Black Adam star Aldis Hodge explained how his stunt training helped him in his on-screen fights with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hodge, who portrays Hawkman in the Warner Bros. and DC film, shared his relief that he never actually hit Johnson during their fight scenes and chalked it up to his previous stunt training. "My lasting memory is that I never hit him," the actor said. "That was all I cared about. I’m actually serious. Swinging around that mace, man … I grew up a fighter, and in terms of real fighting and stunt fighting, it’s all about understanding and knowing your distance. With real fighting, you need to know your distance and your opponent’s distance exactly, so that you know when to lock in, clock them and get out."
He continued, "With stunt fighting, you need to know your distance so that you never touch the other person, but the mace required the full extension of my arm. So I had to deal with understanding a different length because the mace added a couple extra feet. And man, all I wanted to do was make it through the day without scratching that man’s face. Because if I scratched his face and we had to shut it down because of me? Yeah, that’s no bueno."
A New Era for DC Films
Starring Johnson in the title role, Black Adam is a spinoff of 2019's Shazam! and will mark the DCEU debut of the JSA (Justice Society of America), which consists of Hodge as Hawkman, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone. Johnson has repeatedly stated that Black Adam would mark a "new era" for the DCEU, with the DC film marking the return of Henry Cavill's Superman in a post-credits scene.
Johnson has confirmed that he "absolutely" has plans for a Black Adam vs. Superman film, saying, "That is the whole point of this, man." He continued, "I have been saying for some time, there's a new era in the DC Universe that's about to begin. And what I meant by that was introducing a brand new character. It's not a sequel, not an existing IP. It was...you know, Black Adam!"
Black Adam crossed $250 million worldwide after ten days in theaters. On its opening weekend, Black Adam soared to the top of the domestic box office, earning $67 million USD in its domestic debut, surpassing projections that the film would reach $62 million after it opened across 4,350 North American theaters. While these earnings were in line with previous DC films (2018's Aquaman earned a domestic cume of $67.8 million), Black Adam did surpass the earnings for 2019's Shazam!, which pulled in a domestic total of $53.5 million in its opening weekend.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, Black Adam is now in theaters.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter