We got the opportunity to interview the brilliant Alain Moussi – a stuntman and actor, from his home in Canada through Zoom.
Alain Moussi in Jiu Jitsu / Picture Credit: Highland Film Group
Alain was born in Africa, and moved to Ottawa, Canada when he was very young. It was there that, at just seven years old, Alain discovered his passion – martial arts.
In this exclusive interview, Alain answers questions about his diet, his career as a whole, and some questions about the release of his new movie – Jiu Jitsu, released in just a few days in the UK.
Alain is a very active guy, but when asked about his diet, Alain laughed, “Right now? ‘Cause its Christmas so watch out!”
“When I’m training,” Alain continued, “I really make sure I tighten everything up… I have a very well-balanced diet.” Which makes sense, as he trains every single day.
As you may expect, Alain revealed that his diet is rather simple yet sustainable as he eats “proteins, carbs, veggies, a lot of veggies, fruits…” A perfect diet for someone needing to stay in peak physical form.
In regard to his workouts and diet, Alain stated that he tries to do “something that I feel could fit in my everyday lifestyle”, which makes it a lot easier when training for movie roles as the change in diet and exercise will not be too different. “This way, I find it’s not as tedious to maintain,” Alain says.
When asked if Christmas was taking a bit of an impact on his diet, he replied “Absolutely it is!”
“All the sweets we get at Christmas I definitely have to dive into, I don’t stop myself from doing that,” Alain tells us with a grin – we all let loose a little at Christmas though, right?
Alain has worked very hard throughout the years, not just on himself however, as he created an app, K2XFIT, to help others reach their goals.
“The fitness programme took about two and a half years, three years to develop” says Alain. His business partner would come up with a routine for the app and then Alain would test it – making absolute sure that they worked for himself and for others.
“All the fitness I do has to be functional, because the things I perform on screen are kicks, punches, martial arts, it’s very skill-based,” Alain states when discussing how he worked out the programme for his app – which is available now!
The app allowed Alain to “go remote and train people from anywhere”, then they had a “way to adapt our routines to home use”, and, as the app was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a perfect way for Alain to connect with his clients and still work out with them in a sense – which he said was great because “everybody can benefit from that.”
For the final question about his fitness and diet, Alain spoke about his martial arts school, NX Martial Arts and Fitness, which would be celebrating its 15-year anniversary this year.
“After Covid is all over and done, we want to celebrate and do a re-grand opening!” Alain stated, with a huge smile of pride on his face. He seemed very excited to get people back into his school for a “proper class” as soon as possible.
Moving on to Alain’s career in film, combining both Jiu Jitsu with acting, he spoke very highly of everyone he has worked with, from stars to the stunt crew and directors.
When asked if this mixture of talents and passions was enjoyable, Alain simply replied with; “I love it.”
“When I got into film, I got into action… using my physical skills to do stunt work. All of a sudden I was on screen, living two passions,” Alain stated, again with a smile on his face.
Alain continues by saying “I was living my martial arts passion while still discovering a new one.” Which is such a wonderful way to live your life and get the most out of it – something Alain firmly believes in.
“I’m fortunate to be able to live my passions every single day.”
Alain has been involved in many amazing films and projects, including Shazam!, Suicide Squad, and some of the X-Men movies, Alain was definitely right when he said his job is a “dream come true”.
“First time I walked on the X-Men set, it was larger than life,” declares Alain.
Alain divulged to us that “I’m not starstruck, typically.” He continued to say that he realised that all the stars he has worked with “are real people,” so made it easier to simply hang out with them.
Alain spoke about his experience working with Henry Cavill and stated that they “became buds, and he was just another guy training with us and having fun with us.”
When on the set for X-Men: Days of Future Past, Alain told us that he ended up “not meeting, seeing Hugh Jackman for the first time. Now, Hugh had the claws on… and I was like oh my god, this is Hugh Jackman!”
Luckily, while X-Men Apocalypse was shooting, Alain finally got the chance to meet Jackman after missing out the first time! And apparently, Jackman is “such a gentleman,” but would we believe otherwise?
Alain also worked on Suicide Squad as Jai Courtney’s (Captain Boomerang) stunt double. He worked with other members of the squad also, including Margot Robbie and Will Smith.
“It was just fun to see them work,” Alain stated, “because it inspired me… I saw how hard they worked in order to deliver their performance.”
Alain was on set even when he wasn’t needed so he could simply be around these amazing actors and watch them work. Alain discussed Jared Leto being on set saying, “I’d never seen an actor be method like that… he was Joker all the way.”
Moving onto Shazam!, Alain revealed that he was actually “tossed through the window” in one scene! Alain continued to say that the stunt could have been rather dangerous, as if he hit the glass before it was blown by a crew member, it “looks fake” – but if the glass was blown after he hits the glass then it won’t break.
Despite the difficulty of the scene, it was done in one take!
Moving back down to Earth, Alain also shared with us his process for choreographing fight scenes in films.
“Number one, it’s all based on the story, the characters… what are the main events? What story are we telling in this scene?” Alain clarifies, “From there… what are the key points in this fight, what are we trying to showcase?” Alain’s process is so clean cut it is no wonder at all he is as successful as he is.
He then states that he establishes what he wants the main points in the fight scene to be, the moves everything leads up to, then figures out a fight scene choreography based on and around the characters involved.
“To me,” Alain explains, “a fight scene is like a fight scene, like a physical dialogue scene.” This explains why every fight he has choreographed is absolute perfection.
Now, we must move on to one of Alain’s most recent project, his new movie alongside Tony Jaa, Frank Grillo and Nicolas Cage, Jiu Jitsu – which sounds like a movie you do not want to miss.
“It’s a cool movie,” Alain tells us excitedly, “it’s gonna be fun.”
The film follows the story of an alien named Brax (Ryan Terran) who comes to Earth every six years to battle the best jiu jitsu fighters – but one year, someone denies this tradition…
As for Alain’s role of Jake, he was asked personally to be involved with the movie – definitely the right choice given his stellar career!
“We had 20-something days to make this movie,” Alain tells us, “which in any other world should’ve taken 40, 45 – but we did it,” explains Alain eagerly as it is clear he is very proud of this movie and the work that went into it.
“On set it was non-stop… I wore a lot of hats I was designing action, leading the action team, I was performing on set…” So Alain really had a lot to do while filming this action movie.
“Jiu Jitsu was the best learning experience in film-making that I have ever had,” Alain discloses – with beaming smile you can tell that this film challenged him in such a fun way.
“Sometimes you fail, you don’t stop,” said Alain when asked about what he is most proud of in his career, “It took so many years [to get where he is today], and I did not quit.”
“There will be people around you that will say, ‘come on, seriously?’… you just keep on going.”
This was a wonderful interview, filled with amazing stories and Alain’s positive outlook towards life and being the best you can was truly inspiring.
Jiu Jitsu will be released on the 28th December 2020 (in the UK), and Alain says he is more that excited for fans in the UK to see it!
Written by Melissa, who you can follow on Twitter @melissajournal
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