Daniel MacPherson may be better known for his roles on Neighbours, Wild Boys, The Bill and Strike Back, but the Aussie star has transformed for his latest project.
MacPherson stars in Beast, a new locally-filmed production which centres around the rough and raw world of professional Mixed Martial Arts fighting.
The 45-year-old plays a retired fighter-turned-fisherman who is drawn back into the fierce world of competitive MMA to save his brother from danger.
Daniel MacPherson physically and mentally transformed to play an MMA fighter in his new film, Beast. (Lionsgate)
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MacPherson is joined by a star-studded Aussie line-up, including Russell Crowe, who also produced and co-wrote the film, Luke Hemsworth and former Rabbitohs NRL star, George Burgess, with Tyler Atkins directing.
“I’ve never had any fight experience, any fight training, but when Rusell Crowe agrees to play the trainer and says ‘Dan it’s your turn to back you into the lead in this film’, then I started training,” MacPherson told Today.
“So three years of MMA, of boxing and Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu, I put on about 10kg of muscle to at least look the part, but then I had to inhabit the energy of a lifelong fighter.”
And MacPherson really knuckled down with his commitment to the role, even copping a couple of nasty injuries during production.
Daniel MacPherson was live in the studio this morning to chat about the new film. (Today)
“I was 42 when this first came to me, probably 44 when we got to shooting and the body doesn’t recover quite as well as it did when I was a bit younger,” he said.
“I will throw him under the bus, George Burgess is an extraordinary actor and so, the strongest man I’ve ever encountered – he lifted me up in the octagon in Thailand and managed to tear my adductor off the bone just with his pure, brute strength.”
Beast is in Australian cinemas from April 23 and will be available to stream on Stan from May 26.
Watch Dickie’s full interview with Daniel MacPherson in the video above