At a sometimes surreal press conference to promote the movie at the Cannes film festival on Thursday, the topics of discussion ranged from violence in film to China to adoption, although Black never allowed proceedings to get too serious.
"My inner peace is in pieces at the moment," he quipped to a large crowd of reporters in a plush hotel ballroom.
Kung Fu Panda 2 is the sequel to the successful 2008 original which earned $632 million at the international box office, and Black said there would be further sequels should the movies continue to succeed commercially.
In Kung Fu Panda 2, portly panda hero Po, voiced by Black, must find inner calm to defeat his nemesis Lord Shen, an evil peacock played by Gary Oldman who sets out to conquer China with an "unstoppable" weapon and to destroy kung fu once and for all.
He also discovers that he is adopted -- not a major surprise to movie goers considering his "father" is a goose.
Oscar-winner Jolie provides the voice for Tigress, while Dustin Hoffman portrays Master Shifu, Po's mentor in a story set in ancient China against backdrops of lush forests, towering temples and crowded cities.
Although Kung Fu Panda 2 is not in the main Cannes line-up, the festival welcomes such blockbusters because they attract A-list stars like Jolie and generate the kind of buzz among media and fans on which the annual event thrives.
Jolie is in France with her family, and partner Brad Pitt is expected on the red carpet later in the festival for his part in Terrence Malick's in-competition "The Tree of Life."
ADOPTION A "HAPPY WORD"
The actress said the fact that Po discovers he is adopted in the movie meant her three adopted children felt closer to the character. She also has three biological children.
"I brought my children to see the movie and they absolutely love the movie ... and I wondered whether they'd ask me questions about it.
"But because 'adoption' and 'birth mothers' and 'orphanage' and all that in our home these are happy words, they're used to these discussions and they just felt that much more proud that they were a little more like Po."
Asked about the violence in the film, Black replied: "It (the film) discourages weaponry. I don't like guns. I don't own one. I like laser blasters. That's where I draw the line."
Hoffman said the first movie he ever saw was the cartoon "Bambi," which contained surprisingly disturbing scenes.
"You can connect Bambi and Pinocchio to violence," said the 73-year-old Oscar winner. "In Bambi there was a big fire in the woods. I literally remember bursting out crying and leaving because all the animals were being killed by fire."
Asked whether he thought pandas had "existential moments," Black replied:
"Maybe they do for brief moments, gnawing on a bamboo shoot they think what is life all about? What is the point in this meaningless universe that goes on forever? May be all life forms have fleeting moments of existentiality. You can print that."
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
Showing posts with label Kung Fu Panda 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kung Fu Panda 2. Show all posts
Friday, June 3, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
KFP2 writers
Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger Talk ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’
By Drew Taylor, The Playlist
Unlike another sequel opening in theaters nationwide this weekend (which, come to think of it, does feature a humanistic animal as one of its characters), “Kung Fu Panda 2” actually delivers on the chop-socky fun of the original. With an even more epic scope and a darker sensibility, both thematically and visually, “Kung Fu Panda 2” is a really enjoyable animated treat. In our review of the film, we commended the use of 3D as it’s one of the rare instances where it adds pizazz to the picture and we liked the deeper notes found within the story .
We got to talk to the film’s scerenwriters Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger earlier this week about the challenges that go into making an animated movie, the influence of newly installed DreamWorks Animation creative executive Guillermo del Toro, what Charlie Kaufman contributed, and their epic-sounding “Candyland” movie for Universal.
The Playlist: You guys wrote the original film as well as the sequel – were there stories left over from the first film that you were really looking to explore?
Glenn: If you’re asking if anything from the first movie was a direct influence on the second movie, then the answer would be the dad being a goose. That was something that was a function of many things – when we came to the project there was a goose that ran the restaurant and Po was a waiter there, and one of the first things we suggested was that the goose be his father, which in the world of animated movies where animals talk, inter-species parenting didn’t seem like a big deal. It seemed like a funny but subtle element of the movie that we weren’t going to make a big deal of.
