Action Star Scott Adkins on Martial Arts

Hey, thanks. Can you hear me all right?

Yeah, it's perfect.

Brilliant. How's your day going so far?

Yeah, not that interesting. A little bit rainy today in the UK. Um, nothing to report.

What are you here like when you hear stuff about America and stuff? What what goes through your mind? Are you kind of just like living through like the news, like Twitter and everything?

Well, I feel like, uh, we were in the news all the time for Brexit and now it's, uh, the USA's turn. No, it's the world's gone absolutely crazy. I think everyone needs to just try and get back to normal. Yeah. I don't think the lockdowns have done people any good, has it?

Mm. And what's one thing for you at home? What's one nightly or morning routine that you stick to that you always do?

Something I stick to. Um, By the time I've put the kids to bed, I normally just try and watch something for me that isn't Peppa Pig or some sort of kiddie thing. So that's that's what I'm sticking to. Uh, and I try to watch it for as long as I can before I fall asleep, but that's not normally very long.

Do you say? The kids in this lockdown have been destroying me.

Oh, I bet.

What what do you find that their favorite thing to do is?

Their favorite thing? Yeah. To do is to do my head in. I think. No, their favorite thing, I mean, you know, we're in lockdown so we have to go out into the garden. Yeah. Luckily, we got like a little kids' playground, uh, put in the garden just before the whole thing started. So that's been great.

Oh, yeah, that worked out good then, right before everything.

It did. Perfect time.

Would you say that you're working out more or less?

Less.

Is that good or bad for you?

Oh, that's bad. And the diet's been terrible. Normally, my routine is obviously if I'm doing a film, that's something different, but normally the routine is take the kids to school. Get that done and go straight to the gym. So I train first thing. And then that's done then, and whatever I've got to do in the rest of the day, I do. Uh, but because the gym's closed and I'm not taking the kids to school, the gym, the training gets put off and then some days it's it just doesn't happen because of that.

Do you go crazy when you know you didn't work out?

I do get cranky, yeah. I need it for my state of mind. So I just scream at someone, scream at the kids, I scream at my wife, and then I get it out of my system.

What did you do for makeshift gym? Like if you do end up working out, do you have like a place in the house that you will do?

No, I, luckily my garage, I've got no excuse. My garage I've converted into a gym. One thing I have been doing because people are always asking me to do like martial arts tutorials. Yeah. Because I've had the time in my garage, I've converted it into a gym. Um, I've been doing that occasionally.

Speaking of the martial arts tutorials and stuff like that, if I were to ask you like, what's one thing I need to know if I'm going to get into martial arts, what would you tell me? Someone who hasn't ever done it before.

What you need to do with fitness, I think, is just to find something that you enjoy to do. Because you'll start off with the best of intentions. I'm going to make myself do that. Um, but if you don't enjoy it, you you pretty soon give it up. So with martial arts, you know, hopefully you're going to enjoy it and you're going to have a great time doing it, and that's going to make you keep going and getting back in the door. If that isn't the case, you need to find something that you can enjoy to do. I think that's important.

Yeah, that's good advice. Luckily for me, I really enjoy it. When did you find out what age were you that you found out that you were really enjoying it?

I started uh, judo when I was 10 years old, just because my dad and my brother did it. And that's a martial art that doesn't involve any kicking or punching or striking. But it's a great martial art. It's great for kids to learn. Um, and then when I was 13, I started taekwondo, which was all about the kicks and I, that came very naturally to me, so I I really uh, took to that then.

Mhm. And your kids, are they, do they watch your films and stuff like that and like want to do it too or no?

My films are a bit violent. Do they watch them? No. Well, so I was in Doctor Strange, Marvel movie, so I took my daughter, she's nine now, I took her to watch that. I guess she was about seven at the time. Um, she got a bit freaked out when I turned into a ghost and then got killed. But that Um, the little one, I think he's going to be into it when he sees a bit of action on the the the TV, he seems to like it. But um, he hasn't watched any of my films yet.

When your daughter watched, was she kind of like, I mean, she understood because she's like older and everything like that, but does she ever ask you like questions like, what happens then? Like, how was that? Or she just like watches it?

Um, she was asking questions about, I did one movie in space. Mhm. She's like, did you, you know, what's it like in space? And no, I didn't really go in space. Oh, you didn't because you were in space. Yeah, but it's pretend. All right. So you've been to space? So cute.

And you're starring in uh, Legacy of Lies, which is going to be a huge movie. Have you seen the trailer, like the trailer for it yet?

Yes, the trailer's good. It shows off the film pretty well. It'll it looks uh, it's I'm really happy with the movie. Yeah, really turn out very well.

And when you see your name at the end of the trailer, like flash really big with the sound effects, like what goes through your head when you see like your name like that?

Bring it on. Come on. That's what it's all about. Come on. That's what goes through my head.

That's a good one. And what was the casting process like for you? When you read the script, were you kind of like, oh my God, I'm so attached to this film? Or you were like, how did you feel when you read the script through?

