Weve specifically marked spoiler bits you may want to avoid.
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A logical place to start, I suppose, is with violence.
Could you talk about the planning process behind the fight scenes this time?
Was it more elaborate to stage this time?
Gareth Evans:It depends on the fight scene.
With something like the prison riot, its a lot faster because its split up into sections.
There are multiple fighters, so you’re free to break it up a bit more.
Then you could have Iko versus some of the guards.
Then you’re free to have Uco versus Bemi.
And also to create that sense of the dynamics, it becomes a lot harder, more complex.
For example, the prison riot, we designed that in five days.
The final fight took us a month and a half.
So its a long process for some of it, and a lot easier for others.
Both in this film andThe Raid,I get the impression that your approach to violence is quite ambivalent.
Gareth Evans:Yes.
I grew up watching a tonne of movies, and Ive been in three fights in my entire life.
Even then, it was never an aggressive intent it was childs play, stupid stuff.
Theres no consequences from it.
Theres no feeling of, Oh my God, that hurt.
When we show something, usually its over in a flash.
There are only two moments in this entire movie where theres a lingering shot on something.
And those are designed purposefully to challenge you a little bit, too.
So we have the scene with the throat cutting in the restaurant.
For me, thats not about the pain and the suffering of the people.
Its a critique on them not a chance to dwell on the violence.
For that, we chose to pull the camera back and get wider on it.
The last ones the shotgun blast, where the shot goes on for a while.
Its not necessarily a challenge, but theres a question mark over it.
What are you looking that in that shot?
Of course you see the impact, because its dynamic and its visual.
Then after that, where are you looking then?
Are you looking at the guy who did the shooting, to see what his reaction is like?
Or are you going to keep looking at the wound?
Its like a question mark: what are you looking at?
END OF SPOILER BIT
This whole remit came from my dad.
And so Ive tried to make my movies with my dad in mind.
I attempt to think, Would this offend him?
And if hes okay, then fuck it, Im fine with it!
[Laughs]
For you Iko, which scene in this one was the most challenging?
It was a lot more intricate.
Their reactions have to be good in those moments, so we can see where the hits are.
But then, the dramas much more complex this time around as well.
Theres a lot more character this time.
Its almost operatic, isnt it?
Gareth Evans:Well, thank you.
[Laughs] That was what I wanted.
The first one I saw as a survival horror film, but the action discipline was martial arts.
So for this one, it was a crime thriller, but the action discipline was martial arts.
Its about these families, and father and son issues, and its about all these different relationships.
Is it important for you to be an editor as well, to maintain that rhythm and momentum?
Gareth Evans:Im a horrible control freak on shit.
This is the worst part of me.
So then I start thinking, I know how I want to direct this.
I should do this.
Ive only ever worked with an editor once.
That was luckily because I didnt know how to use Final Cut Pro.
So when it came to editing, I was thinking, I should get an editor.
You dont touch it.
If I was in a room with an editor, Id drive him up the wall.
I was such a prick to do that.
So with the projects you have coming up in America, youll definitely have to edit those.
Because I could have potentially ended up with a three-hour movie otherwise.
Its helpful to have, and a really useful tool in the filmmaking process.
Physically speaking, was this one more complicated or easier than the original?
Wed look at the locations and say, Well what would the props be?
What should the layout be?
How can we use that?
And so it was more inspiring, and liberating for the fight scenes.
Gareth Evans:It will continue to expand, but in a different way.
Well go back in time a little, and then well branch off.
So for me without giving too much away I want to try a different landscape.
So visually itll look completely different, tone-wise itll be very different.
Were in the process of developing it for maybe two years down the line.
Do you think youll go back to horror?
You did the segment inV/H/S 2.
Gareth Evans:Yeah.
I loved shootingV/H/S 2.That segment was so much fun, and I had a blast doing it.
Tim [co-director Timo Tjahjanto] was a twisted genius when he came up with the concept for it.
Then he was looking for something to collaborate on, and he said, Why dont we co-direct?
I said, Do you have an idea, because I dont have anything yet.
Then he said, Ive got an idea.
And I was like, Fuck!
Okay, lets do that.
Theres something about horror, in the same way as action.
There are universal themes, a universal appeal.
If somethings scary, its scary on a visual level, not a dialogue level.
So then, its an easy cross-over to foreign markets as well.
Gareth Evans:For me, it is like in a horror film.
It was so strong, you felt it.
Not all the punch lines worked, but the build up was always strong.
For me, its the same thing with an action film.
You want to build up that tension, that suspense.
and it just keeps going.
Its almost mainlining an adrenaline shot or something, you know?
you’ve got the option to stretch it out and elaborate on it and elaborate on it.
you could keep piling on top, on top, on top, and it creates this frenzied environment.
Thats why I love action cinema you could have those moments where you elongate time.
Do you enjoy watching your films with audiences?
Gareth Evans:I love it.
Theres always a lot of nervous laughing and gasping.
Because Iko keeps elbowing me all the time.
My favourite one right now is when Baseball Bat Man and Hammer Girl go toe-to-toe with Iko.
We were working on set, and I had a last-minute idea.
When he says, Go get him, you cant hear him because you have your back to him.
And you go, Oh shit, my hammers, and reach back for them.
It was this little, child-like thing.
Theres almost like a lost innocence there.
So we put that in just as a last-minute improvisation.
Now when we watch it with an audience, they laugh about it.
They read it, and they get it.
They get so much out of the characters just from that little tiny gesture.
So when that connects, its like food for me.
Its incredible the best possible reaction.
Iko:[Nodding enthusiastically]The Transporter,the first movie!
Gareth:Oh,The Transporter?
Iko:Oh yeah, yeah!
Gareth:Im gonna go forCrank.
But Im gonna sayCrank 2,though.
Because I enjoyedCrank 2way more than the first one.
I love the idea ofCrank,butCrank 2was just the fuckin pinnacle of it.
Because it was just so insane, so batshit crazy.
Didnt they have a kaiju fight inCrank 2?
Like, return of the kaiju monsters?
Heres the thing, see: I love Neveldine and Taylor.
I think theyre just off the wall crazy.Crank 2,for me, I love watching it.
Some people call films guilty pleasures, but its not a guilty pleasure.
Its just fucking great.
So Ill go withCrank 2!
Iko Uwais and Gareth Evans, thank you very much.
The Raid 2is out on the 11th April in the UK.
You canread our review here.