Kung Fu Panda's kicking success

Saturday 5th July 2008 - 08:15:06

'Kung Fu Panda' looks set to take Europe by storm this summer having already topped the US box office with its high-kicking attitude and dazzling graphics.The movie tells the tale of Po the Panda - voiced by Jack Black - an overweight waiter working in his father's noodle restaurant. Po is a Kung Fu fanatic but his bulky frame limits his ability to perform the intricate moves. Black seems to be the perfect choice for the role - having already nailed performances as a shark and a sabre-toothed tiger in previous animated hits 'Shark Tale' and 'Ice Age' - and the movie part was written with him in mind. "Po reminds me of myself as a kid - an innocent, chubby dreamer," admits Black. Po dreams of Kung Fu glory and idolises the Furious Five - a group of highly-skilled warriors who have been trained by legendary martial arts guru Master Shifu, voiced by Dustin Hoffman.Po's life changes forever when he is unexpectedly chosen to fulfil an ancient prophecy and is named Dragon Warrior. Po must work alongside the Furious Five - Tigress (voiced by Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Crane (David Cross) - to defeat the treacherous snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane) after he escapes from prison. The race is on to transform tubby Po into a black belt fighting machine who must harness his chi before it is too late.Ian McShane is no stranger to playing the bad guy, following turns as the villain of the Old West, Al Swearengen in hit US TV show 'Deadwood', and Captain Hook in 'Shrek the Third'. In 'Kung Fu Panda' he once again commands the screen, lending his chilling voice to the ruthless Tai Lung - who was Shifu's favourite student until he let the power go to his head.

"Tai Lung believes he should have been the Dragon Warrior and wants to reclaim his rightful place. He has been denied it for 20 years," explains McShane.

Po also has to overcome the aggressive and outspoken Tigress, who was hoping to be named Dragon Master. Jolie - who previously voiced the character of sultry temptress Lola in the deep sea animation 'Shark Tale' - was delighted to land the role as the most powerful warrior in the Furious Five.

"I was secretly hoping I go to be Tigress. I love her, she is cool," she says.

Po also faces challenges from Shifu who doubts the portly panda will ever match up to his beloved students. Oscar-winning actor Dustin Hoffman breathes a Zen-like life into Shifu, the tiny red panda who can defeat his deadliest enemies with his little finger. Shifu is not only short in height but also in patience - his withering put-downs aimed at Po make for several hilarious scenes involving two very different characters who must learn to work together.

"Shifu is the most complex character in the movie. He is an unforgiving taskmaster who is tormented by ghosts from the past. We needed a great actor to bring him to life," says director John Stevenson.

Although Black is used to playing the wise-cracking goofy underdog, he doesn't resort to lazy or formulaic acting in this movie. He constantly ad-libbed during the recording of the film and brings an endearing warmth to Po. You can't help but laugh at him, but ultimately find yourself willing the unlikely hero to succeed in the end.

"We wanted Po to be enthusiastic, vulnerable, innocent, likeable and eager - all the best things at the heart of Jack's characters," says fellow director Mark Osbourne.

Stevenson was determined 'Kung Fu Panda' should carry a clear message to children - that even the unlikeliest character can save the day. "We wanted the film to have something kids could take away - be your own hero. You are empowered to achieve anything you want if you set your mind to it," he explains.

While 'Kung Fu Panda' is a family comedy, it also boasts the same high-octane action scenes that made martial arts movies in the 70s so successful.

"The fight scenes are extraordinary. The scene where the Furious Five battle Tai Lung on a bridge is so exciting. To see all the different styles of fighting from the different animals is really clever. It was so much more than I had anticipated," says Jolie.

Here, the movie's stars Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Lucy Liu and the directors John Stevenson and Mark Osbourne talk about Kung Fu, Hannibal Lector, their favourite cartoons and how an underdog can overcome the scariest of villains.

Q. Jack, what attracted you to the role of Po?

Jack Black: Kung Fu has always fascinated me, so when I was asked if I would be interested in voicing the character of Po, it was a tantalising offer.

