- 6/13/2025
In this edition of EoM Presents, Senior Interviewer Thomas Manning talks with actor and martial artist Marko Zaror about his latest project "Diablo." This film is directed by one of Zaror's oldest friends and creative partners, Ernesto Diaz Espinoza, and stars fellow action movie icon Scott Adkins. Zaror talks about the complex process of constructing the action sequences and the significance of cinematographer Niccolo De La Fere's kickboxing background in his approach to capturing the fight choreography.
In theaters, on VOD, and digital June 13th, 2025.
Official Synopsis:
After his release from prison, one man makes it his mission to right a terrible wrong by revealing a secret that could end his life. Scott Adkins stars as Kris Chaney, a warrior who seizes the daughter of a Colombian gangster to fulfill a noble promise to the young girl’s mother. When her father enlists both the criminal underworld and the terrifying psychotic killer El Corvo (Marko Zaror) to exact his revenge, Kris will need to draw upon everything he has ever learned -- in and out of lockup -- to stay alive and keep his word.
Official Trailer: youtu.be/ANKPsCTh0Og?si=1yQz5Ps8z8WK7YDM
Directed By: Ernesto Dìaz Espinoza
Written By: Mat Sansom
Cast: Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Alanna De La Rossa
In theaters, on VOD, and digital June 13th, 2025.
Official Synopsis:
After his release from prison, one man makes it his mission to right a terrible wrong by revealing a secret that could end his life. Scott Adkins stars as Kris Chaney, a warrior who seizes the daughter of a Colombian gangster to fulfill a noble promise to the young girl’s mother. When her father enlists both the criminal underworld and the terrifying psychotic killer El Corvo (Marko Zaror) to exact his revenge, Kris will need to draw upon everything he has ever learned -- in and out of lockup -- to stay alive and keep his word.
Official Trailer: youtu.be/ANKPsCTh0Og?si=1yQz5Ps8z8WK7YDM
Directed By: Ernesto Dìaz Espinoza
Written By: Mat Sansom
Cast: Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Alanna De La Rossa
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Hi there and welcome into EOM Presents. This is Thomas Manning, senior interviewer for Elements of Madness.
00:05And I just got a chance to sit down with Marco Zoror for the second time, talking all things stunts and action filmmaking and martial arts.
00:14Specifically talking about his new film Diablo, directed by Ernesto Diaz-Espinoza.
00:20Marco co-stars with Scott Adkins, who I also recently interviewed about this film.
00:24So thanks so much to Marco for his time and for really taking the time to dig into some of the things that make the action set pieces tick in this film.
00:35And I appreciate all of you for watching and listening. I hope you enjoy my interview with Marco Zoror talking about Diablo.
00:42Great to see you again. I don't know if you remember we spoke a couple years ago about Fist of the Condor.
00:46So excited to be sitting down here again talking about another film with Ernesto, who I believe is a good friend of yours.
00:54Yeah, well, actually, we were born the same day.
00:57There you go, Walt.
00:58Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, we grew up, we went to the same high school.
01:04So we start doing, working together in like around when we were like 12 years old, you know, in English class.
01:14Hey, you guys have to do a story. And then we grab a camera. It's like, oh, let's make a movie.
01:19And it's like, okay, let's make a martial arts movie.
01:21And we did all these videos together and to play around with the friends, you know.
01:26So, yeah, we're very good friends. And since we were kids, we share this passion about movies and, you know, filmmaking.
01:33So it's so powerful, you know, it's so powerful for us to be here in Hollywood, premiering, like promoting our Hollywood movie.
01:47It's crazy. It's just, you know, I remember like 15 years ago, 20 years ago, I don't even remember how long ago.
01:55We were here in the streets, you know, hanging out and dreaming about making movies and struggling.
02:03And I was working as a, I was a dishwasher in a restaurant, I remember.
02:08And then I started teaching martial arts in a gym in Sunset Boulevard.
02:13And he was like doing these videos for like music videos as a, you know, like electrician or helping or whatever.
02:22And we were having this dream. It's crazy.
02:24And now we're like here walking in the streets and looking around.
02:27I was like, oh, my God, this actually is very powerful for us, you know, to be to be here at this moment.
02:34Most definitely. And I talked to your co-star Scott Adkins the other day, and something that he mentioned about your work as the action designer is that you choreograph everything with the camera lens in mind.
02:48And you have an idea in your head of exactly where the camera is going to be positioned when you're developing the action.
02:53And so I'd love to hear kind of more on that front, more about your conversations with Ernesto when you're constructing those action sequences.
03:02And, you know, what makes that collaborative process between you work in the way that it does?
03:08You know, how how Ernesto's work as a director helps you bring your vision of the action to life?
03:14Yeah, well, what can I say? I think Ernesto's been my master in terms of filmmaking.
03:20You know, like I said, back in the day when we were hanging out here, we were he was showing me the movies, you know, that the classics, Asian movies and like the good cinema.
03:31Right. Like the good movies, like how to tell the story with a camera, like how important is to zoom in or zoom back or move the camera this way or that way that everything has a meaning.
03:42Right. So I never I never forgot about that.
03:45And and and I and we grew up together working in these movies in Chile.
03:50And of course, I was able to he I was able to choreograph and create the fight scenes and then, you know, share with him how is how we can show this.
04:01And then he's like, yeah, but maybe here we can add this movement here.
04:05So I've learned it was a learning process, you know, all through all my our movies in Chile.
04:11And in this case, in Diablo, you know, of course, it was putting and put it in in practice, something that we've been doing for many years back then.
