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Today is the final piece of Warcraft Movie Week interview, and we will meet Daniel Wu and his character Gul'dan. I believe that most audiences have never seen Daniel played as an ugly guy before, so it's pretty challenging to act in different ways in this movie. You can also find the Chinese version of interview
on 17173.com.
>>>Check out Warcraft Movie Week Schedule and Previous Interviews
Thank you for supporting our Warcraft Movie Week program, and we will bring more content about this highly-anticipated movie in the future. Please stay tuned. Also I want to give my shout out to
Joe, Cindyhio, Sacharin and Michelle for making all the transcripts. Thank you guys.
Did you have a good time when filming Warcraft as Gul'dan?
Yeah, you know it was a very interesting process because I’ve done a lot of films likeover sixty films. And this is like fun I walked into and going. Everything I am learning all over again. And having that experience is kind of interesting and refreshing for me especially learning to move like an Orc then learning to move like Gul'dan- my character. And having that time to work out, the time worth with that in that virtual space are figure out how to express yourself through this character. That's kind of not part of you but is a part of you. You know it's a very strange experience to look up on the screen and you are moving around. And you see this monster moving around. It is you but it’s not you, you know.
And I find that when I first read this script, my character description is, you know, Orcs are ugly creature. And it’s said that Gul’dan is the ugliest of the all. And I never played a character like that before, described like that before. So it’s kind of interesting to do something when we talk about method acting and disappearing into the character all the time but you can really disappear in this character.
That was the biggest reason for you to accept this character? Was it a big challenge for you?
Yeah, I think that is for me, sort of acting challenging with that. That is what I’m really trying to do that and see what the motion capture experience is like. Having seen lots of films done that way, I wanted to try to experience that for myself. I guess the other main reason is that my wife is a player. She plays Warcraft and you know originally we had a baby last year so we supposed to take a year off. And I promised her I will take a year off . When audition came up, I was a little bit worried that I have to ask my wife first because I promised her I will take time off. So that I came up to her and say,”Look, honey, I have an audition coming up for an American movie”. And she said you promised me you won’t work. And I said I said no, but it’s Warcraft. She goes, Warcraft? You got to do it! (laughing)Because she has been playing for 5 or 6 years so she is like really really into the game. It’s helpful for the audition process to ask her reference for all the questions I had. Because, you know, I watched her play the game for 5 or 6 years but actually I don’t play it. So the history, the character, the relationships with each other, I just used her as the reference. I mean you can look the stuff online but it’s very confusing, very very confusing. Because the lore is books in books in books. That is, you know, so much information about the history, the character and where did they come from all that stuff is very confusing actually. It’s good to have my wife around to teach me how to act for a film for the first time ever.
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How do you feel about the character you played Gul’dan?
You guys always know I like to play the bad guy, right? (laughing) So this is a great opportunity to play the baddest of the bad guy, you know, the orcs are definitely kind of the bad guy of the film. Although there are good Orcs within in it, but my Gul’dan, this character perhaps is the most evil of all of them. Because he is willing to do anything to achieve his goal. He wants to ensure survival of his species –the Orcs, until they have to leave with their place to come to this new place. And the way to do it - he wants to use his Fel magic. While some Orcs disagree with it- they think they don’t need it, because the Orcs are very proud warrior class of people. Some of them don’t feel that like the character Durotan and Ogrim played by Toby Kebbell and Robert Kazinsky. They are proud warrior and they don’t need the Fel to win the battle. They can do it on their own strength and might. But Gul’dan realizef that’s a limitation and we need as much as possible to be little help for our battle to win. So I mean I really had lots of fun to play this character. Because it was first time I played a bad character and I can go really kind of big on it. Becausethe physicality of the character is so different than a human, I could really get into that way. You know, the most time I work from inside out, I try to figure the character’s motivations. But in this instance. Terry is great, the best teacher ever- very important to this movie. We started to work outside first, the physical part of the character and that informed me how to make the character work inside. That is very very important because the movement effects everything- the speech, how you move around, how you face the other character. If we don’t have that two or three weeks period, I would be really lost trying to make this movie.
Do you think this film could make you a bit strong in West like you already in East?
I don’t know about that, I mean I don’t know about my ambitions that far, going that far. It makes a huge start because I don’t think people would recognize me at the end of that day. It doesn’t be my goal to be a big American star, but it would obviously the recognition of the Asian-American actor who happened to have built the career for 17 years in China and my wife always say the jokes of the most famous American actors that American don’t know about. So to be able come back home and to work on a big movie like this is really great. I have worked on many many big movies in China, of course, but this takes to another level because the technology element, right? This motion capture thing we are very far away than that in China. And I can’t understand why the technology develops so over time here and it takes Amy of people- all very skillful technicians to be able to make this character be able to work. And to be able to do the on-set live. Where you can see our characters on monitor on set, it takes like 30 guys to run all those computers to make it work. And there is a guy to help us with the suits, putting it on everyday and making sure it running properly with all the devices on it. I think we are very far away in China from doing that so it was a very eye-opening learning process for me doing this film, you know.
