There is no shortage of reasons to fall in love with HBO Max’s “Warrior.” The series – which is based on the writings of Bruce Lee and explores the wave of racism and gang violence in 1800s San Francisco that preceded the Chinese Exclusion Act – is the best kind of historical parable, a story that revisits real events through a combination of narrative and spectacle. And the second season, which premiered late in 2020, is a thrilling example of cast and creators rising to the moment, offering standout prestige television when audiences are starving for Asian-American representation onscreen.
But for all the essential historiography that “Warrior” brings to the small screen, the show deserves even more praise for its ability to turn choreography into character. “Warrior” delivers an astonishing array of fight scenes, scenes that drive character development in a way we seldom see in even the most expensive Hollywood blockbusters. To understand how, we need to talk to Andrew Koji and Brett Chan, the actor and stunt coordinator who bring the central character of Ah Sahm – the cynical enforcer at the heart of the show – so expertly to life.
For Chan, crafting a martial arts icon begins with understanding the physicality of his actors. “I try and get the basis of the characters through the story first,” Chan says. “I’ll get all the scripts and start reading them.” Then, Chan begins the process of adapting his vision for the show – in the case of Ah Sahm in “Warrior’s” first season, an expansion of the “hybridization of movement” that defined Bruce Lee’s career – and start adapting the choreography to the physical strengths and weaknesses of the characters. Then begins the process of bringing together movement and emotion with the actor while carving out the space they need to find their performance.
By the second season, the cast of “Warrior” knew what to expect from the show’s meticulous fight choreography. But the process of merging character and choreography can be complicated in the best of times, especially so for inexperienced actors. “A lot of actors who are learning action for the first time, they’re still thinking about the beats,” Koji explains. “They’re not thinking about the extra psychological element.” It is an observation Koji has carried with him into other projects, where veteran action performers can move through the choreography to the psychology faster than their less experienced counterparts. “You can kind of feel the difference,” he says.
And rehearsals on a show like “Warrior” are something of a double-edged sword. While they present the cast an opportunity to spend more time with their characters than they might on a less action-oriented show – Koji is a self-described “overthinker” and appreciates any opportunity to explore his character – this should not be confused with downtime. “That last block, we were shooting episodes 7, 8, 9, 10, all at the same time,” Chan explains. “So Andrew’s learning two nunchuck fights, the street fight, the rush, and the Dean fight, all at the same time.”
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For Chan, the magic happens when an actor takes ownership of the movements. Once a fight begins to take shape, Chan watches to see where an actor might be getting stuck between hitting their mark and their performance. These are opportunities for an actor to make suggestions regarding fight choreography, allowing them to reinsert their ideas back into a process that – until now – has been chiefly them mimicking the steps they are shown. “Once they have that creative approach in there, they emulate it, and then they put their character into it,” Chan says. “And then it becomes a whole new fight.”
Ask Koji, though, and the moment of confluence between choreography and character may hold out until the last possible second. “That can be on the actual day,” he admits. The actor compares it to the theater: you rehearse and rehearse and rehearse in the days leading up to the performance, but there is something special about knowing that this is the version that will play before a live audience. “That magic moment happens when action is really happening, and you might screw it up.”
Koji credits his ability to flip that switch to his “pilot brain,” the small piece of himself that remains aware of his surroundings even as he gives himself over to the stunts. “I guarantee you even Daniel Day-Lewis has got the pilot brain at the back of his head that will remind him at the end of the day that he’s got a wife, kids, and he’s got something to go back to after this job,” Koji explains. “So while Andrew might be in a fight with this person, I’ve got to look out for this stunt guy, ’cause I know he’s got a dodgy knee.” But when all of these things line up – muscle memory and pilot brain and character – that’s when the spark can strike for an actor.
And throughout the season, Koji and Chan will turn these individual fights into a progressive story. Ah Sham learns hard lessons about his weaknesses as a fighter, culminating in the brutal beating he takes at the hands of rival Joe Taslim’s Li Yong midway through the first season. When we meet Ah Sahm again in Season 2, he is obsessed with honing his style, fighting his way through a series of underground arenas to identify his weaknesses. His progress culminates in a much-anticipated showdown with Dean Jagger’s Irish mob boss, but each fight throughout the season is a crucial piece of the puzzle. How Ah Sahm progresses as a fighter over time is just as critical to his evolution as his relationships with the people around him.
For Koji, the evolution of Ah Sahm has always been a nice piece of art imitating life. In the early episodes of Season 1, Koji exchanged experience for enthusiasm, especially when paired against a martial arts veteran like Taslim. “I had to overcompensate with my belief,” he says. “’ I fucking got this, I got this, I got this. Joe Taslim, I’ll take you on.’” That relationship with Taslim – and Taslim’s character – is a defining characteristic of the show, especially in a second season where unlikely alliances are formed between the two rivals. “Ideally, I’d want Ah Sahm to gradually become more like his own version of Li Yong,” Koji explains. “More controlled, more calm with his movements.”
And with Season 3 of “Warrior” greenlit and “Snake Eyes” – where Koji stars alongside actor Henry Golding – heading to theaters this summer, Koji is candid about his newfound status as an action icon. “I think it’s saved my life,” he says simply. While Koji thought for years that acting and action represented two different career paths for him as a performer, the discipline he developed to play Ah Sahm marked a significant turning point for him as a person. “‘Warrior’ and the fitness thing helped me change my life,” he explains, “and training helped me focus my mind as an actor as well. I think it’s all part of the same thing. It’s not as separate as I once thought.”