But when we went to China, in doing research for the second movie, we were very surprised by the response. Almost everyone that came up to us asked us – “How can a panda’s father be a goose?” And we realized that it struck a chord with people, it wasn’t just idle curiosity, which led us to a core idea of the sequel, which is Po, against all odds, becomes the dragon warrior. What could go wrong? What kind of conflict could a sequel offer if his dreams came true? The answer became – he may be the dragon warrior – but he doesn’t know who he is and who his parents are and he must come face-to-face with the fact that the goose may not be his father. So he’s got to find out who he is and along the way face a bigger threat than he did in the first movie; so that’s a pretty direct path from the original to this movie.
When you went to China, what were you trying to get out of those trips?
Jon: We got different things than the rest of the crew that we went with. We also went with Jen[nifer Yuh] the director and Melissa [Cobb] the producer and the amazing production design team. I was looking at my photos from the trip recently and Glenn and I have all of these photos of us eating and in front of the Great Wall of China. And then I looked at the thousands of photos that the production designers took and it’s of bricks and walls and streets and, for the artists, to actually see buildings that are hundreds of years old and if you see the movie – the palace and the textures and all of that, they actually had to design and they took their inspiration directly from the walls and streets of China. For us, it was more about soaking up the atmosphere and imagining these spaces and what these characters would do in these places. For us it was just an inspiration for the writing and the culture.
It used to be, in animated films, that the story department would storyboard everything, what is the approach now? Is there already a story in place or do you come up with it from scratch?
Glenn: On the sequel, everyone on the art department and story department were busy enough finishing the first movie. Jon and I, because of what you can and cannot change in the process of making a movie like this, about six months before the release of the first one, we started thinking about the sequel. Which isn’t to say that everyone was so confident that it was a hit and there was definitely going to be another one, but [DreamWorks Animation CEO] Jeffrey Katzenberg thought he had something special and wanted to be prepared. And certainly the easiest and cheapest way to explore a second movie is to hire two writers to start thinking about ideas.
The first thing that we did was start wondering what audience questions there were – what could you do with this character that you haven’t already done? Is his story over? Are there ways that we can put this guy on a bigger emotional journey? So we started to come up with concepts and then we’d come back from time to time and pitch it to Melissa and Jeffrey and then we would pitch to the story team. And Jen was head of story on the first movie. So she and other board artists were responding to our ideas and giving us feedback, and it would go back and forth over the course of months. At some point, John and I got the go-ahead on the story and were about to go off and write the script and Jen is now the director, which is pretty cool because we all had the shared experience of the first movie and she had been involved in our pitches along the way. It was definitely collaborative and not the old school Disney way of the board artists doing the whole thing and gag writers coming in and adding some verbal humor. I guess this was a new model of having a script first.
Jon: Also, for us, being the second movie, we know all the story artists and know how they work and they know how we work. So it sort of very ego-less collaboration where there are some scenes where we would write the pages and someone would be told – “Storyboard these pages and stick to them very closely.” Other times we would say, “This is a very rough idea for a scene” and they would take that and go completely somewhere else with them. And they would come back to us and we would get transcriptions of the storyboards and we would rewrite the dialogue, and it would go back and forth, especially on the big action scenes. There’s not much point in scripting an action scene and having Po go “Look out” or “Get them!” So instead we’d say “Here’s a big action scene and the goal of Po and the Furious Five is to do this, and the obstacle is this, and the emotional beats are this and that’s what it needs to accomplish. And anyone can feel free to figure out how that happens.” Sometimes you’d get something crazy back, like the rickshaw chase, which Jen the director boarded herself. We would take that and add gags to the middle of it. So it’s a great collaboration and I think it makes the action scenes incredible and lets us throw jokes into them at the same time.
Glenn: There’s the stereotypical conflict between board artists and writers, which is board artists want everything to be conveyed visually and the writers want everything to be conveyed verbally and I don’t know if that was ever true but it’s definitely a generalization. But the biggest satisfaction we’ve had on the second movie is that we’ve had verbal jokes that board artists wrote and John and I have been in the position of defending to keep in and we’ve pitched visual jokes. And, again, since we’ve all worked together for so many years and there’s a level of trust and collaboration, it’s truly a joy and a benefit to the movie.
