capelight Features Interviews

Interview with Joe Taslim: Battling Someone Skilled and Powerful Is the Equivalent to an Orgasm to Him

Johannes “Joe” Taslim is an Indonesian actor known for his roles in action films such as Gareth Evans' “The Raid” or Timo Tjahjanto's “The Night Comes for Us”. Apart from being a performer, he is also a model and has starred in many commercials in his home country, and was also part of the Judo national team from 1997 to 2009. During his career as an actor he has also been part of international productions, such as “Fast & Furious 6” and also “Star Trek Beyond”, and will be playing the role of Sub-Zero in the much anticipated “Mortal Kombat”. In the period drama/ martial arts film “The Swordsman” he plays the role of Gurutai, a slave merchant closely connected to the Qing-dynasty.

On the occasion of the movie being released on physical media and VOD through German publisher Capelight in May 2021, we talked with Taslim about his character in “”, his philosophy on martial arts and his collaboration with director Choi Jae-hoon.

What fascinated you about a the project and the character of Gurutai?

I am a big fan of South-Korean cinema and the films of directors like , and , because they have influenced me as an actor and the way I see films in general. Without knowing which part I was going to play, I was, first of all, very honored when I was given the opportunity to be part of a Korean production.

Choi Jae-hoon then sat down with me and talked to me about the character of Gurutai and that this is a man less interested in politics and who is more into sword-fighting. Gurutai is a real sword-fighting freak and battling someone skilled and powerful is the equivalent to an orgasm to him. When sent to Korea, he believes his real task is to seek out the best sword masters and challenge them to a battle. Of course, he is nephew to the king and has a responsible, political mission to fulfill, but this quickly takes a backseat for him. He is quite an eccentric, and I like him a lot.

The greatest challenge in the project for me was the language because I do not speak Korean. When I told my friends about the project, the said I was crazy. (laughs) They made it clear to me that I better be perfect and believable, otherwise the Korean audience would spot it from the very first scene.

Then I thought I would do it and accepted the challenge. As long as I train hard and read the script, it is doable, I thought. It was still a challenge, but the opportunity to play this character and be a part of this story was something I really wanted.

In what way is “The Swordsman”, apart from being a period drama, different to your other projects, for example, “The Night Comes for Us” or “The Raid”?

“The Swordsman”, as the title suggests, is a film about sword fighting which presented a challenge to me since I did not know anything about it. However, as a martial artist and an actor it is important for me to try out new things and not to repeat myself.

In “The Raid” I had to do a lot of gunfights and hand-to-hand combat, whereas “The Night Comes for Us” features fights at night and other crazy stuff. In projects like “Fast & Furious 6” I was presented with Hollywood action, which is something completely different.

So, for “The Swordsman” I had to learn to fight with the sword, and it was a story set in a specific time in Asian history. Of course, it would take time, but dealing with the period and this new way of fighting was an opportunity to develop as an actor and martial artist, which is why is prepared extensively, trained hard and practiced a lot before the shooting would start.

Martial arts is similar to music, in my opinion. Depending on the specific style, it changes, but each style has a similar foundation. My task, to use the metaphor further, is to find the right chords and tones so that is believable and fits the story. In that regard, my knowledge of wushu, judo, taekwondo and silat gives me a good foundation, and I finally saw the sword basically as an extension of my arm, which was something that fascinated me and helped me a lot.

Still from “The Swordsman”

Can you say something more about your background in martial arts, for example, what your training is like and how it affects your work as an actor?

For “The Swordsman” my knowledge of various martial arts helps me to understand and find the soul of a specific way of fighting. When you use a sword, it is naturally quite different to other types of combat, but this is just the shape or shell. My task is to look beyond that and find out what is actually inside.

A great deal of my childhood and youth I spent training in martial arts, and was lucky enough to represent my country in international tournaments. I was fortunate to have a father who was a big fan and supporter of martial arts, so that he sent me to various martial arts schools when I was little in order to get me into contact with various styles of fighting. During that period, I was a member in a taekwondo class and later even trained with students of wushu, until I settled for judo in the end. In 1997, I became part of the Indonesian national team for junior.

However, when I became an actor I quickly learned that judo does not help me when it comes to shooting a movie because it is less about fighting with your fists and more about wrestling. Of course, I use techniques such as throwing, but you cannot use it that often as it takes away the dynamic of a fight, and it would be quite monotonous if you see me throwing all of my opponents. (laughs)

So when I started doing “The Raid” I had to start from scratch. I learned a lot about silat, how effective it can be in close combat and finally I saw the beauty and the art in that way of fighting. Little by little, I saw these sequences of moves, the combination of attacks and defenses, as some kind of elaborate dance. A potential deadly one that is.


