Serhat Metin stars alongside Tom Hardy in Gareth Evans’ latest action opus Havoc. In the movie Serhat plays Cortez and he stopped by to chat about the film with us.
Your new film Havoc is out now on Netflix; what was it about the script that appealed to you?
Well, I got cast really late in the film, to be honest. I think they already fully cast everybody in the movie. And then the stunt coordinator, Jude Poyer, reached out to me and he said, “Sir, who’s your agent?” And I was like, “Amkar, what’s up?” And he said, “I’ve got a role for you in a film”. I was like, “what film?” And he said, “Havoc”. I was just like, “oh my God, I’ve been following Havoc for months before I even was told about it”. When he told me they had a role for me, I was shocked. I was very shocked. So, I didn’t audition for the role. I just got asked to do it and that was strictly because I’ve worked with Gareth and Jude on Gangs of London. I think working with them and making an impression, I think they probably just called me back and said, “yeah, get Serhat out in the film to play Cortez”. So yeah, that was that. The rest was history. Then they gave me the script. I read the character. I loved it. I loved the character but then they added a few bits for the reshoot as well, because they gave me the script in 2021 and we had the actor strikes, the writer strikes. It was after COVID. It was such a weird time as well. And it was supposed to be released in 2022, I believe. Then for some reason, we had a lot of setbacks and Gareth just said, “why don’t we do some reshoots and add to the film? Now that we’ve got this time”. And I said, “yeah, awesome”. So, they added to the script and I got to film more scenes with Tom and we done all the flashback scenes. We did all the flashback scenes when the undercover officer dies at the start of the film.
Is Tom Hardy as intimidating as he seems?
(laughs) You know what? I’ll be totally honest with you. I love Tom Hardy. Working with Tom Hardy has been a dream of mine for a very long time. And you don’t know how you feel until you’re in the presence of these people. I’ve worked with a lot of actors. I’ve worked with Tom Cruise. I’ve worked with Russell Crowe and they’re awesome. They’re great. They’ve got presence. But let me tell you something. Tom Hardy, it’s different, man. He has got like an intimidating presence, I’ll be honest. I think there was an interview with Shia LeBeouf and he was saying that when you’re working with Tom, you’re in his space and I totally understand that. I agree with him. Like, when you’re on a set with Tom, you’re pretty much in his space and I was nervous to talk to him, to be honest. When I see him on set, I was just like, oh, my God. This is someone I really admire and then when I spoke to him, I was a little bit nervous. But once you get to talk to him, he’s like a guy you’d bump into in the pub. He’s like a lad who’s talking about jiu-jitsu and boxing and just normal things and made me feel at ease. He’s a really nice guy. He’s a gentleman.
Good. So, Gareth is pretty much one of the best action movie directors in the world today. What’s he like to work with?
Gareth, man, Gareth is a visionary. He’s a perfectionist as well. Because when I’ve worked with Gareth on Gangs and on Havoc, some directors are different. Some directors, they just want you to kind of bring what you want to bring to the table as an artist and express yourself the way you want to express yourself. With Gareth, it’s like before you even do the scene, he’ll come out to you and be like, “this is what’s happening, and this is how I want you to do it”. And I’m just like, “oh, okay, well, my work’s cut out for me” and there’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I prefer it because you give the director exactly what they want. But I actually really like working with Gareth. Everything with Gareth is, I heard him on set saying, “more blood, more blood, more violence, more action” (laughs). I said to Gareth twice, actually, he kills me off in Gangs of London. He kills me off in Havoc. I’m just like, “Gareth, please, you’ve got to stop killing me off”. He said to me, “Serhat, you do it so bloody well” (laughs). And I was just like, “fair enough. Okay. Yeah, I’ll take it, I’ll take it”.
You mentioned Jude Poyer earlier; how did you work with him to create the high-octane action scenes?
