there were real legends there, and this crash test dummy had solid steel inside!
I don't think people realize how heavy he was and that punching bag was like a rock. You can see me hitting him, but I don’t know what was inside, and he was filled with sand and hard as stone. He was so heavy!
There were a few little things that I don’t think everyone understood from “Science of hand-to-hand combat“. In the competition for the best kick, where I made my roundhouse kick, which received very high marks. And then Melchor Menor, who is an amazing Muay Thai fighter - I think he was the world champion at the time - did a knee strike and they said, “Oh, the knee turned out to be the most effective“, and everyone believed that the knee strike was the most powerful technique. But you had to really listen carefully because the knee strike was measured by chest compression, and our three strikes were measured in pounds of force, so they were two completely different measurements.
There was also a kicking competition in one of the later shows where strength and speed were measured and Lateef Crowder was great. He is probably one of the best, if not the best capoeira player in the world, but when they measured the blows they said: “Bren, congratulations, you have the fastest and most powerful punch.“. But then they kind of reverse engineered it and said, “Okay, if both punches were moving at 100 mph, Latif's punch would be the most effective“, but they both hit as fast and hard as they could, so the algorithm was a little redundant. And when I asked a question about this, they said: “Well, Bren, you can't win everything!” [both laugh].
Overall, it was quite grueling, it was a tough shoot, especially for a feature-length documentary.”The Science of Hand-to-Hand Combat“. To say it all over again, I've lost some weight so I'm not complaining about it.
It was great to interact with legends such as Rickson Gracie, Dan Inosanto и Sensei Obata. Every person there was fantastic. So I have only great memories of the film, it was a unique chance to test my skills with science, except that I wanted to clarify a couple of things about some of the tests!
Regarding the tests in “The Science of Combat,” what were your favorite tests and episodes of the documentary series?
I think one of my favorite tests was when a tiger kicked a soccer ball, which, although it looked like a soccer ball on the outside, was a solid steel ball on the inside. When you hit it, you were actually hitting a heavy, hard steel measuring cylinder. The ballistic gel tests were pretty tough too, especially with the throat grabs and stuff like that because it was hard and I actually hurt my hand doing it! The improvised weapon test, where a magazine was used to make a piercing weapon, was also interesting. I also liked the speed and kicking tests.
Kicking is probably my favorite thing to do, so testing the speed and power of my kicks was probably what I enjoyed the most. I don't think I can pick just one because overall all the tests were very interesting, but I think my favorites were the speed and kicking tests.
Yes, the kick tests were amazing, and that poor crash test dummy sure went through a lot! Now, moving on to your upcoming film, Life After Fighting, what can you tell us about how it came about?
Well, I lived in the United States for quite a long time, and after working on the series “The Last Ship” I have come up with certain kinds of films and projects that I would really like to do. I felt like I hadn't given the martial arts world everything I could yet, and that was something I really wanted to do, but a lot of the scripts that came to me seemed to lack any real soul.
The stories weren't very good, the characters weren't very good, and this is also very close to my heart because I studied acting at university and am an acting teacher. But a lot of people seem to think that if you do martial arts you can't be a real actor, but in my career most of the jobs have been outside of martial arts.
So I really wanted to combine high drama, good characters, good plot and epic levels of action. Here are the reasons why “Life After Fighting” .
Another thing that I think is important is the fight against child trafficking. When we were in the States and in lockdown, a lot of people took to the streets for issues that needed attention, and on child trafficking day they asked people to wear blue and post on social media in support of children, but not many people did it, which made me a little sad.
So when I decided to do “Life After Fighting“One of the reasons was dissatisfaction with the scripts that were offered to me and the work that had been done previously, where I felt that I did not give my best. And the second reason was that I didn't think there was enough being done to bring attention to this particular topic, and those were my two main motivations for creating “Life After Fighting” .
My very good friend and amazing producer, Navid Bahadori, who is now my business partner in our company “Spinning Plates“, rated the script, and we both said, “Rain, hail or shine, let's make this movie” .
Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected “Life After Fighting”?
Well, when the pandemic happened, I wrote another script that could very well be our next film. But when I came back to Australia from Los Angeles, I think I was boiling inside because of what I mentioned earlier, and there was another lockdown at the time.
I just couldn't shake my dissatisfaction with what was going on in the film space for me and also with the kids, so when we had the second lockdown in Australia, that's when “Life After Fighting” really began to sprout and come alive within me.
Navid is a very hard worker in the documentary world, so this was his first real feature film script, and we just decided on a certain date, and I think that was the most important thing.
Once we made the decision to start, everything started to come together. And even after we finished filming, we didn't have distribution ready, but we continued making this film, and after people started watching it, everything started opening up for us, and we were over the moon that awaits us further...
“Life After Fighting” was filmed at your martial arts school, Elite Martial Arts?
