Ed Travis: Hey Scott, it is good to talk to you again! So do you have a full day of press interviews today?
Scott Adkins: A little bit, but it is all good, man. Spreading the word!
ET: Well, you know I’m on record as loving Ninja II. I think it is THE action film of 2013. So let’s dive in and talk about it! Most audiences haven’t gotten a chance to see the film yet as it hits Blu-ray in North America this week, December 31st. What do you want to say to North American fans that are about to get a chance to see this movie?
SA: It’s a proper, old-school martial arts film. If you like that sort of stuff that is exactly what you are going to get. And you are going to get it from some of the best people working in the business of this particular genre. If you DON’T like martial arts films… don’t watch it. If you do, you are going to get the best one of 2013.
ET: Absolutely! So you mentioned working with some of the best people in the business. Besides the awesome talents that you bring to the screen, who are some of the secret weapons, behind the camera or in front of the camera, that make this film special?
SA: You can be the best action performer in the world and have the best choreography available, but if it is not shot right, then it amounts to nothing. And that is what so many people making these films don’t seem to understand. And Isaac Florentine is the best director for this type of movie that there is. And that’s an obvious reason why I’ve done so many films with him. If I’m going to do a martial arts film, I want it to work. And that is why I want to do it with Isaac Florentine. He’s a master of that! You’ve also got Ross Clarkson, the DP and camera operator on Ninja II. If there is any one person that worked harder than me on the film, it was Ross. He is constantly having to hold the camera through fight scenes with very fast performers. He has to keep up with them and film the action. And sometimes he gets a bit of a telling off if he misses something. So he gets pressure from all angles. But this was a great team! Tim Man and his team also did a great job of choreographing the fights. It all really worked out.
ET: I watched it again last night with an eye out for some of that camera work and choreography and it is pretty phenomenal. I understand that Isaac Florentine collaborates with Ross Clarkson a lot.
SA: He did Undisputed II, yeah.
ET: One of the most stand out fights to me is the single-take dojo fight sequence towards the beginning of the film. To my eye as a fan, that looks like the most physically challenging of all the fights in the film, especially for you. Would you agree? And/or what were some of the biggest physical challenges for you in this film?
SA: Well that definitely was a challenge. And to be honest I unsure that we should do a one-take fight. It has been done before by other people really well. But Isaac wanted to add a little flavor to one of the fight scenes; to add something different. I think it was the right idea. But there are better versions of a one-take fight out there, with Tony Jaa being at the top of that list. But yes, that was really difficult. It made me realize I need to work on my cardio a little bit. I think we did 6 takes and we got it on number 4. We felt the last move wasn’t perfect so we tried it again but I was getting a bit too tired.
One of the hardest things on the film, though, was that I injured my back. It was pretty painful and I couldn’t kick with my right leg for a whole week and of course, that was a week that I had three fight scenes to do. It is never good when you get injured. Some you can work through, like it if is a sprained ankle or something. But when it is something integral to your core and the way you move? That was pretty difficult.
ET: You are doing such physical work. It seems like you stand a pretty high chance of getting injured. I think you had really messed up your knee last time I talked to you for El Gringo.
SA: I had a lot of injuries in 2011 and then had been okay, but yeah… I hurt my back. Sometimes you get injured, sometimes you don’t. I hope it’s not a sign of age, but it probably is. I’m going to continue to do it to myself, though, because I love what I do.
ET: I want to talk more about your career and what you have in store but before we stray away from Ninja II: Over the years it seems like I’ve heard you and Isaac regularly expressing that you weren’t as happy with Ninja I as you wanted to be. So Ninja II was an opportunity to kick it up a notch. What are some areas you guys tried to attack with Ninja II to make sure this was a film you were both proud of?
SA: I guess the first thing, which is definitely my fault, is that the lead character Casey was flat in the first film and a bit of a wet blanket. I guess I was trying to play the character that I read on the page, but it was my job to bring that character to life and I failed to do it in an interesting way. I never thought I was going to do a ninja film, period. But then we did Ninja. Then I certainly thought we would never get the chance to do a Ninja II, but apparently it sold very well! So the opportunity to do Ninja II came up and we took that as an opportunity to correct some things that we did wrong. We made it too comic book-y. There was bad CGI that didn’t need to be in there. The character was weak. The story in general was balls. [Both laugh]. So we just tried to do better! Look, the story isn’t always up to us. There is a committee of people. Especially me as an actor, I’m not in a position to say “Hey, change that, change this.” For me it is: Am I going to do it or not? I focus on the acting side of things and the action stuff. But yeah, we really wanted to make Casey a more interesting lead, which is why we kill off Namiko at the beginning, to take him to a dark place that changes him. He becomes more of an anti-hero and does things he wouldn’t have otherwise. And revenge is a typical plot device for martial arts films, and it works!
