Rain at the "Ninja Assassin" Asia Junket Press Conference

Rain at the "Ninja Assassin" press conference held at Seoul's Lotte Hotel on November 9, 2009 [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

Rain's position as an Asian superstar was re-confirmed by the slew of Asian journalists from Hong Kong, Malaysia, India and Philippines who attended the Asia Junket Press Conference for his film "Ninja Assassin", held at Seoul's Lotte Hotel on November 9. In the movie, shown to the media two days prior to the press conference, Rain plays a "chop-up murdering machine" -- a character who endlessly cuts, slashes and slices up his enemies -- but also manages to keep a warm heart. Rain's action scenes as Raizo, the world's best assassin who plots revenge against the Ninja organization which trained him to become a killing machine, turned out to be far more intense than seen in the teaser video. The amount of blood, meat and bone marrow splashing from the cruel chopping in the movie was worthy of a slasher movie and earned the film a no-teenagers-allowed, R-rating.


Scenes from the movie "Ninja Assassin" [Warner Brothers]

"Ninja" revolves so strictly around the lead actor Rain that even the producers -- the famous Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski brothers who directed the "Matrix" trilogy -- said that they "could not have made this movie without Rain". Even Rain himself, who filmed his first leading role in Hollywood with industry heavyweights such as the Wachowski brothers and Joel Silver, expressed his confidence in "Ninja", stating that "this is the real deal". Below is the Q&A session at the press conference for the movie, which opens on November 26.

Q: You showed Before & After pictures of your muscle training in the making-the-film footage released today. We thought you had a great body before you did "Ninja Assassin", but looking at the pictures, it doesn't even compare to the body you have now. (laugh) The training process and the filming must have been exhausting.

Rain: First of all, I have lost all the muscle that I had gained while shooting the movie. (laugh) But I really tried very hard during the training. I had always worked hard in the past too, but shooting this film was like life and death for me. Even for the wire actions, I only got enough help to balance my body and I did about 90 percent of the stunts as long as it wasn't too dangerous. So I tried to make my body very light and, as a result, I got rid of all the fat in my body.

Q: If you did all the intense actions scenes, you must have suffered a lot of injuries.

Rain: I did get hurt a lot but it the effort was worth it and I worked hard. Luckily, nothing got broken but I still have a lot of cuts left on my body. They are like my badges of honor. (laugh)


Singer and actor Rain [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

Q: With such demanding physical workouts, there must have been moments when you felt like you had reached your limit mentally. How did you overcome such moments?

Rain: Honestly, I wanted to go back to Korea every time things got hard. I wanted to go back to Asia, do a lot of concerts and shoot dramas and films in Korea. Every time I asked myself, why in the world am I living like this? But I couldn’t give up because of my pride. The crew had really teased me a lot. (laugh) When I would lift a 100-kilo dumbbell, they would say it’s too light. They would say things like, "I taught Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and you are the worst" and that really got to me. Afterwards, I would watch Hollywood action movies, like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan's, countless times and study my action moves. Raizo needed to have a uniqueness in his action moves. And every morning, I would read newspapers clips and think to myself that I need to show them what I can do, not just tell them. I actually got more strength from misleading articles about my U.S. debut and negative fan reviews. (laugh) Even if this attempt fails, it was my responsibility to show them the outcome.

Q: Are there any similarities between your character Raizo, the perfect Ninja Assassin, and yourself?

Rain: I'm not as introverted or as cool as Raizo. (laugh) I like to talk and hang out with people, so I don't think I could live a secluded life like Raizo did. I don’t have much in common with Raizo and I don't think I should. Well, maybe just the fact that when we set a goal, we both work hard to achieve it. (laugh)

Q: Compared to your Hollywood debut film "Speed Racer", you have so much more lines in this movie. Were there any difficulties in delivering your lines in English?

