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Matthew Daddario Talks Weapons Training Skills for "Shadowhunters" Role

Matthew Daddario Talks Weapons Training Skills for "Shadowhunters" Role

6:31·By Gemma G
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Actor Matthew Daddario stops by the YH Studio to scoop us on his role in the Freeform fantasy series "Shadowhunters: The Mortal Intruments", including his rigorous workout regime and archery training in preparation for the show. He also reveals what superpower he'd love to have in real life, plus he comes clean about his backgammon skills and shows off another hidden talent!

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Young Hollywood

Could you juggle? Oh, wow, it's good. Oh. It's actually pretty good. Look at that, you can you do it? Oh, no. I'm all here on the Young Hollywood sofa joined by Matthew Daddario. He's so handsome.

Matthew Daddario

Oh, come on.

Young Hollywood

I'm not just saying that either. You walked in and I instantly just felt horrible about myself.

Matthew Daddario

Yeah, but you know, you've been saying that about all your guests.

Young Hollywood

No, it really happened. I I I do mention like in a nice way, oh, handsome, gorgeous. If I was, I would. If that makes sense.

Matthew Daddario

Oh, I understand. And if someone put it out there, Absolutely. And if that time comes, well, then, you know, I'm, you know, I think we can make this work.

Young Hollywood

Yeah, for sure. Wonderful things happening apart from being beautiful, um, Shadowhunters, Alec Lightwood. He's got a lot going for him, I think.

Matthew Daddario

Yeah, he's I like Alec. Yeah, no, I very much like him. I like all the characters, but Alec is one of my favorite.

Young Hollywood

He's kind of fearless, isn't he? He's like this

Matthew Daddario

Yes, he's a great leader. I mean, you know, and he's uh, he's got a lot going on in his life. Right. Right. You know, he's got his family causing problems, so, you know, we all know about that. Right. And he's got love issues. He's got all these interdimensional demons coming through and and uh and causing problems for him.

Young Hollywood

Real life.

Matthew Daddario

Real life. Yeah, standard thing. Real life. But he's very good with a bow and arrow.

Young Hollywood

He's very good with a bow and arrow. It gets through. He kills his way through the troubles. Right. He is a uh Shadowhunter and you are a Shadowhunter.

Matthew Daddario

Yeah. Yeah, one of the best. Dom Sherwood who plays Jace, Right. would probably argue that Jace is the best Shadowhunter.

Young Hollywood

No, I'm going to argue that you're the best. Yeah. I'm just going to go right against Dom right now. Yeah, Dom, straight up. I'm going to tell you, Alec is by far the best and and that's

Matthew Daddario

And best looking.

Young Hollywood

And best looking. Just saying that, Dom, if you want to, you know, you want to have it out with me, you can. I just I feel that way and I'm going to be honest right now. But yeah, uh, yeah, I mean, obviously Jace has that, you know, stuff going on himself, but

Matthew Daddario

Yeah, he's got, you know, he's got love issues as well, which are also really complex and

Young Hollywood

He's got family issues. Well, you know, that's sort of a consistent theme, I guess, among all the Shadowhunters. Maybe Dr. Phil could do an episode with the Shadowhunters.

Matthew Daddario

Have us all out there. Just have everyone on the show.

Young Hollywood

Yes, that would be good. Yeah. Let's talk this out. Yeah. Not not Jerry Springer. We don't really want that.

Matthew Daddario

Not Jerry Springer. Well, no, no, they'd be throwing things to the Shadowhunters. I think violence would yeah. I think Mr. Phil.

Young Hollywood

And I think if some of the crowd on Jerry Springer threw stuff at the Shadowhunters, then you'd kill them.

Matthew Daddario

Yeah. It does seem like Shadowhunters are quick to violence, but that's because the people they're the the things they're killing are, you know. Right. Yeah. I mean, they're in a tough world.

Young Hollywood

Yeah. They're in a tough world. Um, how was it when you first you've you've seen the show, the first episode, yes. Okay. How was it seeing that first episode? Because the the visuals are incredible. You know, that was it. It's really something.

Matthew Daddario

I'm really excited about it. I'm really happy. When I saw it, it's uh, you know, you're kind of like relieved. Oh, thank God. Right, right. It's it's really it's really great.

Young Hollywood

Filmed in Toronto.

Matthew Daddario

Yes, in Toronto. Yeah.

Young Hollywood

I just uh I mentioned I had Alberto on the sofa um shortly ago. He he was talking about pranks on set. Oh, yeah. Dom apparently got him once quite bad. Did you uh did you suffer any pranks or did you make any pranks?

Matthew Daddario

No, I think that for some reason, they didn't feel comfortable pranking me. Which makes me feel a little left out to be honest. Like, what's wrong with me? You don't want to

Young Hollywood

I don't think there's anything wrong with you and that's why they couldn't prank you.

Matthew Daddario

Yeah, that's an optimistic view. I think that also it's possible that

Young Hollywood

You're quite tall and big though as well.

Matthew Daddario

But I'm I mean I mean yeah, yeah. Alberto's more of a target. He's younger. He's got kind of a sweet summer child kind of vibe going on. You kind of want to prank him. You prank him. Yeah. Yeah. He's pretty nasty. The problem the problem with pranking like Dom, for example, is that Dom's kind of a loose cannon.

Young Hollywood

Dom is a loose cannon.

