[slapping] [grunting]

It's basically the art of kicking the crap out of someone.

[slapping] [grunting]

[laughing] Sorry.

[pounding drum beats]

Hi, "Vanity Fair," Scott Adkins here.

Today I'm gonna walk you guys through

how a martial artist trains for a movie.

[grunting]

I don't remember the first time I saw Bruce Lee,

but I was growing up and Bruce Lee was just

the best martial artist in the world

and "Enter the Dragon" would always be on

TV late at night.

So I think martial arts and films almost

impacted me at the same time, in a way.

I remember starting judo at age 10,

thinking I wanna be like Bruce Lee.

And then when I was about 13,

I went into Taekwondo.

And then I went into kick boxing,

a little bit of capoeira, a little bit of krav maga,

a little bit of chi chuan do,

and a bit of wushu kung fu.

And then these days it's MMA.

One of the great things about making movies

is you always come into contact with

masters of various different martial arts.

I've met amazing people, and I've always been able

to gain knowledge off of these people.

So the films has actually been great for that as well.

[clanking]

My first experience in a martial arts film

was a baptism by fire, let me tell you.

It was called "Extreme Challenge" and it was

directed by Stephen Tung Wei, who was

the little boy in "Enter the Dragon."

The one that gets slapped on the back of the head

by Bruce Lee.

- Never take your eyes off your opponent.

- It was very difficult.

I remember doing this one fight scene

for two whole days on this raft in the middle of this Lake,

with this other wushu expert champion.

I remember thinking, Jesus, this is difficult.

[laughing] This is hard work.

I was ready to a degree, but I don't think

anything can properly prepare you for it.

Especially if it's a Hong Kong movie,

because it's just hard core the way they do it.

There's no rehearsal period.

You turn up on the day in a Hong Kong movie

and the fight coordinator works out

what that section of the fight's gonna be.

And he shows it to you, and there and then

you've gotta remember exactly what's been shown

and repeat it at a level that is

gonna be able to be captured on film.

And then that's it.

That's gonna be on film forever then.

So it's very stressful when the other guy

and yourself are moving at such a fast pace,

trying to remember what the next step is.

It's so fast that actually you can't think of it.

It's done on instinct.

And if you make a mistake,

if you don't duck at the right time,

you're getting hit.

Doing a Hong Kong martial arts movie

as my first movie was great, to be honest,

because I learned exactly how to do it the correct way.

In an American or European movie,

the typical way to shoot action would be,

you know, the way you do a drama.

You'd have your master shot, wide shot.

And then you'd come in and you'd get

your coverage from this side and from this side.

And then the closeup and a closeup.

So if you do that with the fight sequence,

you're gonna end up doing the whole fight sequence

from beginning to end many, many times.

So by the time I've done it, I'm absolutely shattered.

But the thing is, you can't do the whole fight scene

from beginning to end at full speed,

and make it brilliant for every angle, every time.

It's just impossible.

But how much of that footage is gonna be

on the editing floor, wasted?

So the way the Hong Kong guys did it

is that they will say, okay, we're gonna do

this section of the fight,

six to 10 movements, whatever it is.

And we're gonna use this angle

and you're going to throw that kick,

and I'm gonna come and the camera's gonna

come round here, and we're going to capture it beautifully.

We're gonna frame it perfectly.

And then we know that we've got

that section of the fight and we're gonna

move on to the next bit.

That is basically the Hong Kong way.

And it wasn't until "The Matrix," when Yuen Woo-ping

who was the fight coordinator on "The Matrix,"

that Hollywood actually did it the proper way.

But then at a certain point, they regressed

and the shaky cam came in.

You didn't actually see the fight.

You just heard it.

The reason they're shaking the camera is to hide

the shortcomings of the performers.

That's the only reason to do it.

[slapping] [grunting]

I'm afraid the "Bourne" franchise,

they don't shoot the fights properly.

And Greengrass is a brilliant director

and there's a reason he does that shaky cam thing.

It's more of a documentary style

and it puts you in the moment more.

I was in "The Bourne Ultimatum" and I didn't know

which camera we were supposed to be

making the punch work for it.

It had about five cameras going.

Is it for this camera?

Is it for that one?

Or is it for this one?

The films are great, I love them.

