This is part 2 of my exclusive conversation with actor, artist and filmmaker Johnny Strong, if you missed it or want a refresh, you can read part 1 here.

As outlined before, Johnny Strong is a very unusual actor and artist, really unlike anyone I’ve ever interviewed in the past. I’m a long-time fan of his work and interviewed him in my original Life of Action book for this very reason. His absolute devotion to authenticity and serving his own inner, artistic drive is clear. He opted to step away from the comforts of Hollywood (despite memorable roles in major films), to focus on independent movies… a choice few actors would make, given the chance. But, as he explains, he was tired of Hollywood gatekeepers and found himself largely unfulfilled, all this amplified by a hunger to shape the roles he would play, and a growing interest in filmmaking.

Since this conscious shift, his collaborations with writer and director William Kaufman in Sinners and Saints and Daylight’s End allowed him to not only play a lead in high quality, tough-as-nails genre movies, but he could help develop his character, script and dialogue, incorporate his own rich knowledge of martial arts and firearm tactics, and even score the films (he is a talented multi-instrumentalist and was signed to both RCA and Atlantic Records).

So it’s no surprise that all this would culminate in his directorial debut. In Warhorse One, Strong is reunited with Kaufman who co-writes and co-directs but, as Strong explains, this is very much his passion project. Whereas he supported Kaufman’s vision on previous films, now his friend is supporting him for this next chapter in his career.

We concluded part 1 of our interview with Strong breaking down a particularly dangerous stunt he performed in some rapids which nearly cost him his life, but dubbing it “one of the greatest experiences of my life because I conquered fear.” He summed up by adding: “I’ll be less than satisfied in my life if legendary status is not achieved.”

Now, we pick it up for part 2…

During that dangerous stunt in the rapids, how did you maintain focus on getting the shot for camera, and keeping calm in the water?

After doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and mixed martial arts for a quarter of a century, I have this mantra I use when I’m in stressful situations. In my mind I say “breathe, relax, I’m okay”, and repeat it. It worked, but by the time I got out, those plates were filled with water. I’d say if I was in the water for a minute longer, I could have drowned, or at least been at risk of drowning. It was incredibly dangerous but, to me, films are important because everything is immortalised.

When we were driving back, someone asked me, “what would your family think if you died?” And I knew they’d say “what a fucking legend” for being willing to do everything, including die for expressing myself in pursuit of a masterpiece.

While Warhorse One is a fictional film, there’s echoes of present day conflict, as opposed to a historical story. Can you talk about that?

The story centres on a missionary family in Afghanistan [during the American withdraw of 2021] and they become trapped, although they had been helping Afghan national interpreters out of the country. The family is decimated in an attack by insurgents, and this five-year-old girl is the only survivor. That’s fucking real and it’s devastating, and it’s happening right now. I wanted the film to be a reminder that, despite the higher echelons of power and war, it is the people, and specifically the children on all sides, who endure the true suffering of war. In the film, my character, Mirko, will find and protect her. As much as films can be entertainment and take you on a journey, I wanted it to be a reminder of what we turn a blind eye to in the news. When I was writing the film, I also paid close attention to the hero’s journey of mythology to really make the story resonate and test our hero throughout his ordeal.

You and your films have become associated with realistic portrayals of military action and tactics, dating right back to Black Hawk Down and your collaborations with Kaufman. Why is this important to you?

For me, that stuff’s easy. My dad started training me when I was five years old and I’ve been shooting guns on the range my whole life. If you put a gun in my hand and say, “roll camera”, I can make it look awesome with lightning fast reloads. I’m not an actor who doesn’t know what he’s doing and shows up for a week of gun training, it’s what I do all the time. But that stuff is not what I really care about. I care about the acting, the emotion, the true storytelling aspect of movies. In terms of cinema, I’d ask anyone, is Black Hawk Down a good “action” movie, or just a good movie?

The thing is, I don’t want to make “action” movies per se, my goal is just to make “great movies”. A great tragedy is emotional. If the story is a tragedy, and the characters are in peril, by way of violence, then that aspect needs the same focus of authenticity. I’ve had a lot of people tell me how much they love Black Hawk Down, and even joined the military because of that film, which is wild. But If it didn’t have the emotional content and it was just an “action” movie, in my estimation, no one would really give a fuck. As a storyteller, personally, I’m more concerned with the human struggle in tragic stories, rather than how many bullets are shot, how many cars blow up, or how many kicks are thrown. That said, those aspects are details which also need an incredible amount of care and attention as well. I think that is why William Kaufman and I really connected, we both have that appreciation for realism and the work of directors like Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, Luc Besson, and others. Kaufman has made a lot of other films, but the films he and I have made together, in my opinion, are different.

As you’ve scored many of your earlier films, can you say anything about the music here?

I’m a big fan of orchestral music. When I was a little kid I always listened to Andrés Segovia playing classical guitar, Mozart, Beethoven and other great composers, so that was hugely influential. I love film composers too and John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Basil Poledouris are all people who have created music scores I’ve connected with. I’m always interested in emotion, it’s true with scripts and it doesn’t stop when I think about the music, it’s a continuation. I see the medium of storytelling in film having three components; the visual, the audio and the ethereal communication of storytelling to the audience, the way it connects. I think a lot of movies in general, not just action but other genres too, hire random composers to make something generic, as an afterthought. I never approach my film scores that way and I always want to do something unique.

How have you approached it differently compared to, say, Sinners and Saints and Daylight’s End?

