Nathalie Emmanuel has been tasked with high-octane adventure scenes before — “Game of Thrones,” anyone? — but the intense training she had to undergo to star in her newest film, “Arthur the King,” is truly incredible.
The 35-year-old British actress hikes, climbs, kayaks, bikes, zip lines and does so much more in her new role as adventure racer Olivia. Inspired by a true story, “Arthur the King” follows racer Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg), who enlists fellow racers Olivia, Leo (Simu Liu) and Chik (Ali Suliman) to compete in a laborious 435-mile endurance race through the Dominican Republic. Along the way, the group befriends a stray dog named Arthur, who teaches them the real meaning of victory.
Emmanuel’s Olivia is a master climber, but there’s one scene involving a faulty zip line, hundreds of feet in the air, that will leave audiences on the edge of their seats. The actress tells theGrio exclusively that filming the scene, where she is stuck dangling above a Dominican jungle, was like “intense adrenaline.”
“We shot it in a real canyon, in a sort of open high place,” she says, while playing with a trio of puppies provided by the Best Friends Animal Society Los Angeles for this interview. “We had to sort of shoot that moment where I get stuck halfway down. In real life, [it’s] happening. So that was kind of like intense adrenaline. It was really fun, though.”
Emmanuel has been zip lining before and “really enjoys” the experience, but “not necessarily getting stuck in the middle.”
“You don’t let your intrusive thoughts get in the way,” she continued. “Then, the moment where Mark’s character was talking me through what I needed to do — I had to disconnect myself onto him — we kind of shot in an isolated rig that was much closer to the ground.”
In addition to zip lining, the cast had to learn how to do all the adventure activities required in the film. They began training “like a month” before filming began, according to Liu, and real-life racer Light taught them everything they needed to know.
“First of all, we were really blown away by [the training,]” Liu tells theGrio. “Like, wait, you run for how many miles? Then you bike for how many miles? It is a crazy sport. The people who do it — I’m sure they won’t mind me saying — are crazy in their own way [because] it’s an insane, grueling experience. We’re really grateful to have had Michael because he, every day, took us around and taught us how to bike, kayak, track and climb.”
Emmanuel credits the movie’s “incredible” stunt team, who were an “amazing” support system during filming. “I had zero expertise in this — in any of it,” she said. “I’d never done most of these disciplines before. Biking, yes, but not in that capacity. They were incredibly supportive at helping. I mean, to be honest, I was quite scared of kayaking. I’m not ocean savvy in any shape or form.”
So, does anything compare to the intense and grueling hard work and dedication required for an adventure race? Yes, Emmanuel says: The pursuit of acting.
“It’s an incredibly competitive, obviously, career to choose and also unpredictable,” she reveals. “You never know [how your career is going to go]. The highs and lows and feast or famine — that kind of idea. You have to have a real sense of positive self-talk, and the mental game is really where it’s at. I think that can be applied to something like this with adventure racing.”
“Arthur the King” is available now in theaters nationwide.
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