Guillermo del Toro was brought into the DreamWorks Animation fold while you were working on this movie, did he offer anything specific to the story?
Jon: First of all, he’s just amazing to work with because he brings an incredible positive energy where, if you’re working on something for three or three-and-a-half years and he comes in and says “This is good and we just need to push this forward.” He gives you that sense of confidence. And the other thing that he really helps with is making sure that we were hitting proper emotional beats. Sometimes he would say, “No, you’re rushing past that, you want to complete the thought and let the audience feel a certain emotion and let them feel that before moving on.” And in many ways it’s a philosophical thing but then it would get down to it and he would say, “You’re holding this for 8 more frames.” So he’s bringing his skills as a director, and also editorial skills, but he brings so much more to it with his experience as a storyteller.
Glenn: The other thing, given his body of work, is that he’s really funny. You wouldn’t necessarily look at some of the darker, gorier movies and think, “This guy’s got a great sense of humor.” But it’s true. We’d be in editing with him and he’d be throwing out gag ideas. That’s also a nice benefit of him.
It was reported that Charlie Kaufman was brought in to help with the script – what was his actual involvement like?
Glenn: He was in about a year ago to look at the peacock scenes and we all met with him and said, “Look at this scene, that scene, and see if you can tweak the dialogue.” And he did. But as is anything that happened a year ago, things change and I think it’s fair to say there’s not much of that left.
It goes without saying that even in your live action stuff, like the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movies, there’s a fair amount of animation. Is your approach the same as when you’re doing animation?
Jon: I would say something like ‘Chipmunks’ is more akin to live action writing in the sense that, in live action writing, you write three or four drafts and then it goes into production and that’s usually the last you see with it. It’s off, it’s fed into the machine, and the writer isn’t particularly involved. But animation is being written up until the final few months, so it’s far more involved, especially in the ‘Panda’ films where we’re not just writing, we’re co-producing. So we’re involved in editing, recording sessions, meeting with the story artists, pitches; it’s far more all encompassing, I would say. And I wouldn’t say there’s much difference in the process of writing an ‘Alvin’ movie and writing a live action movie that has no CG elements at all.
You guys are doing “Candyland” next, right? What is your approach to the movie?
Jon: Yes, we are writing that right now for Universal with Kevin Lima directing.
Glenn: That’s a live action movie with visual effects, closer to “Lord of the Rings” or [Tim Burton‘s] “Alice in Wonderland.” When we first met with Kevin Lima and we had this weariness that most people have when they’re approached about a Candyland movie, instantly went away when he showed us artwork and explained his vision, which was much like, we attempt in “Kung Fu Panda” – you take something that could be considered childish or silly and you take it really seriously and say, “What if there was an operatic, ‘King Lear’-like civil war in a kingdom that just happened to be made completely out of candy?” And you take the action sequences seriously and you take the comedic elements seriously and there’s a real emotional journey the characters go on. Having just done that, twice over, with a giant plush panda, we thought “Maybe we could try it again with candy.” We were excited about the challenge and hopefully we can pull it off.
Jon: Also, when we’re writing a character we never think – is this character animal, human, CG, is it Alvin, is it Po – you’re just thinking what would this character do and not how that character is realized. Eventually you might have to worry about that if you’re dealing with limitations of animation but when it comes down to the writing, it’s just a character and you can’t worry.
Is it nice working with Kevin, since he has a background in animation? [Kevin Lima directed the animated films “A Goofy Movie” and “Tarzan” for Disney, as well as the animation-heavy “102 Dalmatians” live action film and “Enchanted.”]
Glenn: That’s been amazing. He’s been super-helpful and he’s been very pleased that we’ve been so open. Jon and I have been a team for so long so it’s very rare that we let someone into that partnership, but because of his animation background and the fact that we speak the same language and he’s working on storyboards while we’re working on the script, so we’ll get feedback. It’s been basically a microcosm of our DreamWorks experience, but just the three of us, which has been really fun.
“Kung Fu Panda 2” is in 3D. Were you ever writing to that specific experience that 3D provides?
