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 appear 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 fully into the position.
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 could function inspiration for the self-professed Rocky obsessive to direct his newest full size characteristic 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. Along with his profession slipping between his fingers, Bakran travels to Pakistan to bond together with his grandfather and resist his demons.
Shaz Khan Grew to become an MMA Methodology Actor
Already an MMA fan, Khan knew that portraying a realistic-looking fight athlete would require him to fully immerse himself within the sport. He’d seen how Sylvester Stallone was in a position to write, field, and direct within the Rocky motion pictures, and determined to go all-in together with his personal venture.
“That was No. 1,” Khan tells M&F. “It’s known as The Martial Artist, it’s about MMA fighters, and with martial arts you may’t actually cover the strategies. I knew that they needed to be fully plausible.”
The actor figured that if he might earn the respect of real fighters, he’d have the ability to go himself off as an MMA athlete to his film viewers. “I didn’t see myself as separate,” he explains. “A whole 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 scholar after which I’d inform them afterward. They’d be like, ‘okay, okay.’”
One in every of Khan’s proving grounds was King’s MMA gymnasium underneath the tutelage of the extremely revered Grasp Rafael Cordiero. Khan additionally educated underneath Jacob Cho and Grant Collins. “There was jujitsu, there was Muay Thai, there was boxing, wrestling, after which I used to be learning all of the others like Taekwondo, as a result of I figured; take all the martial arts and know the strategies to then create the choreography that may be probably the most thrilling. So, the extra you’ve in your arsenal the higher. I acquired obsessed. That’s actually what it got here right 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. By way of 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 nicely of “Western Kung Fu, Hong Kong impressed motion,”
Khan relied closely on the experience of his martial arts brothers. On the identical time the actor needed to go it alone by way of getting in form and being accepted by the general public as somebody who appears to be like like a legit fighter. “I actually tried my greatest to lean myself down, drop as a lot weight as attainable, however nonetheless have that type of tone, and the bodily cuts which might be wanted to make you look good, too,” explains Khan. “A whole lot of MMA fighters aren’t actually ripped, however they’re extremely robust, they usually’re extremely agile and versatile. So, I needed all of that, however I needed so as to add the (outlined) traces as nicely.”
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 inside the film. In addition to his work within the gymnasium, the actor made presentational adjustments equivalent to being clear shaven at first of the movie after which showing extra rugged towards the tip.
With an insatiable candy tooth, Khan says that he needed to lower 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 operating round because the film’s director, sustaining his weight really grew to become a problem. The fixed transferring through 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 well from the grueling bodily motion on display screen, and the psychological gymnastics required behind the digital camera.
“I believe it’s wonderful if you’re simply pushed towards the fence, and also you simply need to ship,” says the star of rising to the problem. “You simply go, you already know, and I didn’t have a selection. Yeah, it was very tiring nights, and particularly in (a particularly chilly) Dying Valley. We misplaced half a day because of a bunch of circumstances. So, we had been making up a variety of the schedule in that ultimate day, which was actually, actually, robust. However you simply get it achieved and I believe when the need is robust sufficient, it occurs. I can’t say sufficient concerning the actors, too, as a result of in the long run this can be a dramatic piece. You have got the combating, however there actually is a narrative about these characters and a few of these performances I’m so happy with. I believe folks will join.”
The movie is fantastically shot. It additionally marks a milestone as the primary worldwide, English-speaking movie to characteristic 4 lead actors from Pakistan. The Martial Artist hits arduous in theaters from April 4, 2025.
