In films, people sometimes forget and concentrate on the fight itself, which is great, but the 15 minutes that come beforehand are equally as breathtaking.

A lot of fans are complaining nowadays of too much shaky cam in action scenes and not being able to see what is going on, but I don't want to disappoint people. I'm a huge admirer of action and I'm very passionate about it. I do believe that a lot of action could be done so much better in general, so I'm a real advocator for pushing things forward in that sense and giving the fans what they want.

In films, people sometimes forget and concentrate on the fight itself, which is great, but the 15 minutes that come beforehand are equally as breathtaking.

I don't attract violence because of my stature and because of my lifestyle choices. I don't like to go out and be out of control or intoxicated because you could be the toughest guy in the world and still be vulnerable if you're not in control of yourself. And I don't like to go to place that are unnecessarily confrontational or dangerous. But I used to work in a pub and had to help the doorman fight off a load of people at one time. So, I've seen enough.

With action in Hollywood, a choreographer will be hired to design an amazing fight, with all these cool little narrative bits, such as a fighter having to perform a certain move because he's been injured and can only move that way, but it can all get lost in translation because the director then does what he wants with it and then passes it on to the editor, who does his interpretation of the fight. It becomes almost like Chinese whispers, so sometimes the end fight you see on film is so different to how it was conceived and looked on the day.

Action is cool but it's all down to the director's interpretation at the end of the day, so you have to serve his visions and do what you can. So, you do your job to the best of your ability, you perform the fight and then it's out of your hands. It's then down to the director or the producer. You can give your opinion but often it's not heard. Actors have their riders and all kinds of contract terms and one of my big ones as I continue to make a name for myself as a top action guy is that I design my own action in films and oversee the edit.

When I started martial arts... Bruce Lee is obviously the top dog and Jackie Chan is a legend. But for a lot of westerners it was Van Damme. He was the first person you saw that made you realise you didn't need to be Asian or Oriental to do that stuff.