Glenn: We really didn’t think about it too much as we were writing, we just thought that the same people that did the totally amazing action sequences in the first movie are back doing this movie, and totally on top of it. Our job was to make sure that the character motivations and the comedy and emotions were still there.
Jon: As you’re writing, you do think, “Here’s the big cannonball battle, that’ll be awesome in 3D.” But you’re not changing the battle because it will be in 3D. The other aspect of it is that 3D can really be used to draw the audience in and I think in the beginning there was a lot of 3D in the last three years, sometimes the 3D would be pushed so much to convince the audience they were getting their money’s worth that instead of pulling you into it, everytime there was some amazing thing in 3D, you’d say “Oh right this is in 3D!” What’s so great about “Panda” is that at the end of it, you’d even realize you were watching a 3D movie, but in a good way, because I think the 3D pulls you in without ever breaking the third wall (fourth wall?) I think the 3D does this really well this time.
You talk about the continuum between the first film and the sequel; have you started to work on the third film?
Glenn: We have not. I know Jeffrey has said publicly that he’d like more time between the second and third movies, so we’ll see. If asked, we’d be delighted to keep working on it. I just don’t know what the timing of the third one would be. I also know that DeamWorks have announced their slate for the next number of years, so the next ‘Panda’ would be years off.
“Kung Fu Panda 2” is now playing in theaters nationwide.
Drew Taylor posted
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
KFP2 L.A. Photos - 2
Posted by Michelle McCue
DreamWorks Animation’s KUNG FU PANDA 2 Hollywood Red Carpet Premiere
It was all Kung Fu Masters and A-listers on the red carpet for the KUNG FU PANDA 2 Premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre today in Hollywood. An atmosphere of awesomeness was everywhere as the film’s stars arrived to greet the fans. On hand were many of the voice cast behind the animated film such as Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, Lucy Liu, Jean-Claude Van Damme as well as director Jennifer Yuh Nelson and composer Hans Zimmer.
Check back with us as we kick off PANDA-Monium week in anticipation of the release of KUNG FU PANDA 2 on May 26th. You could be the lucky winner of a special giveaway that we’ll hand out each day!
Actor Jack Black (Po) arrives at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images).
Actors Angelina Jolie (Tigress) and Brad Pitt arrive at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Actress Angelina Jolie signs autographs for fans at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California.
Actress Lucy Liu (Viper) arrives at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California.
Actors Seth Rogen (Mantis) and Danny McBride (Wolf) arrive at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California.
Dustin Hoffman (Master Shifu) arrives at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme (Master Croc) arrives at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California.
Actor James Hong (Mister Ping) arrives at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson arrives at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
(L-R) Composer Hans Zimmer, director Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Anne Globe of DreamWorks SKG arrives at DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on May 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
KFP2 L.A. Premiere
Photos: Zimbio
Weinberg Reviews KUNG FU PANDA 2
We're all different types of movie freaks, of course, but generally what we all want from a big, flashy summer movie is:1. Action (or at least energy)
2. Humor (or at least wit)
3. Heart (or at least character)
4. Spectacle (in one form or another)
Lately, the superhero movies have been cornering the market on the aforementioned commodities, but right behind (or slightly ahead) are the animated features. You can nitpick about which ones are lame, lazy, or forgettable, but it's also hard to deny that we're presently living through an animated feature renaissance, one that happened naturally once the novelty of the high-tech digital toys started to wane ... and the true artists started using these dazzling tools as new-fangled paintbrushes. In other words, the technical side of computer animation is at an all-time high, and fortunately we have outfits like Pixar, Dreamworks, and (yes) several others delivering an impressive handful of high-quality "cartoon" movies that manage to pull off that incredibly valuable trick:
Capably appealing to kids while giving the parents something fun to watch at the same time.
Hardly a novel concept, but it's always great to see when another new example pops up: This summer's Kung Fu Panda 2 is, quite simply, one of the most beautifully amusing animated features in quite some time. "Amusing" because it's simply funny, and "beautifully" because, as usual from Dreamworks, the animation is nothing short of brilliant across the board. From the character designs to the eye-tickling architecture of a fantasy world, and from simple landscapes to elaborate action scenes -- Kung Fu Panda 2 is (much like its predecessor) a wondrous feast for the eyes, if nothing else.