I’ve used a lot of old instruments to capture a certain sound. I play my great grandfather’s violin which is from the 1920’s. He was a bandleader and my great grandmother also played in his band performing vaudeville theatre. I researched and reached out to some interesting musicians around the world. We have a cello player from Venezuela, and he accompanies the violin parts I recorded. I have a French horn player who comes from a military band. I played these awesome giant, tribal style bass drums in my studio, and recorded them in the bathroom to achieve a particular effect. So, it’s super interesting and I’d describe it as orchestral, tribal and primitive, and suits the character of the movie. The themes of the story are love, tragedy and survival and I wanted the music to fit the tone.

Johnny Strong behind-the-scenes on Sinners and Saints, his first film with William Kaufman

Do you always have a strong sense of what the music should be, or does it come to you later in the edit?

I truly believe it doesn’t come from me. As an artist, I’m an antenna and this stuff is out in the universe in some way. We did a lot of filming in the mountains and the microphones picked up some interesting natural sounds and tones. Anyone who’s ever spent time in the mountains might relate to that. Listening back in the edit and hearing those sounds, it helped inspire certain effects. Filmmaking is a spiritual journey for me. I know some people don’t view it that way, but it’s never about the stunts or the action, as far as I’m concerned. It runs much deeper than that.

Has this been the most challenging movie you’ve made to date?

Yes, absolutely. With great risk comes great reward. I remember that my mother never said to me, “you can be anything you want”, she said “you can be everything you want.” I truly believe this is how one should look at their life. I feel that the worry of shouldering the work required to accomplish something, is one of the biggest barriers for people achieving what they want. In the arts, a lot of it comes from fear, fear of failing, fear of being ashamed or fear of the opinions of others. I’ve been in Hollywood for a long time, my first job was at the age of five as a child clothes model on TV. My father used to take us to eat breakfast with Marlon Brando at the deli, so I’ve been around it as long as I can remember.

Charlie Chaplin was one of my biggest inspirations as a young man. When I first saw The Kid and The Great Dictator, I thought they were good, but then I found out he also directed, wrote and produced them, scored them, and I never realised you could do that. However, after living half a century and many years in the business, I feel like I’m where I want to be. Now I’m the one starring, writing, directing, producing, performing stunts, scoring and editing. I can honestly say that Warhorse One is my best and proudest work as an artist to this day. If I were to be taken from this existence, and if there’s an afterlife of consciousness, and I could look back at what I’ve done, I’d be satisfied I did my best, as an artist, a creative spirit and a man. Even if no one else likes it, or even Ridley Scott, someone I admire, called me and said he didn’t like it, or if he absolutely loved it [laughs], it still wouldn’t change how I feel about it. I’m incredibly proud of the movie. I think if more people created works based on their own personal satisfaction, and not the perceived satisfaction of others, we’d all be enjoying more pure entertainment.

Although you take so many roles across your work, would you say the biggest satisfaction comes from the all-encompassing voice, rather than the sum of its parts?

Yes, it’s about the communication and expression of energy throughout the whole thing. I know the person who wrote the movie cares, because it’s me. I know the person editing the movie cares, because it’s me. I know the person colouring the movie cares, because it’s me. I don’t know if I’d even call it a movie, because it’s bigger than that, it’s everything to me. But what really makes Warhorse One so impressive, in my opinion, is not just my drive, but the fact that the entire cast delivered amazing performances. All of their effort and work makes this story come to life. And the story is what’s important. The medium of film is a modern thing, but storytelling is as old as cave paintings, and I think storytelling serves a very important function in the world. It’s all about intention, whether that’s to inspire and move an audience, or entertain and make them laugh.

Warhorse One behind-the-scenes: Strong with Mike Sauers, tactical advisor, actors Chris Calvert and James Sherrill, and co-director William Kaufman

What keeps pushing and inspiring you?

To wake up and be a tier one human being. A lot of my friends are ex-military, ex professional fighters, etc. Usually people who have to make split decision moves, based on years of training. I guess, that’s why we click mentally and we mutually understand the need to push ourselves and aspire to be the best. You don’t get to be a Navy SEAL by accident, these guys go through the most gruelling tests designed to get rid of people who can’t cut it, and I have the same approach in what I do, from storytelling to creating art. On the film side of the spectrum, I don’t separate it from being a third-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or being a musician, songwriter, painter or a good human being. It’s all the same thing. Don’t be an actor or a garbage man, be a tier one human being. Whatever you do underneath that will fall into place if your first goal is to be a good person.

Every day, I wake up and think, how can I be a better version of myself, in all aspects? Let’s just start by telling someone you love or appreciate them. Push to be the best version physically, mentally and spiritually. And in particular, be honest, because one of the key things is honesty and I don’t think people are honest enough. In society, we lie to each other out of politeness or to avoid embarrassment. I’m often mislabeled an “asshole” in my life and career for being too honest, too confident in my assertion of ideas and place in the world, because people are not used to it [laughs]. They often misinterpret it as ego… but let me tell you, there’s no ego in anything I do.

I’ve been training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 25 years and what BJJ and those severe martial arts do is they’re designed to build the “self,” to make yourself competent and destroy ego, so you don’t need it. When I first showed up to train at Jean Jacques Machado’s, I saw the motto, “leave your ego at the door.” I didn’t understand it at the time, but ego protects the “self” inside our consciousness. Some people protect their ego and try to make it bigger, to insulate their fragile “self.” The ego is the mask that individuals build for protection. In BJJ, your ego simply will not survive that environment. So, at this point in my life, there is no more ego. I just want to be a good human being, make art I’m proud of and I know, in my heart, I’ve done my best work here. I’m extremely proud of Warhorse One and I can’t wait to share it.

Warhorse One is released in selected North America theatres from 30th June and is available On Demand and Digital from 4th July. More territories to follow soon.

Warhorse One - Exclusive Johnny Strong interview (Part 2)