Trigger Warning | Behind the Scenes - Jessica Alba's Return to Action | Netflix
Jessica Alba and director Mouly Surya break down the fight training, weapons, and stunt teams that created the epic fight sequences in the new action film Trigger Warning. Watch Trigger Warning, now playing only on Netflix.
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00:00♪♪
00:04Hello, I'm Jessica Alba.
00:05I'm Molly Sulia.
00:06We'll be breaking down the training
00:08that went into my fight scenes in Trigger Warning.
00:11♪♪
00:14First day of waking up for training.
00:16It took about two months of me just doing, like, conditioning
00:20and getting myself up to speed with the action
00:24and choreography and all of that.
00:26Every day, I would wake up going right into the gym
00:30doing my workout and then doing the choreography
00:34and just getting comfortable with doing hand-to-hand combat.
00:37It's a skill, and I just, I was a little rusty.
00:41I did like using the dagger
00:43because it was almost like another appendage.
00:45It was like an extension of me.
00:47And then the machete is just like a fun,
00:50interesting, badass weapon to use.
00:53And because it was an Indonesian machete,
00:55I actually could use it in one hand.
00:57It wasn't so heavy.
01:00We installed the idea of the knife very early on.
01:04I think pretty much day one, I was like,
01:06okay, this is real, okay.
01:09It kind of, like, evolved during script writing,
01:12and then it kind of grows
01:13into this machete fighting in the end.
01:15Well, they just threw it all at me, to be honest.
01:20The hardware store was interesting
01:22because I really got to utilize random items
01:26that were within arm's reach.
01:28It was also just like, I haven't seen that before,
01:31and so it felt very kind of inventive.
01:34And also just the texture of it.
01:36We were in a real hardware store.
01:37It smelled like bird feed and horse feed,
01:40and it was like dried corn and hay everywhere, salt licks.
01:45It was wild.
01:46Ultimately, when you see it all put together on screen,
01:49it was worth it.
01:50Rehearsal's done?
01:51Let's go.
01:52Are we really doing a movie?
01:53Let's go.
01:54When you're working a real professional team like this,
01:57it's very safe, very planned out.
02:01The trainers trained Jessica in a couple of moves
02:04that will be basically the basic,
02:07you know, like the five ballet decisions.
02:09As an analogy, it kind of, like, pretty quick.
02:12I picked it up, yeah, pretty quickly.
02:14Yeah, and she picked it up very quickly.
02:16Probably the best team in the business that I've seen,
02:20just because they really come at it.
02:22Like, they wouldn't even come to the table
02:25with even proposing a fight sequence
02:27until they had a final script that they could work from,
02:31because they build all the fight choreography
02:34from the character and the motivation of the character.
02:37The things that could go wrong, they anticipate,
02:39and they make sure that you watch out for those things.
02:44I've always loved action movies,
02:46and I would say what I was missing the most
02:50as a young woman watching action movies
02:53was I didn't see myself.
02:54In the cell, now.
02:55I feel like in this genre,
02:57you primarily have women play the damsel in distress.
03:01Sup, damsel in distress?
03:02And I was developing this as an executive producer.
03:05I was thrilled that I got to have a hand in everything
03:09from being able to bring on a female director,
03:12have a female writer to infuse some of this,
03:15these more feminine elements that I wanted Parker to have.
03:18It really is a different take
03:21on what you would normally see in the action genre,
03:24and I think it's really kick-ass.
03:28The hardest part about training was making sure that I,
03:33while I'm tired and still going about my day,
03:37staying true to where Parker is emotionally in the story,
03:41because she's at different levels and different times
03:44based off of what sequence we were shooting.
03:46And so just making sure that that emotion
03:49is still coming through,
03:51and all of the action is still being motivated
03:54by the character's emotion,
03:56and it isn't just, you know,
03:58going through a dance sequence or a choreography.
04:02And that's, it can be exhausting
04:04because it's physically taxing,
04:06but then also it can be emotionally taxing.
04:09There was one kill I did that was very satisfying
04:12in a hallway of a cave with that machete.
04:15And I love how you carry it like a yoga mat.
04:17Yeah, I carried it with like a-
04:20I have like a harness.
04:21I have a harness.
04:22Now you hate it so much
04:23because it just gets in the way of your movement.
04:26Just a little domestic terrorism.
04:28A favorite of mine is the one in the burning bar.
04:32Oh, yeah, yeah.
04:33Parker just wanted to go upstairs
04:35and save some stuff from her dad's.
04:37That was the motivation.
04:38It's something about the burning house,
04:41the burning memories.
04:42In a way, it's a bit, it's a little poetic.
04:44And I think that kind of propels her
04:46into another stage of the five, basically.
04:48Yeah, another level of rage.
04:50Yes, exactly.
04:51Another level of rage.
04:52I just love that.
04:53That they just took everything from her.
04:56See me in Trigger Warning only on Netflix.