Timo Tjahjanto has made a literal career out of blowing the expectations of action fans out of the water. After co-directing 2017’s Headshot” with Kimo Stamboel and solo directing 2018’s “The Night Comes For Us”, Timo has helped solidify Indonesian martial arts action films as a genre unto itself, and proven himself one of the greatest action movie directors of all time in the process – a distinction Timo cemented in his 2024 Netflix martial arts actioner “The Shadow Strays”, with much help from Muhammad Irfan as the movie’s fight choreographer and stunt coordinator.
In “The Shadow Strays”, Aurora Ribero portrays a 17-year old girl known only as 13, who is part of a secretive team of assassins known the world over as the “Shadows”. Following a botched mission, 13 is placed on suspension, and begins to experience a life outside of killing when she befriends a young orphaned boy named Monji (Ali Fikry). When Monji is kidnapped, 13 must use her assassin skills to rescue him, and her rogue unsanctioned mission sets up a showdown between 13 and her fellow Shadows, including her mentor Umbra (Hana Malasan).
Today, Muhammad Irfan sits down with KFK to discuss the making of “The Shadow Strays”, working with a master of action filmmaking like Timo Tjahjanto, training Aurora Ribero for the movie, along with a look back on Muhammad’s past work on such action classics as “The Raid: Redemption” “The Raid 2”, and “Beyond Skyline”!
(Special thanks to Bobby Rahardjo and Mario Patrick, who served as Indonesian-to-English interpreters for this interview.)
Hi Muhammad, hope you’re having a great day, and welcome to Kung Fu Kingdom. Had you previously heard of us before?
Yes, I actually heard about Kung Fu Kingdom when Joe Taslim got his shirt from the site!
Awesome Muhammad! Well, let’s go ahead and dive in with how you first got started as a stunt performer and fight choreographer?
Well, I previously had studied Pencak Silat, and I followed the castings of a lot of action movies being made in Indonesia. My first movie as a stunt performer was “The Raid: Redemption”, and that led me to earn a lot more trust in doing stunts and fight scenes on later movies.
And speaking of “The Raid”, what can you share about the making of two beloved action classics in “The Raid” and “The Raid 2” with director Gareth Evans, Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, and Joe Taslim?
I was really honored to be a part of “The Raid”, and I learned a lot about making movies from that experience.
With “The Raid 2” had more complex fight scenes. It was my last time working with Gareth Evans, and I’d love to work with him again. Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian were both Pencak Silat athletes, so I got to learn quite a lot of the techniques of getting hit and having the effects of blood here and there, and those were really memorably experiences from the making of “The Raid” and “The Raid 2”.
You later re-teamed with Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian for director Liam O’Donnell‘s “Beyond Skyline”. What stories can you share about the making of this sci-fi martial arts alien invasion cult classic?
Well, obviously “Beyond Skyline” was quite different from the previous movies I had worked on. In the movie itself, when I had to do fight scenes with the aliens, it involved quite a lot of CGI, and it was my first experience making a movie with a lot of CGI.
You previously worked with director Timo Tjahjanto on such action hits as “Headshot” and “The Night Comes for Us”. What stories can you share about the making of these Indonesian action hits?
Well, I knew Timo way before we made “Headshot”, so I knew he was a unique kind of filmmaker. Working with him was a very pleasant experience, and I learned quite a lot on making “Headshot” and “The Night Comes For Us”, as well. In those two movies, Iko and Yayan were both a part of them, and both of them were already Silat experts, so it was really beautiful to see their fight scenes come together. The preparation for both movies were quite long, which was one of the challenges parts of making them from my standpoint.
How did that extended prep process impact the making of “Headshot” and “The Night Comes For Us”?
Well, the preparation is quite complex. Before shooting, all the stunt choreographers and performers, we have to go through the script and understand each scene, so we can design the fight choreography beforehand, and also shoot pre-viz videos that we can present to Timo. Once we do that, Timo provides feedback and say things like, “Oh, can we do this, or can we do that?” But before that, Irfan and the stunt team have to plan all the fight choreography and even the camera angles, as well.
Well, all of that prep definitely elevating “Headshot” and “The Night Comes For Us”! Looking ahead now to your newest project, what can you share about how you came aboard “The Shadow Strays” as the movie’s fight choreographer and stunt coordinator?
Before “The Shadow Strays started”, Timo was working on another project called “The Big Four”, and Timo came to me on it and said “I have another project I want to do called The Shadow Strays, and the main difference is that the lead will be female.”
