Actor Luke Evans talks to The Inside Reel about environment, characterization and chemistry in regards to his new action film: “Weekend in Taipei” from Ketchup Entertainment.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00No! No!
00:02No!
00:04No!
00:06No!
00:08No!
00:10No!
00:12Joey, it's been 15 years.
00:14Whether it broke your heart
00:16is not coming back.
00:20You bring me my wife,
00:22and you kill John Lawler.
00:26You said no more secrets.
00:31I'm not going to lose you again.
00:40I see you haven't changed a bit.
00:42Thanks.
00:44I think when we last time was for Echo,
00:46you got to always go to some interesting places.
00:48Environment is so important, I think,
00:50probably for you as an actor,
00:52you know, although you've done a lot of stuff with green screen too.
00:54What does it feel like,
00:56how does it add to it
00:58when you are in a place like Taipei?
01:00Immensely.
01:02Immensely.
01:04It becomes a part of the story.
01:06It's not just a location.
01:08It feeds into everything that you do.
01:10I mean, you know,
01:12the heat,
01:14the sensory aspect of it,
01:16you know,
01:18it changes your performance.
01:20Echo 3 was a perfect example of that,
01:22you know,
01:24working in the Colombian jungles
01:26and Cartagena
01:28and all those amazing places,
01:30Bogota.
01:32It becomes not just a canvas
01:34but a real living part of the story.
01:36Taipei is very unique,
01:38you know,
01:40there's these giant record-breaking
01:42structures in the city,
01:44you know,
01:46and then small little undercurrents of markets
01:48and back streets
01:50and we got to use it all
01:52and really, you know,
01:54utilize the uniqueness
01:56of the city of Taipei
01:58and the expanse of it
02:00and that
02:02only plays into the storyline
02:04and helps you as an actor, you know,
02:06really use that as a tool.
02:08And then what happens?
02:10I was offered a job.
02:12A job? What kind of job?
02:14The only thing I was good at.
02:16Driving.
02:18And then a few years later,
02:20I met her dad.
02:22All right. What do you want to know?
02:24How did you two meet?
02:26Can't remember. It was so long ago.
02:28John, tell the truth.
02:34It was a work thing.
02:36What kind of work thing?
02:38I was a cop.
02:40A DEA agent.
02:42I was sent over here undercover to track a drug shipment
02:44and I was pretending
02:46to be a client following a mule car
02:48that was transporting drugs
02:50and it turned out that the driver
02:52of the car was none other than your mother.
02:54What?
02:56These are really good dumplings.
02:58Yeah, they are. You should do some more.
03:00And she thought
03:02I was a competitor
03:04trying to steal her drugs.
03:06Playing hard to get.
03:08And it was interesting, I talked to, when talking to Sun a little earlier,
03:10you know, the aspect is that by having
03:12these dynamics, I mean, you have the
03:14action element, but the fact of
03:16how it's working with Gui
03:18with the book,
03:20I think it's why it plays Raymond.
03:22There's a whole thing that
03:24it creates a whole other depth.
03:26So when you're doing the fight sequences, it adds
03:28a lot more. Can you talk about that
03:30aspect and physicality actually
03:32informing the emotionality during a scene
03:34in that way?
03:36I like fight sequences
03:38where the character doesn't drop
03:40who he is to do the fight sequence.
03:42You see the character and the
03:44physical expressions of what he does
03:46in the fight sequence is informed by who that
03:48character is. And with John,
03:50John's not a trained fighter.
03:52He's a DEA agent.
03:54But put in a
03:56situation where he has to fight,
03:58he'll use whatever he has around him.
04:00I very much
04:02in the rehearsals for that kitchen sequence
04:04at the beginning of the show, the film,
04:06I
04:08embraced the idea of
04:10using the knives, the crockery,
04:12the woks, the flames, the food,
04:14whatever I had to hand
04:16I think he would have used,
04:18which created a very character-driven
04:20fight sequence where you see
04:22John all the way through it.
04:24You can see him getting
04:26tired while all these
04:28young
04:30Taiwanese gangsters come into the
04:32kitchen and he's like, just give me a minute.
04:34I'm like,
04:36he's in his 40s,
04:38but he'll get through it. And I love that
04:40because I could relate to that.
04:42I was exhausted
04:44that day and I
04:46could have done with a small break and
04:48a bottle of water from the fridge.
04:50I like to make
04:52these, when you have fight
04:54sequences, they always
04:56feel like they should be,
04:58they are part of the character.
05:00It's not just a moment where he becomes superhero-like.
05:02You've still got to see
05:04your character when you do these fight sequences
05:06and I think what we did in this
05:08is,
05:10we did the right thing.
05:12Remember her hair
05:14blowing in the wind and as soon as her eyes met?
05:40That was it. I was hooked.
05:46No, no, no. That's not how I remember.
05:48Oh yeah? No.
05:50Well, how do you remember?
05:52First, I remember
05:54his shoes.
06:00Can't really remember
06:02his face, I don't know why.
06:04But um,
06:06I do remember our first kiss.
06:10You sure that was our first kiss?
06:12Yes, I remember it.
06:14Why don't you?
06:16You're in trouble now.
06:18The characters are invested and that's why you want to
06:20follow them. I mean, you see they have their
06:22fallibilities. I mean, the whole thing
06:24back and forth with Joey, I think really
06:26adds that sort of layer to it.
06:28But also the humor, the thing with the goldfish,
06:30just that little detail
06:32makes everything sort of lighter
06:34even though the stakes are still fairly high.
06:36Could you talk about finding
06:38those moments in between
06:40that really add to the character,
06:42especially when it's running so fast?
06:44Yeah. No, I love that
06:46idea, you know, that he,
06:48you know, the whole thing is falling apart
06:50around him and he sees this little goldfish
06:52in the remains of what was a giant
06:54fish tank and scoops him up
06:56in a tumbler and takes him outside
06:58and saves this little fish.
07:02You know, but when you think about what he does there
07:04and then you think about how Raymond is
07:06protecting dolphins,
07:08you see this very, very thin thread
07:10of possibly how he wants
07:12to protect this little goldfish, but how his son
07:14has taken it to a much higher level
07:16and wants to, you know, save the dolphins
07:18and save the world.
07:20Well, that's just very good writing, you know.
07:22That's writers who are looking for nuance.
07:24That's writers who are looking
07:26at what may not feel like
07:28important detail, but
07:30it resonated with you.
07:32You actually remembered that moment.
07:34And I think that's what sets out an action movie
07:36to an action movie that has a heart
07:38and has emotional connections
07:40from the character to the audience.
07:42And those little details,
07:44they build a character
07:46that is relatable and
07:48likable and flawed
07:50and of all the other things we all are
07:52as human beings, you see all of that
07:54in the characters within this film.
07:58So, you came back after all this time
08:00from Guam, but then you came back
08:02after all this time from Guam,
08:04but not for me?
08:14You're supposed to be dead.
08:15Give it a minute, kid,
08:16and your mom will take care of that.
08:18Okay, mom, seriously,
08:20who is this guy?
08:22I'm an undercover DEA agent.
08:24To finally take Guam's operation down,
08:26I might make a mean
08:28crème brûlée.
08:29What?
08:30Shut up and let me drive.