This is when I decided to become an empty vessel when starting a new project. I trust my instincts, my intuition and my experience, but when it comes to the story I try not to use a specific style and rather attempt to adapt to what the scene or the story needs. For “Fast & Furious 6” I had to learn wing chun and for “Warrior”, a series for HBO Max, I trained in kung fu, as I had to play the part of a kung fu master. Being a master in kung fu is not just about training, but also about reaching a level of confidence which comes from years and years of experience.

When I start learning a new technique or style of fighting it is again like getting to know a new type of music. I know how to sing, but everything else, from the rhythms to the tunes, I have to learn. In the case of “The Swordsman” it was no different because I had to know the music and the song which was playing, and once I knew it, I was able to train myself and practice it.

As I said earlier, it is important for me not to repeat myself as an actor. I do not want comfort and instead seek the challenge. Maybe in my next film I will have to play a boxer or a tai chi master and I will have to start from scratch again, but then again, once I know what the style, the music is all about I can find a way to understand it.

In the action scenes, in “The Swordsman” as well as other projects, your focus seems to be not just about the fighting, but also about the acting and making your viewer feel when your character experiences pain, for example. Can you tell us something about your approach to these scenes from an actor's standpoint?

When working on scenes like the fights in “The Swordsman” I have to understand the different parts of the battle. I have to know when my character is hurt or still confident as well as the moment he knows he will lose or when his death is certain. I have to understand both, the dynamics and the story of each fight.

When Gurutai faces Jang Hyuk's character in “The Sowrdsman” for the first time, his opponent is wounded and has to protect his daughter, which makes him weak. That is why Gurutai is confident, even arrogant and allows himself to toy with his opponent.

However, when my character is hit for the first time and loses his balance, this is an important moment in the story the fight tells. Getting injured or being hit influences my movement, as I know from having been in hundreds of fights as an athlete. When you suffer a blow to the stomach or your knee is hurt, this affects your movements and even your breathing which is something I have to show as an actor.

Many action films focus on the choreography of the fight, but not the acting. The audience is still entertained by the fight, but it has no sense of what the characters are going through when they suffer a blow to their legs and start to stumble or limp. If you do not show that as an actor the fight is nor believable to me.

To know the different stages and important moments in a fight has been important to me ever since my first role in “The Raid”. When you see how a character suffers and what pain he or she is in the audience is more invested in the fight and the story as a whole. Once you know the structure of a fight, it becomes like a math problem, it follows a certain logic and when it comes to shooting the scene it adds a certain fluidity to it.

in “The Raid”

Can you also tell us something about your collaboration with director Choi Jae-hoon?

Even though the shooting is done and we have moved on to other projects, Choi and me still keep in contact. He is a director who knows what he is doing and what he wants to show in a specific scene. In the Korean film industry, there is a great amount of respect for the craft of acting which is why directors like him will support you as an actor all the way and help you find the character you are playing. For Choi, that means he would ask me questions about Gurutai, what this character wants to achieve, why he wants that and how he feels.

During these discussions in pre-production, he also focuses on other details, such as the way a man like Gurutai would walk and talk. Since my ancestors come for Manchuria, my voice comes from the throat and has a distinct sound which does not fit to a character like Gurutai and his background.

So, Choi would engage you in these conversations about the character until you have reached a level of understanding about the role. Once you are on the same page the shooting becomes much more relaxed which is probably why his comments after each scene were so short. (laughs)

Is there a specific role or genre which you would like to try out as an actor?

I would like to act in a movie where the focus is not so much on the action and more on the story. The action should be more like an extension. It would be great to find a project or a story which combines art and entertainment rather than keeping them apart. While sometimes is not easy to understand an arthouse film, it is easy to engage in popcorn cinema so it would be great to combine these two experiences.

It is my dream to be part of a project which has a strong script with interesting themes, which can be understood all over the world.

What can you tell us about your portrayal of Sub-Zero in “Mortal Kombat”?

As with my other projects, the action and the fighting is not my first focus, but the background of the character I am about to play. Sub-Zero's story is defined by the relationship to his brother, how they were kidnapped and trained to become fighters. Once I understood what he has been through I had an understanding of the kind of person he is.

I hope the audience like my interpretation of the character, because even though he is a villain, his story is also quite tragic. He is not evil by nature, but a man whose parents and bright future have been taken from him.

Thank you for the interesting conversation.

About the author

Rouven Linnarz

Ever since I watched Takeshi Kitano's "Hana-Bi" for the first time (and many times after that) I have been a cinephile. While much can be said about the technical aspects of film, coming from a small town in Germany, I cherish the notion of art showing its audience something which one does normally avoid, neglect or is unable to see for many different reasons. Often the stories told in films have helped me understand, discover and connect to something new which is a concept I would like to convey in the way I talk and write about films. Thus, I try to include some info on the background of each film as well as a short analysis (without spoilers, of course), an approach which should reflect the context of a work of art no matter what genre, director or cast. In the end, I hope to pass on my joy of watching film and talking about it.

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