Wu Assassins Star Byron Mann On Fighting Iko Uwais, Choosing Roles And Bad Accents: "The Days Of Cringing Are Over"

I had a friend who was actually very high up in a triad organisation in Asia. But he was a family man. He had kids, a wife, he was very loyal and friendly to his friends. So in part, I based it off of him a little bit.

Obviously, he didn’t have superpowers that I know of. Now that I think about it, part of the challenge was to portray a real character, and not a stereotypical character. Because when you do these characters, it’s very easy to fall into tropes and stereotypes. But when you really get to know some of these people, you understand that these are very magnanimous people.

They are leaders of men, they are loyal, they have principles, and they’re ruthless — they have many dimensions. They’re not moustache-twirling villains. These are real people, as everybody is! Everybody has layers, right?

Uncle Six is a very grey character.

Yes! In fact, a lot of the suits that he wore were grey-coloured (laughs).

You got to fight with Iko Uwais and Mark Dacascos – in the same scene. That’s crazy! Iko Uwais brought his team [who made The Raid with him] from Indonesia — four choreographers, all silat experts. So a lot of this style of fighting emanated from silat. It wasn’t complicated — it involved a lot of grappling, a lot of close-quarter fighting.

We didn’t have a lot of time to shoot these scenes, so I kind of picked it up, learned it, and off we went. It wasn’t a big deal. I’ve done a lot of action and martial arts before in other films and TV series, so it wasn’t hugely hard for me. It was thrilling to work with Iko. He is probably one of the foremost action martial arts actors of our generation.

I was able to pick up a few things fighting with him, his moves, and his rhythms. It was a high point for me to be able to fight with Iko Uwais on camera. It’s fantastic. Working with Mark Dacascos was a treat.I had not seen him since I filmed Crying Freeman 20-plus years ago, and this is the first time we’ve kind of seen each other and worked with each other again. It was a surprise, and anyone who’s worked with him can tell you that he’s a really nice guy. It was really fun. But those scenes were complicated, because I had to do all my fight scenes with Iko once, and then I had to do it all over again with Mark.

First of all, the woman who played the racist waitress? Her name is Gail Matthius. She is the wife of our showrunner John Wirth (laughs). So I’ve known her for a few years from Hell on Wheels. So that’s number one. Number two, she’s also a very good actress, and she was an actress before when she was younger; she did a lot of comedy.

So I watched that scene several times and I can tell you this. The scene is as good as what she makes it to be. Because if she’s not that good, the scene would not be good. She added a lot of flavour to it. For me, it’s interesting that that scene has turned out to be like a centrepiece, a talking point, a water-cooler topic.

A lot of people talked about it online, and it surprises me a little bit because when I saw it, I thought it was a little bit like, “Who wants to hear about this ancient history stuff?” That was what I thought originally. But then, since it came out, a lot of people in the US and Europe have said that they experienced the same situation. That is my experience living in America.

We just played it straight. I was just trying to educate this waitress who doesn’t know anything. I don’t think this waitress knew that she was harbouring racist views. So I don’t need to fight her or anything. I just need to educate her a little bit. That’s all I did. I didn’t do much. But it’s funny what audiences pick up when they watch it. You just never know what scenes would resonate with people. I did not think that scene would resonate with the audience.

On the show, Kai looks up to Uncle Six as a father figure. Who do you look up to when you were starting out in showbiz?

I don’t think so, to be honest. I wish I did, but I don’t think I do. I had people I looked up to, but I don’t know them. Ironically, I’ve been able to — not that I seek it out — unofficially mentor one or two other people, other actors whom I’ve only known socially. So that’s been happening.

But I don’t have a mentor or an Uncle Six kind of person that I had in showbiz. But once you’re out there working, you know enough people, and you just observe and see how the professionals do it. You see how they conduct themselves, how they conduct their business, how they act, and you get an idea of how it should be done. And I’ve worked with a lot of top-tier actors and movie stars.

On the show, you worked with many young actors, Lewis Tan, Lawrence Kao, and Celia Au. Did they come to you for advice?

[They are] fantastic. Really good. Lots of energy. These people have all become family, so it’s fantastic to work with all of them. They’re very talented. The scenes with Lawrence and Li Jun Li as [siblings Tommy and Jenny Wah] are just electrifying, in my opinion. I’m so honoured and happy to be a part of that. It’s great.

[As for them coming to me for advice], not really. I mean, not yet, at least. We’re all friends! They can manage their own careers, I’m sure. If anything, I have to ask them for advice! With social media, like how do you upload this video to Instagram? (laughs).

It’s not that hard, to be honest. You look at the script, find out who’s behind it — the director and producers — and that informs you. Usually, they all go hand in hand: the better the script, the better the director and producers. The converse is true too. So it’s not that hard. A lot of times you look at the role and the story, and you ask yourself, “Hey, do you want to be a part of this?” These days, the other thing is actually more and more about, “Am I going to have a good time?” If I’m going to be in the mountains for two years with no water supply, I don’t think I’ll have a good time, so maybe I won’t do that (laughs). A long time ago, like 10 years ago, I literally had two offers in one weekend. One was to go to Africa where there were no hotels, and the other one was to go to Toronto for a summer. I picked Toronto, and I had a great time in Toronto, so I didn’t regret that decision at all.

You’ll be returning in the final season of Arrow as Oliver Queen’s mentor Yao Fei. I read an early interview where you said you changed a bit of Yao Fei’s dialogue because you didn’t want him with an accent. Are filmmakers always open to suggestions? Was there ever a time when they ignored your input?

Most filmmakers would pay attention if an actor says something that makes sense, or improves the performance or the scene. That’s been my experience. Unless the guy is completely insecure, then there’s nothing you can do. But I would say the majority of filmmakers are open because if your work as an actor in that scene is better, then it makes him or her look better. I just want to do my job properly, and authentically portray these characters. I don’t want to portray stereotypes, right? So I just try to give them the real thing.

We had a recently-retired Hongkong policeman — his rank was station sergeant, a 30-year veteran of the Hongkong police. He helped us translate the dialogue, so the dialogue that you hear is exactly what a Hongkong policeperson would say. Strangely, it resonated across all Chinese-speaking audiences in the world. You’d see the movie and instantly recognise that this is the real thing. It’s not bad Chinese anymore, and it makes a lot of difference.

It didn’t make me cringe.

People are used to cringing! Hopefully, the days of cringing are over. You could use that as the title of this piece (laughs).

You were in Singapore a few years ago to promote Arrow.

My older brother lives in Singapore! So, I’m there every now and then. He’s been in Singapore for many years, like 15 years.

We need to keep a lookout for your next time.

I’m in heavy disguise all the time!

Wu Assassins is now streaming on Netflix. The final season of Arrow premieres Oct 16 (Warner TV, StarHub Ch 515 & Singtel TV Ch 306), 9pm.

Photos: TPG News/Click Photos, Warner TV, Netflix