'Ninja Assassin' lets Rain shine

By Stephen Schaefer
Friday, November 27, 2009

Will "Ninja Assassin" make Asian star Rain a celebrity in the United States?

South Korea's pop idol drops the love songs to star in this R-rated made-in-Berlin bloodbath.

"Ninja Assassin" presents Rain as Raizo, an orphan raised in a remote monastery-style compound who under a sadistic grandmaster learns the art of killing and to endure intense physical punishment.

As the movie begins, Raizo has become a revenge-seeking rogue while protecting a Europol agent (Naomie Harris).

Rain was personally selected for the role by producers the Wachowski brothers when he was filming their "Speed Racer."

"Larry and Andy offered it to me, and how could I say no?" he explained inaccented English as he sat with a translator in Manhattan's London NYC hotel.

Rain, 27, was trained in dancing, not martial arts. "I wanted to challenge myself, to find where my limit is," he said.

"I had all the stunts," he added. "There's no wire, no camera tricks. No green screen. We had classic filming. It was real."

All those stunts?

"Well, 90 percent of them. I had to make my body fit, like Bruce Lee. I trained for eight months for five days a week, five hours a day. Only chicken breast and vegetables."

He made a face. Chicken is no longer on his menu. "When I finished my movie I said, 'No more vegetables, no chicken breast, no more almonds.'"

Rain "learned lots of martial arts, tae kwon do, sword, double sword, chain, a lot."

Born Jeong Ji-hoon, Rain said his moniker was given to him when he was 10 and just started his whirling-dervish dance moves. "My friends would say, 'Hey Rain.' 'Why call me Rain?' 'When you’re dancing it looks like Rain.' That's my name."

As for the future - and a possible sequel - Rain cracked a smile. "Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie (Chan) are my heroes but I'm so powerful, so handsome and so young, I'm a new action star," he said, then laughed.

Source: www.bostonherald.com