There are so many wonderful characters in the movie, especially Kung Fu master Shifu who was voiced by my hero Dustin Hoffman. And the scariest villain since Darth Vader, Tai Lung, portrayed by Ian McShane. I was sold.

Q. Dustin, was there anything that you wanted to change about your character?

Dustin Hoffman: Yes, I wanted him to look more like Brad Pitt but they didn't listen. I wanted him taller, better looking, but Jack Black had already made those demands! A little bit, I rarely get the chance to alter my own nose so I shortened his a bit.

Q. Dustin, when you were doing action sequences did you find yourself doing the moves?

DH: No that didn't come up until the very end of the recording where they had me come in to do the noises and that was the hardest part.

Finally I said, 'Why don't you just get some porn actors, it's the same sound! Ahh, Oooo, Ahh!'

Q. Mark, was a given that the central figure would be a panda simply because pandas are comical looking creatures?

Mark Osbourne: Pandas are cute and I think the idea of a panda doing Kung Fu was quite comical so the origin of the idea was actually in the title. A panda is the unlikeliest candidate to be a Kung Fu master. It's not a brand new story to tell but we wanted to tell the story of the unlikeliest hero.

DH: That's his answer, when Jeffery asked me if I wanted to be in a film called Kung Fu Panda I thought it was the end of a distinguished career.

Q. Lucy, I suspect that as a young girl growing up you were a big devotee of the world of animation and cartoons. Is doing a film like this is a dream come true?

Lucy Liu: It is. I think that when you watch television when you're younger you don't know that it's made up. Your imagination is such an open field. To understand later on in life that those voices are coming from a person and not from the actual cartoon itself is a shocking thing to realise.

Children see that character, they see that animal and that's a human being to them and that's why every child in the world wants to be a veterinarian. So to come on board and do this project has been a huge dream of mine. To be part of that world of magic is amazing.

Q. What cartoons you were brought up on when you were growing up?

DH: I may reveal my age. I'm 70, the first film I ever saw in my life was 'Bambi'.

It was a traumatic experience, I still suffer from it. Those animals get killed in the forest! When I started having kids and you're reading children's stories you know, you start reading 'Pinocchio' and you're telling your three-year-old child, "And Pinocchio was in front of the fireplace and he fell asleep and after a while his legs were burnt up to the knee," and that's in that storybook.

Second film was 'Dumbo'. Eternally identified, not big ears but we know what I substituted that with.

LL: Well we didn't go out to movies very often. Actually the first movie that I ever saw was 'E.T.' when we were older. But we did watch TV. We were latch-key kids so we would walk ourselves home from school and let ourselves in and we'd sit in front of the TV and we watched all of the television cartoons. We watched 'Bugs Bunny and Friends' and 'Woody Woodpecker' and 'Sylvester and Tweety'.

I just never put together that there were people voicing those things. And then when they said later on, so and so died who was the voice of Porky Pig it was shocking.

Ian McShane: I really liked 'Popeye' and 'Looney Tunes'.

Q. Ian, were persuaded to do this film because you realised you were going to lend your voice to the scariest cartoon villain ever?

IM: No, I was seduced by the fact that they brought me down to nerd heaven - the DreamWorks animation department! They showed me a sequence they had done using my voice from 'Deadwood', it was amazing.

To play a villain like this is a great opportunity and I remember my favourite growing up was George Sanders playing Sheer Khan in 'Jungle Book' so there was a little touch of that and some of my character Al Swearengen from 'Deadwood'.

John Stevenson: At the beginning when we were trying to figure out the voice it was a scale between George Sanders as Sheer Khan on one end and Al at the other saying, "A bit more Al a bit less George," until we got it right.

Q. When we first see Ian's character there appear to be certain similarities to him and Hannibal Lector.

JS: Yes indeed. That whole first scene with the introduction of Ian's character, where basically Ian only appears as a shadow - that's exactly the same as the introduction to Hannibal Lector. It's all about Ian's character - the size of the prison, the number of guards it takes for people to feel he's constrained, the darkness and the mood and the ominous music. All of that is setting up Ian's character but it was unapologetically Hannibal Lector inspired.

Q. Dustin, how did you get involved in this movie?

DH: I didn't know these things take four years and they first think of them nine years ago. I got involved, reluctantly.

