Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Diablo

Scott Adkins (John Wick 4) spoke to Bleeding Cool about his latest collaboration with Marko Zaror in the Lionsgate’s action thriller Diablo.

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Scott Adkins has built a career in challenging himself physically as an action star sharing the screen with some of the biggest powerhouses in the industry including Jet Li, Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jason Statham, Donnie Yen, and Keanu Reeves, and he’s still going on strong. From his extensive work across several franchises, including Marvel, John Wick, The Expendables, and Ip Man, Adkins still has plenty of names in the action world he still wants to work with. His next leg of his journey is Lionsgate’s Diablo. He spoke to Bleeding Cool about how the idea of the film became a collaborative effort from acting and writing with his John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) co-star Marko Zaror, working with one of Zaror’s favorite directors in Ernesto Diaz Espinoza, barely keeping up with Zaror on the fights, and how casting Alanna De La Rossa became one of the film’s biggest surprises.

Diablo follows an ex-convict, Kris Chaney (Adkins), who makes it his mission to right a terrible wrong by revealing a secret that could end his life. He is a warrior who seizes the daughter (De La Rossa) of a Colombian gangster to fulfill a noble promise to the young girl’s mother. When her father enlists both the criminal underworld and the terrifying psychotic killer El Corvo (Zaror) to exact his revenge, Kris will need to draw upon everything he has ever learned — in and out of lockup — to stay alive and keep his word.

Diablo Star Scott Adkins on Working on Passion Project with Marko Zaror and Director Ernesto Diaz Espinoza

Bleeding Cool: What was the inspiration behind ‘Diablo?’

Marko Zaror and I came up with a story. We were working on ‘John Wick 4,’ spending a lot of time together, and we were discussing how we could star in a movie together. Once we came up with the story, we got Marco’s director [Ernesto Diaz Espinoza], who he normally works with in the films that he does in Chile. We continued to work on the story, and then we brought in Mat Sansom, who took the story and wrote the script, and did a great job. My manager, Craig Baumgarten, produces movies, so we give the script to him and tell him, “Look, we want to make this film. Where can we do it? We want it to be set in Latin America somewhere, South America.” We ended up going to Columbia and making the movie.

What was it like working with Ernesto and Mat as creatives?

Mat did a great job crafting the script and working on the story with the three of us. Ernesto, I’ve obviously seen many of his films, because I’ve seen Marco’s movies and thought he was a great talent looking in from the outside. To have worked with him now, it was such a rewarding experience and one of the most comfortable relationships I’ve ever had with a director. He knows exactly what he wants, not to mention, he’s extremely talented. He’s a cinephile, knows everything about movies, and it was a pleasure.

We’re already discussing what we can do next. I think he needs to be doing more work, and more people need to know how talented he is. It’s the same with the DP as well, Niccolo [De La Fere], he’s a great asset as well, because he can shoot things depending on the style of movie, and how you want it to look. He’s an ex-kickboxer as well, so when it comes to the action, he can operate the camera, move it in a way that we needed to move, and pick up all the bits of action, which is the whole thing. Sometimes these operators don’t know what they’re doing, but he was a great asset as well.

What resonated with you about playing Kris, and how does your character challenge you emotionally as an actor?

We wrote the story, so you know the character inside out by that point. I’ve got a son and a daughter, and you can pull on all that information from your real life with the story, and what we’re dealing with, Alanna’s character. It’s not hard to imagine what it would feel like if you were in that situation, but yeah, it was pretty easy.

What was the most difficult sequence in the film?

The fights are the most difficult. Keeping up with Marko Zaror is what’s difficult, because the guy’s incredible. He’s the purest athlete I’ve ever worked with. The guy’s a phenomenal martial artist on screen and off, such an amazing athlete! His diet’s always on point and he teaches me a lot about diet and exercise. I refer to him when I want to know something. Keeping up with him [laughs]…is not easy. I’m slowing down, but this guy does not seem to slow down. He’s the same as he was when we worked together in 2009. I have more fights than him, so I use that as an excuse. By the time we got to our big end fight, I was completely done, especially on the second day of that. I had muscles cramping up and all sorts. He’s such a gracious, lovely guy. I know he’s got a very intimidating presence on screen, but he’s one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.

You have some great, memorable scenes with Marko and Alanna. How were they as scene partners and what did they brought to the film?

Well, Marko designed the action in the movie as well as starring in it with me, so that’s the first thing he’s creating, designing, and coming up with the angles for all the action sequences. That is no small feat, because he’s done an incredible job, and he does a great performance in the moving. With Alanna, we were worried going to Columbia not knowing who we’re going to end up with as this playing this part [of Elisa], who really is the heart of the movie. It was a concern, but we ended up with probably the best actress we could have ever wished to have got. She’s absolutely phenomenal. She was starring in the stage play of ‘The Exorcist’ at the time. She was doing that in the evenings and working with us in the day. She’s such an incredible actress, and we were extremely lucky to have her.

Diablo is currently in theaters, digital, and on demand.

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