Lucy Liu Interview for Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Is that fun doing all that? I’m not sure that’d be the word that I would choose. Thanks for putting it out there. I’ll put it on the roster. No, I was just wondering because you ever see that show Lisa Kudro? Um Oh, god. I’m blanking out the HBO show. Oh, right. It was on for a while. Yeah, she went to those up fronts and they they show a behind the scenes of what it’s really like and it’s just kind of funny. Didn’t know if I’ll have to get some pointers from it. Yeah. Well, you know what? I got to say, you don’t look too much like your character. Um, I’m glad you’re the first person who said that. Oh, really? Did someone say you did look like that? Everyone’s like, you know, how does the video relate to the charact the character was Viper looked the way she did when I first was presented with the characters and they drew her and she still looks like that because it wasn’t about morphing the actors into the characters. It was more about they wanted to have the actors bring part of their soul into the character and have the voices. And when they did do the videos, there was more about capturing so sort of idiosyncrasies or blinking or you know certain gestures that that we did but not to to actually make them look like you know what we did. Well, Dustin Hoffman was saying that they captured his movements but you play a snake so it’s a little hard to capture some of those movements. Um yeah, they didn’t capture my movements but they captured my personality only because it’s my voice you know. So I think that I mean first of all Dustin was so brilliant in in the movie and his voice is almost like deeper and more commanding than when you meet him you know. Um but I love their dynamic between Po and Sefue. I thought it was so karate. It was like Karate Kid you know that completely but with humor with with humor. Um and also with just humanity I thought Yeah. You know, because because even though they’re animals, like he’s plays a red panda and then there’s panda. They are actually you don’t associate them as animals. You just think of them as people except for that big the giant ears, right? You get some you have some great co-stars, the five of you, all of all five um voice co-stars, but you don’t really did you get to work with anybody? We didn’t actually get to work together. I think we were in all different places geographically at the time over the last five years. But I think that um the great thing is seeing each other when we do these press junkets, you know, we get to see each other. We saw each other in Khan and that was really fun because it’s almost it becomes an event, you know. Um when when they put something like this together, they’ve been working on so with such great effort and for us to kind of be here to celebrate it, you know. Well, like you said, it takes How long? You were on this project for four or five years. Yes. Is it that do you get anxious? Okay. I want to see it now and get get I mean you kind of almost forget. You’re like, “Oh my god.” All right. Okay. They need, you know, 6 months later, 8 months later or 3 months later, you forget because you’re working on other things and you come back and they actually play what you some of the the dialogue that you’ve said before which they want to match because you don’t even remember what the timber of your voice was then, you know? So, it is sort of a long project, but I I’m normally not that patient because I’m like, I want to see something, but actually for this one, I knew it was going to take a long time. And it’s it’s got well, there these animated 3D animated um features, they’ve come such a long way. This one even stands out on its own as far as you have Shrek. I mean, it’s it’s very unique as a animated feature as well. The story line, everything everything is. I think that there’s things in this that I wouldn’t really notice if I hadn’t been told. and like the fur moving um the certain movement of the the structure of Viper itself. I guess they had never done that before and they’ve done a lot of trademarks on this particular character in the movements because it was the first time it’s ever been done and they basically said it was taking a tube and making it come to life, you know. So, I think they were really challenged by that particular character and how her movement was going to be. And it’s kind of exciting to be a part of something that that somebody else has been only thinking about. They said they brought in, you know, professors from MIT and things like that to kind of help create that. And that’s kind of an exciting thing to be a part of, you know. Well, anyway, congratulations. Oh, thanks a lot. Good to see you again. You should
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Sound Bite – Lucy Liu Don’t look like your character
I’m glad you’re the first person who’s said that. (talking) Well everyone’s like well how does the video relate to the character. The character was Viper looked the way she did when I first was presented with the character, when they drew her. And she still looks like that because it wasn’t about morphing the actors into the characters, it was more about they wanted the actors to bring part of their soul into the character and have the voices. And when they did do the videos it was more about capturing sort of idiosyncrasies or blinking or you know certain gestures that we did but not to actually make them look like we did.
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Sound Bite – Lucy Liu – Did you get to work with anybody?
We didn’t actually get to work together I think we were in all different places geographically at the time over the last five years but I think that um the great thing is seeing each other when we do these press junkets you know we get to see each other, we saw each other in Canne and it was really fun because it’s almost, it becomes an event you know um when they put something like this together they’ve been working on with such great effort and for us to kind of be here to celebrate it.
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Sound Bite – Lucy Liu – How long were you on the project 4 or 5 years? Do you get anxious to want to see the movie?
Yes. (talking) I mean you kind of almost forget, oh oh my god alright, okay they need you know six months later, eight months later, three months later, you forget because you are working on other things and you come back and they actually play some of the dialogue that’s you’ve said before which they want to match because you don’t even remember what the temper of your voice was then you know? So it is sort of a long project but I, I’m normally not that patience because I’m like I want to see something, but actually for this one I knew it was going to take a long time.
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Sound Bite – Lucy Liu – Capturing your movements when you play a snake
Um yeah they didn’t capture my movements but they captured my personality only because it’s my voice you know so I think that I mean first of all Dustin is so brilliant in the movie and his voice is almost more deeper and more commanding then when you first meet him you know. Um but I love their dynamic between Po and Shifu I thought it was dead on (talking) it was so dead on. Completely. (talking) With humor uh and also with humanity I thought. You know cause casue even though they are animals, like he plays a red panda and then there’s panda, they are actually, you don’t associate them as animals you just think of them as people except for that big, the giant ears.
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Sound Bite – Lucy Liu – This is a unique movie all around.
Everything is. I think there are things in this that I wouldn’t really noticed if I hadn’t been told and like the fur moving, uh the certain movement of the structure of viper itself, I guess they had never done that before and they had done a lot of trademarks on this particular character on the movements because it was the first time it had ever been done and they basically said it was taking a tube and making it come to life you know so I think they were really challenged by that particular character and how her movement was going to be and it’s kind of exciting to be a part of something that that somebody else has only been think about, they said they brought in you know professors from MIT and things like that to kind of help create that and that’s kind of an exciting think to be apart of you know.