Scott Adkins Interview One Shot

Scott Adkins Interview: One Shot

We speak to Scott Adkins about his new action movie One Shot, which was shot in a single take format. The film hits theaters and VOD on November 5.

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Scott Adkins Interview One Shot

To action movie lovers around the world, Scott Adkins is an out-and-out king, and the idea of him anchoring an action thriller with no camera cuts for an hour and a half is beyond exciting. Adkins’ new action film One Shot is a pure case of what you see is what you get. With the film marking Adkins’ third collaboration with director James Nunn after Green Street 3: Never Back Down and Eliminators, One Shot will be quite unique when it hits theaters and video on demand services on November 5.

Adkins portrays U.S. Navy SEAL Jake Harris, whose team is assigned to transport a prisoner from a shadowy extrajudicial prison. However, when they’re attacked by an insurgent group also intent on extraditing the same prisoner, Harris and his fellow SEALs are the only thing that can stop a devastating bomb from going off in Washington D.C. With the whole story unfolding in a single shot, One Shot is one of the tensest and never-wracking movies Adkins has ever made.

Screen Rant spoke to Scott Adkins on the making of One Shot, the challenges that its single-take format brought with it, along with a bit about Adkins’ upcoming appearances in Accident Man 2 and John Wick: Chapter 4.

Screen Rant: How did you become involved with One Shot, and what was it like making your third movie with James Nunn after Green Street 3 and Eliminators?

Scott Adkins: It was on the set of Eliminators, and it was towards the end that we birthed the idea to try to do an action film all in one continuous take. It took us six years, but we eventually got there. There were a few iterations of the script that went back and forward, and to be honest, when 1917 came out, I was almost wanting to throw the towel in, because I felt like people are just going to think we’re copying them, which we weren’t. But I think that film doing so well probably helped us get the financing ultimately, and we got to make it earlier this year.

What was it like making One Shot during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic?

Scott Adkins: It was March of this year that we shot it in the U.K. It’s a pain, because you’ve got to wear the mask all the time, and it leaves a bit of a dent on your nose, which you don’t want in the movie. But we were all very happy at the time to get the chance to work again, so we didn’t mind sacrificing. It’s worse for the crew, they’ve got to keep the masks on all the time, and the actors, we get tested a lot and you can take the mask off when you’re in a scene.

For this particular movie, it was very important that we found a location that would allow us to do what we wanted to do all in one take. That led us to Ipswich, and it pulled people out of London, so we were all sort of living in this town, and we were quite secluded from family and other people, which is a good thing. If you’re all there just concentrating on that film away from everyone, it’s probably the best way to do it.

You’ve done quite a few one-shot fight scenes, such as in Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear and The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud. How is it a different experience to doing an entire movie that’s all a single shot?

Scott Adkins: I’m no stranger to it. All the action guys like to do a oner, it’s a bit of a rite of passage because it’s so difficult to do what we do physically. If you do it all in one take, that’s like the ultimate well done.

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The best one athletically is still probably Tony Jaa in The Protector, I don’t think that’s been beaten in terms of sheer athleticism, and actually doing it in one take. The Oldboy one is probably always going to be the best cinematically, and it was one of the first times I saw a fight in one take.

But ours, what we like about it, the director and I, is some people will say it’s a gimmick, and it is to some degree. But what we really like about the cinematography of the oner is that it really seems to pull you into the story. You find yourself just inching closer and closer to the screen. It’s like it’s pulling you in, and because there’s no cut, it almost feels like it’s much more real and it’s actually happening right there in front of you, because it is. It’s like watching a stage play, but then to do the action on top of the drama, especially with the guns, it’s really challenging. So, of course, it’s not a legitimate one take for an hour and a half, but we did try to make the takes as long as legitimately possible.

The movie has a lot of gunplay, and some different kinds of fight scenes for you, with a lot of knife-fighting and more grounded hand-to-hand fights compared to the flashier fighting style you’re known for.

Scott Adkins: Well, here’s the thing, I want to compete with Daredevil and Tony Jaa and Extraction and all of those guys that have done oners, and you could easily try to do too much, but what’s important is to try to stay within the tone of the movie. We had a very realistic tone to our film, so if I just started doing crazy spinning kicks and all the rest of it, it would be completely at odds with what’s just come before. So, there was a temptation to really go for it with the action, but we made the decision to keep it realistic so it’s in keeping with the tone of the movie.

