John Cusack and Adrien Brody, both in Bangkok last weekend, couldn't have been more different.
Cusack, 49, appears taller and broader in real life, but he's all-American friendly, with the immediately recognisable squinty smiles that have helped catapult his career as a loveable actor. A reputation he's gained by playing a wide array of even more loveable, sometimes befuddled, characters from the late 1980s to early 2000s, hits such as Say Anything, High Fidelity and Con Air.
Whereas, true to his brooding persona, Academy Award-winning Adrien Brody, 42, loomed larger than his lithe frame. Brody is often cited as serious, thanks to his carefully chosen, experimental roles from The Pianist, King Kong and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
But both have at least one thing in common: a lifelong passion for martial arts. In particular, they love Asian martial arts films and have a starry-eyed idolisation of Jackie Chan. Both Cusack and Brody confess to have taken on their respective roles, in Asian powerhouse Dragon Blade, for the opportunity to star with Chan.
Cusack plays Lucius, a Roman comrade of Chan's Huo An, the commander of the Protection Squad of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty, while Brody portrays Tiberius, the fearsome villain in this Daniel Lee (Black Mask, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon), 2 billion baht, seven-years-in-the-making Chinese production that also stars K-pop heartthrob Siwon Choi.
"I've been a fan of Jackie since I was a kid. He has this unique constellation of attributes that great action actors have. In the silent film era, maybe, there were people like him like Buster Keaton. They were physical actors, but they didn't choreograph or do their own life and death stunts. His is a combination of acrobatics and physical comedy on an epic level. His fighting styles also change. His movies are very influential in the US. They are so physical and so fun," said Cusack.
Cusack met Chan on set, but said it wasn't difficult developing a bond and they became fast friends. Meanwhile, Brody met Chan, whom he now considers a personal friend, socially as his friend is a member of Chan's stunt team. After a few brief conversations, a script was passed around, and Brody signed on with no qualms.
"I'm a long-time lover of Jackie. As a boy, I used to love martial arts movies. I still do. I was obsessed with them. My father and I would go see these movies every weekend. That I can fight with Jackie Chan is very exciting," said Brody.
Chan plays Huo An, an orphan who later becomes the commander of the Protection Squad of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty. After a false accusation of mutiny, Huo An and his men are sentenced to hard labour where he meets Lucius (Cusack), who is also falsely accused of mutiny, and his charter Publius, whom he helps escape the cruel hands of his brother, Tiberius (Adrien Brody). A friendship between Huo An and Lucius forms, and once Tiberius arrives at the gates of Han Pa demanding Huo An surrender Publius and Lucius, an epic battle ensues.
In true Chinese action epic style, there are sub-plots with minor characters that are played by megastars across Chinese-speaking countries and Korea.
Brody's character is a villain who has suffered emotional trauma and has a good deal of mental aggression.
"There are many ways to skin a cat, so to speak. I'm a bad guy in Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel too, but that's very different. You have to find the tone and balance of that. This was a chance to play someone very dark, very ominous and very threatening. So I had to convey that power that he possessed and also the degree of isolation that I felt a man with his past and in that position must be feeling. He's the son of the wealthiest man in Rome. He was raised with everything at his disposal. He has a terrible way of dealing with his own emptiness. What I imagined was someone whom this was, allowed to blossom, and created a monster. That was what I tried to portray," he said.
Fans of Cusack and Brody might find it a tad strange to see both in an epic Chinese film in full Chinese warrior regalia starring alongside Asian superstars, as they're often associated with very different characters.
John Cusack and Adrien Brody in Bangkok.
It is clear the ardent martial arts fans wish to be taken seriously as they did their own stunts, supervised by Chan himself.
Cusack has been practising martial arts for 26 years, since starring in Say Anything — a warm-hearted love story with Cusack as an inspiring kickboxer — where he enlisted the help of former world kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez. Cusack holds the rank of a level 6 black belt in Urquidez's Ukidokan Kickboxing system.
Brody, in particular, is not adverse to doing his own stunts, having broken his nose three times on different movie sets. He worked closely with Chan to choreograph his character movements and fighting style.
"I actually incorporated a unique fighting style particularly for this character. He's kind of a lazy, wilted character who's seen it all, and has a very casual, nonchalant style because he's such a good, powerful warrior so he can be effortless, but when he strikes! It's the whole thing that we devised to help tell the character in his actions as well. That's the journey. It's fun to try to bring all the intricate details to a character," he said.
Although Brody starred in the Chinese historical film Back To 1942 last year, for Cusack, Dragon Blade was the first time for him to work on an Asian production, and the cultural differences on the set were something he found inevitable.
"They work longer hours. There's not so much waste in China," says Cusack. "Everything goes on screen. I don't know if that's the way it is in China all the time, or just China with Jackie Chan. But I suspect that there are cultural differences.
"From actors that I've worked with like Gong Li or Chow Yun Fat and other Chinese actors, maybe they work a little harder, and maybe they don't take it for granted. But that's just my opinion because everything on the set was very intense. There was nobody on their mobile phones. It didn't seem like they wanted to be somewhere else. Very focused, and that's the way I like to work.
"When you're going to be in a film, you want to be focused and concentrate, and it's hard to do that if everyone's energy is scattered. The work ethic and passionate filmmaking were really nice for me," said Cusack.
Chinese cinema, especially in period dramas such as this, holds a certain melodramatic style which can be shunned as over the top acting or too simple for its representations of good versus evil as well as tangled web of stories. It's something we, Asians, are used to consuming, but it could possibly pose a challenge for Hollywood A-listers.
"Some of the Chinese movies are melodramatic, you know. But this one tries to balance the action and the drama as well as comedy that you expect from Jackie. It's much more than the usual Jackie comedy though," said Cusack.
Brody added: "There's this heightened sense. It's a style obviously. I think they crank it up, and they raise the stakes. They make it a bit more. But Daniel is wonderful, and he gave me room to bring nuances that I wanted to bring, not asking me to push things. It wasn't something that was encouraged.
"If possible, I always try to incorporate a little humour of my own. There are different ways that you can portray things. It's fun when things are slightly elevated for a movie of this scale, of this epic tale of good and evil."
Dragon Blade, which opened yesterday, is expected to rake in global money with its A-list stars and grand production to don't-blink stunt moments. For Cusack and Brody, Dragon Blade fulfilled their dreams of working with the one and only martial arts maestro, Jackie Chan, who although 60, is still kicking and punching with the best of them.
"Jackie is a wonderful person to work with. He's immensely knowledgeable and talented and considerate. He's unique and obviously very powerful. He knows all the facets of moviemaking and technical work, but he's still very, very generous," Brody said.
"It's a blessing when people you admire share a similar desire to work with you, and collaborate. That's a beautiful thing, and I'm grateful for that."
