As much as I disdain invoking the overplayed Carl Douglas 1974 disco hit "Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting", it describes the Badlands perfectly. No TV show engages fight choreography with the same gusto as INTO THE BADLANDS. It’s been trendy for actors to get pre-premiere buzz going by saying how much they prepared for a role by training in the martial arts beforehand. However, they usually only dabble for a few months at best, then move on. For the original Badlands cast, it’s been a three-year journey of training and fighting. Each season begins with months of grueling work for the cast in what the show calls "Fight Camp."

Fight Camp

The Badlands Fight Camp is led by their Hong Kong Fight Unit, veteran choreographers Master Dee Dee Ku, Stephen Fung, and Andy Cheng, plus the show’s leading man Daniel Wu [Sunny], as well as Oakland’s own Matt Lucas, who propounds the martial-infused style of Yama Yoga. In Fight Camp, the actors and stunt people spend weeks together sharpening their martial arts skills. Several of the cast members have extensive martial arts backgrounds already, like Wu who pioneered Collegiate Wushu in America when he was at University of Oregon in the mid-nineties. This season, two of the cast newcomers have extensive martial backgrounds too: Lewis Tan [Gaius Chau] and Sherman Augustus [Nathaniel Moon]. But others are new to it so Fight Camp can be quite a wake-up call. “I honestly never picked up a sword in my life before I got on this show,” confesses wide-eyed freshman cast member Ella-Rae Smith [Nix]. “And I was handed this thing and I was, ‘What? How? Okay, I can do this.’ I used to dance a bit and I thought maybe that would be helpful but no. [laughs]”

Smith’s introduction to Fight Camp was a trial by fire. There’s nothing like being the new kid, whether it be on the set or on the martial arts floor. Smith explains. “It was overwhelming at first. I was really confused. You just kind of like get over it and get on with it. I feel like most jobs you go into are like, ‘Oh Hi! Nice to meet you.’ This is like you go in and let’s all sweat and do yoga in the morning that just bonds. Coming into this new show and everyone knowing everyone, it’s like, ‘Ooh. I’m the new one to the party,’ but like, it’s a good way of going straight in there and not having any awkwardness.”

In contrast, Ally Ioannides [Tilda] has been in the Badlands since the beginning of the show three years ago. She started as a teenager and has grown up in the role. “From the first day, like if I'd grown like a tiny bit, it would've been a huge growth because we were so fucked up that first year. Definitely,” says Ioannides. “It's actually like fun now. It's actually to the point where you can kind of think about how you look, not just getting through the actual moves. And think about what you're thinking, like how your character might be fighting. And it's become a lot more fun. Especially this year too. We're doing a lot more yoga. We have this guy called Matt Lucas who comes from a yoga background. He's really helped us like calm everything down and trying to help with longevity and stuff, which is really important. That's the thing about this show, like we have people from all over the world. Actually everyone, like our crew and our cast, are from all over the world and it's just like this amazing mash up of people. I'm meeting so many people and experiencing so many great things.”

When asked how she feels about all the training, Ioannides answers frankly in a word. “Sore.” After getting over her giggles, she continues. “No, good, yeah. The martial arts training is amazing. I train on the off season too. I love it. It's become like such a part of me. And I wish that I started it sooner. I think it's a really good thing for people to see on TV, like as a really beautiful, calm art form that is also really just powerful and amazing. And I wish I started earlier. I was a really energetic kid so parents put me in gymnastics and then dance, which I loved, and they were amazing, but martial arts would've been even better. I would've been able to express myself in a more authentic, specific way. I think it's something that they just wouldn't have thought of, because they're not martial artists. But also like because I'm a girl and that's not like a traditional ‘Oh, you can go break through wood and go kick people.’ But in hindsight, it's so helpful. Even like doing the fight sequences on the set, you can stop thinking. You're not thinking about like, 'Oh, how do I look?' or 'What am I saying?' You're kind of just like block, block, kick, block and you go into this really interesting space. It's really helpful for life and as an actor because it's the same thing when you act. You have to go into this really calm kind of zone and just let yourself go. So it's a really amazing thing to be a part of, for sure. Yeah, I would've never done it and I love it so much.”

And after three years of training, Ioannides has caught the martial bug and taken up the practice on her own time. “I train a lot of different stuff,” she says. “I train with this one woman and we do a lot of kicks. She comes from a Taekwondo background. We just do a lot of kicks and just kind of play around. We're not doing anything specific.”

