Shaz Khan couldn’t be extra invested in his newest film, The Martial Artist. The Pakistani-American actor took on appearing, directing, producing, and screenwriting duties. That’s along with the matter of remodeling his physique to seem like a plausible fighter. Because the film nears its launch, Khan sat down with M&F to replicate on how he reworked his physique. He additionally talks about how he threw himself utterly into the function.
The athletic actor was starting to construct a decent on-screen status earlier than he directed his first brief movie Say it Ain’t So, which centered round boxing, in 2016. It might function inspiration for the self-professed Rocky obsessive to direct his newest full size function movie, The Martial Artist.
On the coronary heart of the story is a journey of self-discovery. Khan’s character, Ibby “The Prince” Bakran, is an MMA fighter who places his potential on the road when he provides in to self-sabotage. Together with his profession slipping between his fingers, Bakran travels to Pakistan to bond together with his grandfather and resist his demons.
Shaz Khan Turned an MMA Technique Actor
Already an MMA fan, Khan knew that portraying a realistic-looking fight athlete would require him to utterly immerse himself within the sport. He’d seen how Sylvester Stallone was able to write, box, and direct in the Rocky movies, and determined to go all-in together with his personal undertaking.
“That was No. 1,” Khan tells M&F. “It’s referred to as The Martial Artist, it’s about MMA fighters, and with martial arts you’ll be able to’t actually disguise the methods. I knew that they needed to be utterly plausible.”
The actor figured that if he may earn the respect of real fighters, he’d be capable of move himself off as an MMA athlete to his film viewers. “I didn’t see myself as separate,” he explains. “Quite a lot of occasions I didn’t even inform them I used to be doing a film. I simply did it. I went in like a brand new pupil after which I’d inform them afterward. They’d be like, ‘okay, okay.’”
One in all Khan’s proving grounds was King’s MMA gym underneath the tutelage of the extremely revered Grasp Rafael Cordiero. Khan additionally skilled underneath Jacob Cho and Grant Collins. “There was jujitsu, there was Muay Thai, there was boxing, wrestling, after which I used to be finding out all of the others like Taekwondo, as a result of I figured; take all the martial arts and know the methods to then create the choreography that may be probably the most thrilling. So, the extra you’ve in your arsenal the higher. I received obsessed. That’s actually what it got here all the way down to.”
Shaz Khan Skilled Hardcore to Look Like an MMA Star
From idea to completion, Khan says his coaching was “fairly hardcore” for 4 years. When it comes to choreography, Khan labored with Ryan Spadafore and Jason Bukich to painstakingly put collectively a number of the motion sequences. The actor says they had been acutely aware to not fall into making the Hollywood type of combating. As a substitute, they drew from the properly of “Western Kung Fu, Hong Kong impressed motion,”
Khan relied closely on the experience of his martial arts brothers. On the similar time the actor needed to go it alone by way of getting in form and being accepted by the general public as someone who looks like a legitimate fighter. “I actually tried my finest to lean myself down, drop as a lot weight as potential, however nonetheless have that kind of tone, and the bodily cuts which can be wanted to make you look good, too,” explains Khan. “Quite a lot of MMA fighters aren’t actually ripped, however they’re extremely robust, and so they’re extremely agile and versatile. So, I wished all of that, however I wished so as to add the (outlined) traces as properly.”
The film begins with Khan as his youth and progresses to him turning into an grownup. For this Khan needed to wrestle with altering his physique throughout the film. Moreover his work within the health club, the actor made presentational adjustments corresponding to being clear shaven at first of the movie after which showing extra rugged towards the top.
With an insatiable candy tooth, Khan says that he needed to reduce down on donuts and croissants. He was in a position to additional drop his calorie consumption by decreasing his portion sizes at mealtimes and spreading out his meals to keep away from crashing into temptation.
Since he was additionally working round because the film’s director, sustaining his weight really turned a problem. The fixed shifting throughout the shoot was inflicting Khan to burn extra fats than he was consuming. To counter this, he made certain to eat loads of eggs and consumed wholesome fat from meals like avocados. He additionally supplemented with protein shakes between takes. Within the evenings, Khan ate steak or salmon. This helped his physique get better from the grueling bodily motion on display, and the psychological gymnastics required behind the digicam.
“I feel it’s superb once you’re simply pushed towards the fence, and also you simply should ship,” says the star of rising to the problem. “You simply go, , and I didn’t have a alternative. Yeah, it was very tiring nights, and particularly in (a particularly chilly) Loss of life Valley. We misplaced half a day as a result of a bunch of circumstances. So, we had been making up loads of the schedule in that closing day, which was actually, actually, powerful. However you simply get it accomplished and I feel when the need is powerful sufficient, it occurs. I can’t say sufficient concerning the actors, too, as a result of ultimately this can be a dramatic piece. You’ve gotten the combating, however there actually is a narrative about these characters and a few of these performances I’m so pleased with. I feel individuals will join.”
The movie is fantastically shot. It additionally marks a milestone as the primary worldwide, English-speaking film to feature four lead actors from Pakistan. The Martial Artist hits laborious in theaters from April 4, 2025.