Fortunately there is much else: Jack Black at his most charming and goofily sedate; a truly eclectic voice cast full of new pals and old; a pair of slightly trite but perfectly palatable "morality lessons" for the younger audience members; lots of humor that's pitched both inside (for the parents) and silly (for the young and the young at heart); a simple (even familiar) plot concoction that doles out story points at a brisk clip and doesn't skimp on the action ...
Ah, yes! The action sequences! One of the most important ingredients of the summer movie. And, frankly, I don't care if the source is a kick-ass superhero, a drunken pirate, or a bumbling panda: solid action is solid action. Kung Fu Panda 2 offers scrapes, chases, escapes and explosions at a very generous clip, slowing down only to give its slick menagerie some jokes (or plot development) to deliver, and then it's off to another flashy moment of crash 'n' smash. (A silly chase sequence involving a fake dragon is rather inspired, and it illustrates that there still IS a way to do slight "potty humor" with a small dash of class and creativity.)
Kung Fu Panda skeptics can either catch up on the original this weekend or just dive into the sequel cold. Part 2 is a stand-alone adventure that presents a quest, some redemption, much loyalty, some sacrifice, and a frankly awesome peacock of a villain, who is voiced just flawlessly by Gary Oldman. Kung Fu Panda 2 is a comedy, obviously, but the franchise has also shown real commitment to also offering actual "adventure tales" both times out. Ian McShane was a memorable villain in the first chapter; Oldman might be even better in Part 2. Angelina Jolie provides the voice of a hard-fisted tigress; Dustin Hoffman returns as a wise master; and while the rest of the cast is relegated mainly to one-liners and bouts of plot jargon, there's still fun to be found in the contributions of Seth Rogen, David Cross, Jackie Chan, and Lucy Liu. (You'll also find new allies voiced by Dennis Haysbert, Victor Garber, and Jean-Claude Van Damme!)
Infinitely more likable here than in most of his live-action films, Jack Black seems to be really settling in with the silly-yet-heroic Po character, and it's nice to see that the screenwriters have written him as decidedly less naive (but no less clumsy) this time around. It's a small touch, really, but if we're to join this "Kung Fu Panda" on further adventures, it's nice to see that he's actually growing up as the franchise moves forward. As an animation buff who was slow to warm up to the first Kung Fu Panda, I'm happy to note just the opposite is true on the sequel: Kung Fu Panda 2 is everything you need in a summertime flick. Bring the kids if you must, but you'll probably enjoy it more without them.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
More from the KFP 2 L.A. press day
ONLY IN THE HOLLYWOOD
‘Panda’ sequel’s adoption theme resonates with Jolie
By: Ruben V. NepalesPhilippine Daily Inquirer
TIGRESS AND PO. Actress Angelina Jolie and Jack Black pose with a person dressed in a panda costume during a photo call for “Kung Fu Panda 2” at the 64th international film festival in Cannes, southern France Thursday. AP
Angelina, who voices the character Tigress, arrived with Jack Black (Po), Gary Oldman (Lord Shen), director Jennifer Yuh Nelson and DreamWorks’ big boss Jeffrey Katzenberg. Prior to the press con, parts of “Panda 2” in 3D were screened for the reporters.
Explaining how she loves the film’s theme of adoption, Angelina said people are not defined by “the way we look or where we are from.”
The Oscar and Golden Globe winning actress pointed out the film will reveal how a panda like Po came to be raised by a goose. “My character was also raised in an orphanage,” she added.
Jennifer said: “It was an emotional scene when Po finds out a lot about himself. It made me cry when I watched it. I ran out of tears.”
A host of international stars makes up the rest of the sequel’s cast: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Lucy Liu, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Seth Rogen, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Dennis Haysbert and Victor Garber. “These are the best actors,” Jennifer said. “It is just insane. It is really an honor and fun to work with this caliber of talent.”
The presence of Jack Black (with his droll quips) at the press con brought out Angelina’s playful side. Her eyes widened in amusement and she broke into chuckles over Jack’s verbal and visual antics. She reveled in his impromptu kung fu moves. Asked a question in Chinese, Jack answered “Yes!” even before the query was translated in English.