Waleed Elgadi’s character has a very humanized story with his family and the plot involving the bomb. What was it like going into the dramatic side of the movie with his story?

Scott Adkins: Well, that was what was great about the script. Every character could get into it from a very real place. All the motives were clear, and every actor had a strong sense of what their character was going for. Amin is coming from a very real place, and his reasons for being in this situation are very real that anyone can relate to. We also didn’t want to drum up a lot of things from the past, so we sort of opened it up a bit. There’s shades of what’s come before with Guantanamo Bay and things like that, but it’s a fictional story, so we tried to keep it a bit more open.

What was the most difficult part in filming the long takes of One Shot?

Scott Adkins: The most difficult part was the weather because you want the clouds and it’s England in March. You don’t want it to rain, but you want the clouds, but then, there were some days where we’re just looking up at the sky waiting for the clouds to come in and saying, “Alright, come on! There’s one coming in!” So, we’re just rehearsing this one piece all morning, and now, we’re just waiting for the cloud cover to come in. It almost seemed like the last shot of the day when the sun was just dropping and it was becoming magic hour when it had that nice look to it. I think a lot of the time that’s what the director liked the best, he just wanted the magic hour to come down.

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What was so difficult about it was that every take you did, you don’t know if that’s the take that’s going to be in the movie, so you never take your foot off the gas, it’s one hundred percent intensity the whole time for the action and for the drama. If there was no action in this movie, I would’ve been exhausted, because of the number of takes that you’ve got to give as an actor. You’re doing eight to ten minute-long takes, you’ve got to coordinate everything with the camera, and mentally, it’s very taxing. You add the action on top of that, it was exhausting. But yeah, the weather was very tricky.

Well, with One Shot being your third movie with James Nunn, do the two of you have any further collaborations you’d like to do in the future?

Scott Adkins: Absolutely. I don’t know what it is yet, but it will come, I’m sure! James is great, I love working with him. He’s shown amazing talent right from Green Street 3, which was an insanely low-budget movie, and to do what we did with that film, it was just incredible that we pulled that one off with the money we had.

Eliminators has got this great sort of vibe with Stu Bennett, almost like a Terminator movie. James is really talented, and I really saw him up his game for this one, and it was impressive to see him firing on all cylinders for this movie. He brought a hell of a lot to it, and his vision for how he wanted to capture the one take, it’s not shaky cam, but it’s very immediate. It’s like a documentary feel. It stays on the shoulder of different characters, and it never goes anywhere without a purpose.

I think that really works for our film in terms of a one-take movie, because it keeps it very intense and very immediate, whereas 1917 is kind of silky smooth, brilliant cinematography. Ours is very immediate, and I think it works incredibly well for the story that we’re telling.

Was One Shot the hardest movie you’ve made with James Nunn?

Scott Adkins: Yeah, this was one of the hardest films I’ve ever made, if not the hardest, but it was well worth it.

So, looking at some other movies you have coming up, you’re starting on Accident Man 2 now.

Scott Adkins: Finally!

Did the pandemic complicate it?

Scott Adkins: Yeah, it complicated it big time. The script’s been ready for about three years, but we’re finally doing it. Ray Stevenson’s coming back, so is Perry Benson, and loads more new assassins and colorful characters. It’s a bit of a zany action film and my pet project. We’ve got two new directors, George and Harry Kirby, and they’re going to smash it, they’re going to do a great job. This one will be even more crazy.

Your other big project you have coming out next year is John Wick: Chapter 4, which you’re also in what many other great martial artists like Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Marko Zaror. What was that experience like of making the movie with them along with Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski?

Scott Adkins: Listen man, if you make action films, what’s the best action film to be in? A John Wick movie! They’re the best, there’s no better action film franchise out there. So, to be in it for me is a massive honor. I love Keanu Reeves, watched him for so many years. He is everything he’s reported to be, he’s such a nice, genuine human being. It was an absolute pleasure to work with him and Chad Stahelski, and Donnie Yen again and everyone. I’m really looking forward to it, it couldn’t have gone better. There’s going to be plenty of martial arts in this one, too!

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/one-shot-movie-scott-adkins-interview/

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