Rain: I went from playing a supporting role to a leading role so it's only natural that I had more lines and I'm grateful for that. I always had a coach beside me to help with the English lines. Actually, what director James McTeigue and the Wachowski Brothers wanted was acting coming from within me more than me just delivering the lines. We used a lot of close-up shots to catch the movements of my eyebrows or facial expression in detail. It was harder to express my inner emotions through subtle facial expressions.

Q: What was it like working with the Wachowski Brothers for the second time after "Speed Racer"?

Rain: The Wachowski Brothers have incredible imagination. And they are the kind of people who can turn their imagination into reality. Of all the things that they said to me, there is nothing that hasn't come true. They have the ability to bring out their imagination onto film, and I found it amazing that they were kind to everyone. They were producer for this film, unlike in "Speed Racer", but to me they are the best directors.


Rain in front of the movie poster [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

Q: "Speed Racer" wasn’t a commercial success. How much commercial success are you expecting for "Ninja Assassin"?

Rain: "Speed Racer" hit No. 2 on the box office in its opening week, but I was disappointed that it didn't create as huge a sensation as I had expected. But I wasn't as ambitious back then. I was happy just getting my name on a Hollywood movie as part of the main cast. And with that one movie, people in Hollywood got to know me and I was given more opportunities and that's how I got to do "Ninja Assassin". I am hoping that it's a commercial success, but you don't always make it on the first try, do you? I think I gained a lot of things from this movie, no matter how it fares commercially. It's an R-rated movie and a genre film, so I think it could be a massive hit among action manias. If I keep knocking on this door ten or twenty times, there will come a time someday when I'm No. 1 on the box office, right? (laugh)

Q: Like you said, the movie has so many cruel, violent scenes that it got an R-rating. The existing fans of Rain and the movie audience could collide.

Rain: From the beginning, what the Wachowski Brothers requested was, "Forget about the pop star Rain. Forget about the person Jung Ji-hoon. From now on, you are a martial arts fighter and a killer." I lived like that for eight months. I was confident about myself whomever I met, I even felt like I should enter a martial arts competition after the movie finished. (laugh) First of all, I'm relieved that young female fans can't watch the film and I think I'll gain a lot of male fans. Of course, the existing female fans can watch "Ninja Assassin" and unload their stress. Rather than imagining a certain image they have of me, I think they'll find a different appeal about me after seeing this movie. Even I couldn't find a single scene, from beginning to end, where I was the singer Rain or the person Jung Ji-hoon. So I was satisfied.

Q: The last scene of the movie hints at a sequel, somewhat. Do you have any plans for doing sequels?

Rain: The last scene is where Raizo is looking down at the world from on top of a wall, and you can see from the look in his eyes that he is silently crying out something on the inside. But I actually don’t know anything for sure. I have signed a couple more contracts but I think it'll depend on how this movie does. I have a good feeling about it though.

Q: Producer Joel Silver complimented that you are going to be "an actor who is enormously adored" and many of the staff members talked about your passion. What kind of expectation did you have for the film before you started shooting, and what made you work so passionately on it?

Rain: My motivation during the movie was my mother, actually. She used to work from early morning till late at night for years, and I thought it would be disrespectful if I couldn’t bear through this. When I first came to the U.S. and met people, they said that Asians had less than a 10 percent chance to succeed in Hollywood. But when I had the Wachowski Brothers on my side, people started paying attention to me, and with Joel Silver backing me as the producer, other producers started noticing me. There were three flashing turning points in my life and the first was when I met Park Jin-young, the second time when I met the Wachowski Brothers and the third was when I got to do "Ninja Assassin". Right now, I have the best teams lined up beside me and it's the become a game that is worth playing. Whether this movie succeeds or not, I think I can really make my name known in Hollywood. Finally, I am in for the real deal.

Reporter: Lee Ji-Hye seven@10asia.co.kr
Photographer: Chae ki-won ten@10asia.co.kr
Editor: Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr

Source: www.asiae.co.kr