The Source Magazine caught up with “The Raid 2″ stars Iko Uwais & Julie Estelle at the film’s New York premiere this week. The film opens in New York City and Los Angeles on March 28.
Watch our exclusive red carpet video below:
Q: Apart from the film itself, what was the most enjoyable thing about working with each other as well as the most challenging?
Iko: When we fight together, me and Julie, we were already close to each other. We already had chemistry.
Julie: For me, in the beginning it was definitely very intimidating (laughs). I have no background in martial arts whereas he (Iko) is like the master of martial arts. So yeah it was pretty intimidating at first but they were very supportive and they helped me a lot so we had so much fun and I enjoyed it.
Iko: I didn’t trust her at first (in terms of the action scenes) because she’s such a pretty girl (laughs).
Julie: He thought I was this pretty girl that couldn’t fight, but here I am smashing people with hammers!
Q: So did you (Iko) show her any moves?
Iko: Yes. Definitely!
Q: What was the most memorable part of filming for you guys?
Julie: The most memorable part for me was definitely…I mean this is my first time working with this whole team and it was so enjoyable. They’re awesome people, Gareth (Evans) is awesome, Iko, Yayan (Ruhian), everybody was just awesome so it was an incredible experience for me to be able to work with them and be a part of this project.
Iko: For me it was the kitchen scene. And me and Julie. Because when we fight together it’s different speeds, it’s a different feel. When it’s man and man it’s full speed, to use power is fine. But when I punch Julie it’s a little bit controlled, it’s different.
Q: Tell me how you did the fighting scenes?
Julie: That’s why it was such an interesting role for me to take, it was very challenging physically and yeah I loved it. It took me six months of training to get there.
Iko: We trust each other, me and Julie.
Julie: We practice a lot, I mean when we hit it’s not really a real hit.
Iko: Still we have control.
Julie: We have control, otherwise we wouldn’t be here right now. We’d all be dead! (Laughs)
Iko: There’s still bruises.
Julie: Bruises, yeah! Almost everywhere but it’s fine, nothing major.
Q: (To Iko) What was the most challenging part of this movie compared to the first one?
Iko: This movie is definitely more complex, choreography-wise. Especially there’s this one fight scene, the prison riot. When we’re fighting in the mud. It’s difficult for us, it’s slippery. There’s 120 people and it’s difficult.