Yes, my martial arts school, Elite Martial Arts, was one of the filming locations for the film. This is a big part of the film, and it also honestly shows how a real martial arts school actually works. I know that there are series like “Cobra Kai“, and it’s a great show, but when you really look at how a martial arts school like mine is run, where they have Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, Muay Thai, and we have three different levels, it’s very It's a big space and we do many, many classes every week, close to 80 classes a week. So it really shows how things work and it's almost like it's a separate character in “Life After Fighting” .
Basically the movie is about a former martial arts instructor who is retired from fighting but his life takes a dark turn and he is pulled into a world he never imagined and he really has to fight not only for himself but also for himself. and for the many people he cares about.
So in a lot of ways, even though it's a movie with a lot of action, we believe we've created something unique, but it's also very human and I think the acting sets us apart a little bit from just action, because a lot of it what happens in this movie is heartbreaking.
So while people will be ready to watch this crazy action, they need to understand that there are also people and tragedy here, so they need to be prepared not only for punches and kicks, but also for real people who are subject to the human condition, and at the same time It's time to see the action they came for.
Speaking about the action movie Life After Fight, in an interview with Scott Adkins for The Art of Action, you mentioned that The Raid served as inspiration for the action scenes in the film. What can you tell us about the development of the action game “Life After Fighting”?
Yes, I love moviesThe Raid“, Brad, really, really! I have a real soft spot for these guys and I can tell they worked their asses off to create the choreography and they are all in silat. There's a certain primal quality to them, and I feel like the choreography in them is a little more messy, and I loved them, so they were a huge influence on what we did.
I think a lot of people will look at what we've done here and think, “Oh, it's sped up!“, but I promise you that they are not sped up! This is what happens when highly skilled fighters come together, and we trained to the point of exhaustion. In some of these fights there was improvisation within the choreography because we knew each other so well that the hands would fly and suddenly there would be an extra punch or a couple of punches and the person on the other side would just react to it. We worked and trained so hard for these fight scenes that a lot of them were improvised. We didn't have any serious injuries, but with so much hard training and intense choreography, it all seemed a little too easy for the camera.
Mostly when we had to go back and redo scenes, it was because the camera wasn't catching what we wanted. But I promise you, our battles are NOT sped up! I'm pretty fast, and I have a lot of students who can match that speed, and when we were filming a lot of these fight scenes, that's what we were able to create.
Looks like there's a lot of amazing action in Life After Fighting, Bren! And there were no serious injuries or incidents?
No, the only real injury was a hamstring strain which forced us to rearrange our plan for a couple of weeks. I went for a takedown and something happened to my hip. We had a few more shots to take during the day and I just tied the joint and struggled through. After the Christmas break the hip took about four weeks to heal and then we came back to finish filming.
There was no CG or stunt doubles for me, I did everything myself, so it was a bit like Jackie Chan, who broke his leg several times during filming and quit when the injury went away, but I was fine with that. Otherwise, everyone was fine, we didn't have any injuries and my injuries weren't caused by another person, just because I pushed my body too hard, they were very small and I made a full recovery. We got back to work as quickly as possible, so no complaints!
So what would you like people to take away from Life After Fighting?
What I would like people to realize after watching “Life After Fighting” is that actors who are actual fighters are able to create more intuitive, realistic, and high-quality choreography than actors who are not fighters and are trained or trained only to a one-time role in an action film using special effects.
In addition, I hope that people can also see how important children are, that they are our real angels, and if they suffer, so does our world. “We must fight for our children without compromise” .
Based on this, what else are you working on after the release of Life After Fighting?
Well, I just spent four months on the show. Paramount + entitled "The Last King of the Cross” with executive producer John Ibrahim, and my character has elements of martial arts. There are a few episodes where I do some intense fighting and I think the series will be coming out on Paramount+ in Australia in August.
Also, Navid and I have two films that we are working on at the moment and we are not sure which one will be the first. Now it depends on what project is ahead: one of them is called “My Superman“, and the other - “Lone Warrior“, these are working titles, so they may change, but I think we were really able to bring very strong dramatic stories and well-developed characters to the action world.
"My Superman” ventures into the world of no holds barred fighting through the lens of how families survive tragedy and move forward.
"Lone Warrior” — talks about a completely different Australia. I don't want to give too much away because it's a very unique idea, but we're looking at a very, very different Australia, which I could call "apocalyptic" but it's not really. It's more of a country that changes due to circumstances and then opens up and makes way for some crazy action movie filmed in the Australian outback in dire situations where humanity is really struggling to survive in the outback and across the country.
Was The Lone Warrior influenced by your portrayal of Mad Max in the Mad Max video game?
Yes, inLone warriorThere's definitely a bit of Mad Max, but Mad Max shows really desolate and lifeless places where there's no vegetation. “The Lone Warrior” is a little different, it doesn’t go that far, it’s just the aftermath of a key event. So while it will have Mad Max influences, the world will still be very green, it's just that a lot of the technology will take a backseat.
