Iko Uwais: Our Next Action Star
JP/Triwik Kurniasari
The local film industry used to have Ratno Timoer, Dicky Zulkarnaen, Barry Prima and Advent Bangun who were familiar among moviegoers as action movie heroes. Now, movie lovers are ready to greet Iko Uwais, an action star on the rise.
A new face on the local film scene, the 28-year-old is ready to carve his name in the action movie genre.
Some of you may not be familiar with his name. Take a look at his filmography and you will only find a single action film titled Merantau under his belt, plus an upcoming movie, which is due to be released early next year.
Everything happens for a reason. If Iko had never got in touch with pencak silat (traditional Indonesia martial art), he would have never have acted in action flick Merantau, directed by British filmmaker Gareth Huw Evans.
The film, in which he plays with senior actors such as Christine Hakim, Donny Alamsyah and Alex Abbad, has brought Iko from a nobody to a somebody.
Iko made his acting debut by starring as Yuda, a young man from rural West Sumatra who is about to leave his hometown or merantau. It is a traditional rite in which young men leave their home towns to a big city in a bid to experience new things and then return home to enrich the local community with their new skills and ideas.
The energetic and optimistic Yuda, who masters silat harimau (tiger-inspired martial arts practiced in West Sumatra), finally learns how harsh the big city can be as he is unexpectedly drawn into a series of serious problems, which include bloody fights.
It turns out that Iko was picked to play in Merantau due to his formidable martial art skills.
Born in Jakarta on Feb. 12, 1983, the man whose real name is Uwais Qorny was raised in a martial art culture as his grandfather was a reputable master at the Silat Tiga Berantai school in the capital.
Iko found his passion in pencak silat when he was in fifth grade in 1993 and was champion of the 2005 National Jamboree in Jakarta.
His skills caught Gareth Evans’ attention during the production of the documentary Land of the Moving
Shadows, which captures pencak silat around Sumatra and Java.
During the filming process, Iko showed impressive fighting abilities yet a natural screen performance, a good combination that could turn him into a potential action star.
“Gareth visited pencak silat schools including the Silat Tiga Berantai. He later asked me to play in his action film. I was surprised because I had no experience in acting,” says Iko.
“He helped me a lot in developing my acting skills. Prior to filming Merantau, I joined acting courses for two months under the coaching of Bang Eka Sitorus [a prominent acting coach].”
The release of Merantau, produced by Merantau Films, is aimed at bringing back the glory of Indonesia’s martial arts and modern action movies, which have been dormant over the last two decades.
Moviegoers certainly remember Si Pitung (the Robin Hood of Betawi), played by Dicky Zulkarnaen, or Si Buta dari Gua Hantu (the Blind Man from the Ghost Cave) with Ratno Timoer as the lead, which depicts the power and beauty of pencak silat.
The success of the films was followed by colossal films such as Tutur Tinular or Babad Tanah Leluhur, and modern action movies that starred martial arts actor Barry Prima and Advent Bangun.
Now, Iko is one of a few local actors who wants to head on the same path as the aforementioned actors. “Silat is of Indonesian tradition. I really hope Merantau will drive people to love pencak silat. Who will preserve this tradition? Nobody but us,” Iko said.
After the Merantau project, Iko teams up again with Evans to shoot another action film titled Serbuan Maut (The Raid), which began filming in mid-March this year.
Different from Merantau, Serbuan Maut tells the story of a swat team that aims at raiding an isolated building to arrest a notorious drug lord.
A new face on the local film scene, the 28-year-old is ready to carve his name in the action movie genre.
Some of you may not be familiar with his name. Take a look at his filmography and you will only find a single action film titled Merantau under his belt, plus an upcoming movie, which is due to be released early next year.
Everything happens for a reason. If Iko had never got in touch with pencak silat (traditional Indonesia martial art), he would have never have acted in action flick Merantau, directed by British filmmaker Gareth Huw Evans.
The film, in which he plays with senior actors such as Christine Hakim, Donny Alamsyah and Alex Abbad, has brought Iko from a nobody to a somebody.
Iko made his acting debut by starring as Yuda, a young man from rural West Sumatra who is about to leave his hometown or merantau. It is a traditional rite in which young men leave their home towns to a big city in a bid to experience new things and then return home to enrich the local community with their new skills and ideas.
The energetic and optimistic Yuda, who masters silat harimau (tiger-inspired martial arts practiced in West Sumatra), finally learns how harsh the big city can be as he is unexpectedly drawn into a series of serious problems, which include bloody fights.
It turns out that Iko was picked to play in Merantau due to his formidable martial art skills.
