Science fiction and hard-hitting martial arts combine in the new film Jiu Jitsu, which reunites Kickboxer filmmaker Dimitri Logothetis with martial artist action star Alain Moussi. Joined by Tony Jaa and Nicolas Cage, the film features an alien warrior named Brax that regularly visits Earth to battle its martial arts champions in single combat to determine the planet's fate.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Moussi discusses developing the film's standout action set pieces, working alongside Cage and Jaa and his memorable appearance as Batman in the first season of Titans.
How did this project come about?
Alain Moussi: The way it came to me, as we were in development for Kickboxer 3 and Dimitri gave me the call and said "Alain, I was talking to our distributors and apparently they're looking for martial arts/sci-fi, they asked if I could do that. So I'm going to come up with something, I'll call you back in two weeks!" That's how it started! And all of a sudden, two weeks later there was a comic book and I read that. And thought it was such an outlandish idea, I loved it so much I couldn't wait already; I was so excited, it was wild. Then there was a script, I read the script and read the character and was like "This is awesome!" All of sudden, we're in prep and we're in Cyprus shooting Jiu Jitsu.
You just came off working on Kickboxer with Jean-Claude Van Damme and here you get to work with Nicolas Cage. How was it been working with those guys?
Moussi: Number one, it's a dream come true. When [Logothetis] told me Nic was coming on the project, I couldn't believe it. I've been such a huge fan of Nic since I was little kid. I think the first movie that I saw with Nic Cage was Gone in 60 Seconds and all the other ones -- Con Air, The Rock, Face/Off -- I loved them. So that was a bit of dream come true but, at the same time, it's a little intimidating because I'm going to be on-screen with an Academy Award-winning actor and I consider myself a total rookie.
At that point, I was excited like, "Cool, it's going to be an amazing experience!" but at the same time it's intimidating and kind of scary because you know he's the man. I decided to use those nerves to work as hard as humanly possible to prep myself for this role, to make sure that on-screen with him I didn't look like a putz. And that was my whole point, and if I was able to succeed and look good alongside him, I was happy. I guess my thought was, when you're thinking about martial arts, when you're sparring with someone that's better than you, it elevates you; it makes you better. So I started to see it that way, I was working with a master of the art, it was going to elevate my game and that's how I saw it and I was really excited to be on-screen with him and I think I did the best work I've ever done.
As someone that has an extensive martial arts background, how has it been developing these action sequences with Jean-Francois Lachapelle?
Moussi: It's awesome, I've been working with Jean-Francois a long time. We've been friends since we were twelve and we've been working in the stunt industry since 2010 and all of a sudden we've been designing fights together, which is awesome. For this, J.F. was actually busy on another project but he actually helped me out with the early concept stuff and, from then on, the rest of the work was done in Cyprus. We did development with Ryan Tarran, who plays Brax, and Maxime Savaria, who is Nic Cage and Frank Grillo's stunt double. And then our Thai stunt coordinator Jim is incredible; we've been working with him since Kickboxer. He brought his team along and they're nothing but amazing and we put all our heads together and collaborated to create something very special. That was very enjoyable.
How has it been transitioning from stuntman to leading man over the past six years or so?
Moussi: It's been really exciting, it's been a whole different thing to go from stunt doubling to lead actor. It's a different responsibility, for sure, and I embrace it and love it and have so much fun doing it. I relate most things to martial arts training because that's where I come from, I've been doing it my whole life and, to me, I see it that every time you shoot a new movie, it's like a different tournament or another show. And in between, I practice so hard to make sure every performance is better than the last, that's my goal.
And at the same time, my cast mates, when I work with them, between Nic Cage, Frank Grillo, Marie Avgeropoulos, Marrese Crump and JuJu Chan -- I had so much talent to work with -- what I try to do is absorb things from them, whatever they're great at, I try to absorb a piece of that from everybody to make it my own and improve and to evolve as an actor. That's all I can hope for and, today, I find myself on my third film and I feel like the transition is really moving forward and I think Jiu Jitsu really solidifies that transition.
On this film, you get to work with Tony Jaa who's on stunt work and career is incredible. How was that experience?
Moussi: Man, it's unreal. That sequence where he rescues my character and we work together from a first-person perspective and we switch in and out of the camera, it was incredible. And to watch him work too, he has his own sequence, he's a true professional, he's on-point all the time, he's well-rehearsed. He delivers a performance every time you say "action." Tony is always at his best, no matter what, you never see one take weaker than the last and I think that's really cool. When you're working with a guy like Tony, he pushes you to be at your best, there's no other way about it, and he inspires you. For me, it was a dream come true because I was huge fan since Ong-Bak, and now we get to work together; not on opposing sides, but on the same team, which is really cool.
