Star Trek 2009 - John Cho interview

In the lead up to the premiere of 'Star Trek Into Darkness' I'll be posting a number of interviews conducted with the cast & crew of the film from the 2009 'Star Trek' World Premiere in Sydney, Australia.

 

That's me on the far left of the photo waiting for John to sign my cast shot! Luck O'Loughlan gets his photo taken with John Cho at the World Premier of 'Star Trek' on April 7, 2009.

 

The following interview was done by myself and fellow Trekker Michael O'Loughlan. At the time, we were both involved in Austrek, which is Australia's Number One Star Trek club; as well as being the second oldest Trek club in the world. Depending on preference, there's the original audio recording of the interview or the cleaned-up transcript which appeared in Austrek's 'The Captain's Log'.

 

 

We start be telling John that ‘Austrek’ is the second oldest club in the world, and giving him some background about the group. With introductions done, it was time to ask the questions ...

How did you feel about taking on the role?

I was really excited about it. When I was a kid, I immigrated to the States when I was six in 1978. Turning on the television, at the time, I didn’t see very many great representations of Asians. It was all very stereotypical stuff and, then, I see George (Takei). He’s doing something that’s not about his race. He’s playing the helmsman of a spacecraft. I was very impressionable, and it meant a lot for me to see George on the television at that time, doing that role. It made a great impression on me. When I heard this project was happening, it was very important for me to be connected to it.

How was it to meet George (Takei)?

It was great! He’s very well read, well spoken, charming individual. I’d known him a little bit because he’s on the Board of East-West Players Theatre Company that I’ve done some plays at; but we hadn’t sat down and got to know one another. This (movie) gave me the opportunity to do it, and it was fantastic.

George Takei - Star Trek's original Sulu

Star Trek’s a long way from your other roles in films like American Pie and Harold Kumar ...

Yes, I’ve sullied the good ‘Star Trek’ name with my dirty past!

Locky jumps in: “We were actually thinking you’d cleaned it up a bit!”

John bursts out laughing at this comment.

Depends on where you’re coming from!

I can’t help but add that John’s presence in the film has made it credible for 17 and 18 year olds to like Star Trek.

John says that he doesn’t think that this movie needs that kind of help.

Locky gets things back on track by asking John about the huge difference between what’s he’s done in the past compared to ‘Star Trek’.

It sure is! What can I tell you ... I’m really happy to have variety in my career, and I’ve been lucky to not get penned in too much. You know, it’s funny, I’ve been asked if I’m afraid of being typecast after having done ‘Star Trek’. I’m like, if I haven’t been typecast after ‘American Pie’ and ‘Harold & Kumar’, I’m made of Teflon!

Variety is always something you like. You do a serious thing for a while, so it can be nice to work on a comedy for a little bit and vice versa.

 Are you now at the point in career where roles come to you or do you still have to go through the casting process?

It depends. I had to audition for this role, but steadily things come across the table where they ask ‘would you do this?’ But, I’m not a big player. You know, the way the universe works, the stuff you really want you have to go out and get. A lot of stuff you don’t want is offered to you.

You’re observation is correct. I’ve never really had a breakthrough role where my whole life and career has changed because of it. I’m the exception in Hollywood because my career has gone ahead one step at a time. I’m actually very happy with that. It’s provided a kind of steadiness and stability in a very unstable industry. I’m happy with the roles I’ve done.

It must be a comforting thought for someone who’s a family man with a child?

When I came to LA, to give it a shot, I really just thought of myself as a working actor. My goal was when I was 40, I didn’t want to be waiting tables. I really wanted to pay the bills with acting, and fortunately I reached that goal a long time ago. Thank goodness. Having said that, I try not to take anything for granted. I’m not head-lining movies, for the most part, so I consider myself a character actor. When something comes along that’s an interesting role, I look at it and see whether or not I can do anything with it. Can I make it funny? Can I make it dark? I do whatever I can do to help out the project. If I can find a way ‘in’, I want to do it.

How much of ‘yourself’ did you try to bring to ‘Sulu’?

I tried to bring a good deal. I’m older than George than when George started doing the role. My disposition is a little bit more youthful and George has always seemed ‘older’ than his age. So, I kind of figured the reason why I was cast was to bring the youthful part of me to Sulu. The whole project seemed to be straddling a line; to honour the original and to also make it a little bit more athletic, and a little bit more muscular. I wanted to bring that part of myself to Sulu.

What where the physical demands of the role on you?

It’s not like real work, but we trained for three months before. I didn’t have any background in martial arts, but I had learned a little bit of fencing years ago. I did ‘Hamlet’. Aside from that, I had to start from scratch. It was great because Zach, Chris and I trained together with the stunt guys. Chris learned his boxing, and it was all individualised, but we trained together and I felt like we went through Starfleet Academy together. It was a way of us bonding and going through something together and graduating. As much as we could, we did the stunts. There were a few we couldn’t do, but Chris and I were hanging off the wires, we were fighting and doing the moves, so it was pretty physically taxing.

 

Chris Pine & John Cho talk about the drill fight scene highlighting the physicality of the role John talks about in his answer to our question about the physical demands of the role.

 

Watching the cast together at the Premiere, you all seem to have developed a sense of camaraderie. Is that an accurate assessment?

It’s very accurate. I was thinking at the beginning of this journey, the guys who did the original series didn’t know what was in store for them. We’re new actors walking into a very established franchise, so, in a way, we’re blessed that we know we’re ‘blessed’. We’re walking into something special, and something very memorable. There was always a sense of everyone looking around at each other and saying let’s not take this for granted – let’s have a great time! We’re participating in something so special. It’s a situation where you know it right off the bat.

Secondly – and this is my own theory – there’s was so much secrecy surrounding this project. They didn’t want photos of us on the internet. We had to wear ponchos. Normally, in between set-ups, the cast might disperse back to their trailers and make phone calls and catch a nap, and what have you. It was such a pain to do all that stuff, we ended up sticking around on the stage, and we all ended up just talking a lot more than is normal, and we got very close. Those of us on the Bridge, we spent a lot of concentrated time together. It was great.

How did you go with Star Trek’s techno-babble?

I just tried to memorise it, and say it when it was my turn, as best I could.

Are you comfortable with idea of ‘Trek’ fandom?

You know, I haven’t given it much thought. I don’t know what it’s like. I’ve been to Comic-Con with ‘Harold & Kumar’. I figure those are people who like us, and are there to see our movie. Right now, my attitude has been ‘let’s go out there and enjoy ourselves’, and don’t have any preconceived notions of what it’s like.

Are you happy you’ve taken this role?

You know what I’m really pleased about ... I think ‘Star Trek’ is a positive narrative. I’m happy to be leaving that for my son. ‘Star Trek’ is a bunch of people from different genders, races and species working towards a common, peaceful goal. It’s a little ‘hippieish’, but I think it’s a very admirable message to put forth in a story. I’m very proud to associated with the franchise; I really am. So, if we make more, I would be very happy to continue to be involved.

I saw it about a month ago. I was very happy with it, but you really do never know how it’s going to play. Last night I was pleased. It felt like people were very kind. It felt like people were enjoying themselves.

What JJ and the writers very good at was focussing on the original characters and their relationships. If you stay true to those, you can do a lot. You can take the story a bunch of different places. I really feel like those relationships were what made the series.

And, with that, our interview with John concludes. We did, however, manage to sneak a photo with John ...