Fast facts about Beast<\/p>\n
What: A viscerally thrilling film set in the MMA ring<\/p>\n
Directed by: Tyler Atkins<\/p>\n
Starring: Daniel MacPherson, Russell Crowe, Amy Shark, Bren Foster, Luke Hemsworth<\/p>\n
When: In cinemas April 23, then streaming on Stan May 27<\/p>\n
Likely to make you feel: Like you need a round of painkillers for their poor heads<\/p>\n
“Bren’s an extraordinary martial artist,” MacPherson says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’ll never forget the pace and ferocity with which he attacks his choreography. He wasn’t slowing down for me, so I had to get up to his speed.”<\/p>\n
The pair worked together on sci-fi movies Infini and The Osiris Child. Now they go head to head in front of a 10,000-strong ONE Championship crowd in Bangkok.<\/p>\n
“It was extraordinary,” MacPherson says. “Not only visually, but also the spiritual nature that comes with practising martial arts in south-east Asia.”<\/p>\n
The slog it takes to get Australian indies off the ground bought MacPherson time.<\/p>\n
“I had faith that it was gonna get to the screen, and I had to be ready,” he says. “I’ve never pushed myself harder.”<\/p>\n
His work on action show Strike Back was a great education.<\/p>\n
“They didn’t like using stunt doubles,” MacPherson says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“They were like, ‘We want the camera in your face with you as you’re jumping out of a helicopter, rappelling down a building, or running out of an exploding car’.<\/p>\n
“And look, I’m an actor. I like having my face in there.”<\/p>\n
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Amy Shark and Daniel MacPherson enter the ring in Beast. (Supplied: Kane Skennar)<\/p>\n
Hit and run<\/p>\n
Giving good bloody face in Beast, MacPherson plays Patton, a fisherman battling the elements after walking away from the ring following a stint in prison.<\/p>\n
With another kid on the way, bills piling up and his brother, Shayda actor Mojean Aria’s Malon, in debt to dubious characters and badgered by his manager (Luke Hemsworth), Patton reluctantly commits to one more fight.<\/p>\n
But his disappearing act wounded former coach and father-figure, Sammy, played with a gruff but gooey heart by Gladiator star Russell Crowe.<\/p>\n
“Acting opposite Russell tested me as much as fighting with Bren,” MacPherson says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“All while having to look like Chris Hemsworth with my shirt off as best I could and with picking my son up from school.<\/p>\n
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In addition to playing ex-fighter Sammy, Russell Crowe also co-wrote Beast with US screenwriter David Frigerio. (Supplied: Kane Skennar)<\/p>\n
“But I thrive under pressure, and it worked well for a character like Patton, who’s meant to look exhausted, frustrated, and a little pissed off with just about everybody.”<\/p>\n
MacPherson first encountered Crowe on Dancing with the Stars. Their next meeting was a little more fraught.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I nearly ran him over in LA while I was on the way to an audition, and he was riding his mountain bike on Melrose Avenue,” MacPherson laughs.<\/p>\n
A humorous back-and-forth erupted on Twitter. Soon, MacPherson was invited to Crowe’s farm.<\/p>\n
“I was convinced he’d heard how wonderful my performance was in Infini,” he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Then Russell introduced me to his parents and Dancing with the Stars is his mum’s favourite show. So we became instantly family, but it wasn’t because of my acting.”<\/p>\n
Crowe must rate MacPherson right enough in that department, as the pair have since worked together on Poker Face (2022) and Land of Bad (2024), as well as Beast.<\/p>\n
“He was there to support me, while mentoring a new breed of filmmakers and performers.”<\/p>\n
Cinderella story<\/p>\n
That next generation includes ARIA Award-winning singer-songwriter and Australian Idol judge Amy Shark, whose fourth studio album, Soft Pop, releases on July 31.<\/p>\n
With Beast her debut feature, she plays Rose, Sammy’s daughter, who steps up to retrain Patton when her dad washes his hands of him.<\/p>\n
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Gold Coast musician Amy Shark makes her acting debut in Beast. (Supplied: Kane Skennar)<\/p>\n
“What a lot of people don’t know is that acting was my first love,” Shark reveals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I did a lot of theatre when I was a kid and was always making videos, doing the odd commercial here and there. As I got into my teen angsty years, music took over and I was obsessed with playing guitar.”<\/p>\n
While Shark shares Crowe’s passion for NRL, it was their mutual love of music that forged their friendship.<\/p>\n
“Obviously he’s a musician himself and a real backer of Aussie music,” Shark says. “He liked my albums, came to some of my shows and we jammed together a few times.<\/p>\n
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Beast star and co-writer Russell Crowe with director Tyler Atkins (far right).<\/p>\n
“Then we started talking about music, footy and movies, and I would always tease him, ‘When are you gonna tap me in, coach?’ And he kinda called me on my bluff.”<\/p>\n
Teaming up with the Cinderella Man in her debut film is a dream come true for Shark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I grew up loving Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bloodsport,” she says. “So I feel very blessed.”<\/p>\n
Christmas come early\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like MacPherson, Shark threw herself into training, picking up on childhood Taekwondo lessons: “I never got my black belt, which I’m really pissed about.”<\/p>\n
She enjoyed swimming in the spikiness between Crowe’s Sammy and MacPherson’s Patton.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’ve had plenty of practice in my own family dynamic,” she chuckles.<\/p>\n