You mentioned the first-person sequence and there's definitely some extended fight scenes in this. Is that first-person sequence your favorite?
Moussi: I think that set piece is definitely one of my favorite set pieces. I'm really proud of it because everybody worked so hard on it and I think it's probably the action scene that stands out the most because it's not your standard action. So I'm very, very proud of that but I enjoy every one of them, from the interrogation fight at the very beginning to that one and the Brax-Nic Cage fight. I loved that because they worked so hard putting it together with Ryan and, on set, I was able to collaborate with Dimitri and our D.P. in order to put the cameras in the right places and really, really do some action directing with Dimitri. It was special for a different reason: I wasn't in it; however, I was part of creating it and delivering it.
And it was really cool because when Nic was on set for that scene, he knew I was behind the monitors the whole time and said, "Alain, if the take isn't to your liking and what you think is best, I'll do it as many times as is required, I will never quit." And I thought that was so cool! He would come after each take and sometimes we'd be good and I'd ask for one more take and he'd be cool with it. So that scene is special to me for a completely different reason.
You mentioned Dimitri approached you before writing this and you've worked with him for sometime. How is your collaborative process with him now?
Moussi: Oh my God, it's incredible. I love working with Dimitri, we trust each other. You don't always have that trust with a director or producer with the lead actor and the creative decisions that they make. I trust Dimitri as a leader and as a visionary director so I know I'm in good hands, no matter what. He knows how to talk to me, whenever he's directing me on set, he knows the kind of language that I respond to well. He knows I relate everything to martial arts, he knows martial arts, so he's able to get me to where I need to be all the time by using the right words. For me, that's quite special and I also see him as filmmaking mentor.
Personally, I don't just see myself as an actor or stuntman whenever that comes up. I'm a filmmaker, that's what I see myself as and I'm learning all parts of craft. And for me, Dimitri is a true filmmaker: He goes from writing scripts to producing and directing a film to post-production and delivering a film; that's a true filmmaker. And I love learning from him every step of the way and, with that trust now. With Jiu Jitsu, you look at the inception of the script, we chatted about it, we designed the film in pre-production and talked about everything: What weapons are we going to use? And I'd recommend these weapons, he'd be cool with it and move on. There's no questioning, he trusts me with everything that has to do with the action and I trust him with everything else. [Laughs] He's making the film properly, how to load and shoot. That kind of relationship is very rare and that's why I think that's special, both in our personal relationship, in regards to our friendship, and also our professional relationship.
As someone writing for Comic Book Resources, I have to ask: You got to be Batman on Titans! How was that whole experience?
Moussi: I got a call from the stunt coordinator Larnell Stovall who was our stunt coordinator on Kickboxer: Vengeance, actually. He was in Toronto shooting and called me asking if I was busy and I wasn't and told me he had something cool if I came down. So I went out to meet him and he pitches me this thing where Batman was going to be a character on Titans but an action character. He pitched me for the role, everybody said cool and he asked me "Do you want to be Batman?" and I was like "Damn right, I want to be Batman!"
They ended up fitting me for the costume and I played it for a few days and there was an incident on set that shut the set down for practically a week; nothing too serious, they just had to remodel the set. And by then, I couldn't make it anymore, I had already booked this martial arts workshop in Austria, I was supposed to be there for a week. So I recommended my friend Max Savaria, who finished the last day they needed to complete the scene. So I share my role with Max but it was such a cool experience. Superhero films, I'm such a fan of, I love the stories, they're very entertainment and I definitely have certain superheroes I'd love to play; one in particular in the future, so hopefully that'll happen for me.
What are you proud of with Jiu Jitsu and hope audiences take away from it?
Moussi: What I'm proud of is that we were able to complete a very special, unique film that displays incredible martial arts; a really fun, entertaining story with cool, compelling characters. And I think it'll leave audiences just entertained. We've been in the COVID world since March and I think everybody needs an escape right now, they need to be able to go see something, be entertained, shut their brain off and just enjoy the ride. Finish having this thrill and being entertained. I'm proud of that we created this unique, outlandish rollercoaster ride for an audience, and I think that's really cool.
Directed by Dimitri Logothetis, Jiu Jitsu stars Alain Moussi, Nicolas Cage, Marie Avgeropoulos, Frank Grillo, Tony Jaa, Marrese Crump and Juju Chan. The film arrives in theaters and on video on demand Nov. 20.