Muscle_&_Fitness_JulyAugust_2016

think The Purge: Anarchy showed
Hollywood that people still like
movies like that, and I’m in a small
pool of guys who can sell that. A
lot of times movies get made, and
I don’t really believe that the guy
who’s doing the action is really ‘the
guy.’ I think that maybe all the stuff
that I do makes me the guy.”
THE LAST ROUND
I love training more than acting, but
there’s not a career there for me.
see if you’re really a tough guy.
Guys need to make themselves look
harder than they are. But if you’ve
had any kind of training, you can
immediately tell if a guy’s ever had
an altercation.”
Grillo’s authenticity as a badass has
made him an obvious choice for violent
and heroic characters, which he
enjoys playing but sees as a doubleedged
sword. He looks for roles that
let him draw on his blue-collar roots
and athleticism but is wary of being
typecast as a thug or bruiser. He’s
particularly proud of his work in
2014’s The Purge: Anarchy, wherein
he played a cop who, while out to
avenge his son, shifts focus to protecting
innocents.
“You saw the vulnerability and
pain the character was in. If I’m
doing a movie where there’s an
emotional payoff at the end of the
journey, then cool,” he says. “If it’s
just a rote, paint-by-numbers tough
guy, then I’m not interested.” Grillo
acknowledges that his look, and, yes,
his muscles, can be limiting in the
eyes of movie directors, but he sees
great potential in his niche.
“I’m certainly not going to be in
The Danish Girl,” he says, “but I
don’t mind that. I had this discussion
with CAA [Creative Artists
Agency] recently. I have a certain
look, and we don’t need to be afraid
of it. We need to lean into it. Let’s
find great scripts, work with great
people, and elevate the genre.”
What Grillo aspires to do is fill the
void left behind by his heroes: 1970s
action stars like Steve McQueen
and Charles Bronson—men who
were physical and undeniably tough
but not larger than life. Not comical.
“Those movies were about real
people, no gimmicks. Look at The
French Connection, Death Wish, and
Escape from New York. They were
unapologetically unsentimental. I
While Grillo is still leading on the
scorecards in his bout with Father
Time, age is a factor for everyone
who makes his living with his body.
And Grillo’s love of a good fight may
be accelerating it in some respects.
“I took a shot a couple of days ago,”
he says, pointing to his forehead. “My
eyes crossed. And one thing you don’t
ever do when you’re fighting is stop.
You just don’t quit. So I’m trying to
get my head straight, and my eyes
suddenly popped back into place and
I was OK. Then I took another three
rounds of punishment.”
However, Grillo still sees spots in
his peripheral vision. He saw an eye
doctor, who told him some of the gel
around his retinas had detached. “So
now I have to be careful. Some of it
looks like little hairs. There are little
dots. One looks like a seahorse that’s
right here,” he says, pointing to the
upper righthand corner of his field
of vision. As a result, Grillo plans to
reduce his sparring going forward
and spend more time lifting weights.
But as long as the flesh is strong
enough, Grillo’s spirit will be willing.
He recently had a conversation
with fellow pugilist-turned-performer
Liam Neeson, his co-star in
2011’s The Grey. Neeson, of course,
has had his own challenges playing
heroes of substance and avoiding
repetition of the I-will-find-youand-I-will-kill-you
variety.
“I called him up and said, ‘I’m getting
offered all these action movies.
What do I do?’ He said, ‘Frankie,
how’s the money?’ I said, ‘The
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