Interview: Scott Adkins Talks Take Cover, Action Movies, and Our Never-Ending Batman Pleas

Despite multiple requests to the editor in chief, the site’s name hasn’t changed from Fortress of Solitude to Fortress of Scott Adkins. Nonetheless, there’s no escaping the fact that we’re big fans of Adkins Action here, and enjoy watching the British action star knock the snot out of bad guys – whether it be as Yuri Boyka in Undisputed or Killa Harkan in John Wick: Chapter 4. 

Adkins’ latest role sees him play sniper Sam Lorde in the action-thriller Take Cover. We reviewed the film and found it hits the target, knowing exactly what it wants to be and not pretending to be the second coming of Taxi Driver. Of course, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk to Adkins about the movie, as well as to briefly talk about Batman, since we have been pushing for him to be the Dark Knight for about a decade now. By the way, James Gunn, if you’re reading this – do the right thing and cast Adkins as Batman. You can thank us later. 

Fortress of Solitude: First of all, congratulations on Take Cover. I watched it and I reviewed it, and I thought it was a great action movie. I did a bit of research regarding you and director Nick McKinless, who comes from a stunt background. I took a look at IMDb – so we’re going to find out how accurate IMDb actually is – and it says you both worked on Grimsby and The Bourne Ultimatum. Is this accurate?

Scott Adkins: Well, probably, but I don’t remember meeting Nick on that. I don’t know if I met him on The Bourne Ultimatum. I can’t remember. It was so long ago. But we just became friends before Grimsby and stayed friends after it. I don’t actually remember seeing him on the set, but I’m sure he worked on it.

What was it about this, and knowing Nick’s background, that made you want to jump into Take Cover?

I found the script sent to me by Joshua Todd James, and I very much enjoyed it. I thought that I can do a good film with this. And I didn’t know that Nick had actually previously read the script. Then when we were looking for a director, we started chatting about it and he told me, “No, no, I love that script,” and he was trying to develop it at one point. And so it’s like, okay, well, he’s seen what I’m seeing here with this.

And Nick is from the stunt world, so we got the action covered. But what we liked about Nick was his approach to the script. He really got it from a different sort of standpoint. He was very interested in the drama and the emotional stakes and the theme of faith and things like that. So he’s looking at it a little bit deeper than the directors that we were talking to. He seemed like the right man for the job, and I’m glad he did it.

Your co-star Jack Parr. Great chemistry in the movie. I find the two characters – the sniper [Sam] and the spotter [Ken] and just as friends – really good. If I’m not mistaken, you and Jack also worked on One Shot. Am I correct?

Yeah, I worked with him on One Shot. We got on great. He’s a great lad. And when we’re thinking about who could play Ken, suddenly I just thought, “Well, Jack could be great for this.” But I was a bit worried, because he’s so much younger than me. He must be at least 15 years younger, so that was the only question mark. But I think when you watch the film, it doesn’t really register. He’s a great actor. He’s upcoming [and set to be a] big star – he will be. He’s great in the film, and he’s a great lad. I love working with him.

Do you find it easier to actually work with people who you have worked with before – in terms of building chemistry – or is it much of a muchness for you?

If you have got a good relationship with someone, it does help, because you don’t know what the relationship is going to be until you have done it. If you have [worked together] in the past, and it was good, then you can move forward without having to go through all the ceremonial getting to know each other stuff. You can just get straight into it. So I do work with a lot of the same people again. If it’s been a good experience, I tend to go back to directors and actors and want to work together again.

Another element I love in Take Cover is the humor. It reminded me a little bit of the ’90s Van Damme movies where something is said, you do a little bit of a double take, then crack a smile. One of my favorite parts is when Sam actually asks Mona what Lily said after she spoke in a foreign language. Mona replies: “She’s so scared she forgot how to speak English.” 

[Laughs].

Are there any moments that cracked you up as well, when you read the script, or even maybe on set, perhaps something that caught you off guard?

It’s just the juvenile humor, which I’m a sucker for. To be honest, I’m very immature. So, yeah, that bit in the lift. I like that scene in the lift. It’s just completely absurd, but funny, and we have quite a few moments like that. Yeah, I’m trying to think of anything else. If it comes back to me, I’ll say.