Matthew Daddario

You know, you don't know what's going to happen. You can be like, that wasn't even a prank. And then something's getting done, right? And you don't want to prank Isaiah for obvious reasons because he's bigger than you. Right. And uh Harry Harry's too. He's too mature. And you can't really prank the girls. So you're just left with pranking Alberto.

Young Hollywood

Oh, Alberto. He seemed a little bit shaken actually. That might That might be

Matthew Daddario

I think we scarred him. Yeah.

Young Hollywood

If you uh obviously there's, you know, powers and stuff like that. If you if you in real life and you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Matthew Daddario

I want to be able to manipulate time.

Young Hollywood

Okay. Yeah. Is that clear? Explain that. What? What?

Matthew Daddario

I mean, if I can jump around time, I feel like

Young Hollywood

Yeah, time travel.

Matthew Daddario

I'm just instantaneously. Okay. Because uh who can who can stop you if you can just go back in time or go forward? Although I guess that makes you really susceptible to just being like shot all of a sudden. Right.

Young Hollywood

Moving back I can talk about time travel all day. Um, moving back to the show, did you have to do a lot of uh training physically and stuff? Because obviously we mentioned the bow and arrow. Was that a lot of training going into it?

Matthew Daddario

Oh, yeah. We, you know, for on the bow and arrow front, I was very surprised about how easy it was to fire a bow and arrow. It's a little bit disconcerting. Right. Because, I mean, you pick up the bow and arrow and you just pull back and it shoots this deadly thing. Right. Now, people could be running around. I'm not trying to encourage that kind of behavior.

Young Hollywood

Well, there's guns and I think they're worse than bow and arrows. But but the gun, you know, people don't suspect an arrow.

Matthew Daddario

This is true. Yeah. Nobody's, you know, somebody

Young Hollywood

Where do you hide an arrow? I guess hiding it is a little more difficult.

Matthew Daddario

Other things we did, we we you know, a lot of working out and it became a little bit of an obsession for all of us because we wanted to look our best. If you wanted to go on on our diet and workout regimen, which I don't recommend if you value your sanity. Um, I'm a shadow muncher. I'm a shadow muncher. Munching to look good. Yes. Shadow muncher. I'm a shadow muncher. I'm munching the shadow. Yeah, no, when we finished, I uh started eating a lot of food.

Young Hollywood

You like to play backgammon? Backgammon. There was a picture of you with backgammon. I'm only saying the pictures that I've seen.

Matthew Daddario

I see. No, that was uh that was, you know, I don't even know how to play.

Young Hollywood

So you were lying.

Matthew Daddario

I was that was that was fraudulent. You know. I presented myself.

Young Hollywood

No, let this be a lesson. It doesn't matter how beautiful they are, they're liars.

Matthew Daddario

Hey, they're honest. People like me are honest. Hey, I didn't present it as though I could play.

Young Hollywood

Yes, you did.

Matthew Daddario

I simply took a photo in front of the the backgammon board.

Young Hollywood

Backgammon board. Yeah, but I don't know if I can play it. You didn't have the pieces on it. That's like me with a fishing rod. But I've never fished.

Matthew Daddario

Oh, it is kind of like that, isn't it?

Young Hollywood

Terrible. I'm now worried to ask anything because I don't know who the real you is.

Matthew Daddario

No, I like it. I don't know who the real you is. Oh, please. I'm

Young Hollywood

Can you juggle? I can juggle. You can juggle?

Matthew Daddario

Yes.

Young Hollywood

Could you juggle?

Matthew Daddario

I can juggle three things. What do you want to give me some candy? It might be a little tough. The bag's

Young Hollywood

No, stop making excuses. Is it bad that I'm hoping you fail? It's what it's No, I'm wishing for it. All right, ready? Ready when you want to do it. Okay. Oh, wow, it's good. Oh. It's actually pretty good. Really good? Yeah. Look at that, you can you do it? Oh, no. Oh, that's pretty I like what you're doing here. It's beginning to It's beginning to Yeah. Really good. Oh, you got to start somewhere.

Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.

PEOPLE MENTIONED

  • Matthew Daddario

    Guest discussing his role in Shadowhunters

  • Alec Lightwood

    Character played by Matthew Daddario in Shadowhunters

  • Dom Sherwood

    Co-star on Shadowhunters, plays Jace

  • Jace

    Character played by Dom Sherwood in Shadowhunters

  • Dr. Phil

    Talk show host mentioned in hypothetical scenario

  • Jerry Springer

    Talk show host mentioned in hypothetical scenario

  • Alberto

    Co-star on Shadowhunters, target of pranks

  • Isaiah

    Co-star on Shadowhunters, not a target for pranks

  • Harry

    Co-star on Shadowhunters, too mature for pranks

FAQ

Who does Matthew Daddario play in Shadowhunters?+
Matthew Daddario plays the character Alec Lightwood in the Freeform fantasy series "Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments."
What superpower would Matthew Daddario want in real life?+
Matthew Daddario said he would want the superpower to manipulate time, which he describes as instantaneously jumping around in time.
Did Matthew Daddario have to train for his role in Shadowhunters?+
Yes, Matthew Daddario underwent rigorous training for his role, including archery and an intense workout regimen to prepare for the show.
Is Matthew Daddario good at backgammon?+
No, Matthew Daddario admitted that he doesn't know how to play backgammon, despite a photo suggesting otherwise.
What is Matthew Daddario's hidden talent?+
Matthew Daddario's hidden talent is juggling, which he demonstrates during the interview.
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