Mad Max was definitely an influence on me and it's a movie I love and I loved being part of a video game. Even if you watch this movie, there's so much tragedy, so much loss, you can't look at Max and not admire the human spirit, how he continues to move forward after losing everything, you know? Even though he becomes a bit of a fool, he finds a little girl named Hope.
It's interesting that I named my youngest daughter Hope, and of course Max finds the little girl Hope in the Mad Max video game, so I don't know if it was a subconscious influence, but I named my youngest daughter Hope and absolutely forgot that the little girl in Mad Max also has this name, so that's a little Mad Max fact!
So, regarding upcoming projects, what other fighters or action movie actors would you like to work with?
Well, I talked to Scott Adkins several times on different project topics, but so far nothing has come of it. I would love to work with Scott at some point, and I think we could have something really cool in terms of fight scenes. Also, I have long wanted to work with Donnie Yen. He mixes a lot of different styles very well and I like a lot of Indonesian guys like Iko Uwais and the guys from the moviesThe Raid“It would be great to work with them on choreography.
Also, there are a lot of actors outside of the martial arts world that I would also like to work with, but in terms of physical interaction. My choreography and style is very aggressive, I like to move quickly and keep everything very fluid, I like to use space from high to low, and I don't like things to look too clean and staged.
I was beside myself with what we were able to achieve with the guys in “Life After Fighting“, and for the future I think that Scott Adkins и Donnie Yen The guys from “Raid” would be great partners to work with, too. I know that Jackie Chan also moves forward, and time waits for none of us. We'll all get there, God willing, but I'd still like to do something with Jackie Chan one day. This would be a truly great honorable event!
Certainly! At the moment I am doing daily training. Can you tell us what types of workouts you do daily or weekly? Martial arts, stretching, yoga or lifting weights at the gym?
I do martial arts at least 6 days a week. The training includes every discipline from Taekwondo to Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Philippine Martial Arts, it really depends on what I and my team decide to work on that day and it is often a combination of several different systems. Sometimes there is a second training in the evening in my free time after finishing classes at my school.
I also do strength training, which involves full circuit training with a push-pull technique. And as far as functional training exercises go, during strength training the focus is on cardio because we're moving quickly, grouping three to five exercises together so each exercise will be four to five sets with no rest. There are times when your body tells you to take a day off, and I listen to my body and do it when I feel it's necessary.
What foods do you like to eat daily to stay fit, energetic and healthy? What are your favorite treats: ice cream, pizza or some other exotic cuisine?
90% of the time I prefer grass-fed meats or organic meats and fruits with a little white rice. I don’t count calories, I eat until I feel satisfied with my hunger, at least four times a day. I also drink organic whole milk regularly and am not afraid to eat fat and avoid processed sugar and processed foods. I rarely eat vegetables, but as mentioned above, I eat fruit with every meal and try to avoid seed oils as much as I can.
So, what are Bren Foster's favorite martial arts films of all time, and what are your favorite fight scenes of all time?
As for my favorite martial arts movies, I love the movie “The Raid” and “The Raid 2” even more than the first one. I also really love “The Best of the Best”, “SPL” with Donnie Yen, “Way of the Dragon” with Bruce Lee, “Dragons forever” with Jackie Chan and “Bloody sport” with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
As far as favorite fight scenes go, my favorites are Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in “Way of the Dragon,” Jackie Chan vs. Benny Urquidez in “Dragons Are Forever,” Donnie Yen vs. Sammo Hung in “SPL,” Phillip and Simon Rea in “Best of best”, as well as both final fights in both “Raid” films.
Classic choice, Bren! So, if you could be a superhero, who would you beat and what superpower would you prefer to have?
Superman has all the super powers, so if I had to choose, it would definitely be him!
thinking
Absolutely! What do you think is your greatest achievement so far, Bren?
The fact that I became a father and provide for my family first.
What warrior wisdom or philosophy has most helped you become who you are today?
"It's better to be a warrior in the garden than a gardener in war” , and "God wipes your eyes and says: “Rise up, man, for battles and troubles are your forging, you are my chosen warrior.”” .
Powerfully wise words! Finally, what special message would you like to convey to Kung Fu Kingdom readers and your fans around the world right now?
To all the fans, I want to say thank you. There were a lot of loyal people who were always wondering when the movie would be released “Life After Fighting“, and I would like everyone to support the film as much as possible. We put all our heart and soul into this film and I just hope everyone enjoys it!
Thank you Bren, it was great talking to you. Good luck with everything related to “Life After Fighting” and we look forward to new projects in 2024 and beyond!
Thanks for inviting me to Kung Fu Kingdom, Brad!
Source: Kung-Fu Kingdom
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Tags: Life After Fighting, Lone warrior, We Superman, Bren Foster
Tags: Life After Fighting, Lone warrior, We Superman, Bren Foster
A true fan of his work. Respect
Interested.
When a person is so passionate about martial arts and his cinema, of course I will watch this film.
This is a martial arts fan, of course.