Bostin Christopher interview

Bostin Christopher, who may be best known for his role as the nerdy comic book clerk in the M. Night Shyamalan film Unbreakable, gets to have a go at physically breaking other people in The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption.

In this tale of about a once-powerful warrior king that takes on a new life as an assassin for hire, Christopher finds himself going toe-to-toe with Black Belts and WWE wrestlers. It’s a new kind of part for Christopher, yet he loved nearly every minute of it.

Film-News.co.uk caught up with him to find out more...

Music-News: In the movie, you get to fight some pretty big dudes. How many of these do you really think you could take on in real life?

Christopher: I do fight with both Dave Batista and Kimbo Slice. And in real life, they would both win. (laughter)

MN: You wouldn’t have a chance, huh?

Christopher: I don’t think I would have a chance, no, not at all. The beauty of filmmaking is that I get to beat the WWE and the street fighter. I mean, that’s the beauty of it. I can fulfill my fantasies.

MN: So, you beat those guys in the movie.

Christopher: Well, we have various battles throughout the film where they win, we win, but hopefully good triumphs over evil.

MN: You live in Alaska, but a lot of this movie was filmed in Thailand. How much of a culture shock was that for you?

Christopher: Oh, it was amazing! I’d never been overseas before. So, for me it was an amazingly eye-opening experience. The people of Thailand are fantastic; they’re so welcoming and so unbelievably warm people. And the crew that we used over there, which was a mix of a Thai crew and a crew from around the world…the Thai crew was amazingly professional and on top of their game. It was a great experience.

MN: I understand they have some pretty interesting bugs over there.

Christopher: Yes they did. Being from Alaska, we don’t have that kind of…we have mosquitoes, you know, and that’s about it. They definitely had mosquitoes, but over there you have to be careful because if you get bit by the wrong mosquitoes you might get a little sick. You have to get certain shots before you go and all that kind of stuff. And there are these great, intense beetles, stuff that I’d never seen before because the climate was different, it was hot while we were there so that means a lot of the bugs were out. You could see all kinds of crazy creatures over there.

MN: Do you like making action movies? Is that a comfortable thing for you, or is that kind of new?

Christopher: You know, I hadn’t done… that was the beauty of this film, I hadn’t done that before. I have a theater background and I’ve done a lot of stage combat on stage. But that’s different than, you know, obviously film fighting and it’s on this grand scale – giant battles, you know. It was pretty intense. You know, we went over here and we trained for about a month before we shot. We were there working six days a week, eight hours a day and just sort of learning…there are so many fights in this movie, you know. That was the challenge. That was gonna be the real fun of it was, wow, the like intense kind of physical demands of this film and I’m not the most in shape guy. That was gonna be a real fun challenge for me. It was great, you know, it was a lot of fun. And I lost a little weight in the process.

MN: How much did you lose?

Christopher: I probably lost about 15-20 pounds during filmmaking...

MN: Wow!

Christopher: …over the course of the training and then the film just because it was so hot and we were working so hard and eating so well. I modeled my training right after Victor [Webster] because Victor has a UFC…he’s got the fighting background. He’s got the training. He eats well and all that. So I just had fun saying, ‘I have what he’s having.’

MN: Did you learn any exercises that you’ve put into your regular regiment now, or is that all in the past?

Christopher: You know there’s a few things that I would continue to do, but mostly how you warm up and what muscles to stretch to do things correctly. I don’t have an intense fighting regiment that I continue to do like I did there. Victor taught me a lot. He was really helpful.

MN: Do you have any favorite scenes from the film that stand out as the most memorable moments?

Christopher: Yeah. The Ninja fight that we do. That was pretty memorable only because I go kicked into the river. It was probably the most intense fight for me in the film. The way Reiné shoots with his multiple cameras, but he still wants to do it many times. I think over the course of a couple days we shot that, and it was definitely a lasting endurance. Just physical endurance. But the product of that scene looks amazing, so the payoff is great. And I think getting to work with Victor on some really fun scenes – and I’m kinda the comic relief – so kinda being able to just play around and enjoy being the goofy guy once in a while in the film. That’s a true joy, of course.

MN: Do you think that’s part of why you got the role is that you do have a really good comedic sense, and that they could put that to use in the film.

Christopher: Yeah, I think they wanted a comic relief that could also kick butt. That you could believe who was this warrior type who was like this kinda big dude. I don’t fight like the rest of them. I come from the North, and I’m the guy that’s gonna pick you up and throw you on the ground and stomp on you. I’m not gonna have a fancy sword move. So kinda that Barbarian type, but then also I think they wanted some lightness in the film and some humor. I think that’s why I got the part, yeah.

The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption is released 27 February on Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Pictures UK.