Scott Adkins is
a name familiar to serious fans of action cinema worldwide. Displaying a growing portfolio of exciting work, Adkins has established himself as one of the UK's rising talents and one of the most impressive physical action stars to recently emerge from the western market. In HK, he worked on films like The Medallion, Black Mask 2, The Accidental Spy and Extreme Challenge. As fans eagerly await the release of Ninja and the highly anticipated Undisputed 3, it seemed a good time to catch up with Adkins and reflect on his early work in Hong Kong through to his latest projects with director, Isaac Florentine.
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from martial arts to movies |
 HKCinemagic: Scott, to start off, you’re a self-confessed film fan and have been from a very young age. What is it that first drew you to movies in general and, specifically, martial arts and action movies? |
| Scott Adkins: I don’t know what it is in my make up that drew me to movies; I just know that they’ve always been a huge part of my life. Some kids like football, some like computer games, I was into watching movies. I love to sit down for 2 hours and be immersed into someone else’s vision and took along for a ride. I’ve always been very athletic so I guess I was really drawn to action movies, especially martial arts action movies because of the physical dexterity of people like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. |
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| HKCinemagic: At that time, did you have a favourite film or star you’d watch regularly? |
| Scott Adkins: Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sly Stallone and Van Damme. Bruce Lee is definitely the main influence though. |
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| HKCinemagic: Growing up, you were recognised as a natural athlete – which sports did you most enjoy? |
| Scott Adkins: I wasn’t really the type of kid that went down and played football with the big lads or Rugby. I was naturally fit and did well on the 100m sprint, long jump, high jump, things like that but mostly it was martial arts that took my interest. |
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| HKCinemagic: Having trained in judo from the age of 10, you later took up Tae Kwon Do when you were 14. Why did you pursue this style? |
| Scott Adkins: It was a local club and a martial art that concentrated mostly on kicking so that was right up my street. Tae Kwon Do gave me very clean kicks and a great basis to start off with, I think it’s a great martial art and it’s easy to see why it’s still so popular. |
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| HKCinemagic: You had roles in various English TV shows, and then, to quote your biography, you were ‘spotted’ by Stephen Tung and Bey Logan, subsequently launching your work in Hong Kong. Can you explain how you first met them and how they came to witness your abilities for the very first time? |
| Scott Adkins: I would constantly send Bey my demo reels from the age of about 16 onwards; he was always very complimentary and encouraged me to keep at it. When they were casting for Extreme Challenge which was to be directed by Stephen Tung Wei, Bey sent them my most recent reel and I got offered a part. |
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