ET: You are mentioning being a part of a committee in order to get projects off the ground. You’ve done a ton of films with Nu Image, which is part of Millennium Entertainment. Why do you think that team is the team that seems to be bringing us so much old school action these days? What is it about that team that allows a home for action cinema?
SA: This type of movie was their bread and butter 10 years ago. They have moved now into bigger budget theatrical films, which they’ve had to do because of the piracy. But a film like Ninja or Undisputed can do very well on DVD, although not as well as it used to. But those films still do very well for them. So they still have to go the DVD action film route but they have much bigger projects that are higher up in the pecking order than us. But I’ve been with Nu Image since Special Forces in 2003 so they know me very well.
ET: You were talking about this on social media last week, mentioning to fans that if they wanted to see an Undisputed IV, then they need to support Ninja II through legal means and avoid any piracy. It may seem obvious to many people, but piracy has become a huge problem and I wanted to see if you could outline the best ways that fans can legally support your work and exactly how piracy hurts what you do.
SA: A big film comes out in the cinema and hopefully makes its money back, and then it earns revenue on the DVD release. Although, nothing compared to what they used to now that people are downloading films for free. But then those bigger films make more money on television runs. But these genre movies that are made to go straight to DVD are hitting the marketplace and they aren’t making any money because people are downloading them for free. And these movies don’t get a big bump on television either because the bigger films are getting priority. So these films are making just small amounts of money. And then the massive question becomes: “Are you going to finance this project?” For instance, everyone loves Undisputed III. I’m always asked “When are you going to make Undisputed IV?” Everyone loves it, but it wasn’t a financial success. So anyone who wants to invest in Undisputed IV is going to think twice, because the last one didn’t make a lot of money. I think people think it doesn’t affect films to pirate them. They think they are sticking it to the big Hollywood bosses sitting on millions. But that guy doesn’t get affected, it is the people like me, and others in this genre… the crew and their families. Piracy ensures that someone like that isn’t making as much money as they used to. And there aren’t as many of these films being made anymore, and when they are you have to make them in 2 weeks rather than 5 weeks, which isn’t what it should be. The piracy situation is disturbing and depressing. I urge people to support Ninja II through legal means. Rent it off iTunes, buy the Blu-ray, whatever you need to do. If Ninja II isn’t a success, I don’t think there will be an Undisputed IV, and that is the sad truth.
ET: Thanks. That is really helpful. It might seem obvious to some but I think fans need to hear from folks like you exactly how piracy affects the industry. Because if you love stuff like Ninja II, then you have to support it in order to get more of it.
SA: Another big part of the problem is, you know, Ninja II comes to North American December 31st, but I don’t think it hits Russia until March. And people don’t want to wait those months. And that is an issue that needs to be sorted out by distributors but it shows that this is not an easy topic to tackle. Certainly things have really changed drastically.
ET: On that note, as a North American fan who is trying to check out all of your work via legal means, do you know anything about when we might be able to get our hands on Green Street Hooligans 3 or Metal Hurlant Chronicles? (Neither of which I’ve yet had a chance to see.)
SA: It is a pain isn’t it? And I have got no idea. I know Green Street has been very popular in the UK.
ET: I’ve heard lots of good things on Twitter, yeah. So you got a chance to collaborate with Kane Kosugi on Ninja II, which is exciting for all of us fans of his father Sho Kosugi. And you’ve gotten to collaborate with some incredible names such as Van Damme and all the Expendables guys. Can you talk about working with Kane and any dream collaborations you’d like to see happen in the future?
SA: I’d love to work with Kane Kosugi again, actually. I’ve always been a fan of his and didn’t know him personally, but we jumped at this opportunity when it came up. He couldn’t be a more humble guy. He’s the nicest person you’ve ever met and he’s such a good-lookin’ bloke. [Both laugh]. He’s one of the best martial artists I’ve had the pleasure to work with, he’s got the body of a god, speaks perfect English, his dad is Sho Kosugi… why the hell isn’t he a bigger star? I don’t understand it so I’m hoping to contribute somehow to opening people’s eyes that this guy needs to be a bigger star. And I cannot wait to work with him again.
ET: The last couple years you’ve had a ton of big stuff coming out, between smaller roles in big films like Expendables II and Zero Dark Thirty, and starring roles in stuff like Green Street and Ninja II. And you’ve got Hercules right around the corner. But besides the often-discussed Undisputed IV, are there any projects coming up that you are able to discuss?
