Following the success of her After films (After Ever Happy, After We Fell, etc.), actor-writer-director Castille Landon has a new romantic adventure hitting the masses this week. Starring Kiana Madeira (Taken), Perfect Addiction centers on trainer Sienna, who thinks that she and champion boyfriend Jax (Matthew Noszka) are the perfect team. That is, until the day she discovers him cheating on her with her own sister. Bent on revenge, Sienna starts training the one man capable of dethroning Jax: his arch-nemesis Kayden (Ross Butler). What begins as payback quickly turns into something much more heated as boundaries are blurred — and workouts get steamy.
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Perfect Addiction is based on the acclaimed webnovel by Claudia Tan, who recently told MovieWeb that she has already written a follow-up in the works. We also caught up with Kiana Madeira and director Castille Landon, who dished about their unique spin on the classic romance saga. They director and star of Perfect Addiction talks about how they prepped for an MMA-laced film and their other projects in the works. Read our exclusive interviews below.

Kiana Madeira on Playing the ‘Romantic Center’

MW: Could you talk about your character Sienna and why you were drawn to playing the role?

Kiana Madeira: I grew up loving sports movies, and I never really knew if I would end up playing in a sports movie. And if I was going to, I didn’t imagine that it would be MMA. So when I got the script, I was like, “Wow.” First of all, it’s an amazing opportunity, because being a woman and leading a film like this where I get to play an athlete, but also be like the romantic center of the story, those two don’t often go hand in hand. It’s usually either one or the other. So for me, that was a huge draw.

MW: What was it like working with director Castille Landon?

Kiana Madeira: It is amazing. She is so intelligent, so talented. She’s just a boss. She has this really calm energy to her, and she just also knows how to get things done without needing to scream at people. She doesn’t feel like she needs to assert her authority. She just kind of holds that in her presence, which I think is very inspiring. And she just knows what she wants. So the set days are very efficient. She used to be an actor, so she knows how to speak to actors. So her communication is really great.

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MW: What went into training and preparing to play your MMA fighter character?

Kiana Madeira: I was training for eight weeks leading up to traveling for the film, I was training in New York City, where I live. And I was doing MMA training at Anderson’s Academy with SiFu Dan Anderson, who was great. I trained five days a week with him for an hour. And then right after that, I would go train with my trainer and lift weights and then do more of the actual workout aspect of it. So in the beginning, it was extremely hard. It was a learning curve, for sure. And when we got to Poland to film, we did two weeks of like a fight camp, where we were training with our stunt doubles and with our stunt coordinator, Keith Davis. And we were training like six hours a day when we got there.

MW: Would you welcome the opportunity to play another fighter-type role in the future?

Kiana Madeira: Yes, I would definitely love that opportunity. It’s interesting, in our industry, as actors, sometimes we’re told like, “You don’t want to be pigeonholed,” or, “You don’t want to be put in a box.” And I just love breaking stereotypes. And I think that just because one character is a female and she’s a fighter, doesn’t mean that you’re going to see that exact same character in every situation where she’s a fighter, you know? People are coming from all different walks of life. And just because they’re action stars or doing action films, doesn’t mean they have to fit a stereotype. So I’m definitely interested in navigating that and kind of breaking those molds.

MW: I love horror films and was curious what it was like working on the Fear Street projects for Netflix?

Kiana Madeira: It was great. I think working on set in horror films is such a great way to strengthen your craft as an actor, because so much of it is being drawn from your imagination. A lot of it is edited in post, and in horror films specifically, you have to be so genuinely scared. And that is such an intense emotion to curate on your own. So as an actor, I felt like every day was like a masterclass on what it’s like to be truthful in the most, made-up circumstances. Fear Street taught me a lot about acting and what it’s like to lead a film. That was my first time actually leading. So that actually really lends itself to Perfect Addiction in that way.

MW: Are there other projects that you’re working on currently, that you’d like to share about?

Kiana Madeira: I’m promoting another film right now, it’s called Brother, directed and written by Clement Virgo. It’s a film that we shot in Canada, and it’s doing really well on its Canadian run right now. We got nominated for like 14 Canadian Screen Awards, and it’ll be coming to the U.S. shortly. So I’m excited for the people on this side of North America to be able to see it very soon.

Castille Landon on Directing an Athlete-Driven Film

DECAL

MW: As director, what was it about Perfect Addiction that made you want to join the project?

Castille Landon: I have always been really interested in sports, not necessarily the athletic part of it, but the mentality of it. So I’m always really drawn to stories that focus on athletes because I think that there’s such an obsessive quality. And having to combine that, mind, body, spirit, whatever it is, it’s such an elite thing that you have to do with your body. I’m always drawn to those stories.

And then with this one, having a romantic component, I also am always drawn to romance. So being able to kind of combine those two things, and I think especially with MMA and having a female and male character that are so strong, it was really an interesting challenge coming from the world of [the] After [Netflix franchise] to then marry it with this, the physical bodies making love-meets-the physical bodies doing these incredible acts of athleticism. So that’s really what I was drawn to with this project.

Related: Exclusive: Perfect Addiction Clip Delivers an Action-Packed Look at the Sports Romance Movie

MW: Did you have to do a lot of research into MMA fighting in getting ready to shoot this movie?

Castille Landon: I watched a lot of stuff. And also, I had a really wonderful stunt coordinator who has a background in MMA. And that was really important because obviously, I can only know so much, but you have to bring in the experts in any movie that you’re doing. You’re only as good as your collaborators, really. So I found someone who’s really great. His name’s Keith, and he helped a lot. But then also, I did a lot of research, especially looking into the world of female mixed martial arts.

And I also have a background, in that my mom and dad are both martial artists. My dad does that for a living, he’s a Sensei and has his own dojo, not in MMA in a different form of karate, Yasha Kai karate. But I kind of like grew up with martial arts being a thing. So I very much understand the mentality. I guess that’s another thing that drew me to this particular project.

MW: You’ve been in front of the camera, you’ve written and directed. Is there a particular craft you enjoy the most?

Castille Landon: Definitely directing. I mean, I love writing, [but] it’s like a hate-love thing, and I have to really be disciplined about it and kind of in the mood to do it and inspired. And like, if the wind blows the wrong way, then I’m annoyed, especially with rewrites. That’s the worst. And it’s a solitary endeavor. It’s just not as fun as being able to direct, particularly directing on set as opposed to the pre-production process, which is really when all the work is done. And the post process, when it’s just me and an editor in a room. I love being able to interact with actors, I think that’s just the greatest gift. And then acting, I’ll do it in other people’s films.

MW: Are there other projects you’re currently working on, that you’d like to share about?

Castille Landon: Yeah, I’m, I’m about to start filming a movie called Summer Camp that I am doing with Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, Eugene Levy, Alfre Woodard, and all of these [actors] on the completely opposite end of the spectrum. Thus far, I’ve done so many movies specifically targeted to towards young women and starring quite young casts. And this one’s the exact opposite, one that’s targeted towards an older female audience with an older cast, kind of legendary cast. So we’ll see how it goes.

From Decal Releasing, Perfect Addiction is now available on demand (April 14).