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 reworking his physique to seem 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 position.
The athletic actor was starting to construct a good on-screen repute earlier than he directed his first quick movie Say it Ain’t So, which centered round boxing, in 2016. It will 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. Together 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 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 films, and determined to go all-in together 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 possibly can’t actually cover the strategies. I knew that they needed to be utterly plausible.”
The actor figured that if he may 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. “A variety 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 might inform them afterward. They’d be like, ‘okay, okay.’”
Certainly one of Khan’s proving grounds was King’s MMA gymnasium below the tutelage of the extremely revered Grasp Rafael Cordiero. Khan additionally educated below 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 the entire martial arts and know the strategies to then create the choreography that may be essentially the most thrilling. So, the extra you’ve gotten in your arsenal the higher. I obtained 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 aware to not fall into making the Hollywood type of preventing. 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 when it comes to getting in form and being accepted by the general public as somebody who appears to be like like a authentic fighter. “I actually tried my greatest to lean myself down, drop as a lot weight as doable, however nonetheless have that type of tone, and the bodily cuts which might be wanted to make you look good, too,” explains Khan. “A variety of MMA fighters aren’t actually ripped, however they’re extremely robust, they usually’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 changing into an grownup. For this Khan needed to wrestle with altering his physique throughout the film. Moreover his work within the gymnasium, the actor made presentational modifications corresponding 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 minimize 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 in the course of 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 digicam.
“I believe it’s wonderful whenever you’re simply pushed in opposition to the fence, and also you simply should 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) Loss of life Valley. We misplaced half a day on account of a bunch of circumstances. So, we had been making up quite a lot of the schedule in that remaining 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 in regards to the actors, too, as a result of ultimately it is a dramatic piece. You will have the preventing, 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 superbly shot. It additionally marks a milestone as the primary worldwide, English-speaking movie to characteristic 4 lead actors from Pakistan. The Martial Artist hits laborious in theaters from April 4, 2025.