I asked Timo if he knew who would play the main lead was yet, and he said that it was Aurora Ribero. It was a really exciting opportunity to work with Timo again, so I was very honored to come aboard “The Shadow Strays”.
On that note, “The Shadow Strays”’ leading lady Aurora Ribero reportedly underwent extensive training for the movie’s action sequences. What can you share about the process of Aurora getting into fighting shape to portray 13 in “The Shadow Strays”?
Well, when I learned that Aurora didn’t have any martial arts experience at the time, I requested to Timo that she would need a lot of intensive training for “The Shadow Strays”. Usually, we come up with the fight choreography for the movie first, and then the cast will join to rehearse it. In this case, the first thing we did was take Aurora through some basic martial arts training, and then she was able to start rehearsing the fight scenes. When Aurora started training, she had a very stiff body, but she was very persistent in her training.
Usually, the preparation for a movie’s action choreography takes about a month and a half, but for Aurora, she was really starting from the beginning, so in total, she spent four months training for “The Shadow Strays”. After a few weeks of training, Aurora started to have a lot of good movements, and she really brought her best to the movie. Usually in Hollywood, they rely a lot on stunt people to do the action and stunts, but Aurora did her stunts and her fight scenes really well.
Aurora’s dedication and training certainly very evident in her performance in the movie’s action sequences! Related to that “The Shadow Strays” has something of a ninja movie quality in how it portrays the Shadows, particularly in the movie’s opening action sequence. Were you and Timo striving to give a ninja-feel to the Shadows, and how did that work in designing their fighting styles and assassination tactics?
Well, from the beginning, Timo wanted to do something different for “The Shadow Strays”. He was really interested in doing fight scenes with Japanese katana, even before the script was written. After Timo wrote the script for “The Shadow Strays” and I read it, he put together the fight choreography and presented it to Timo, and he really loved it. I asked how many stunt people Timo needed for the opening of The Shadow Strays, and he said he really wanted to go crazy with it, so that’s why we brought in 25 stunt actors for the opening. Timo kept wanted to push the opening further, he wanted to have more shots of a shredded head or a cut arm, so that opening sequence is really from Timo’s imagination.
So, with so many complex and intense stunts and martial arts fights in “The Shadow Strays”, were there any serious injuries or mishaps during the making of the movie?
Thank God, we didn’t encounter any difficulties or accidents in the making of “The Shadow Strays”! During the training, there were some small injuries like bruises, but it is very normal because they’re not just concentrating on this movie, but they might also have another project going on, so some minor injuries during training is very normal and to be expected.
So, what would you say was the most difficult action scene to design for “The Shadow Strays”?
For me, the opening action sequence of “The Shadow Strays” was the hardest, because they’re using katanas, which aren’t Indonesian weapons, so it was a new thing for everyone to work with there. I and everyone involved learned as much about using the katana as possibly going into that scene, and that was the most challenging part.
Going off of that, what would you say is your overall favorite action sequence in “The Shadow Strays”?
Well, every action scene in the movie was interesting for me, but my favorites are the opening, the warehouse sequence, and the final fight. The warehouse was a very, very complex action scene, because there were also car crash stunts involved. As for the final fight, it was interesting for me because it was two powerful women fighting, and it was also a fight between a student and her teacher.
Yes, those are all amazing fight scenes and “The Shadow Strays” has a phenomenal finale indeed! Well, as we prepare to sign off Muhammad, what other projects do you have in the works after “The Shadow Strays”? Would they possibly include “The Shadow Strays 2”, which is teased with Yayan Ruhian’s cameo at the end of the movie?
Irfan: Well, I’m not really sure about it, but with the presence of Yayan at the end of the movie, it opens the possibility of a higher level for “The Shadow Strays 2”. Let’s just hope there’s a possibility for “The Shadow Strays 2”! Netflix, please!
Well, I have several projects in the pipeline, but right now, I’m currently working with Joko Anwar, and I also have something I’m working on with Saudi Arabia.
That all sounds great, and yes Netflix, please on “The Shadow Strays 2”! Thank you, Muhammad, it’s been a real pleasure having you with us. Congratulations on the success of “The Shadow Strays” and your career in action movies, and we forward to hear about your next action projects in the future, including hopefully “The Shadow Strays 2”!
Thank you for having me on Kung Fu Kingdom today, Brad!
