At the Sundance Film Festival I got to be in the first audience to see The Raid 2. With the cast in Park City for the premiere, I also got the opportunity to meet the Indonesian martial artists in the film. Iko Uwais returns as Rama, continuing his mission after The Raid. Yayan Ruhian plays a new character, since his Mad Dog had already fought Rama. The two actors spoke to me, with the help of a translator, and even demonstrated some Silat on me at my request.
CraveOnline: How did The Raid change your lives?
Yayan Ruhian: Personally, it doesn’t change me that much for my individual self, because I want to stay the way I am.
Iko Uwais: Yeah, I’m the same as before. Never change.
The awareness of your work must have grown since The Raid. Do you find more people are aware of you?
Iko Uwais: In Indonesia it’s bigger. I have a story, me and Yayan, when we landed in L.A., everyone recognized him and me, the two of us, and were crazy. The security and everyone in the airport recognized him because it’s Mad Dog. He’s Mad Dog.
Yayan, have you been growing your hair out since The Raid 1?
Yayan Ruhian: Maybe, maybe.
It wasn’t a wig in The Raid 2, was it?
Yayan Ruhian: It’s my real hair.
This was the movie Gareth wanted to make first. Had you seen this script before The Raid 1?
Iko Uwais: Not yet, not yet. We didn’t know about the script to The Raid 2 exactly. We’d only done the choreography. Every scene for the choreography. The script, we didn’t know yet.
So you’d done the fight scenes for this movie, and then Gareth said you have to do a different movie first?
Iko Uwais: Yes. Gareth already knew about the scenes in The Raid 2. Every scene, the prison riot, the warehouse, car fight, kitchen so even though we hadn’t seen the script yet, and we’re not even sure if Gareth had the script all together, he already knew he wanted a fight scene in the kitchen, in the warehouse, in the car. He already knew he had those scenes. He said, “Okay, make the choreography. You against three people, you against 20 people.” Like that.
When he decided to do The Raid, did you have to come up with all new fight scenes?
Iko Uwais: Exactly.
Yayan Ruhian: Since we knew the fight scenes for The Raid 2, Gareth just asked, it has to be better than Merantau but not as good as The Raid 2.
Iko Uwais: Not the same level as The Raid 2, like in the middle.
How many punches can you throw per second?
Iko Uwais: I don’t know. It’s a lot. [Laughs] Gareth really liked the rhythm [demonstrated punching in a beat], like drums.
Yayan, what did you think of Prakoso, the new character you got to play?
Yayan Ruhian: Prakoso for me was a little bit tougher to play just because it’s not just action that I need to do. It’s the emotional side of it too, the drama side.
Iko Uwais: Yes, it was dramatic, right?
It was very touching when he met his wife in the restaurant.
Yayan Ruhian: That was very hard for me.
How did you work on the dramatic scene?
Yayan Ruhian: I imagined my wife and my family.
Did you enjoy the opportunity to have more room to breathe in the story of The Raid 2 and have more character moments?
Iko Uwais: More complex with the drama. For me, I really enjoyed it because the second one is more complex with the fight scene, more violence and more complex for the drama. For me this character is more complex as well because Rama as a character in The Raid 1 is just the rookie. For the second one, he’s a good guy but still decides he can be like a bad guy.
Iko, all of your films have been with Gareth. How do you view your acting career so far?
Iko Uwais: Worse. No, Gareth has really trusted me about acting. The Raid 1 was not too much acting, like drama scenes.
But Merantau was.
Iko Uwais: Yeah, Merantau was really the beginning for me, drama, and The Raid 2 is more complex for drama.
Can you teach me a Silat move?
[Both laugh]
Yayan Ruhian: Just a basic one?
Yes, I’m a rookie, so go easy.
Yayan Ruhian: In some martial arts, if someone hits me… Come hit me.
[I throw a weak punch at Yayan. Yayan demonstrates blocking.]
Yayan Ruhian: But in Silat…. Hit me.
[I punch again. He twists my wrist back towards my body, very lightly, but it still really hurt.]
You turn it back on me.
Yayan Ruhian: If you want to hit again, I can stop all movement of your body.
I know you can. That already hurts.
Yayan Ruhian: This is very simple. If you don’t move then you’re knocked over. The more you move, the more pressure I’ll give you.
I’ve already had enough.
[Both laugh]
What do you get to play in The Night Comes For Us?
Yayan Ruhian: Not that different from Prakoso or Mad Dog. Like that.
Are you the star of that movie?
Yayan Ruhian: No, Joe Taslim is.
Do you want to be the star of your own movie?
Yayan Ruhian: Hopefully.
What can we expect from the action in The Night Comes For Us?
Iko Uwais: Me as choreographer also. I’m only behind the scenes. The character is not only a Silat fighter, but Joe Taslim’s character is from Judo, so it’s combined. Yayan’s character is Silat still. Joe Taslim is Judo still. There’s a few fight scenes that are only for Joe’s style only. Yes, fight scenes, hitting and punching, but there’s additional movement in there like grappling, especially for Joe.
Is it important in the Raid movies each death is unique?
Iko Uwais: Every fight scene, every ending kill is Gareth’s idea.
So the baseball bat in the face?
Iko Uwais: Baseball bat in the face, Gareth came up with because it’s bule fighters. Bule is white guy. You can call him Bule Gila. Gila is crazy.
And in the prison riot when the guy’s head gets crushed, Gareth’s idea?
Iko Uwais: Also Gareth’s idea.
What about punching the concrete wall?
Iko Uwais: That’s mine.
Did that hurt?
Iko Uwais: It’s a fake wall. It’s not real, like dry wall, not concrete.
What are your favorite fighting movies?
Yayan Ruhian: Danny the Dog (Unleashed), Jet Li. I saw Jet Li very differently in that, not just as a martial arts character like in his other movies. There was drama and emotion and a different side of Jet Li.
Iko Uwais: Jackie Chan movies.
Jackie Chan is more comedic and you’re more brutal and violent.
Iko Uwais: Jackie Chan is like real life because he gets hurt too, not just him punching people too and then he’s okay. He gets hurt too. For us, if we show any kind of feeling like I’m hurt, that shows weakness. For my character, he’ll feel hurt but he’ll hold it back instead of showing it like Jackie Chan.
Would you like to do comedy like Jackie Chan?
Iko Uwais: Yeah, it’s fun.
Yayan Ruhian: I like Jackie Chan, but for a whole movie, I like Danny the Dog.
Have any Americans come asking you to be in movies like Joe got to do The Fast and the Furious 6?
Iko Uwais: No, not yet. It depends on Gareth.
Do you think there will be The Raid 3?
Iko Uwais: Yeah, the guy before you already talked about The Raid 3 and I’m really angry with Gareth. He hasn’t talked to me yet.
How fast was the car moving in the car chase fight?
Iko Uwais: I don’t know. It’s fast. Maybe more than 60 kilometers.
How many times did you do that scene?
Iko Uwais: Lots. 12 days.
Yayan, how long did it take to shoot the nightclub and the alley fights?
Yayan Ruhian: One scene at the nightclub took 54 takes.
Iko Uwais: That’s long takes.
Did you know when you got it right? Could you feel it?
Iko Uwais: Gareth is very specific, so even though we’ve done it, we’ve punched as hard as we can, we moved as fast as we can, when he sees in the monitor and doesn’t like what he’s seeing, he makes us do it again.
Yayan Ruhian: When we do a scene, only Gareth and God knows that it’s right.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