 

The Fights

According to Daniel Wu, keeping the same Fight Unit is super important. In the Badlands, the Fight Unit is held in equal regards as the Drama Unit. This is really unusual because with the exceptions of those purely martial arts genre films, the Fight Unit is delegated as the Second Unit. But in the Badlands, a team of master fight choreographers oversees the action, and has been doing so for all three seasons. Wu explains. “Our Hong Kong crew, Master Dee Dee, Stephen Fung, Andy Cheng, all those guys combine together like ninety years of experience so it’s really great to have them around. And especially since, for television, we’re shooting at such a high pace, there’s really no time to really think. So a lot of it, you know, Al Gough [INTO THE BADLANDS Creator] calls it, ‘Really we’re making jazz.’ They kind of just look at the location, figure it out, get some ideas, and then on the day, we start building the fight. And it’s not storyboarded. Maybe it is in Dee Dee’s mind, but it’s not storyboarded for anyone else to see so it’s always a constant surprise on what’s going to happen, you know, even with us who are fighting in it.

“I think it’s harder for the actors who don’t have martial arts experience, but for me, I really like it that way because I don’t like to, like, over-rehearse something. It’s just like lines. If you over-rehearse the scene like a hundred times, it starts to get flatter and flatter and flatter. So same thing with fighting. If you over-rehearse it, then you start to anticipate a punch, you block too early, you do all that stuff. And there’s this kind of danger where you’re not really sure of the choreography [laughs] that that block is going to be blocking that sword or whatever, and it shows in your face. It shows in your body language, you know? I think that makes the fights more exciting – more real.”

Bereft of previous martial training, Smith has a different take on doing fight scenes. When asked how they are, she also replies in a word, “Crazy.” After her Fight Camp hazing, Fight Unit was even more overwhelming. “Like the first week, the first thing we shot, was five days on a fight scene, which looks insane. It's so cool. I've watched it and I was like, 'That can't be me. What?!'

“It's a lot easier as well. I was so scared before. I was like I basically I don't even know what I'm going to do. I can't even hold a sword properly. I'd been to Fight Camp but I was just overthinking it and putting pressure on myself to be able to be a martial artist really fast. But the way they shoot it is so broken down like anyone could do it. It's so easy. I hang with the Team. Everyone on Fight Unit is so chill. Fight Unit is a lot more relaxed. I feel like you'd think it'd be the opposite. It's good. It's nice. Definitely feel guided.” But she’s a quick learner and getting up to speed. It’s not like she has a choice. “I can flip my swords about. I've done some really dramatic flips and what not. Dean [Dean-Charles Chapman] who plays Castor, he did really cool stuff like his first fight – our fights are together; everything we do is together – but he was doing flips and stuff. He just caught the fighting bug better than I did. I'm not that good. It's fine. I'll learn. I've got time. I don't think I've done any stunts recently but Nix had a lot on her plate. She's got a lot going on.” Nevertheless, she’s starting to catch that fighting bug too. A sure indicator is her affection for her swords. “I have another blade inside and then on my back, I have these two swords. And then Dean/Castor has the exact same because we're kind of like twins. He has sort of – I call it 'tit knife' [laughs] – but they're like really gorgeous swords. Like the other day, someone gave me the real one instead of the plastic ones. I was like, 'You kidding? I feel so responsible.' They are like really beautiful.”

Another veteran of the show, a cast member who has survived since the beginning, is the ever-glamorous Orla Brady [Lydia]. However, in Season One, much to her disappointment, she didn’t fight at all. So she’s been itching for a fight. “Oh God yeah,” exclaims Brady. “You're kidding? This show is so about the fights. I mean, it is. And the thing that Daniel has always said from the first ComicCon is that it shouldn't be like porn. [laughs] It shouldn't be kind of going with the story and now we’re into the scene. It shouldn't be like that. It should be a drama that hopefully you want to follow characters even if you're there for the fights. Because if you're not interested in who's fighting and why they're fighting and how they're fighting, then it is like porn. Do you know what I mean? It's just some moves and then you're not interested, so that's up to you guys and the audience to decide whether we've achieved that, but that's what we're always trying to do; so yeah, I wanted to go in, in my own character, and be Lydia fighting, starting to fight for her life and her future and those things, you know?”

