Taraji P Henson has heaped praise on her young co-star Jaden Smith.
The pair play mother and son the big screen remake of eighties classic The Karate Kid, which has been directed by Harald Zwart and also stars Jackie Chan.
But Henson was impressed by the way Smith, who has taken on his first major lead role with this project, through himself into every aspect of the movie as he tried to make it look as authentic as possible.
Speaking to Vibe she said: Vibe: "I play a single mother from Detroit who loses her job, and she’s the only one in the [auto factory] who gets offered a job in Beijing. She gotta pay her bills. So she takes her son [Dre, played by Jaden] and moves to this foreign land.
"The original Karate Kid was more fantasy. This really plays up what it’s like to be bullied. It really shows what happens to a child’s psyche when they’re afraid to go to school, [like] they lose their appetite. It deals with that on a deeper, more realistic level."
"Jaden trained with Jackie Chan [who plays Mr Han] and kung fu trainers every day. He did a lot of the [physical work] on his own, running up and down the steps of the Great Wall.
"There are a lot of very intense fight scenes. And there’s a scene where he did a split on a pole on top of a [tall] building. He did it all. He wanted it to look real."
And Henson believes that this movie sends out a positive life message and admits that she's glad to see a black actor in the central role.
"I’m glad we have a black karate kid because our kids need to see that. Just imagine this character and what he can accomplish now in life.
"He’s gone to China and had this experience, he’s unstoppable. The message is get out of your zip code. There’s a big world out there for you. If you stay true to yourself, you can go to China and become a kung fu master if you want to."
The Karate Kid is released 16th July
Tagged in Jaden Smith Taraji P Henson