Born in Jakarta on Feb. 12, 1983, the man whose real name is Uwais Qorny was raised in a martial art culture as his grandfather was a reputable master at the Silat Tiga Berantai school in the capital.
Iko found his passion in pencak silat when he was in fifth grade in 1993 and was champion of the 2005 National Jamboree in Jakarta.
His skills caught Gareth Evans’ attention during the production of the documentary Land of the Moving
Shadows, which captures pencak silat around Sumatra and Java.
During the filming process, Iko showed impressive fighting abilities yet a natural screen performance, a good combination that could turn him into a potential action star.
“Gareth visited pencak silat schools including the Silat Tiga Berantai. He later asked me to play in his action film. I was surprised because I had no experience in acting,” says Iko.
“He helped me a lot in developing my acting skills. Prior to filming Merantau, I joined acting courses for two months under the coaching of Bang Eka Sitorus [a prominent acting coach].”
The release of Merantau, produced by Merantau Films, is aimed at bringing back the glory of Indonesia’s martial arts and modern action movies, which have been dormant over the last two decades.
Moviegoers certainly remember Si Pitung (the Robin Hood of Betawi), played by Dicky Zulkarnaen, or Si Buta dari Gua Hantu (the Blind Man from the Ghost Cave) with Ratno Timoer as the lead, which depicts the power and beauty of pencak silat.
The success of the films was followed by colossal films such as Tutur Tinular or Babad Tanah Leluhur, and modern action movies that starred martial arts actor Barry Prima and Advent Bangun.
Now, Iko is one of a few local actors who wants to head on the same path as the aforementioned actors. “Silat is of Indonesian tradition. I really hope Merantau will drive people to love pencak silat. Who will preserve this tradition? Nobody but us,” Iko said.
After the Merantau project, Iko teams up again with Evans to shoot another action film titled Serbuan Maut (The Raid), which began filming in mid-March this year.
Different from Merantau, Serbuan Maut tells the story of a swat team that aims at raiding an isolated building to arrest a notorious drug lord.
The team is stuck inside a building with criminals all around them and the team must fight its way through every floor and room not just to complete their mission, but to survive.
Here, Iko plays a rookie in a police squad and is surrounded by a bunch of actors such as Ray Sahetapy, Pierre Bruno, Donny Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian and Ananda George.
“While Merantau focuses on pencak silat, Serbuan Maut is more universal, meaning that it does not only feature martial arts, but also other combat abilities like firing guns and using sharp weapons,” Iko said.
“For me, the latest film is more difficult and aggressive than the first. This is a full-action, full-body contact kind of film. It’s a combination of martial arts and weaponry abilities.”
Before filming started, Iko and other actors went through a military-style boot camp under the supervision of the Indonesian Amphibious Forces Command (Kopaska) in North Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok where they were trained as if they were a real swat team.
The training includes physical exercise, marching, weapons training and learning strategies on how to raid a building to capture criminals.
“We were woken up early in the morning with the shooting of guns. It was really shocking because we had never heard of the sound of guns at a close range like that,” Iko said.
The actors, he adds, have to be prepared to undergo high-impact physical exercise. Those who failed to follow orders received punishment.
“Those were really hard days, testing our physical and mental strength. I, however, never thought to give up. It turned out the boot camp had brought us actors closer together than ever,” he says.
In the meantime, as an action actor, Iko has to take all the risks of getting injured during production.
He recalled how he injured his knee during the casting process. “I still felt the pain when I was at boot camp. That’s why I could jump well. But now, I have already fully recovered from the injury,” says Iko, who creates a number of fighting scenes alongside Gareth Evans and Yayan Ruhian.
Merantau is said to revive the glory of pencak silat and at the same time is expected to help Iko to stardom and eventually become a new action hero icon, just like Barry Prima, a prominent action star of the 1980s.
Iko’s reaction to this? “Wow, it still seems like I’m far from being able to replace these prominent actors. They are legendary,” he said.
“Compared to them, I’m still a junior. Now, I’m just going through the things that are in front of me. I just let it flow. I surely hope that I’m still trusted to be an action actor under Merantau Films.”
After his appearance in Merantau, Iko admits he was once offered to play in some non-action movies including drama pieces.
He, however, turned down the offers, saying that he wanted to focus on the action genre at this time.
“I feel like I still need to learn more about acting. I’m still very nervous about doing drama scenes. It takes good skills to do drama,” he says.
“To be honest, I’m more confident in fighting scenes because I’m basically an athlete and a choreographer.
And when asked about his hopes and dreams, Iko replied, “I want to make my parents happy.”
