On a rather soupy night in Downtown Brooklyn, New York, movie-goers of all ages headed into the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in hopes to catch a glimpse of the kick-ass cast of The Art of Self-Defense.
โItโs great, I didnโt even know [The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema] existed!โ, Jesse Eisenberg quipped before continuing on to say, โthis is the perfect movie theater for the movie, and itโs the right audience for this kind of movie which is really funny, and subversive, and dark and post-modern.โ
The genre of dark comedy takes on a new meaning under the direction of Riley Stearns, who also wrote the screenplay for The Art of Self-Defense, combining martial arts, misogyny, societal standards, and sexism – all without missing a single beat.
Throughout a variety of extreme scenarios covering society’s expectations in the film, such as witnessing the main character, Casey punch his boss in the throat to assert his male dominance, the audience is taken on a wild journey. Viewers watching the film for the first time may even find themselves relating to the pressure of measuring up to their own societyโs standards.
โItโs been a really interesting thing to see that Iโm not the only person that feels that way,โ Stearns explains before continuing, โthere are other men that feel that way, women are relating to the filmโฆ and even people who are trans have come up to me and talked about how they’re finding elements of it that relate to their story in a very different way.โ In taking a moment to absorb the feedback of The Art of Self-Defense, Stearns exhales with a smile before saying, โIโm thrilled that people are responding to it.โ
While The Art of Self-Defense does consist of a mostly-male cast, each karate-chop and roundhouse kick was cleverly choreographed by top world martial artist; Mindy Kelly. At just the tender age of 4, Kelly began studying and competing in the world of martial arts, eventually landing stunt coordinator roles for films like Alita: Battle Angel, and Lady Gaga and Beyonceโs music video for โTelephoneโ. Even with a number of high-profile roles under her literal blackbelt, Mindy remains humble and credits her talent to the art of โstorytelling through movementโ.
โWith Jesse and Imogen, I had a week to give them a crash course,โ Kelly explains. Alessandro Nivola, who plays the off-beat character of โSenseiโ, received the news of his casting in the movie just one week prior to its filming, leaving minimal time for prep. โI had 24-hours to teach him how to be โSenseiโ, Kelly says with pride before continuing, โItโs incredible, [the cast] absorbs all the information, they are such an incredible talent.
While the cast seems equally excited about working on The Art of Self-Defense, no one could be more proud than Stearns who calls the film a โvery personalโ one. โAt the end of the day itโs a film about just being yourself,โ Stearns says with a smile before continuing, โas cheesy as that topic is, that’s really what I wanted to say with this movie.โ