Angelina said husband Brad Pitt and the kids have seen the movie. “It has all those things that the kids love,” she said. “My children laughed out loud. I called Jeffrey and told him, ‘We are good.’ My family was the test audience.”
Of her character, she said: “Tigress has kind of an attitude toward her friend Po. She’s a fighter, no question about it but reluctantly, she has become softer. I love it that she has become soft and hugs the panda.”
When a reporter asked Jack and Angelina if they’ve found inner peace, which is also a theme of the movie, Angelina turned to Gary. With a wide grin, she teased: “So you mean Gary has no inner peace?”
Inner peace
Angelina continued: “I don’t know if I’ve found inner peace. But when you wake up in the morning and your children are happy and healthy, then you have peace. That is all that you should be worried about. Then you work on other things that you worry about, like injustices. You start with one simple thing that you are happy and grateful about.”
For his part, Jack answered with a wry, “Yeah.” Then he quipped: “I only have fleeting moments of inner peace. Like, okay, now it is gone. After a really good workout with my trainer at the gym, I usually have a few minutes of inner peace in the shower. I’m still searching for my inner peace.”
Gary, who has three sons, said: “It’s interesting what Angelina said. I have been remarried for the past couple of years. I was a single dad for 10 years. And look at those boys—how great they are. They are my greatest accomplishment. I got something right. It gives me a sense of great joy. I am at peace with that. It helps me sleep at night.”
Since “Panda 2” features a hero and a villain in Jack and Gary, respectively, Angelina was asked what kind of a hero we need in these times.
“Maybe we need to be together more and be a collective hero,” she said. “We need to get together more between our countries and religions.”
‘Po is my hero’
“In the movie, Po is my hero,” she said. Jack, who portrays Po, the movie’s butt-kicking protagonist, claimed that he’s not a fighter, but a pacifist, in real life. “I got into one fight when I was a kid and I’ve never fought again,” the comedian said. “We are a people of peace. We only do butt kicking in movies.”
He explained that his opponent was a bully and was picking a fight with him.
“I didn’t want to fight but I had to in self defense,” Jack added. “And I did win the fight.” Turning mock serious, Jack said, “I felt guilty because I knew he was hurting inside. His need to fight was sort of sad.”
Then Jack deadpanned: “I hope he’ s okay now … But make no mistake—these hands are registered weapons.”
Fun, entertaining
Asked about the state of animation today, Angelina replied: “With the children, we watch animation from around the world— Miyazaki, French animation. They love all the DreamWorks movies. At its best, animation can be fun, entertaining and beautiful. Some are just good for laughs. But when it’s great, it’s really great. Some of the best films today are actually done in animation.”
Jeffrey added: “Jennifer offers kick-butt animation but with much heart in the storytelling. The other side is the technology which continues to accelerate. Today you saw state-of-the-art 3D. If last year, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ established what can be done in CGI animation in 3D, today you saw what we are doing beyond that.”
As for more sequels to the “Panda” series, and what’s in store for Po and Tigress, Angelina said, laughing: “Jack and I don’t know. We might get married in another sequel. We might have little tiger panda babies. I am up for wherever the story goes.”
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com.
ONLY IN HOLLYWOOD
Fil-Am animator inspired by ‘komiks’
By: Ruben V. NepalesPhilippine Daily Inquirer
“PANDA” voices Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and Jack Black at the 64th international film festival in Cannes, southern France
The Filipino-American story artist behind “Kung Fu Panda 2” has two brothers in rival studios—Ronnie (“Up,” “Finding Nemo”) is at Pixar while Rick (“Family Guy”) is at Fox Animation.
“We really don’t compete,” said Louie, whose previous stints include directing the animated TV series “Rugrats.”
Working with DreamWorks’ story department, Louie has devoted the past three years to “Kung Fu Panda 2.” He explained: “We were in charge of filmmaking, storyboarding so we were on top of the production, fleshing out the story and script and translating them onto storyboards.”
Jack Black and Angelina Jolie are back as the voice talents behind Po and Tigress, respectively. There’s a new villain in Lord Shen (voiced by Gary Oldman), a peacock determined to conquer China.
