MoviesOnline sat down with Emmy Rossum and Jamie Chung at the Los Angeles Press Day for their new film, “Dragonball Evolution,” directed by James Wong. Based on the popular Japanese manga created by Akira Toriyama, the film also stars Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun-Fat, James Marsters, Joon Park, Eriko, Ernie Hudson, and Randall Duk Kim.
Emmy Rossum plays Bulma, a beautiful woman intent on retrieving the mystical Dragonballs. She’s a gifted young actress and an accomplished musician. Nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2004 for her starring performance as Christine in the film "The Phantom of the Opera," she won the National Board of Review's Best Female Breakthrough Performance Award and the Broadcast Film Critics Association's Best Young Actress Award in 2005. She starred in the action film "Poseidon," in the blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow," in the Clint Eastwood-directed drama "Mystic River," and in the independent feature "Songcatcher," the latter winning the Special Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble at Sundance in 2001. Rossum's performance in "Songcatcher" earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the category of Best Debut Performance. Her television credits include guest starring appearances on "Law and Order," and "The Practice."
In 2007, Rossum recorded her first album for Geffen records, "Inside Out." Using her classically trained voice as the primary instrument, she wrote and recorded all her own songs. Rossum is working on her second album in between film roles.
Jamie Chung, who plays the young martial artist Chi Chi, had the lead in the hit ABC Family original mini-series "Samurai Girl." The show revolved around Heaven (Chung), the adopted daughter of wealthy parents, who strives to balance a normal life with the Samurai traditions of her ancestors. She recently completed production on the independent film "Burning Palms," directed by Christopher Landen. Set in Los Angeles, the film interlaces five stories in which each character is pulled toward a comically dark fate.
Chung completed production on the remake of the 1983 horror movie "The House on Sorority Row." The film also stars Carrie Fisher, and is currently scheduled for an October 2009 release. Additionally, Chung recently wrapped Disney's television film "The Princess Protection Program," opposite Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. Chung also appeared in the hit movie comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." Her other television credits include a leading role on "ER," a guest-starring stint on "CSI: NY," and recurring appearances on "Greek."
Emmy Rossum and Jamie Chung are fabulous people and we really appreciated their time. Here’s what they had to tell us about their new movie, “Dragonball Evolution”:
Q: Jamie and Emmy, can you talk about your training for this?
Jamie: Samurai Girl was the perfect foundation to prepare me for the conditioning and physical challenges that 87Eleven, which is the stunt group that trained us [to fight] brought. It was a whole different level. We’re talking cable show training to motion picture training, and it was very different and it required a month prior to filming. We trained every day -- physical conditioning, martial arts, wire-works, fight choreography -- and the days that I wasn’t filming while we were on location, it was physical training
Emmy: This completely kicked my ass. I had never done anything like this before. I grew up loving Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, it’s kind of a little bit embarrassing to say. Anything with him is awesome. And I’ve always kind of wanted to do a film like that and I always wanted to play a tougher, more independent, woman character and this was the perfect opportunity to shoot three guns, learn how to ride a motorcycle and dye part of my hair blue. So, in addition to all the training that we did as a team, which was pretty rigorous thinking back on it, I can only imagine it’s kind of like how women describe childbirth. Like it’s really awful when you’re doing it -- hold on, I’m going somewhere with this, I just thought of this over lunch – but two years later you’re like, “Oh, it was amazing, it’s great.” When you’re in it, it’s really awful, but also fun, because we were doing it as a team and it’s like group childbirth.
Q: Do either of you have a dance background that helped you with the fight choreography?
Jamie: I’m sorry, I don’t dance.
Emmy: I was a ballerina when I was little. A lot of it is kind of similar to a dance in that it’s a choreographed motion. Stunt guys have a thing they call the box, which is kind of like a ballet move when you’re in first position. Your hands are like eight inches from you bellybutton, there’s like a box that you’re not supposed to hit out of when actors are fighting each other, and that’s so they don’t hurt each other. So there is a lot of coordination and dance combinations that come in handy, kind of coordinated and rehearsed in a similar kind of way, but when actors get all method and really emotional in fight scenes, people bust their lips and break their toes and all of a sudden the box is like a whole big circle.
Jamie: It’s muscle memory so it’s repetition, repetition, and you get familiar with the movements and it’s lots of training and it’s to look sharp, but I’m not a very good dancer, no.
Emmy: That’s actually not true, she can dance. She was also the best fighter.
Jamie: I just don’t dance
Emmy: She does dance, give her a beer, she’ll dance.
Jamie: Karaoke and dancing
Q: What is your take on the manga anime characters?
Emmy: I loved the manga because it was a little more R rated, and I thought that the character of Bulma – the relationship between Bulma and Roshi always was very funny, and I really enjoyed that in my studies of her. And I think we kind of took everything we could from the manga and understand that some things are going to be changed just by virtue of the fact that you’re a live actor playing it live action. It can’t be exactly like the manga, but you try to bring the spirit and the energy of the characters, and the back story that you learn from the manga, and you bring it to this story, which is really an introduction of those characters.
Jamie: And then make it PG.
Emmy: And then don’t make it naked.
Q: You have some great costumes and also some serious hair in this. Did you enjoy that?
Emmy: It’s actually really good padding for any kind of somersaults or kicks to the head. It was fun for whipping your head around. I got kind of a whiplash.
Jamie: It was fun to look pretty and then fight real tough.
“Dragonball: Evolution” opens in theaters on April 10th.
Source
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment