(Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix)
There’s a new Black action star on the scene, and from the looks of one of his first high-profile movies, he’s here to stay.
Aaron Pierre, the tall, muscular star from the hit action film, Rebel Ridge, on Netflix is causing a stir with the ladies and making men step up their game in the gym.
Pierre’s character is an ex-Marine, and the victim of unjust civil forfeiture of funds he was planning to use to bail out his cousin from jail. When he decides to set matters right, the conflict results in a slew of action sequences as Richmond works to expose small town corruption. For Pierre to prep for the physically-challenging role, that meant hitting the weights, wrestling mats, and boxing bags to feel as authentic as possible.
This high-level effort wasn’t totally new to him, though. Pierre has practiced in martial extensively (in boxing and jiu jistu), and often pairs it with strength training and calisthenics even when he’s not training for a role.
“Day to day, I train at the gym, and I’m a student of martial arts, specifically boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu,” explains Pierre to GQ Magazine. “So I’m training. For Rebel Ridge, everything that I do on a daily basis rocketed up. We increased the intensity of all those respective physical engagement activities by a considerable amount. We were based in New Orleans, and Jeremy [Saulnier, Rebel Ridge’s writer, director, and producer] had set up a warehouse with the stunt team and everyone involved in realizing the final version of Terry Richmond. And there we would do pedal bike training, boxing, wrestling, sparring. We would do all of the things to help create, as a team, this character.”
“It is the most humbling thing in the world,” he told Mens Health of his martial arts training. He’s always learning something new from his physical practices. “I love being a student. I love being a sponge and absorbing, and just putting myself in situations where I have to evolve, I have to grow.”
Pierre holds a similar mentality when it comes to his strength training workouts. He wants to continue developing his body, and plans to train to continue to out-do his best efforts even as he gets older. “I’m focused on evolution and growing and definitely longevity,” he says. “That’s really how I try to train—in ways that contribute to my shelf date.”
Aaron Pierre’s “Rebel Ridge” Back Day:
“I’m always a student, always learning, always being a sponge,” confesses Pierre. “Yes, it did contribute to my development and my contribution to the final version of Terry Richmond, but a lot of him is also in the team that Jeremy assembled. It’s more than just martial arts experience. It’s the mental fortitude that comes with being a Marine, from being a MCMAP instructor. The mental fortitude that comes with that world is something that I don’t have, so I needed to learn what that is and how I can try as best I can to authentically implement that into a character that I’m trying to convincing and authentically portray.”
“It was a very intentional way of eating,” he says. “I have to shout out the catering department, who were always so kind as to feed me and nourish me during the entirety of the shoot with the foods that were necessary. Everything was beautifully prepared, everything was tremendously clean and nutritious. Whole foods. And I’m grateful to them, because without the correct nutrition, you can’t sustain the intensity of the training that I was doing during that time.”
When asked what thing in his diet that he had to let go of, Pierre mentioned something that many of us struggle with.
“I think the thing the thing that I found most challenging was my love for cookies and doughnuts and cake,” confessed Pierre. “It was challenging at first. But after a while, in my experience, I found a rhythm of what my life and my dietary journey looked like without it. And once I found that rhythm, I didn’t miss it so much.”
Aaron Pierre joins the DC superhero series as John Stewart opposite Friday Night Lights veteran Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan in HBO’s upcoming Laterns series based upon the DC comic hero, Green Lantern.
The series director and current head of the DC Universe, James Gunn, says he’s always been a fan of Pierre’s work.
“Aaron Pierre is somebody who I’ve wanted to work together with for a long time. People don’t know, but he was almost cast as Adam Warlock,” Gunn revealed during a 2023 comic con panel when referring to The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 blockbuster movie.
Gunn continued to praise Pierre during the DCU presentation, stating, “He’s an amazing actor, and I just really admired him from the beginning of his career. Seeing him read with Kyle was one of those miraculous moments. I don’t care what they’re saying, I just love what they’re saying together.”
We only wish only amazing things for the talented actor.
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