Video:Ninja Assassin - Rick Yune, James McTeigue Interviews

Transcript:Ninja Assassin - Rick Yune, James McTeigue Interviews

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the LA Premiere of Warner Bros Pictures' Ninja Assassin.

Rick Yune – 'Takeshi' in Ninja Assassin

Tell me about the movie.

Rick Yune: "Well, have you seen it yet?"

No, I haven't seen it yet. You have to tell me everything.

Rick Yune: "It is a kick-ass film. But you're going to care about the characters, which is important. You have these great actors that are children that James McTeigue found. And they make you care about the characters."

So when you guys are getting beat up and thrown around, we're going to feel really sorry for you?

Rick Yune: "You're going to feel sorry for us and you're going to root for us at the same time."

So tell me about your character in particular. Is he a good guy or a bad guy?

Rick Yune: "My character's a very, very bad boy. I've been told I'm very good at it."

Do you enjoy playing bad?

Rick Yune: "I enjoy being a part of the process. It's amazing being here. It's a blessing, a dream come true even having a premiere here at Mann's Chinese. It's amazing. And the Wachowski Brothers, being in one of their films – I saw The Matrix here so I was blown away by that. And that was only a few years ago, so, listen, it's a blessing."

The director went with practical effects rather than a lot of CGI and camera tricks so how was that on you? You can do this type of stuff.

Rick Yune: "Yeah. It was really sort of challenging, but we had a great stunt team and great stunt coordinators. 87eleven team that really allowed us to trust in what was going on so we could flow."

Did you do most of your own work?

Rick Yune: "Yeah, we were in there."

Any accidents on set?

Rick Yune: "There were a lot of accidents on set."

Is this movie just for guys or is there something in here for women?

Rick Yune: "No, there's a love story in there which I heard a lot of women really responding to, so I think you're going to enjoy it."

How's Rain as an actor, because this isn't really his forte?

Rick Yune: "You know, he did very well given the fact that he couldn't speak English so well beforehand. You're going to really be surprised. He pulled it off."

Director James McTeigue

I wanted to know why you decided to go with no CGI, no camera tricks, and just go with the real thing.

James McTeigue: "Because I thought Rain would be good for it. When you get an actor of that ability, you know, you just want to stay back off the action and let him really do it. And I had some really great choreographers and they were able to devise choreography that enabled you to do that, basically."

Was it a lot more difficult than you thought it would be? You've handled action scenes before.

James McTeigue: "Yeah. Well, we had…On the other films you always get a lot more time. We were backing into the writers strike on this film – yeah, back in the deep, dark, distant past. But it was difficult to do it in a short amount of time with the things we were attempting to do actually. But I think it worked out great, actually."

I know you have the ninjas do Parkour. Where did that come from and how did you incorporate that in?

James McTeigue: "Because the guys who were the martial arts choreographers and myself thought it would be good. If you're going to have these guys who appear by stealth and out of the darkness, wouldn't it cool if they could run and leap and disappear like the old-school ninjas. So we got some Parkour guys – we got the best guys in the world, actually – and they went ahead. They're the guys dressed in the ninja suits [in the movie]. I don't know if they're these gentlemen here tonight dressed in the ninja suits."[p] Why are women going to like this?

James McTeigue: "Because you know at the heart of it, the thing that's also different about this movie is that it has like a really great narrative. Why Raizo [played by Rain] actually rejects his family is because of a girl that he falls in love with. That's the catalyst that ultimately sends him on the path to destruct his family."

It's always a woman's fault.

James McTeigue: "That's true, right? That's why they'd be good – they can come and have a look."

And The Raven? Are you doing that for sure?

James McTeigue: "I am doing that for sure. That'll be a cool movie. I've just been over in Europe doing some location scouting, in the middle of casting. Yeah, that's coming along pretty nicely, actually."

Are you aiming for an R with that?

James McTeigue: "Probably. I think I'm an R filmmaker. I'd like to believe that some day I'll make some sort of PG romantic comedy."

Why?

James McTeigue: "Why – right!"

Stick with the R.

James McTeigue: "I'll stick with the R. Good, I'm glad you said that."

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