I like to think of Take Cover as a confined version of The Raid, since the bulk of the movie takes place in a hotel room versus an entire building. Now, from an acting perspective –  especially for someone like you who comes from the action movie background where movies take place across multiple locations, big stage pieces, and jumping across contents – how did you find being confined to effectively a singular room for the bulk of the movie?

Well, it’s interesting, because you have got to try and space out the action. When we first got the script, it was about trying to separate some action beats, because you don’t want to blow your load all at the beginning, and then it’s all a load of talking. You want to try and hold off. You’re just trying to entertain the audience consistently, to keep them in it, to keep them guessing, and just to keep them entertained. Whether it’s a little bit of juvenile humor, some drama, or another action beat… Whether it’s a fight scene, the gun stuff, or at the end, where we go crazy and just blow the hell out of it… To try and space everything out and make it interesting in that way. 

But this film was difficult because you write the script and [the set] is in your head and then you have got to build the set, and so much of how the script takes place is dictated by the makeup of the set. We didn’t know exactly where everything was going to be in the set until the day of shooting, so that was difficult. We had to change some things in the script to make it work. It’s never easy, but yeah, it was kind of tricky.

In the film, there are snipers and goons rushing into the hotel room. From a logical fight perspective, your character, Sam, needs to avoid the line of sight of the snipers and also put down all the people coming into the room – fast. Now, what type of considerations went into the fight scenes in terms of positioning? What sort of discussions did you have with Nick and the others in terms of where exactly the action is going to be set? And keeping in mind that, okay, we can’t stand in front of the window for too long.

Well, that was one of the things that we encountered on the set, which didn’t go as planned. [Laughs]. So, it was difficult, but I’ll leave it at that. [Laughs]. Yeah, you noticed some of the same things I noticed, mate, but we were dealt our hand, and we had to deal with it. The curtains were supposed to close, so that, here, you’re in cover, and, here, you’re in cover, and, here – which is the only way you can get out – you’re open. But we ended up with three curtains that each opened, leaving less cover. So, yeah, I wasn’t too happy about it, mate, but there you go. We had to deal with what we had to deal with.

We’re not getting into too many spoilers, especially for those who haven’t watched the movie yet and want to check it out. Alice Eve’s character, Tam, plays more off an off-screen camera role for the majority of the film. I’m going to presume she wasn’t on the same set and likely on a different schedule. What was this like for you, as a performer, to navigate having to act with someone who’s not there?

It’s difficult because most of the time you have got the first assistant director reading the script, like [makes mumbling noises] and making mistakes. [Laughs]. And you’re there trying to be all passionate and emotional. If we could have had Alice off the set reading the script, that would have been amazing. But she wasn’t available at that time because she’s very busy. I’ve worked with Alice before on another movie [Criminal]. She’s great, but I only have, well, I don’t even have one scene – physically – with her, but she’s fantastic. We’re very lucky to have her. She’s great in the movie. 

But, yeah, I wasn’t there for her off camera either, because I was on the second unit doing all the stunt stuff while she was shooting her stuff. So, yeah, that’s normal, though. That’s the way it is with filmmaking. If you have got a massive budget, and you can have the actor on the set, great, but we don’t always have that.

Take Cover ends in a pretty satisfactory fashion and wraps up all the loose ends. At the same time, there’s always the possibility of Sam returning. How do you view this? Is Sam truly retired from the killing game once and for all, or do you think there’s more to explore here in terms of his story?

No, I think he’s done. [Laughs]. He’s had a revelation. He’s going to be more selfless. He’s probably going to try and make amends for the things that he’s done, because he thought he was the good guy, but it turned out that maybe he was a bad guy. And I think that the whole crisis that he has, as we see in the movie, he’s now going to just try and do the right thing.

Scott, thank you so much for your time, here’s my final question for you. You have Skyline: Warpath coming up in 2025. What else can you tell us is on the cards for Scott Adkins? Any chance of a superhero role perhaps? I hear DC might be looking for a Batman…

Yeah, you guys love me for the Batman role at Fortress of Solitude. Yes, I have seen it and thank you. [Laughs]. Wow, listen, no. I’m gonna say nothing. I’m giving you no clickbait. I’m happy doing my movies. That’s the thing about acting. You never know what’s around the corner. You never know what’s gonna happen, so you just keep doing your job. Do the best with the  jobs that you get offered, and, you know, who knows? Just keep trying to do a good job is my plan.

Directed by Nick McKinless, Take Cover stars Scott Adkins, Alice Eve, and Jack Parr.