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What did you think the first time you saw the finished cut?

Well, the answer is, I was really proud of it.

This movie dances a real fine line with its subject matter and stories, in that its very ambitious.

These two brothers on a collision course in a tournament thats a really difficult to get write.

The balance of that.

And I think they absolutely nailed it.

Its believable and rich.

Its kind of heightened in a sense.

Its very rare that I open heartedly embrace a movie Im in, and say, Fuck.

Its awesome that Im in this, and Im always going to be proud of it.

I feel like all the hard work I put into it is showing on the screen.

I think its great.

I know that, if people get to the cinema, will love it.

I just hope that theyll come.

I think its certainly a film thatll have great word of mouth.

My assumption before I went in was that Tom Hardy would be the villain and youd be the hero.

But it constantly plays with your expectations.

Tom dances the fine line between being the hero and villain with his selfishness.

His characters self-centeredness, I guess.

You could understand both brothers.

And you dont really know who you want to win.

Its cool that Gavin [OConnor], the director, achieved that.

Did you have an interest in MMA or wrestling before this movie?No.

I would say I had an awareness of it, but I wasnt a fan or seeking it out.

You mentioned the hard work you put in for this.

What was the training process like?

It was probably the most intense work experience Ive had on a physical and mental level.

We got to Pittsburgh two months before [shooting began].

But theres a need to get fit, get big, and learn the skills.

The fights were astonishing.

What was the process of shooting them like?

I should imagine it took more than one take to do each fight sequence.

Were they heavily choreographed?

Heavily choreographed, but it was almost like the way people describe learning their lines in stage acting.

You learn your lines, but you learn them so well that you forget them, you know?

So Gavin wanted them to be as real and as scrappy as possible.

And each piece was about five moves.

You do the maths we shot for weeks.

In comparison, I heard that in The Fighter, they shot three days of fighting.

We shot for two or three weeks.

So about 20 to 30 days of full-on fighting.

Youll see in the movie, like, the amount of fights.

I do four fights ranging from a one round to a five-round fight.

Theres even more fighting that isnt in the finished movie.

Thatll end up on the Blu-ray or something, perhaps!

I hope so, because we bled for it!

Whereas yours are quite protracted…

Yeah, yeah.

I assume there must have been quite a few.

Not as many as you might think.

I had an injury where I tore my medial collateral ligament, so I was out for six weeks.

I wasnt allowed to throw a punch for six weeks, and that really worried me.

I didnt know what the ramifications of that would be, but I got through it all right.

I learned to suck it up, in a way.

Thats what we did.

Not because I was a big tough guy or any of that.

I was fucking worried about that, so that made me a little hesitant.

I was reading that your brothers a stuntman.

Did he have any advice for you on this film?

But hes not really in the fighting game.

Hes an all-round stuntman wholl leap off things and set himself on fire and all that stuff.

Hes not as big into the fighting world, but hes got great advice for that stuff.

Joel Edgerton, thank you very much.