Summary
InThe Lockdown, Charlie (played byLegends of Tomorrowstar Caity Lotz) and Jack (Legacies' Leo Howard) are arrested and locked up in Myanmar’s toughest prison after being framed for a crime when attempting to visit their father. Their only chance to survive and escape death row is to participate and win in a series of televised fights. As they face off against deadly opponents, Charlie and Jack must rely on each other as their sibling bond is tested in this life-or-death competition where only the strongest can win their freedom.
Arrowverse veteran Lotzand Howard bring heartfelt chemistry to the roles of Charlie and Jack infusing the roles with an authentic bond. The pair also put their martial arts training to the test, training in Muy Thai in order to perform their own stunts throughout the countless fight scenes inThe Lockdown. Originally released as a double feature withArt of Eight Limbs,The Lockdownbrings a new generation of stars intothe martial arts genrewith Ryan C Jaeger helming the project as director.
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Screen RantinterviewedThe Lockdownstars Caity Lotz and Leo Howard. They reflected on training Muy Thai in Thailand and filming in an actual prison. Lotz shared insight into her character and Howard discussed how they performed their own stunts throughout the movie. Lotz also offered insight into the canceled plans for Sara Lance inseason 8 ofLegends of Tomorrow.
Caity Lotz’s The Lockdown Character Charlie “Views The World Very Black And White”
“Jack’s very much the younger brother and kind of takes the opposite approach.”
Tiger Style Media launches an explosive new era of martial arts films while delivering a contemporary and dynamic twist. Caity, can you talk to me about your character, Charlie, and a little bit aboutThe Lockdown?
Caity Lotz: Charlie, she’s a tough cookie and I think she views the world very black and white, right and wrong, and she likes things to fit into that. She’s definitely contending with some things that go against it and it’s a great journey. I think our dynamic together, I feel like he is my little brother. So having the chemistry with the siblings, it’s really cool and fun to watch.
Leo, talk to me a little bit about Jack because he finds himself in this film in incredibly tough situations. What aspects of Jack’s personality did you kind of relate to and what was the challenge in portraying that?
Leo Howard: Yeah, so Caity was saying about her being the sort of black and white, Jack’s very much the younger brother and kind of takes the opposite approach of having a more naive, more gullible, if you will, which is ironic because he is also professional fighter, so there’s kind of a flip side to that dynamic. Like she was saying, it’s a very clear older sister, younger brother thing.
I wouldn’t say I’m particularly gullible. I would say I’m slightly pessimistic, a realist. We’ll go with the realist, how about that? But obviously I have the martial arts stuff in common with Jack. But yeah, so that kind of stuff.
Caity Lotz: I would say you see the good in people too. You’re very open-minded and understanding.
Caity Lotz: You Leo, and your character.
Leo Howard: I agree with you. I agree with you.
Caity Lotz: When we did our first readthrough with Michael, who plays our father and we ended up just improving in character. I remember you were very understanding of what he’s been through and why, and me and Michael just started and I’m like, You ain’t sh-t!
Leo Howard: She’s right. I tend to sort of lean into the best in people and that is a quality that Jack very much has.
Caity Lotz & Leo Howard Discuss The Lockdown’s Martial Arts Training
“I was blown away at how amazingly tough Caity was throughout the process.”
One of the things I find really interesting and pretty cool about this whole project is that you guys are doing your own stunts in this film, which is pretty impressive. You guys are familiar with stunts already, but it’s you guys the whole time. Can you share a little behind-the-scenes of what it takes to get those intense fight scenes down and bring them to life?
Leo Howard: Yeah, I mean we arrived, I think, three weeks early and we jumped into fight rehearsals pretty much two weeks nonstop, three weeks nonstop. It was tough. I am a martial artist, I train, I do that often and it was really hard for me.