Yeah, Jude was awesome, man, honestly. Like, Jude is like the type of guy, he will ask you if you can do your own stunt or if you could do this particular action in the scene. He won’t push you, he will just ask you. I like to do my own action, my fight scenes. I like to do my own stunts to an extent. If it’s extreme, like fire or wire work or anything a bit out of my depth, I will say no. But if it’s like a fall on the floor, frontal punches, guns, swords, I’m pretty much trained in that, so I’ll accept it. But actually, I’ll tell you something. On Gangs of London, when I was working with Jude, there was a stunt guy that pulls me out of the truck and throws me against the vehicle. I looked over at Gareth and Jude, and they were both scratching their heads, both scratching their heads. And I’m like, something doesn’t look right. So, I asked Jude, I said, “is there a problem?” And he said, “yeah”. I thought to myself, I kind of know what it is, let me ask. I said, “is the stunt guy being too gentle with me?” And he looked at me in shock and said, “that’s exactly it”. I said, “Jude, leave it to me, I understand, leave it to me”. I went straight up to the stunt guy and I said, “listen, my friend, grab me and fucking throw me against the truck”. And he was like, “are you sure?” I said, “dude, this is what we’re here to do. We’re here to do an action, part of an action movie. Smash me against the truck. I’m bigger than you. You’re not going to hurt me. It’s fine”. So, he said, “OK, all right, fine”. So, OK, Gareth is hyped up, Jude is hyped up, got the cameras rolling and the stunt man did exactly that. He grabbed me, smashed me against the truck. We did the take. I looked over at Gareth and Jude, and they were both smiling, nodding their heads. I was just like, “we got it. We got it”. I think it was probably that impressed them and made them remember me for the role of Cortez in Havoc. So, it’s making an impression.
Yeah, it shows the dedication.
Yeah. Yeah, of course.
Was there any training you had to undergo for this movie that you haven’t done before?
Well, I’m quite a physical person anyway. I’m coming from a boxing background. I’ve done lots of bodybuilding and martial arts. So, now that I’m into acting, I can bring that physicality into my characters. When I’m working with a stunt coordinator or a fight choreographer, they might ask me for my experience. I might show them my show reel, my action reel. And just by them seeing what I’m capable of doing, they can trust me and be like, “you know what? You got this. It’s totally fine”. I think that’s the kind of thing I have with Jude. I think he trusts me with certain things, and he knows I’m capable of doing certain things. And I’ve got some hobbies outside of acting as well. Like I like to do some horse riding. I’ve trained with the British Action Academy. I’ve done swords and shields. I’ve had firearms training, weapons training. I’ve gone to Las Vegas. I’ve shot guns out there. These are things that I really love to do. I can bring them into film just because I’ve got the experience with it as well.
Generally, how do you work with a director to shape your performance?
It really depends what type of director you’re working with. Working with Gareth, like I said before, he’s a visionary. He likes things a certain way. He will come out and just be like, “I want more of this. I want more sorrow. Give me more sorrow”. He’ll do a couple of takes of that, and then take it down a little bit. Take it down a notch or increase it. And that’s how Gareth works with you. But other directors, they just kind of let you do your thing. But Gareth’s different.
How was working with the other cast? You’ve got Sunny Pang there, and he’s just one of the coolest people in the business.
Sunny is one of the most coolest people I’ve ever met. He’s got really, really good energy. And I think the first day on set, he was one of the first people I met. The first day on set was the hospital scene where I get shot. That was my first day. I meet Sunny, and I’m not sure of everybody’s role because it’s such a big production. There’re people everywhere. Everyone’s introducing themselves, and you’re just a little bit overwhelmed. Then Sunny comes in. He’s like, “hey, how you doing?” And he was just such a nice, easy-going person to get on with. And then next thing, he’s pulling a gun at me, shooting me. And I’m like, one minute you’re such a nice guy, next minute you’re looking mean and you’re killing me. It’s like you can switch it on and off. He’s a lovely guy, really, really nice guy.
I remember I was at the premiere of Headshot a few years ago, and he was there, and Iko Uwais was there too. I met Iko, but I didn’t want to go up to Sunny, because he was standing there smoking and looking cool. And I was like, no, he’s looking cool I’d best not disturb him.
(laughs) No, he’s such a nice guy. I introduced him to my agent, and even just them having a couple of minutes chat, my agent turned around and said to me, “I fucking love this guy. He’s got such good energy”. She was really excited to meet him.
How do you prepare mentally to step into a character’s shoes before you start playing them?
Oh, it really, really depends on the role and the character. For example, when I did Gangs of London I get captured, I get tortured, and then I get killed. So, bringing on that physicality, I know I have to put myself there mentally and it’s taxing on your emotions. I remember when we filmed and we finished Gangs, I think I was depressed for about a week or two weeks after. Because I don’t know what you want to call it, but maybe method acting, I don’t know. I like to really get into the character and feel everything to bring it onto TV. So that’s what I had with Gangs. But with Havoc, it was a little bit different because we had the action sequence at the start with the police pursuit. So, that was more of excitement, chasing down the bad guys and the next thing, I’ve been hit with a washing machine and I’m in a hospital. I’m in bed. There’s not much for me to do there except just to listen to the notes and lay still and having a thing in my mouth and then react to the squibs, the exploding blood bags, which I’ve never done before. And I’ve done on this movie, which was super exciting. I’ve always wanted to do it.