What kind of cools stuff will we see you do in the screen?
You can see me be a badass but I think the cool stuff is the magic,the he uses the Fel magic. And just the character itself, because I think no one’s ever- especially the Chinese audiences have never seen me act the character like this, just so ugly. (laughing) So, kind of very evil monstrous character, you know. I think Chinese audiences and even Chinese producers and directors don’t see me in that way. You know, obviously it’s the way I was born. But in this case, I was able to drop all that and really dive into the character and get the essence of the character.
When we read the sketch, the wardrobe and costumes impressed us. Could you tell us something about that?
I mean this is really cool, you know the experience I gained on this set is how detailed everybody was in each department. From Gul’dan’s clothes like, for example, on the set when filming we don’t need Gul’dan’s clothes but they need it there to figure out the blocking, right? So someone need to wear that clothes. So it takes lots of space and they didn’t need to detail it out that much but that’s fully detailed. And that looks amazing and the guy actually want to put it on and all the time to wear, but you couldn’t.
The first day I walked into our warehouse base, OMG, this is gonna to be huge and because I wasn’t sure what to expect lot of it was- the motion capture or everything or we don’t need lots of costumes. But then there is all this human elements- all the human characters, they need costumes, they need makeups. And all the extras you need as well. So it’s army of people working as well as acting in the film well.
What does your costume look like? What will we see on the screen?
He is like a really long cape that is made of organic material looks like roots. It could looks like dreadlock also, kind of interesting. And he had horns on his back, and it’s crazy tusk. It’s a really big departure from the normal character I used to play. But, yeah, yeah, he had a huge physical presence and it changes throughout the film. So you see him at the beginning, but he is much different at the end. I can’t spoil anything but he is a transformation- a physical transformation- because of the Fel energy he is using.
Tell us something about the director? Was he able to stay on top of everything?
I tried not to bother him too much because I knew he just really had his hands full with everything. And his previous two films Moon and Source Code.So he’s got a relatively smaller project. I think he handled this one very well. I mean he is always very calm on set. You know, normally in China set, when we have a big project, you see directors screaming at people all the time. I never saw that with Duncan. He is very cool and controlled and calm all the time. He really knows the story very well because he is the part of writing the script. He is a player- play the game and he is a great storyteller. So all those elements combined together making he perfect fit for this film. You know the millions decisions he had to make everyday, he is hanging out on he’s trailer, seeing people coming in and ask all these questions. I very respect what he has done on this film and be able to keep, you know, cool head about that at all. Because I will be really really intimidated. It’s a huge huge film. I mean, my first day here when I walked into this office and work on the set, I was really like, wow, this is giant and I am scared. I don’t even know who all these people are and what they do.
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Is this the biggest film you have been in so far?
Yeah, by far. I mean I worked on huge film production in China as well but this is by far the biggest biggest film I ever worked on. I mean the crew is like three hundred people. I mean it’s crazy. It is easy to get lost but I kinda liked it. I like walking around there and being in a big fish around there. You know, just being the guy - a working actor doing his part and going home everyday you know and not having so much attention on you.
As you said, the Chinese audiences have never seen you played as an ugly guy. So if you take this role, maybe your fans can’t recognize you. So what makes your decision to take this role?
I know making decisions on fans expectation, I make decision based on what is challenge for me as an actor, you know, I have never done that. That’s why I avoid all the romantic comedy everyone wants me to make and all these stuff just choosing my own path. So whether fans like it or not, it’s kind of up to them, really. But I think what they will see in the movie is, it would be my voice, my body language. And you will see the features of me because it’s your face putting into this Orc face. And just making it work for the Orcs. I think they will know it’s me. From all the characters you need to figure out what parts of it is me. Just as you see the Avatar, you can see what the resemblances of those actor’s faces in those characters, you know. It’s the same crew who worked on Avatar, just that technology has been more advanced. So now the advancement is in the level of detail because I did a test on Rob. It was just 20 seconds test- really close up on his face. And I can tell that it was him but it’s so realistic. You know in the Avatar the skin doesn’t look like very human’s skin. It’s very smooth and not very details in it. But this one, you can see the pores, you can see little scars, you can see the moisture in the eyes. And in fact, the eyes are so real that I thought they had taken his eyes from the original capture and put them into the CG, right? But then I realized that Rob has blue eyes and they made its eyes brown. And just like the red eyes, the moisture in the eyes that emotion can come through. Through the motion capture, it’s just amazed. So I think you better see that in the final version.
The costume is digital instead of physical make up?
It’s incredibly free that way. Because I have done that before and I hate it. It’s so horrible because you feel it on your face and pulling your face all day long. And you trying to act through it and it doesn’t express certain thing sometimes. Or it’s hard and it’s peeling up and people are messing with you all day long. This one you put on that pajama suits and you put on the helmet and you are already to go, you know, all the effects are done later by someone else, you don’t have to worry about all that. You just act. It’s just purely acting. And it’s really like I said, it’s a freeing experience- you are not weighed down by all the stuff can bother you or affect your acting.
