Jason Momoa Goes Naked on Video for Men’s Health Issue May 2023

“I WOULD HAVE gotten dressed up …”—Jason Momoa, upon greeting the film crew at his current New Zealand abode. Momoa, bathrobed but mostly naked, is deep into an eight-month shoot for his upcoming Apple TV+ series Chief of War, which Momoa cowrote, codirects, and stars in. Which means Momoa has made New Zealand home for the year, taking along his dog, his entourage, and everything he needs for his workouts, which include weight training, boxing, and climbing. 

In a partially nude and totally unhinged interview, the Men’s HealthMay/June cover star gave us a tour inside his temporary crib. Momoa appears to be subsisting on a diet of poi and Guinness as he stays in shape for the role of Ka’iana, who sought to unify Hawaiian kingdoms in the late eighteenth century.

“It’s like my Braveheart or Dances with Wolves,” Momoa tells us of the film. “I never thought it would be this big. It’s the hardest, most challenging, most demanding thing I’ve ever done. It’s the last big dream I have left. Everything else is just kind of ‘actor for hire,’ but this is my homage to my people. We have so many beautiful stories in Hawaii that no one knows about. All I care about is just doing right by my people.”

Momoa says he relies on kettlebells, banded exercises, boxing, and climbing to stay in shape for his stunts. 

He also rides his motorcycle to clear his head. And occasionally a mountain bike. Sometimes dressed. Sometimes naked.

Now he’s living in Auckland, pouring his heart into his work for the next year or so. (After Chief of War, he’s shooting an undisclosed blockbuster-to-be there.) He’s nesting in a duplex warehouse surrounded by the things and people helping him be creative: his own kettlebells and boxing gear, his vinyl, his guitars, his mountain bikes, his vintage Land Rover, and a fridgeful of packs of poi (a Polynesian snack made from taro root, bananas, or pineapple mixed with coconut cream) and cans of Guinness, plus a chef, a trainer, a Hawaiian-language teacher, and a squad of artistic collaborators he’s worked with for years at his production company, Pride of Gypsies.

“See” is an Apple TV+ series set in a post-apocalyptic future where the majority of the population has lost the ability to see. Jason Momoa stars as Baba Voss, a fierce warrior and leader of a tribe of sighted individuals. When a set of twins born with sight are discovered, Baba Voss must protect them from those who would seek to exploit their abilities.

No doubt Momoa misses his family, but he also recognizes this is the life he’s chosen. “I don’t get to see my kids right now for a very long time. I gotta share things with them,” he says, his rapid-fire speech pattern slowing way down. “I’m doing everything that I want to do, everything that I’m designed to do. And you’ve got to do that. I want my children to know that and do that. I worked for a very long time when they were young doing shit I didn’t want to do to put food on the table. And now? You should only work with the people you wanna work with. You should create with the people you wanna create with. And if you’re not, then you got one shot in this life—you gotta get the fuck out. Whatever situation you’re in, you gotta find your path, you know?”

This story appears in the May/June 2023 issue of Men’s Health.

Photography Jason Roman.