He thought it was over. After fighting his way out of a building filled with gangsters and madmen in The Raid — a fight that left the bodies of police and gangsters piled high in the halls — rookie Jakarta cop Rama (Iko Uwais) thought he could finally resume a normal life. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Rama’s triumph attracted the attention of the predators farther up on the food chain. With his family at risk, there’s only one way that Rama can protect his wife and infant son: he must go undercover and enter the criminal underworld, climbing up the hierarchy until he locates the police and corrupt politicians who are actually pulling all the strings. To accomplish this, Rama begins a new journey, one that will force him to set aside his own history and take on the identity of a violent offender named “Yuda.” Once in prison, he must gain the confidence of Uco (Arifin Putra), the son of a prominent gang kingpin named Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo), and join the gang himself, laying his own life on the line in a desperate all-or-nothing attempt to bring the system down.
Welsh-born writer/director Gareth Evans has been fascinated by the Indonesian martial arts known as pencak silat and has made a documentary and three action films that showcase this unique form. I sat down with Iko Uwais, the star of all three of Evans’ films, along with an Indonesian interpreter, to discuss his role in The Raid 2: Berendal.
Danny Miller: You are amazing in this film! Your martial arts skills are simply beyond compare. When Gareth Evans found you for his first film, were you even thinking of becoming an actor?
Iko Uwais: Oh no, not at all! He was working on this documentary called The Mystic Art of Indonesia that I was in and asked me if I wanted to play the lead role in this feature film he was making. I just looked at him — I thought he was out of his mind! Even after I did a screen test and started choreographing for him, I still didn’t believe that I was going to play that role until we started shooting!
Now that you’ve starred in three films, do you see an evolution of your acting?
Absolutely. To be honest, it took me a while to learn how to say lines so it didn’t seem like I was reading them but just talking naturally.
I think your acting is great in this movie — and I was very moved by your scenes with your wife and baby.
Thank you. I’d have to say those were the most challenging for me to do! Lots of emotion there.
Is the pencak silat we see in the film the kind of martial arts that you grew up doing?
Yes it is, but in the movie we really emphasize the artistic parts.
Have these films increased the number of people who take up this form of martial arts in Indonesia?
That’s a good question. Before these movies, I have to say that pencak silat was not that popular. The way it was presented in Indonesian cinema was very unsophisticated and old-fashioned — people would be flying, it looked very fake and audiences didn’t see it as terribly appealing. But now it’s considered very cool! There are many kids who are training in pencak silat now, the schools are full!
In addition to starring in the film, you were also the main choreographer of all the fight scenes?
Yes, and I cast all the fighters myself. I only used people with a lot of martial arts training. It would have been far too risky to use newcomers.
They were all amazing, including Julie Estelle as Hammer Girl.
She was fantastic. And she did everything herself. I trained her for a long time before we started!
The scene that really stays with me is that long fight scene in the mud.
(Laughs.) That was a pretty disgusting scene to shoot, I have to admit!
Yeah, I can only imagine how much mud you swallowed during that scene!
A lot, let me tell you! It took us eight days to shoot that one scene and we worked from six in the morning until five in the evening every day. We had 120 fighters in the scene, it was definitely the hardest thing we had to do in the film with the most complicated choreography. I had mud over every inch of my body all day long for eight days! It took a long time to get it all out!
I heard the original cut of the film was much longer. Were you bummed about any of the scenes that didn’t make it?
Yeah. I had a big scene that showed how Rama ended up in jail. He actually beat up a minister’s kid! It was such a cool scene — we had this Steadi-cam following us the whole time, I was sad that it was cut in the end.
Oh well, that’s what DVD extras are for! I know these films are very popular in Indonesia and around the world, but they’re obviously extremely violent. Do you get some criticism in your country about that?
Oh yes! We have many enthusiastic fans but there have also been a lot of complaints about the violence. But that’s always the case.
And now I hear they’re doing an American version of The Raid that I frankly can’t even imagine. How can they find someone else who can do what you do?
Yeah, I’m not sure what that film is going to be like or how much of the story they’re going to use.
Might you be involved in any way? Maybe as the fight choreographer?
No one’s asked me to, but I’d certainly be open to it. I just found out from Gareth today that we’ll be doing a third film in our series so I’m pretty excited about that!
Has your life changed in your country as a result of being in these films?
You know, not really. What’s changed the most is that now I’m married and have a young child. To me that’s way more life-changing than being a movie star!