Actor and martial artist Joe Taslim began his journey with the 2011 film The Raid: Redemption and has since become a recognizable name in the action genre. He starred in the Cinemax original series Warrior, which later moved to HBO and became one of the streaming platform’s most popular shows. Taslim also played an antagonist in Fast & Furious 6 and Star Trek Beyond before taking on the iconic role of Sub-Zero in the Mortal Kombat movies. His latest film, The Furious, adds to his list of must-see, action-packed performances.
In The Furious, Taslim portrays Navin, a man on a mission to find his missing wife. He teams up with Wang (Xie Miao: Ip Man: The Awakening, Blade of Fury), who is also searching for his daughter. Together, they battle crime, child traffickers, and an army of adversaries to reunite with their loved ones. Directed by Kenji Tanigaki (Enter the Fat Dragon, Legend of Seven Monks), the film will be released in theaters on June 12th.
In anticipation of The Furious’ release, we spoke with Joe Taslim about his career, training techniques, his passion for martial arts, and the challenges and rewards of being part of the film’s cast.
HGL: Joe, how did your career transition from martial arts to acting?
Joe Taslim: After I got injured badly on both of my knees, I retired from the Judo National Team of Indonesia in 2009. I have loved films since I was a kid, but my father directed me to a different thing, of course. He wanted me to become an athlete. I did that, and he passed away in 2003, so I told my mom, “Ok, I did it for the family, my country. Now, I want to pursue something I’ve loved since I was a kid.” I started doing auditions, and in 2010, I auditioned for The Raid. I got the part, and then my life changed completely.
HGL: What about The Furious piqued your interest enough to want to get involved with the film?
Joe Taslim: One thing was Kenji Tanigaki. Every actor wants to work with him, actors who love action movies. The second thing would be the story about child trafficking. I am based in Jakarta, and reading the news, it’s still happening everywhere. I think it’s a very important issue, and action is a great vehicle to tell that story and still entertain action fans. At the same time, we get to build a little awareness about that, which I think is beautiful.
HGL: Did you find it difficult at times to juggle both the emotional and physical demands of your character, Navin?
Joe Taslim: Yes, and at the beginning, I was thinking I had to deliver heavy action, but at the same time be the voice of the main plot. I had a lot of discussions with Kenji every morning, before we’d go to the set, trying to understand what he wants from Navin, what I want from Navin, so we tried to synchronize our visions together. That process went so smoothly.
Kenji is very open, very collaborative, and very supportive of his actors. Once we found who Navin was, everything was smooth after that.
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HGL: There are some incredible fight scenes in The Furious. How did you prepare for the high-action sequences?
Joe Taslim: I do have my own methods. Usually, I focus on stamina first, and endurance as well. Three months before I flew to Bangkok to begin the shooting process, I just trained myself. Luckily, I used to be an athlete, so I know the program, to be able to reach that level, to be ready to be on set at five in the morning until the evening, that kind of mentality.
Once I know I’m ready to jump into the production, all I need to think about is to understand the character, the choreography, and the storytelling, because other than that, I did all my homework back home before I flew to Bangkok. That’s my process, and so far it’s been very effective.
I know a lot of my friends, a lot of people I work with, they kind of like doing it together on set, the training, while also trying to memorize the choreography, and to make them strong. How I do it, I just have to make sure I get ready physically, so my body is ready for war, so when the war happens, I know I can last long.
HGL: What was the most difficult part of making this film, and conversely, what was the most rewarding?
Joe Taslim: The most rewarding thing was, halfway through the shoot, we knew we were doing something amazing, that this film might change how people view action movies, and that’s a good thing. As an action performer, it’s not about entertaining action fans in the genre; we want fans to watch from one decade to another, improving the action genre, that’s our responsibility in the action world.
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The most difficult part was night shoots because we shot that final fight over almost three weeks of all-night shoots. Shooting at night, on that schedule, it’s definitely a different quality of sleep. I know it wasn’t just me; all of us realized our stamina and fitness were decreasing day by day, and we were filming a huge fight in the movie, so we felt that responsibility.
Physically and mentally, it was pretty challenging for all of us. After one, it was like, holy cow, what is day, what is night? After that scene was finished, it took five or six days to understand day and night again.
HGL: The Furious gets its theatrical release on June 12th. What do you hope they take away after watching this film?
Joe Taslim: I want a lot of people to go see this movie because I think it’s a very important movie for the action genre. Of course, I want the movie to be successful, but I know there are more important things here than simply success and business. This movie will change how people watch action films, and I want the action fans to be smarter. They can differentiate between good and bad action movies because that’s the only way the action genre can grow.
It’s very easy to make bad action movies, and once the fans get tired of it, the genre is dead. This movie is important to elevate that way of thinking and give them more drive and interest to love the action genre. That to me is more important than anything else.
