“Affinity” – Interview with Marko Zaror

The advances of A.I. are all over the news these days, with a quick scroll down anyone’s social media feed showing countless articles and editorials about the potential future roles of A.I., both good and bad. Of course, in the realm of sci-fi movies, A.I. goes back all the way to “The Terminator” in being a staple of futuristic tales of technology that comes to approximate human emotion and personality. The latest sci-fi movie to tackle that topic also brings a much welcome abundance of martial arts action into the mix, that being Brandon Slagle’s “Affinity”, anchored by Chile’s martial arts movie king Marko Zaror in his first leading role in an English-language movie.

In “Affinity”, former Navy SEAL Bruno is a man afflicted with horrendous PTSD from his experiences in combat, until he rescues and falls in love with a mysterious woman named Athena (Jane Mirro). However, after Jane is kidnapped, Bruno embarks on a mission to rescue her with the help of his friends Joe (Louis Mandylor) and Fitch (Brooke Ence), while gradually coming to discover that Athena’s past is something he never could have expected.

Today, KFK speaks with Marko about the making of “Affinity”, Marko’s role in shaping the story and the action of the movie, and some of the themes that “Affinity” carries in its action-packed sci-fi tale!

Hi Marko, welcome back to Kung Fu Kingdom. Great to speak to you again, and hope you’re doing well today!

Hi Brad, I’m doing great!

Awesome! Well, let’s go ahead and dive right into the making of “Affinity and how the movie came about for you?

Well, this movie started a long time ago when I had this question that motivated me to write a script. I started my career from Chile co-creating and developing stories with my friend Ernesto Diaz Espinoza like “Kiltro”, “Mirageman”, and “Mandrill”, so the movie “Affinity” started from the idea of “Okay, we’re cloning, we’re creating A.I. and things that look human, but are we going to be able to replicate or recreate the human emotion of affinity that is created between two human beings?” So that question was a big motivation to make this movie, and how I can present this question to the audience through a cool action movie, and that’s how we started putting the movie and the story together.

How long was the development process for “Affinity”, and what were some of the challenges of making the movie?

It was six years, more or less, and I wrote a big part of the script myself with different writers, and at one point, we were close to doing the movie, then it got cancelled. Then years pass and COVID happens, and then “John Wick: Chapter 4” happens, and then after John Wick, it was like “Okay, let’s do this movie!”, so yeah, it was a really long process.

Speaking of “John Wick: Chapter 4”, did that really move the needle in helping realize “Affinity”?

Yeah, definitely, “John Wick: Chapter 4” was definitely a big turning point in my career.

So, what were some of the biggest challenges during the making of “Affinity”?

The challenge really was to stay honest with the script and with the story, especially considering budget and locations and all of that. First, of course, finding the right cast, and it was very hard to cast the character of Athena, for example. It was a very particular casting decision because it we needed to have a girl who the audience can fall in love with, but at the same time, but who also has a little mystery there or they audience might be a little afraid of and having this feeling like there’s something off about her, so we needed her to be very unique. Also, what I wanted was for the people watching the movie, it would be exactly from Bruno’s perspective, and that is very limited in how you are telling the story. So, how you make that and stay consistent to that at the same time, make an entertaining movie, so those are the challenges, and of course, the time and it was very ambitious with the action. A lot of the action sequences require a lot of time and preparation, and when you have a limited schedule, all that is very challenging.

“Affinity” has a sci-fi theme to it alongside the martial arts action. What big goals did you have in making “Affinity” as a sci-fi movie?

Well, the sci-fi side, I wanted to keep it very grounded, and present the question and the story as something that could happen. I didn’t want to make where everything is far from reality, so the choreography, the story, everything needed to be grounded and to be very human and emotional and to have that questions of “Are we going to be able to tell the difference between humans and robots in a few years?” and “Are we gong to be able to create emotions?” and “Are we going to be able to replicate affinity between human beings?”, so to do that, I took the path of making a movie that is grounded, especially with the fighting and the action.

So, what can you share about the experience of working with Brooke Ence, who plays Bruno’s ally Fitch in “Affinity”?

Yeah, Brooke is amazing, she’s very athletic, and she was able to pick up the fight choreography very well. It was also very important to develop that emotional connection and friendship between Louis [Mandylor], Brooke, and me, and show the humanity. The movie is about humanity and about relationships, and presenting the question at the end of the movie of “Are we going to be able to replicate this with technology and science?”

You also have multiple phenomenal fight scenes with the outstanding Brahim Chab in “Affinity”. What can you share about the experience of working with on your fight scenes in the movie?

Yeah, we’ve worked together before a couple of times, in India on “Sultan” with Salman Khan and on “Fight or Flight”, where Brahim was the fight coordinator, and we became good friends. We were lucky to have Brahim around when we were shooting “Affinity”, he did an amazing job in his role, and of course, fighting with him was a luxury. We were able to push it and take it to the next level on a lot of things that wouldn’t have been possible if he was not the villain. We would have shot our fights totally different if I didn’t have a level martial artist like Brahim.

Yes, Brahim is definitely a consummate martial artist! So, what would you say are your favourite action sequence in the making of “Affinity”?

Of course, the whole finale! It has a lot of elements and high level of difficulty in the choreography with a stunt team of multiple opponents, and then the main big final duel with Brahim. That was my favourite, and the toughest one to accomplish.

Were there any big injuries or mishaps?

Nothing major! (laughs)

That’s fortunate! So, with “Affinity” being a sci-fi oriented martial arts action movie, are there any other sci-fi-themed projects you’d like to tackle in the future?

Yeah, of course, I’m open to whatever, and it just depends on the project. I like the genre, of course, it’s cool because your imagination can fly with it, there’s no limit, but I like to keep it grounded all the time, too, so I like that mix where you present that as a reality rather than something that is so far in the future. I like that connection with the real world.

That definitely sounds cool! Well, as we prepare to sign off Marko, “Affinity” also made its premiere at 2025’s third annual Big Bad Film Fest. What was it like seeing “Affinity” showcased at a film festival devoted to action movies?

That’s amazing, man, it’s amazing, because when you’re doing a movie, you’re always thinking about it being seen in a theater and about the experience, so all the work we did, from the sound design and the music, it’s done with the idea of a theater to create that experience for the audience. Sometimes, these movies don’t get the chance to be seen in a theater, so you’re never going to get that full experience when you watch it at home, so I’m very happy that festivals like this exist, because it gives the opportunity for this genre of films or action and martial arts movies where you can experience the full movie on the big screen, so it’s great, man, and I’m so happy that “Affinity” was show at Big Bad Film Fest.

Yes, it’s definitely great to see action movies have an entire film festival devoted to showcasing them like Big Bad Film Fest, so glad that “Affinity” was able to premiere there! Thank you so much for the pleasure of our interview today, Marko. Congratulations on the reception of “Affinity”, and we look forward to seeing all of your action-packed projects in the future!

Thank you, and great to speak Kung Fu Kingdom once again, Brad!

“Affinity” is now available on VOD and Blu-ray from Well Go USA.

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