In Season Two, Lydia did get to do battle, but it wasn’t the sort of balletic expression of martial arts grace like many of the other fight scenes in the show. Hers was a visceral sanguineous scrap. “It was a pub brawl. Steak knives.” Actors don’t get to call many of their shots. That’s just not how it works, especially in a show that has such a high body count. When it comes to AMC shows, you just never know when your favorite character might meet his or her grisly end. But Brady finally gets her way in Season Three. “They promised they'd get me on to Fight Unit and they did and that was all glorious. It's not much. It's a little moment in the midst of a huge battle. There's a bigger fight and things happen in different corners of the room. But I got to work with Master Dee Dee and Stephen Fung and we did some fighting with the stunt team. That was amazing. She'll [Lydia] never be the martial artist because that's not her character to be up on wires doing stuff like our wonderful Emily [Beecham – the Widow] is. But there was a little bit of elegance to it. It was knives and a little bit of elegance and a little bit of twirling and with Ching Mai, who's our wonderful stunt double. So that was great and she gets to kill more dudes. [laughs]”

Brady is happy that Lydia finally gets to swing a sword in a meaningful way, grateful to be more integrated into that aspect of the show. “She's been a fighter,” says Brady about Lydia. “You know iconically the show is about the fights, so you want to be involved. Just as an actor, you want the experience of being involved. But it's also, if it was incorrect, even my yen to do it, I would still understand that it wasn't my thing. But it is the right thing for her. It's like she's discovered this side of herself.”

 

Fight Off

Of course, there’s always an exception, always that one person in class who doesn’t play by the rules. And who else would that be in the Badlands but Bajie, the character inspired by Journey to the West’s ultimate slacker, Pigsy. Played by the inimitable Nick Frost, Bajie joined the cast in Season Two, but Frost was too late coming to location to participate in Fight Camp for that season. “No. No. I set a precedent last year by not attending, so I didn’t think I had to go this year either,” states Frost with a dry grin. “I'm too good.”

Frost admits his approach to the fight scenes is different from the rest of the cast. He’s not as svelte as the others. He’s a big man, larger than life in many ways. So unlike the others, he just doesn’t do wire work. “I don't think they found one [a wire] big enough. I think they said for the wire thickness they'd need, it would cost them $50,000 a shot to get out. You know the cables that hold up the Golden Gate Bridge? It's that thick. I know it's kind of the fantastical but it also needs to be believable, I guess. Having me fly through the air like a moth is not. I dunno if his chi is that strong. He's like an animal, you know? He's a bear, a gorilla, and I like that. I started growling a lot this season for some reason. Whenever I go into a fight, I kinda growl a bit. I'm kind of enjoying it really. I'm like a big Wolverine. I kinda like it.”

But in all seriousness, or at least as serious as you can get with Frost, he does do a lot of his own fights. “I think I'm lucky in, before Season Two, I said I want to do as much of it as I can, obviously. But I think we should cater it in terms of what I'm capable of so he's not, you know, he's more of a wrestler and a brawler. He's got some skills but he's not Sunny. He's not M.K. [Aramis Knight], you know? …I like doing the fights, you know. It's a break from having to learn pages of rapid-fire dialog … It's part of the job. But to have six days and think all I've got to do now is fight other men, there's a release and a relief in that, you know?”

 

Fight On

The Badlands have always been a place where men and women fight on equal ground. Ioannides character Tilda and Beecham’s The Widow are not to be messed with at all. They are as lethal as ladies come, truly fearsome femme fatales. And while it took three years, Brady is delighted to have finally joined the cadre of fighters. “I was waiting and, yes, I'm happy to be in. I'm not fighting all the time, but the point is we all can fight. At any moment you can. Stuff can happen. You can get yourself out of a situation and I think that's another more integrated thing that's happened since we've moved to Ireland – that is, all the characters are involved to an extent. Do you know what I mean? In the fighting. Whereas in Season One, it was a bit – there are the fighting characters and then we were kind of just wandering around in a house, doing drama. And it wasn't as interesting, I think.”

For Ioannides, the Badlands is making a bad ass out of her. With all the Fight Camp training, the fight choreography, and her own private practice, she’s primed to start taking on other action roles in the off season. And she hopes her character Tilda inspires more people, especially young women, to pursue the martial path like she has. “Emily has a cousin who's really into martial arts now after watching her. But I haven't had anyone really, like, come up to me and talk to me about it. But I hope that people do. I hope that people think it's cool when they watch the show. Because that's what got me into it. Season 1 – walking into the training room and seeing Dee Dee and Danny and all of them do the most amazing stuff with so much effortlessness, and then be like such calm and incredible people too. And that's so inspiring to me. So I hope that people think that it's cool.”