Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – a spin-off and the ninth movie in Universal's Fast & Furious franchise – opens in theaters in Russia on August 1.

— Your character Deckard Shaw has changed dramatically. He was a villain in Furious 7, but then Shaw transformed into a real hero. Which one of these different Shaw figures do you like most as an actor?

I think him as a villain us very misunderstood. The Shaw character always had a certain path to travel and he was always doing something for the greater good of the family. When we meet him in part seven, he is making movements towards rehabilitating his brother and seeking some kind of revenge for what was done to him. On the perception of who he is as a person from Dominic Toretto point of view, he is a bad guy, from Queeny Shaw’s – his mother – he is a good guy. I have always thought he is a good guy, just woks outside of the law.

— Hobbs and Shaw travel to Moscow. Are you going to visit Russia personally?

I’m hoping to go to Russia. I was supposed to go and then something happened, which was very frustrating for me because it was very important for us to go there.

— Did you require any assistance from stuntmen in this movie and what was the most difficult scene for you?

A lot of these movies are very big, so they have what they call two units working at the same time when they do some of the more dramatic explosions and there is a contingency of stuntmen that are involved. I can’t say I do 100% of everything. But every part of physical hand-to-hand fight is something I’ve done for 20 years. It is not something that you lose, it’s like riding a bike. So in the martial art element it is very important for me that I do on own work.

— Do you like buddy movies as a genre?

— Yes, very much.

— What buddy movie is the best one in your opinion?

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

— Have you ever thought to try other genres? For example, drama, despite the fact that you are in demand as an action actor?

Yes. I did a movie for Steven Knight many years ago called ‘Hummingbird’. It was a very specific sort of dramatic role and for some reason the producers always want to put their fingers in it and they want more fights. They are compelled that I do something physical in the movie. It’s a very frustrating thing, when you try to give some purity to the drama. But we are always searching for new stuff, I have an open door for anything of a certain quality. I am not just a guy who does one thing.

— You are in amazing shape. How much time do you usually spend at the gym and do you have spare time?

It’s a part of what I do. For years now I’ve had enough of a background – I’ve been involved in sports, competition sports, martial arts, gymnastics. As soon as I could walk, my dad would show me how to do a handstand. My brother showed me how to do backflips. I’ve been able to do that for so long and it would feel strange not to continue, and it requires daily practice.

— How many takes you did to complete Bottle Cap Challenge on Instagram?

First, you have to keep a distance, otherwise you’re going to kick someone in the face. It’s not as difficult as you think. I think we had two or three setup shots and then the cap came off.