I was blown away at how amazingly tough Caity was throughout the process because I was struggling and she was just kind of thrust into it and she was much more impressive, because this is also what I do. She was much more impressive than I was. So it was hard work, but we were surrounded by a really great team and I think we made some really cool fights. I’m very proud of the fights in this film.
Caity, how do you prepare yourself physically and mentally for these intense fight scenes in the film? And did you undergo special training for this?
Caity Lotz: Yeah, because I’ve done a lot of martial arts before, but not much Muay Thai. I’ve done more like Filipino martial arts, like Kali, and a lot of weapons stuff. Muay Thai is so specific. So to prep for the movie, as soon as I found out I started training in Muay Thai to kind of get ready and try to be able to look like I know kind of what I’m doing.
Luckily with my character she’s a journalist, she’s not a professional fighter, but her and her brother grew up in a fight gym. So she knew what she was doing, but that was awesome. So I trained a lot before we got there, but nothing was like training Muay Thai in Thailand. It was pretty sick.
Leo Howard: That was a dream of mine too, to train Muay Thai in Thailand.
Leo Howard: Yeah, we checked that box, didn’t we?
The Lockdown Was Shot At A Real Prison, Raising The Realism
“There’s not much acting going on when you’re being thrown in a cell.”
I’ve actually been to Thailand and I’ve seen the Muay Thai training and it is so awesome. It’s taken so seriously out there. Question for you, Leo. This is a part of a double feature withArt of Eight Limbs. Are these films interconnected? Is this universe interconnected?
Leo Howard: I don’t think so. To my knowledge they’re not interconnected.
Caity Lotz: Not yet.
Caity the setting is Myanmar in one of the toughest prisons, it has to be challenging to shoot stuff like that around. What were some of the most difficult aspects of shooting in that environment?
Caity Lotz: Well, we shot at a real prison. It was an abandoned prison and they went in there, luckily they went in there and cleaned it up. But yeah, even some of the time we were locked up in solitary confinement like real cells and it’s heartbreaking to think that people were in here and you could feel that energy. It was pretty creepy.
Leo Howard: It made the job really easy, I would say. You’re in a cell, there’s not much acting going on when you’re being thrown in a cell by a bunch of guards. Yeah, there’s cameras outside, but it was very easy to just kind of assimilate yourself into the environment. Scary.
Caity Lotz: And even a lot of the extras and the people, it was so cool because the extras who were Muay Thai extras were legit Muay Thai fighters who would kill you. They were so dope and so everything just felt like, yeah, you didn’t have to do a lot of pretending.
Caity Lotz Reveals What She Wished To See In Legends Of Tomorrow Season 8
“The next season [of Legends of Tomorrow] would’ve started off with us in prison.”
Caity, I do have one last question for you. I’m a huge fan ofLegends of Tomorrow. I think it broke the mold of superhero television shows, and it’s absolutely brilliant. Have you explored everything you wanted to explore with Sara Lance? The show also ended on a cliffhanger, but did you know what was going to happen next with a pregnant Sara and Ava?
Caity Lotz: Yeah, it definitely was a cliffhanger. I mean, after 140 or however many episodes, I did definitely get to explore a lot of stuff with her. But the way that they wrote the show, it was so much fun. There was always room for more because it was so bonkers, and you just do crazy stuff.
But I know we were going to be in prison, so the next season would’ve started off with us in prison. And I know the pregnancy wasn’t going to be a normal pregnancy, which is what I was looking forward to. It wasn’t going to just be basically what I am now - because now I’m eight and a half months pregnant, waddling around. They were going to make it a unique alien clone hybrid pregnancy, and the baby would’ve been something unexpected. Maybe one day we’ll get that Legends movie!
More About The Lockdown & Tiger Style Media
Siblings Charlie and Jack are trapped in Myanmar’s toughest prison and accused of a crime they didn’t commit. Forced into televised fights against other inmates, they must work together and fight for their freedom.
WatchThe Lockdownon digital and video on demand on August 27.