How do you prepare to be a real Gul’dan?
Obviously, I had to go through lots of history, the lore and you know I have lots of friends in Hongkong that played the game as well. So talking to them a lot, you know XieTingfeng, he is a huge crazy player, AnZhijie- Andy An, he’s a crazy player too. All these guy, they are very jealous (laughing) of me getting into this movie. “You don’t even play, you got the role?! How did that happen?”(laughing) My wife plays, and they play with my wife sometimes. We had a party once before I came down to here, I just start to talk, the whole night about Warcraft and they tell me this and tell me that. So that was one thing going through the lore on line, you know, Wow Wikis, look for all that stuff. And just trying to get the core of my character, which may not be necessarily related to the lore, the history at all. But really trying to find the motivation of what he was doing and equate him to, you know, the leader who falsely believe what he is doing is right but actually maybe doing something wrong. Like Hitler. He would consider revolutionary at one point but at some point, it turns became- corrupting you know. And studying those kind of characters, thosekind of people, because it’s very political character- he is fighting for his entire race and the struggle within his own people. What I really like about this film is the script, the story and what I thought Duncan is really successful with. It is not about a movie about human vs Orcs, like you see in the Hobbit, and stuff like that. Within the works, there are good Orcs, there are bad Orcs. And within the human, there are good human and bad humans. And it’s really talking about ideas of corruption. And that is actually the most evil thing not one race vs another race. That is an easy way out and that is lots of people would normally do. But I think Duncan is very sensitive to not making it that way and trying to make the story about what they actually is evil is not the people, not the race or species of people. It’s what’s in the heart. So I trying to get the whole of the character. But I think the best preparation really was working with Terry. I mean that really open my eyes so much. Because, first of all, he is really a good teacher. He doesn’t try to make you do the things you can’t do. He looks what kind of the potential you have and works with that. And he knew that I had done wushu before. So he knew I have a strong foundation of body movement. So he used those things, those elements. Although you won’t see any wushu in the character, but you see lot of things I can do with the character because I can do wushu, you know. My character stands really low. He is like the half crouch throughout the other film. I had to buy new pants because my legs and my boutt got bigger, much much bigger actually. Because I am basically for five months in the squat throughout the film. And I walked that way, moved that way all through out the film. And if it wasn’t for Terry, I wouldn’t gone to that point. You know, he really push me to get there. At final, I get balance of the character. And all these physical stuff affect the way you talk and everything. So I had to be solid. And he is kind of motivation. He being in there as big motivation for me to dig into the character.
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Do you think the film will appeal to people don’t play this game before?
Yeah, and I think that’s why Duncan is the right choice because like I said he is a really good storyteller and he also plays the game. He knows what he needs to do and satisfy the gamers as well as satisfy the people who don’t know anything about it. So for me, my first read of it- I went through it and- wow, this is really a great story. You know, I suspect that first about the video game or cartoon turn into movies just for the sake of doing it. Because you have billions audience, blablabla. Obviously, those are great commercial bonus you can have, but it’s the story itself isn’t good then it’s not going to be successful. It’s really compelling. And my first read of this script, I think it’s a really comparing.I got all the points Duncan wanted to say about the characters, about the story itself. That is about the story of survival. And I think that drew me into it. Each character flushed out very well. There is no lead character in the movie. Some characters may get more screen time but each character is very integral to the whole thing. They all have to be written well and flushed out well.
Did you ask director why he chose you for Gul'dans’s role?
A little bit I think. We have some Skype before and I did the audition type. I think originallythey wanted older actor to do it. So I asked them... Because Gul’dan is also the oldest Orc as well and I am not that old, right? So I don’t you want someone older with more like presence to pull that off? And he said, “yeah, but the physical part of the character is so difficult that I don’t think someone older can do it. And the beauty of motion capture is that we can make you really old and ugly without any effort at all. You know it’s good as easy as making you look really cool or young”. After hearing that, I think, oh, okay, let’s do it.
About marketplace set.
There is another thing I want to say, like with lots of CG been in movies with motion capture, it’s expected to be the virtual space with anything around you but Duncan like one of the gifted- Bill made an actual set for us to act on. So even it’s doing by motion capture, there are all these physical stuff for us to feel. I think the hardest thing about doing the motion capture is that you don’t have that. And since the direction was on, everyone has to image everything but having all the sets there like my tent-he build that. He built it all out and you can feel it, smell it and see the flames and everything. And that was such a great thing to have. Because otherwise it would be much much difficult to trying to pull of this gig that way. So you gonna to like this set. It’s amazing. When my wife came to the set and saw that, she was like- “OMG, it’s just like the game”. She went to the gold shrine she says even the furniture is exactly the same! So she was like very happy so I think the
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