Movie Martial Arts: Aaron Pierre, Jeremy Saulnier and Rebel Ridge Cast on BJJ, MMA in Action Scenes

- I rolled once. My buddy Gerald took me to his teacher’s spot down in Downtown LA and I got my ass handed to me. It was wonderful. - I’m deeply in love with martial arts. It is the most humbling thing in the world. (upbeat music) - Rebel Ridge, I accepted this part because I wanted to work with the genius Jeremy Saulnier. - I’ve been a fan of MMA and the various disciplines since the early ’90s, so I know it very well. And for this film, I was researching it. And despite some of these awesome, high-spectacle action flicks that I’ve seen, the reality is it’s mostly grappling. And jiu-jitsu sort of falls into that rare, very useful discipline that is employed. (intense music) - [Terry] People getting hurt now. (intense music) - Aaron Pierre, he fell in love on set and has subsequently become a rising star. He’s taken on BJJ as a discipline and he’s getting his belts and he’s loving it. Not only the physicality of it and discipline itself, but just what it offers culturally. I mean, just being part of a team. - Also, I got, fortunately, very lucky. I didn’t know much about Aaron Pierre at the time, but I learned that he is a formidable actor. - [Chief Sandy] Allow me to finish. - Very powerful, can take care of business if need be, but just the nicest, kindest person you’d wanna be around other than Philip Michael Thomas. - How does Brazilian jiu-jitsu enhance your craft of acting? - It keeps you adopting, constantly, the mind frame of always being a student, of always being a sponge and absorbing. The moment you think you know everything is the moment that you stunt your own growth in the evolution of your own personal journey. - There was some stuff that we shot that I just couldn’t put in the movie, and the reason was it didn’t pass the test of there’s no fucking way that Aaron Pierre wouldn’t have the upper hand with this individual. - [Officer] Hey, hey, hey. - And you’re tempted to make the story more exciting and have the bad guy have the upper hand. But when I looked at it, I was like, “Nope, if it’s not true, it doesn’t make the cut.” - It keeps me centered, it keeps me grounded, and it keeps me celebrating and championing community. Nobody goes to the gym to fight anybody else, you know? We go there to see how we can outdo ourselves, how we can outgrow ourselves, and then we embrace and thank each other for gifting us with the opportunity to discover that. - AnnaSophia, I mean, when are you getting on the mat? - I mean- - She would kick my butt. - Yeah. (laughs) - I’m gonna recommend a different gym. Not my one. I don’t want no smoke. - Yeah, yeah, no smoke here. Welcome to the gun show. (both laughing) (upbeat music)