But I'm glad we're not shooting fights

like that anymore.

Bloody hell.

One fight scene that sticks out as

a perfect, amazing fight sequence,

is Jackie Chan "Drunken Master 2."

Otherwise known as "Legend of Drunken Master."

I mean, there's many amazing fights

that Jackie Chan has done,

but this fight, I want to point out,

particularly because I know that they

spent three months just on the end fight

and it absolutely shows.

Perfectly framed, it's brilliantly acted

and performed by Jackie Chan.

And he fights Ken Lo, who's known for

his amazing flexibility and kicks.

It's probably Jackie Chan working

at his very, very best.

[slapping] [grunting]

What's difficult about it is that days on end,

sometimes you've been doing it for a whole week.

Every day, you come in and you're fighting.

And yes, it's not a real fight,

but you're going at it the whole day

for 12 hours straight.

If you're a professional fighter, you get warmed up

and you're warm and you do your thing,

after 25 minutes, you're done.

Yeah, you're gonna be banged up and bruised.

But the thing about film fighting,

you can't stay warm for the whole day.

It's impossible.

So inevitably, you're gonna cool down,

you're gonna pull a muscle.

And then the next day you've gotta use

that pulled muscle to do outrageous

crazy things for the whole next day.

And then eventually that pulled muscle

is a full-on injury.

And this is what's so difficult about

making martial arts films.

It's hard not to get injured.

[slapping] [pounding]

The fight that I have with Jason Statham

in "The Expendables 2" was actually really easy to film.

I was injured at the time.

I had torn my ACL, it had gone.

But when they said action, to be honest,

you don't really think about it.

Your adrenaline gets going a little bit

and you just get on with it.

It's in between takes that it really hurts.

But working with Jason was great because,

obviously, he's a martial artist himself.

And he's a very experienced with film fighting.

The thing that most people don't understand

about film fighting, it's got nothing to do

with real martial arts.

It's got more in common with dancing.

A real martial artist will really struggle

to show the techniques of the camera.

And they also have this thing in their head.

Well, that's not the right technique.

I have to do the right technique, but no, no.

You need to do what looks right for the camera

and Statham absolutely understands that.

So it was a joy to work with him.

[pounding] [grunting]

The thing about making a fight sequence

is that you're a partnership.

Yeah, I'm trying to make it look like

I'm trying to rip your head off,

but the truth is, we're two performers

working together to create this violent ballet.

And really trust is so important,

making a martial arts film.

If I'm working with someone and I don't have

the trust that they're gonna be

in the right position at the right time,

or they might end up hitting me,

then I'm not going to be able to go 100%

because I'm gonna be worried that

this guy's gonna make a mistake.

Either he's gonna hit me or I'm gonna hit him.

[dramatic music] [grunting]

[glass shattering]

Obviously, for the movies you need to look the part.

You need to look a certain way.

So muscle mass is a part of that.

You wanna look like you're carved out of stone.

But the thing about being a martial artist

is it doesn't necessarily go hand in hand

with martial arts.

The bigger you are, the bulkier you are.

It's gonna slow you down.

It's gonna make you heavier.

Sometimes you have to do gymnastic movements

on film or flashy kicks.

If I weigh more, it's much harder to do,

and it's a lot more pressure on the joints.

But you better believe that I wasn't gonna

turn up on a set with Jason Statham,

Schwarzenegger, Stallone looking out of shape.

So we've got the pull up.

I'll start with a wide grip.

That's gonna put more emphasis on the muscles in my back.

And then if you go for the underhand grip,

you're gonna actually recruit the biceps.

And then you've got your pushup.

I like to do these reps very slow and controlled,

and I move from side to side.

So I'm really using core.

And then, of course, the squats.

And the reason I like to do plyometric squats

is because I'm a martial artist.

I need to be able to jump high.

I need to be agile and I need to move.

So I like to train my legs in a very plyometric way.

[dramatic music] [clanging]

[pounding] [glass breaking]

So when I did Dr. Strange, one of the main things

that I needed to make sure I didn't mess up

with the fight sequences with Benedict Cumberbatch,

because he is Dr. Strange, as we all know.

He's carrying the weight of the whole film.

If something should happen to Benedict,

the whole film's gonna have to get shut down.