Daniel MacPherson became unrecognisable for his new drama Beast: “I gave it everything”

To say Daniel MacPherson is punching above his weight in the new sports drama Beast is perhaps, an understatement. It’s a complete transformation for the Aussie actor, and it might just be his best work yet.   

Directed by Tyler Atkins, Beast sees Daniel play Patton James, a former MMA world champion whose life takes a wrong turn when he is sentenced to time in prison. Ten years later, he’s tempted back into the ring for a grudge match after his brother falls into debt with the wrong people. 

With heavyweight stars including Russell Crowe and Luke Hemsworth, Daniel tells TV WEEK that Beast unlike anything he’d ever done before.

Daniel MacPherson on filming his fight scenes in Beast

In front of 10,000 people in a mixed martial arts stadium, Daniel is in the fight of his life. Blood-soaked, sweaty and grinding into an opponent with unrelenting ferocity, he desperately punches his way out of a corner. Every pivot, every punch is riveting and raw as the scene from Beast, plays out.

As the crowd bellows abuse and praise towards the octagon, and fans chant the name of their prizefighter, it would be easy for Daniel to get lost in the moment – fight or flight responses engage.

It’s a surreal feeling to play out a fight scene in front of thousands of fans, Daniel explains to TV WEEK. But, for much of the time, what viewers see is real. Most of the cast chose to do their own stunts for the film and the physicality of the shoot was brutal.

Check out the trailer for Beast below:

“We [cast and crew] shot a fight sequence over the course of five days in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand,” Daniel recalls. “On the fourth day, we were in front of a live audience of 10,000 people – we weren’t even doing the choreography [at that point]; we were beating each other up, just fighting.”

In the ring, Daniel sparred with fellow actor and Jujitsu black belt, Bren Foster who plays Xavier in the film. He knew he had to bring his best.

“Thankfully, I was in the Octagon with Bren, who is an extraordinary martial artist, co-star and fight choreographer,” he says. And we had trained obsessively to be able to pull that off.”

Daniel MacPherson on the brutal toll of portraying an MMA fighter

Before it came to fruition, Beast failed to get off the ground on several occasions. When it finally did, Daniel had just 12 weeks to prepare.

Admitting that “I couldn’t throw a punch to save myself”, Daniel packed on 10 kilograms and threw himself into intense training.

“I had four-hour martial arts lessons every day to learn choreography, while I was on a massive calorie deficit,” he says. “That was probably the hardest part. My brain was backfiring.”

And the effort wasn’t without injury.

“I broke my nose, my pelvis. I tore my abductor off my bone – I actually felt it happen in the middle of that shoot [in Thailand], but I just kept going because there was no one to replace me!” he says with a rueful laugh.

Despite the immense challenges of Beast, the Sydney-born star says the project was “the perfect storm” of timing and life experience.

“I was in my early forties… I’d been through fatherhood, divorce, a pandemic and I’d worked on the highest level of television around the world,” Daniel says. “And then I was given a film that took every ounce of my skill set as an actor, athlete and a creative. I gave it everything I could.”

Hollywood stars step up for Beast

The film also reunites Daniel with Oscar winner Russell Crowe, who plays his coach.

“He just elevates everything,” Daniel says of his co-star, who also shares scenes with singer Amy Shark in her acting debut.

Months into filming, Daniel’s friend Luke Hemsworth also arrived to film his own scenes.

“I nearly cried the day Luke stepped on set: I was so exhausted and broken,” Daniel says. “To have him film with me and know I’m in great hands, I loved it.”

Beast was every bit a communal collaboration and Daniel hopes to produce his own films one day, the kind that speak to others the same way Beast spoke to him. As a father to son Austin, five, with his ex-partner Zoë Ventoura, he could instantly relate to a man trying to do right by his family.

“I fell in love with the family aspect,” Dan says of the script. “It had such heart.”

Smiling, he adds that young Austin got to come on set. “He bounced around in the octagon and now he wants to start learning jujitsu!

“The family aspect of making movies and having adventures with and for the people I love… That’s what excites me!”