I love that you used real ones rather than CG, which is great because you always notice the CG squibs, but seeing the real thing is so refreshing.
Oh, man, I much more prefer it. If you can do more stunts and more blood and more action, it looks so much better than doing a bunch of CGI, for example. The washing machine scene was really tough; I’ll be honest. It didn’t look tough because you only see it for a split second, but I was locked into my seat with the washing machine at my chest. Then the only way for me to get out is if I put the chair all the way back, open the door and kind of angle myself out while some of the guys push back the washing machine. And bear in mind, when I’m doing the stunt where I’ve got all the blood coming out of my mouth and Gareth’s like, “more blood, more blood”, I was actually choking. I was really choking because I had so much… I think it was like chocolate syrup. I think that’s what they use. Yeah, I think it’s like chocolate syrup or strawberry syrup or something. So, Gareth’s like, “massive chug before the take”. I was like, “yes, Gareth”, take down the chug. And he’s like, “action”! And he’s like, “I want you splurting that blood everywhere”. I’m like, “okay, okay”. He’s like, “more twitching, more, more blood”. As I’m doing that, the blood is getting stuck in my throat. So, once we cut the scene, I can’t breathe. And remember, I’ve got the washing machine stuck in my chest. I can’t move. Now I’m really choking. If it wasn’t for one of the makeup artists, she’d come running over and say, “are you really choking”? I couldn’t speak so I nodded. And she was like, “oh my God”. So, she brings this syringe, puts it in my mouth and starts sucking out all the excess blood. Then the guys lifted the washing machine and I come out and I was just gasping for air. And I was just like, fucking hell. For something so simple, I didn’t think it was going to be so difficult or complicated.
It’s definitely suffering for your art.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, that’s stunts for you. It’s very unpredictable.
How do you handle the long hours on set?
I don’t (laughs). Coffee. Probably coffee. Taking some rest as much as you can. So, usually you’re only needed for your scenes. Then when you’re not needed, they put you back in a holding area or your trailer. And then that’s when I just go and relax, put my feet up and just… Sometimes I meditate or I listen to sound frequencies. It relaxes me. Or I just go on social media and I just catch up with friends and family and stuff like that. It really depends, really depends on the mood. If I’m preparing for a big scene or a big role, I might tap into the character and the emotion and meditate on it before I perform.
What do you look for in a script generally for you to be interested in a project?
It’s got to be smartly written, man. I’ve had so many scripts sent in my direction and it’s like, “Serhat, we want you to do this film or we want you to be a part of this”. And I read the script and if I can’t resonate with it or it’s too cliche, I’m just like, I already know if it’s going to be a hit, if it’s going somewhere, if it’s not, if it’s worth my time and I think that that’s probably where I’m at now. Like I’ve really got to love the scripts because if I love the script, I can be passionate about my character and give it my all. And if I don’t have that from reading the script, then you’re just going to get like a half performance from me where it’s like, no. I’d rather fully invest in it and really love the script for me to perform going forward.
What are you working on next?
There’s a movie I did the year before. It’s called The Awakening and we filmed that in Pinewood Studios with Peter Stormare. Such a nice guy. My scenes were directly with him, opposite him. So, it’s a conspiracy film called The Awakening. Justin Tinto is the writer, the lead actor and producer, and the director is Matt Rutledge, I believe. So, that’s my next film coming out and just loads of auditions at the moment, just keeping really busy with the agency, with AMCA. Just auditioning at the moment.
Is there anything else you want to say about Havoc?
I would have liked to have seen Cortez a bit more involved in Havoc, just because my name gets referenced quite a lot. Very important to the story. And I think Walker, Tom Hardy mentions me quite a lot, and saying he’s my friend. I think you should go and check on him, to Ellie, to Jessie. and it would have been nice just to kind of show that relationship in the film as well. It would have been nice, but I guess we run out of time because of all the action. I mean, the action was great in the film, especially the Medusa scene, that was incredible. I guess we just run out of space. It was already one hour, 40 minutes. So, I guess that’s that, but maybe if we do like a prequel or something, I don’t know.
We’ve only just sort of scratched the surface of that world. It would be cool to see more because I was reading somewhere else they were saying it’s kind of like a Gotham City vibe…
Yeah, that’s a kind of vibe, very dark and gritty. I got that from the film as well. I would love to work with Gareth again. Maybe this time I won’t get killed off (laughs).
Yeah, try and live to see the end credits.
Let’s see, who knows, who knows.
Well, all the best with it and thanks so much for taking the time to chat. Thank you.
Thank you. Nice to meet you.
*Images used with permission from Serhat Metin.