Shaz Khan couldn’t be extra invested in his newest film, The Martial Artist. The Pakistani-American actor took on performing, directing, producing, and screenwriting duties. That’s along with the matter of reworking his physique to appear like a plausible fighter. Because the film nears its launch, Khan sat down with M&F to mirror on how he remodeled 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 fame 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 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 offers in to self-sabotage. Together with his profession slipping between his fingers, Bakran travels to Pakistan to bond along 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 in a position to write, field, and direct within the Rocky motion pictures, and determined to go all-in along with his personal challenge.
“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 may’t actually disguise the methods. I knew that they needed to be utterly plausible.”
The actor figured that if he might earn the respect of real fighters, he’d have the ability to cross himself off as an MMA athlete to his film viewers. “I didn’t see myself as separate,” he explains. “Lots of instances 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 in a while. They’d be like, ‘okay, okay.’”
Considered one of Khan’s proving grounds was King’s MMA fitness center 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 the entire martial arts and know the methods to then create the choreography that may be essentially the most thrilling. So, the extra you might have in your arsenal the higher. I received obsessed. That’s actually what it got here all the way down to.”
Shaz Khan Educated 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 aware to not fall into making the Hollywood model 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 when it comes to getting in form and being accepted by the general public as somebody who appears like a official fighter. “I actually tried my greatest to lean myself down, drop as a lot weight as potential, however nonetheless have that form of tone, and the bodily cuts which are wanted to make you look good, too,” explains Khan. “Lots 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. Moreover his work within the fitness center, the actor made presentational modifications akin to being clear shaven at the start of the movie after which showing extra rugged towards the tip.
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 lowering 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 truly grew to become a problem. The fixed shifting throughout the shoot was inflicting Khan to burn extra fats than he was consuming. To counter this, he made positive 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, and the psychological gymnastics required behind the digital camera.
“I feel it’s superb if you’re simply pushed towards the fence, and also you simply must 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 (an especially chilly) Loss of life Valley. We misplaced half a day resulting from a bunch of circumstances. So, we had been making up loads of the schedule in that closing day, which was actually, actually, robust. 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 might have the combating, however there actually is a narrative about these characters and a few of these performances I’m so happy with. I feel 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 onerous in theaters from April 4, 2025.