Yeah, it came to me and um, you know, we shot it in the Ukraine. Some producers that I hadn't worked with before, but it was a great experience and they they did a great job. The film looks great. Uh, but what really attracted me to it was because it's an espionage spy thriller, you know, like Jason Bourne, that sort of thing. So you've got all your action set pieces and fight sequences and all the stuff that you're going to expect in a movie like that, but what really um, got me excited about it was this central story of this father who's living off the grid because of things that have happened in the past. Um, he's moving from town to town. He's constantly on the move, um, because he he doesn't want his past to catch up to him. And he has his daughter with him and he's bringing her up, but she doesn't go to school, she doesn't have friends, she doesn't have a normal life, but he thinks he's teaching her things she needs to survive, and he is. But she just wants a normal regular life. But there's this very there's this lie that he told to her in the past to do with her mother and what happened and who's responsible for her death that he's never really told her the truth about. And that whole dynamic there, I thought was really interesting.

Oh, yeah, for sure. And when you found out that you booked the part, what how soon did you start filming after that?

They actually, um, I actually had a holiday booked. I don't normally book the holiday in advance because you never know as an actor, where's the next job coming from. But this time we did. Um, and I wasn't going to be able to do it. And they they waited for me, which I really appreciated. So they obviously wanted me for the part, didn't they?

Oh yeah. They knew right away, right away. That's always nice to know. And it's a very intense movie, there's so many intense scenes. What how do you mentally get in the mindset to do all of those super intense scenes?

You know, that's that's the job of the actor. An actor prepares, um, whatever it might may be. I mean, that's the job is to be able to hit those emotional notes even if it's, you know, the middle of the night, you're tired, and the sun's about to come up and you've got to get the shot. Oh, wait, take one didn't work. There's an airplane. Go take two. I mean, that's really what they pay you for is to when when you get that one take where everything goes right, you you've got to deliver. Um, you know, whether it be action or whether it be the drama. Um, and you know, that's just part of the job, isn't it?

Mhm. And is there one thought that always goes through your mind or like a certain song you listen to or just it's different every scene? Like is there a ritual?

The emotional stuff, I do like to listen to some music that's going to help get me into an emotional place, but I find that if you listen, you know, you can have a go-to song, but you you can kind of wear it out. You need to find something else that touches you.

Um, so you're constantly searching for something like that that's going to touch you deeply and, you know. Mhm. I love music works though for me, music works.

That's good. And do you find that you relate in your personal life at all to your character in the movie?

For sure, because I've got a daughter. You know, I've got a daughter who's a little bit younger than the the daughter I have in the movie, and my daughter's played by Honor Kneafsey. She's a brilliant actress, she's going to go far. She does a great job. Uh, but yeah, I was able to think, of course, relate to that and um, think about, you know, my own situation and how I would feel if what was happening in the movie was happening with my daughter. So I could definitely relate to it.

Mhm. And we're going to play a quick game with you if you're down.

Okay.

It's the game of last. So it's not that complicated. All right. Okay. Last movie that you watched that you were in.

Deck Collectors.

Last show that you binge-watched.

Um, it was Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True, and it was absolutely brilliant. Love it.

Uh, last time you remember buying something online?

Yeah, yesterday, and this is disgusting. It was from Amazon, and it was athlete's foot cream. There you go. And I need it.

That's what we really wanted to know from this interview.

Yeah. I got trouble down there.

Oh. Last text you remember sending.

F flipping hell. Um, I really can't remember. I think it was to one of I've got one of these threads on WhatsApp, which is all your mates from school. So I really couldn't repeat what was said, but it was one of those ones.

I love that you still talk to them.

Good fun. Good fun thread. Yeah.

Last person you remember FaceTiming.

Uh, that's my wife. Yeah. FaceTiming her from the supermarket, making sure that I didn't get the wrong thing because I didn't want to get told off again.

That's literally I think every couple like every my parents do that all the time.

Yeah. Even your martial art and movie stars get a telling off from their wife if they don't get the proper thing from the supermarket. don't get the right cheese or something. Yeah.

Last meal you ate.

I've literally just ate it and it was a roast. A chicken roast with roasted with roasted potatoes. Oh, it was good. So good. So good.

How long was your last workout?

I'm too honest. I did a 10-minute one in the garden. Um, and I gave up.

Okay, good. 10 minute.

10 minutes. 10 minutes it was.

Uh, last picture you remember taking.

Um, I think it was of my kids in the garden. The sun was out and it was we had the uh, blow-up water slide.

Yeah. Thank gosh you have that garden.

Yeah, yeah.

Last song you remember listening to.

Uh, Liam Gallagher, misunderstood in the car this morning.

Last, um, fight scene of yours that you remember watching.

Of mine. Yeah. Um, I actually watched with the guy that I did it with, uh, the end fight from Undisputed 3, uh, recently because we were doing a little video like this where we were discussing the end fight.

Well, thank you so much, Scott, for talking to us today at Young Hollywood.

Thank you, Jolie. I'm surprised I'm on Young Hollywood. I'm not as young as I used to be.

Yeah, but you're still a legend, and we bring legends on all the time.

Younger at heart or immature, something like that.