Exclusive Interview: Randy Couture On The Scorpion King 2
By George 'El Guapo' Roush on August 12, 2008
Randy Couture has been kicking guys’ asses for years now in the world of mixed martial arts. Randy gets to take his love of action and fighting to the world of cinema when he plays Sargon in The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. In this exclusive interview, Randy talks about working on such a big action movie, his book tour, mixed martial arts, and who his next victim opponent should be.

Tell me how you got involved with 'The Scorpion King 2'?

Couture: About six or seven years ago I started to get some opportunities in acting through the athletics. But two years ago, after being involved in a few pictures I decided to get a real agent and look at it as a little more serious option. I signed with The Gersh Agency here in town and they sent me out to read for the part in 'Scorpion King 2'. I read for a small part and I ended up getting bumped up into this Sargon role, one of the lead characters in the movie. It was a lot of fun. I was surprised and happy to get bumped up.

What is your role in the movie?

Couture: I play Sargon who's the Scorpion King of this kind of time period which is a prequel to the original 'Scorpion King' with The Rock. This kind of captures his character growing up and I'm the Scorpion King of that time period.

Is it a good or bad guy role?

Couture: Bad guy role.

More fun to play?

Couture: Yeah, definitely a lot of fun.

What do you want to do with the acting? How far would you like to take it and what are your goals with it?

Couture: Well, I want to take it as far as I can take it. I think certainly the action/adventure genre I could real well in and I'm kind of settling in and finding whether or not I have some skills to pull off acting roles. I'm intrigued by the whole process. So we'll just see what happens. It's a strange and fickle business. I'll just keep plugging away and make smart decisions and approach it like I approach everything else.

How physically demanding was this role?

Couture: Well, the biggest thing was that it's long. Long twelve and thirteen and fourteen hour days. We were in South Africa with this film for five weeks shooting, six days a week. It's a grind. It's short bursts of real physical activity with choreography, the stunt coordination and all of that. The rest of it is long and slow and like a donkey ride. Long, slow and painful [laughs]. That's just the way that it is.

Does it wear on you mentally? What do you do to off set your free time?

Couture: You find ways. Fortunately, there's usually always a stunt guy standing around or someone who's interesting in fighting and we'll end up twisting each other up or just goofing off. You have a trailer you can kind of retire to and read or relax or listen to music, which were all kind of the things that I did. My wife was there with me and so she'd keep me company. It was good.

Do you have any other projects coming up?

Couture: I have another film coming out in October called 'Big Stan' which is a prison comedy with Rob Schneider. That was a lot of fun.

What do you play in that?

Couture: I play an Arian in the prison population, kind of one of the enforcers in the prison.

Did you get to mess around with Rob?

Couture: I didn't have any fight scenes with Rob, but I do have some stuff that goes on within the plot of the movie. It's pretty fun. I think that people are going to like it.

But you have scenes with Rob though?

Couture: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

What was it like working with him?

Couture: He was a blast. A lot of fun. I got to spend time with him outside of the shoot, the set and we went and saw a Chris Isaacs concert. He's friends with Chris. They grew up in the Bay Area together. I've done several things with Rob since then. We're working on a pitch for a reality show. Jim in Vegas is kind of the character for that. So we'll see.

Did you also just start a book tour?

Couture: Yes.

How is that going?

Couture: Fantastic. Simon & Schuster published the book called 'Becoming a Natural'. It's kind of about my life from start to finish, to date. It's an autobiography, obviously and is all written in the first person from my perspective on everything that I've been through. I think that like me, everyone else has had adversity in one way or another in our lives.

Was it tough putting your life down on paper and putting it out there?

Couture: Some of it was. Some of it was fun, fun to remember. Some of it wasn't so fun to remember. I hope that people like it. It's meant to be a positive piece. I think that we've all had people affect us in positive and negative ways and I think that both of those are as important and sometimes we have to realize that we're comfortable with who we are and forgive the people that affected us negatively and realize that they contributed to making us who we are.

So it's a book that's meant to help inspire people?

Couture: Hopefully, yes.

What do you say to kids or young adults interested in mixed martial arts? What advice do you give them?

Couture: I think first of all you have to get into it for the right reasons. You have to have a passion for it. It's got to be something that you really love and if you don't have that yet you need to develop that. Be a student of it. It's a very tactical type of thing and fighting in the right environment where you're allowed to flourish and at the same time be challenged with people who are going to take care of you and not get you in over your head and push you. There's a fine line there especially when you're dealing with kids. Make sure that it's all about fun. Fun and fundamentals to develop that foundation for the sport. That's what will carry you down the road because ultimately, like everything else, it becomes a job so what would you do if you're not going to make the sacrifices? You're not going to do the right things.