SA: Well, actually I do need to start working again. There is a Chinese film I did that was called Wolf War, although it may not have a proper English title yet. That film stars Wu Jing. It is a modern Chinese military film which is quite interesting. That will be coming next year as well. Wu Jing was in SPL and just signed on to SPL 2 as well, so that is exciting. That will have Tony Jaa in it as well. Andy On is also in that film and it is great to see him doing well because we worked together back on Black Mask II and now he’s the villain in Donnie Yen’s latest, Special ID. He seems to be doing quite well.
ET: You did a lot of work on Asian films earlier in your career and I had been meaning to ask if you have further interest in that, which it seems like you do considering the film you just told us about.
SA: Yeah, well I went back and worked with Wu Jing. There is a totally different culture of making movies there in China. It is a lot harder. You don’t get a lot of the luxury afforded to you that you do as an actor in the West. But that is alright. They are all about making a good movie and nothing else matters. But I do enjoy working on films with the Chinese because they are so good at what they do.
ET: You may not have a lot of time to see action films on your free time but I wanted to ask if you have any recommendations for films or talent in the action world that we should be looking out for aside from the great work that you’ve been doing?
SA: Well, nothing has impressed me as much as The Raid since having seen The Raid. So I can’t wait for The Raid 2. Gareth Evans is extremely talented. The martial arts and everything are great but his direction goes far beyond. I thought The Raid was tense and well-directed and you are on the edge of your seat. I still haven’t seen Special ID yet, either, so I want to see that. But beyond that I’m not too sure what else to recommend.
ET: This is more of a personal question but I know last time we talked you had recently become a father and between all of the duties as a dad, an athlete, an actor, and all the promotion you need to do as well… how to you keep up your energy? Do you have any practices that keep you on track?
SA: It is true that children sap your energy, but no, I’ve been lucky. Generally I spend about 6 months a year working and get about 6 months at home. On average it works out about like that. I was really busy at the beginning of the year but I’ve had a long stretch to be with my family since August. Actually, I can hear her trying to get through the door now… “Hello, I’m on the phone!” But yeah, it is great to spend time with them. So I have to make sure I get to the gym to stay in shape and then my daughter will tire me out for the rest of the day.
ET: You’ve really done a great job of integrating social media like Twitter and Facebook into your career, between getting in touch with fans and sharing information with us about your films. I’m a big fan of social media as a platform builder. How integral is social media to someone like you who is trying to build up your career and your audience?
SA: It is really important and amazing that social media has become what it has become in such a short amount of time. These things are crucial to my career because I can immediately put information into the palm of someone’s hand. “Here’s a clip to my new movie!” You can’t ignore it and you’d be a fool to ignore it. I use it to try and expand my fanbase and let more people know about what I do so I can do more of it.
ET: So North America is getting a chance to see Legend Of Hercules on January 10th. What should fans expect from you and your role in Hercules and what brought you onboard that project?
SA: My relationship with Millennium Films brought me to the film. It was a different part for me and I had never made a film like that before. So it was cool to make an ancient Greek epic. So I auditioned for it, talked to Renny Harlin about it, he agreed, and it was a great experience. I went back to Bulgaria, my home away from home. And I haven’t gotten to see the finished film yet. Hope it is good and I hope people respond to it.
ET: I’m looking forward to it. Can you talk about what your experience was like working with Renny Harlin?
SA: Brilliant! Obviously he really knows what he is doing. I’m a big fan of lots of the films he has done. He’s also a really nice guy. On set, but also socially. He had great dinners for the cast on a weekly basis. So I have great memories from that set and he is a lovely guy.
ET: So just to start wrapping us up, obviously this has a lot to do with what kind of business Ninja II does, but has there been any talk of the further adventures of Casey Bowman in Ninja III?
SA: If it is a success I could certainly see that happening. And now that we’ve done a second it would be nice to see a trilogy. And I much prefer the character now that we’ve done the second film. But it is all going to come down to financing, as you say. I hope people get behind Ninja II. Movies like this aren’t around as much any more and if we make some money, we’ll want to make some more.
ET: I do believe the critical response has been very strong. I obviously love the film but reading around the work of my peers in the critical community, the film seems to be topping a lot of lists as the best action film of 2013. I hope the critical response excites fans and promotes the success of the movie. It is already a huge hit with us critics. Well enjoy the rest of your down time and I’ll look forward to hearing about whatever projects you line up for the new year.
SA: Thanks Ed, always a pleasure to talk to you and hopefully it won’t be long before we connect again.
And I’m Out.