They showed me one sketch these guys have been doing for years and years before you even meet them. They say, "Here's the sketch," it's the first time you have to do a character that's already sketched out so what's the guy like? Because they keep changing the script, which is the way all movies should be made by the way.

I realised and I'm sure my co-artists will agree, at a certain point you say if you're going to do it, you're going to put yourself in their hands.

Had this film flopped, each of those would be pointing but they deserve the credit for the success because it's their vision, it's their imagination, it's their taste and we're lucky because it could have been the end.

Q. Dustin, how did you feel about doing an animation where you are stuck in a glass room on your own with no one to bounce off? Was it a good or revealing experience?

DH: Well they didn't tell me that I would be on my own. They didn't tell me anything but I took it for granted that I would be in a room with me, Lucy, Angelina and Jack.

I thought we'd have a microphone, we'd be interacting. They didn't tell me it would be in isolation.

You're in the room on your own with a microphone with these guys who very quickly become easy to hate, "do it again louder" - you feel like you're a beginning actor. And there's a camera above your head and it's recording everything that you do because when you're acting you're using your hands and your face and they take that film and they give it to the animators and the animators incorporate that with the image that they've already constructed which is interesting.

I do think it's a new art form, I hate to say it I used to think they were cartoons but they've moved on.

Q. Lucy, could you identify with your character Viper?

LL: Viper is quite lethal, but she is actually quite sweet. She is the first character to warm to Po and have some compassion for him.

Q. John and Mark, how did you make the Kung Fu look authentic without delivering a certificate which alienated your target young audience?

JS: We wanted to go right to the crispy edge of PG. We wanted to make sure our Kung Fu was real albeit done by animals. We wanted to have consequences because otherwise there's no emotional investment in the film and it was a balancing act to see how intense we could be, without stepping over the line.

There's no blood or breaking teeth but we pushed the action to be as intense as possible. We wanted Ian to be as terrifying as possible - we didn't want to compromise.

I think fairytales have a very important function and it's to prepare kids in some ways, for bad things in the world and if you extract that from any fairytale then you're patronising children.

Walt Disney made a pact with his audience back in the days of 'Snow White' and 'Bambi' which was, "I'm going to scare you but it's going to be OK" and that was the same pact that we adopted.

DH: That's what my wife said!

Q. Ian, I was wondering have you thought how much you owe to landing a role in the hit US TV show 'Deadwood'?

IM: It was three extraordinary years.

The show was great but you have no idea what comes afterwards. It was a great job to do and wonderful people to work with. I never had any doubt about doing it. It's interesting because some people are put off, I'm reading a script we're doing now and I know a few distinguished actors turned the part down because they found the language offensive but I think sometimes people come from another generation.

DH: That's a nasty guy that you played so I'm just curious, when that became a hit what type of women approached you?

IM: It was nasty women who said, 'I just love the way you said c**k sucker.' I think they just wanted to say that word. They would say, 'I just love that word and I never thought of saying it. Say it again! My mother just loves the way you say c**k sucker.'

Q: Did Jack improvise much when he was recording his part?

MO: I think for Jack about half of what was in the movie was ad libs, improvised and played with beyond what was actually on the page. It was very valuable to us to inspire the animators to get something that was really lively and fresh and more pure Jack.

Q. Jack, did you ever take any martial arts classes?

JB: When I was a kid I took karate and judo classes. I even won a trophy but I outweighed my opponent by a good 20lbs!

Q. Dustin, have you ever done any martial arts training before?

DH: My kids took judo, I never did any of that. It's wonderful as a parent to take kids but that was after my time.

In 'Meet the Fockers' I had to learn capoeira and I wasn't very good at it. I had to show the director after a few lessons and he said, 'Just do the best you can.' That got a lot of laughs!

I didn't learn much about martial arts, but Jack Black is extraordinarily flexible and actually can do all of that stuff!

I didn't know that it had an intellectual aspect to it. In other words not only are they fit and extraordinarily disciplined athletes, but there is an intellectual element involved. They're trying to convince their opponent of their own strength - it is like high speed chess in a way.

By Lucy O'Loughlin