You go into acting.

Couture: That's more of a function of age.

Are you retired from fighting?

Couture: I'm not retired. I've been acting now for five, six, seven years now that I've been getting acting jobs and I'm taking that a little more seriously now, obviously the last two years. I just turned forty five and I realize that I can't forever, but I'm pushing for at least that one last fight. I want to fight Fedor the best guy in that division. I'd like to be considered the best guy in the heavyweight division and to do that you have to fight him.

What's the status of that? Is there conflict going on with the UFC?

Couture: Yeah. The UFC, they couldn't or wouldn't facilitate that fight. It doesn't make any sense for me to fight anyone else really at this point in my career so it puts me in a position to try and find a way to get away from them. My contract has expired, the term of my contract. My employment contract is over and I resigned from them. They're trying to keep me from doing that and don't want me to fight anywhere else, but that's the way it is.

Is it a bad relationship with them?

Couture: I don't have a bad relationship with anyone. I don't take it personally. It's business. Dana [White] is a passionate and emotional guy and he's tried to make it personal and tried to paint me out as this greedy pro athlete and all this other stuff. None of that really matters to me.

That seems to be a pattern with him and fighters that he has disagreements with.

Couture: You think? [smiles]

Who do you think the best fighters are right now in mixed martial arts?

Couture: I think its' pretty clear. Up the line it's George St. Pierre, Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko. I think I'm right up there in the heavyweight division. I'm certainly in the top two or three, but the one fight I think the fans want to see, that I want to see is Fedor.

How do you see that fight going in your head?

Couture: I haven't really broken him down yet and studied any tape on him. Until its real and I sign on the dotted line I'm not going to take that step because it's just too much energy.

But you still train?

Couture: I'm training and working with Forest [Griffin] and some of the others guys that are competing – Mike and Ron, Griffin – all those guys I've fought in the last six months and I try to be in the gym as much as I can for them. That's what I like to do. It's what's fun. If I had to break it down I probably see myself fighting my way into the clinch, tying him up and smothering him as much as possible, make him work, knock him down as many times as possible in the clinch position and establish a good solid top game and punish him as much as possible.

What makes you more nervous, fighting or getting into a character on set for a movie?

Couture: I don't really get nervous about either. Nervousness in my mind has a negative connotation to it. The things that I get to do in my life are just so cool and so much fun and those are things that I'm really excited about. So there's really no reason to be nervous. Nothing bad is going to happen in either situation. So I just relax and enjoy what I do when I get to do it and I think that perspective frees me up to just play it however it comes.

So you don't have any fears or phobias about anything?

Couture: No. I don't get too worried about anything. I'm just pretty laid back.

Is there any talk of more roles with 'Scorpion King'?

Couture: I don't know what will happen. Obviously it's an ongoing saga and a strong property with 'The Mummy' and 'The Scorpion King' and the whole thing. Whether or not Sargon comes back you'll have to watch the movie and see.

See his coiled fist? Randy kicked the shit out of me two seconds after this photo was taken.

THE SCORPION KING 2 uncovers the origins of the 2002 summer blockbuster which starred Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Mathayus, the most fearsome desert warrior of the ancient world. Reaching deep into the past, this prequel begins with the king as a 13-year-old peasant boy (Michael Copon) who witnesses the kidnapping and death of his father at the hands of the terrifying Sargon (played by towering UFC Heavyweight Randy Couture). Thirsty for vengeance, young Mathayus trains at the Order of the Black Scorpion to sharpen his skills as a killing machine, then journeys to the underworld to retrieve the one sword that can help him defeat Sargon. When the burgeoning Scorpion King finally comes to blows with his murderous rival, the fate of the entire human race hangs in the balance.

blu-raydvdsking2

The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray August 19th.

Choke hold techniques can be sent to: george@latinoreview.com


Source: Latinoreview
Comments
More Rehash
Commented By: Seymour Clearly on 2008-08-12 15:14:07
How much more can they milk this Scorpion king crap? It was OK for the Mummy 2 but how much can you stretch it. The first Scorpion King was crap and this seems like a total ripoff of Conan. Lame!!!
randy is aweseom
Commented By: !_! on 2008-08-12 15:44:36
its good to see randy getting into acting. i love the mummy and especially the scorpion king. i hope this turns out real well. hey george did he teach you any moves? lol as for anderson silva hell yeah he his dam good fighter.