Actor and martial arts star Scott Adkins on his role in "John Wick" film franchise

My talk at the table is about the highly anticipated new film, John Wick Chapter 4. The John Wick franchise starring Keanu Reeves follows a retired hitman who's forced back into the underground world of assassins to face his enemies. The new sequel could break franchise box office records this weekend. Its cast includes martial arts star, Scott Adkins. He's known for roles in action films like Ip Man 4, the finale with martial arts legend, Donnie Yen, who's also in John Wick 4. He wore heavy makeup, look at this, to play an assassin named Killa, who meets John Wick at his nightclub. Watch this.

Scott Adkins joins us first on CBS Mornings. Welcome. Yes, welcome, welcome. It is so good to see you. First of all, you're basically playing a bond villain in that scene, right? Yeah. But just you're a big fan of the John Wick franchise. But when you got the call from the director that he wanted you to be in this film.

Oh yeah, by the way, Donnie Yen's going to be in it, who you know from Ip Man 4, one of the greatest martial artists in the world. Oh, also Hirooki Sonata is going to be in it, one of the great Japanese martial artists in the world. And you, what do you think? And also Marco Zeroro, who's a martial arts legend. Did you say I got to think about it? Oh yeah, let me think about it. Hang on a second. Oh, no, look, I'm a huge fan of all the John Wick movies. I've been bugging the director to put me in all of them since the first one.

And I'm very happy that it happened to be this one, because I think with all the other action stars that are coming into the franchise now, it's one of the best action films going. But this is a thing. I was saying to Scott, you know, please don't hate me, but this was my first John Wick movie. I'm saying, I know what you look like, but I'm sitting there waiting. When is Scott Atkins going to be in this movie? You don't even make an appearance until an hour and 13 minutes in. Believe me, I was watching. And you are totally unrecognizable.

I want to know what it's like for you to fight with all of that fat suit. When they first told you you were going to wear that, how did that work for you? I have to admit, my first reaction was, oh, I'm going to be in John Wick 4 and no one's going to know it's me. But then I relished the challenge of being able to create the character from the ground up and, you know, the whole thing that went with it. But the fight scenes, yes, it had its difficulties. The fat suit wasn't as heavy as you might think, but it was important for us to sell the weight of the suit as well. So it looks like a legitimate big guy. And then you start fighting Keanu Reeves in underground basement in the rain and all the rest of it.

It was so. Are there fans in there? Is there water in there? What is happening inside that suit for you? Oh, yeah, I've got a calling suit. You've got what? I've got a calling suit underneath. So I've got this tube that looks like it's come down to my backside, which I'll plug into a bucket of ice and it will shoot. Is that right around the body? Yeah. Wow. How did it affect your fighting wearing the fat suit? Yeah, it wasn't easy.

Yeah, yeah. But, you know, I've been doing martial arts since I was 10 years old. So speaking of that, speaking of the fact that you've been doing martial arts for the last since you were 10 years old, we'd like a little demonstration. I will be your demonstration partner. Is that cool? Yeah. Why don't I feel like I'm the one who's going to get hit in the face? Yeah, what could go wrong on live TV? Yes, let's do that. All right, done Taekwondo, right? I've done, I did Taekwondo and karate back in my whole life, but it's been a couple of years.

I mean, I'm also. So you will know that one of the most important things in martial arts when it comes to kicking is chambering the knee. Yes. And getting the hip into the correct position. Right. So if I was going to do a side kick with you, and I hope that your trousers aren't too tight, I would make sure that this foot, the toes are pointing this way on the back foot so that my hip is in the correct position. I would chamber my knee and I would do the side kick.

And so I would bang. There we go, mate. Neon side kick. One more time. And he didn't crack his pants. Yes. Well done.

All right. The most important part. OK, so let's talk about that spinning. You did a spinning back kick in the film, wearing that fat suit. And I thought that was to me the most impressive thing that I saw because I'm thinking of myself and you saw the weight. So let's do that scene or let's do that move. And I will be your I know I'm not in the union for stunt.

Somebody gets spoiled. Somebody gets kicked in the head. That's right. So that's going to be made. 9-1. Martial arts, choreography, screen fighting, 1-0-1. If we bring that camera this way a little bit, please.

OK. I'll put you into position. So if we were making the movie and you're John Wick, and I'm going to do a spinning back kick, what I would do, I had to do a switch stance like that to set it up. And then I'm going to bring the kick across here. OK. You're going to react accordingly. You ready, Vlad? Ready to react accordingly.

Here we go. Let's go. Oh! He's down. Come on, that's for more. Hold on. Oh, God. But Scott.

Still alive. Nothing to add. You got good at this when you were 13, 11. You got mugged and you thought, I will never let this happen to me again. Is that a true story? That is a true story. I turned the garage into a dojo. It was a place for my dad's motorbike.

And that quickly got shifted aside and had a shrine to Bruce Lee and the macawara and the punch bag. And yeah, I just decided that was never going to happen to me again. And I was in there every night training. Trained in at least six different types of martial art. Do I have that right? Many martial arts, yes. Wow. And this film for martial arts fans has all styles displayed.

You've got karate, taekwondo, sumo is even on display there. Oh, yeah. The director of the John Wick movies, I mean, he's a martial arts encyclopedia and he's amazing. He's an incredible martial artist himself. Well, thank you for stretching fabric. Thank you for watching the movie. Very impressive.

Very cool. Scott Ackins. Amazing. Thank you very much. That was awesome. And thank you for the demonstration. Thanks.

We appreciate it. John Wick chapter four opens in theaters nationwide on Friday.

video, cbs, news, scott adkins, john wick, film, franchise, actor, martial arts, killa, fat suit, keanu reeves