04:19And but now with real budget, you know, with that, with it, with the budget, right, actually, so we can have time and more toys to play and an amazing martial artist and actor like Scott, you know, it's like.
04:33So, of course, we're like, this is, you know, heaven, you know, it's like crazy.
04:39And so the process is, you know, I create the, you know, once I understand the script in a movie and in this case, Diablo and I and I understand the characters pretty good, understanding the motivations of Scott's character and my character, then you start creating a choreography that actually is telling a story through those characters.
05:02So then very simple example, like who's going to attack first, who, you know, what's the objective of each character on that fight scene, what they're trying to accomplish, you know, beyond like, oh, let's show this kick.
05:15Oh, this block looks cool.
05:18Yeah, but needs to be a little bit more than that, you know.
05:21So if you can see the fight scenes between El Corvo and Scott and Chris character, you can see that.
05:30You can see that there's a story a little bit behind the fights and there's something that, you know, the way El Corvo attacks the thing with the iron face.
05:40So we're telling that story from the beginning of the fight scenes.
05:43So then to develop and continue that story towards the end, that little element has its own story, right?
05:49So, and that you add the martial arts, of course, like some tricks, some kicks, some is going to be realistic fighting or is going to be more.
06:00We're going to take a little bit farther and we're going to make a little more unrealistic.
06:04So in this special movie, I wanted to keep it very grounded and very like real, you know.
06:10So, yeah, you know, each project has its own way to create the fight scene.
06:17And then the way we work with Ernesto, I create the previous, we shoot it in a phone.
06:23I edit it, put some music, put some sound of design and I present this to Ernesto, you know, and then Ernesto makes some notes.
06:31Hey, you should do this.
06:32You know, we can change this here.
06:33I do the changes, I make the change and then I present this to the producers or Scott and see if he likes it or not.
06:41And then, and that's how it's like a co-creation, you know.
06:45Yeah.
06:46And I also heard the cinematographer on this film, Niccolo de la Ferre.
06:50He's a former kickboxer from what I understand.
06:53So I imagine that was quite beneficial with his understanding of capturing the physicality and the movement of the fights.
07:01It's important.
07:01It's very important because, you know, camera work for a fight scene is not a joke.
07:08Like people don't understand this in the industry.
07:11You know, I always have this problem.
07:13It's like when you're making, especially Latin America, that they don't understand this genre.
07:17Right.
07:17So, you know, like I just, I just did another movie, action movie, and it's like, hey, yeah, we're going to have this camera guy.
07:27No, no, no, no.
07:28So I end up having to ask Ernesto's a favor.
07:31Hey, I have this, this scene.
07:33Can you help me with the camera?
07:34Because there's no way a guy that doesn't understand martial arts or have experience in this, in, in, in action fighting is going to get the shots.
07:44And we have this problem in, in Colombia in, in some, sometimes, you know, because the camera operator, like Nicolo, that's why we brought Nicolo.
07:52This guy is a martial, real martial artist.
07:55He understands.
07:56Bam, bam, boom, bam, bam, boom, the camera, boom.
07:58You know, all those movements is like, and sometimes camera B, the B operator, or if Nicolo was in another thing and we were, we were like, oh, no, no, no.
08:09We got to, we, we needed to adapt for him to grab the camera and if he could do it, then sometimes Ernesto, even me, I grabbed the camera sometimes when, when we were, we were out of hands, you know?
08:20So, so it's like, it's a very unique skill to catch the action fighting the camera work.
08:29It's, it's, and in this Nicolo, it's just a master.
08:32It's a master.
08:33He, you know, he's a real fighter.
08:35He's for real, man.
08:37So he understands the timing.
08:38He moves with the camera, like, you know, he can go from here to down here, you know, it's, it's amazing, you know?
08:45So then, so that, that doesn't limit your choreography, you know?
08:48Yeah, and something else I briefly talked to Scott about the other day, I had to, had a chance to ask him about the inclusion of a new category in the Academy Awards, the, the stunt category, which is coming up, I think, in 2026, they're going to include that.
09:05But, so for you as someone who's been in this industry for many years and been putting in the work and oftentimes under, probably feeling a little bit underappreciated and underrecognized, what does that mean to you that the Academy is finally showing that appreciation for stunt workers?
09:21It's amazing, man.
09:22They, you know, it's like the stunts, the stunt community, it's such an important part of a movie.
09:28It's like, it's, I'm telling you, especially now with all the technology, like, I've been in movies where, like, I could tell you 70% of the movies being done by the stunt team.
09:41Because now you have face replacement, you have a, you know, sometimes you have these superhero movies where they're wearing a mask.
09:48So the whole movie is shot with the stunt guys.
09:51And the stunt guys mean the stunt team, the, the, the coordinator, the fight coordinator, the, the, you know, all the, you know, it's, it's such a big unit.
09:59It's such a big thing in a movie that people don't understand this.
10:03And they create a scene, they, you know, they do the shots, they create, they do this previous and the, it's such an important part and, and people don't understand.
10:12I don't even know how they're going to do it in the Oscars because I don't know how many categories of, they have to come up with to really embrace the work, you know, because sometimes you have a big stunt, right?
10:26And you're like, oh my God, who are you going to give the award?
10:29You know, because you got the coordinator, you got the guy that did the fight, you got the guy that did the stunt.
10:34But so it's like, you know, it's, it's a little complex, but I'm, I'm very happy that they're finally starting to add this thing, you know, in, you know, yeah, for sure.
10:46Well, Marco, it was a privilege to talk with you again today and a big fan of you and Scott and Ernesto.
10:51And hopefully we share many more conversations in the future.
10:54Thank you, man.
10:54Appreciate it.
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