“I worked on many different parts of the movie,” Louie said. “But there are specific scenes in the movie that I storyboarded.” He cited examples: “In the development of the villain, the peacock … the chase in the rickshaw … We also did parts of the fireworks factory … Po and Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) in the beginning.”
“Voice actors like Angelina Jolie elevate the scenes to another level,” Louie said of the thespians’ contribution to the movie directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson. “To hear Jack Black or Angelina or any of the great cast members deliver lines, especially when there are bits of writing that you have done, and then they flesh out the characters because they are good actors—these make you see scenes in a totally different light. It’s just a blessing.”
Louie said that Jack contributed very much to the character of Po: “Sometimes he will improvise in the recording booth. Oftentimes, we use what he gives us because he is so connected to the character. Angelina is so intelligent, as far as asking the right questions about her character and her motivations. She gives us something that maybe we didn’t think of. It’s a great process.”
He advises aspiring animators to work hard. “There is no magic potion or whatever,” Louie said. “You have to work at it. You have to draw. It’s the basis of everything. You have to really try and discover what you have to offer.”E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The action heroine pumps up Kung Fu
Angelina Jolie and actor Jack Black attend the Kung Fu Panda 2 photo shoot at Cannes on Thursday.
Photograph by: Michael Buckner, Getty Images
Panda 2
CANNES, France — She walks into the room wearing a simple taupe dress clinched with a brown belt. On her right forefinger is a ring with an enormous square green stone and on her left shoulder is an elaborate tattoo, lines of numbers that give the longitude and latitude of the birthplaces of her six children and her partner, Brad Pitt. Angelina Jolie looks both elegant and tough, just like the characters in her best known films: the sexy secret agents in The Tourist and Salt, the sly assassin in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the kick-ass heroine of the Lara Croft films.
She's a tigress in heels, so it's not much of a surprise when she says that Tigress — the martial arts expert in the animated Kung Fu Panda films — is "one of the best characters I've ever played."
"I've always been drawn to strong characters and I admire strong women, emotionally and physically, who are fighting for something. I have a sense of justice and injustice. It's always been more than just trying to be tough."
Tigress gets to show her softer side in Kung Fu Panda 2, the sequel that is being promoted in the middle of the Cannes Film Festival. It has drawn a roomful of reporters who spent the morning watching the fraught family drama We Need to Talk About Kevin — a drama about a troubled teenager involved in a high school massacre — and then scuttled down the Croisette for a news conference about a roly-poly bear fighting for what's right in ancient China.
Jolie was the main attraction, although she shared the stage with two other celebrity voices: Dustin Hoffman, who returns as Shifu, the wise old master, and Jack Black who stars as Po, the panda with a big appetite for junk food and an even bigger one for vanquishing enemies.
All three presented elements of their animated characters. Hoffman, for instance — wearing a dark suit and running shoes — was the voice of maturity, "the oldest person in the room," in his estimation. Asked how it felt to be known as an animated red panda after his Oscar-winning performances in a lifetime of dramas, he replied, "It's a fitting end to a long and distinguished career." Black, a jokester in a black T-shirt and jeans, was asked about his own childhood heroes, and he replied that it was Bobby McFerrin in his days as a jazz singer, before Don't Worry, Be Happy. "He can sing while he's breathing in," Black instructed the assembly, and launched into an impromptu imitation of McFerrin singing Blackbird.
But Jolie drew the paparazzi and most of the questions, partly because of accumulated star power of Brangelina — Pitt is in Cannes as well, to promote the festival entry Tree of Life — but also because Kung Fu Panda 2 seems at least partially tailored to her life story.
"We're really growing up with Po and learning about different aspects of human nature," she said. "In the first one, it was that you can be anything you want, no matter what you look like, feel like or where you come from . . . in this one it was very much about family, and no matter what you've gone through in your youth, you can be what you choose to be in life."
In Kung Fu Panda 2, Po the panda discovers that the goose who raised him isn't his real father — "it was the elephant in the room in the first one," Black acknowledged, mixing his metaphors slightly — and he sets off to find the story of his natural parents.
Adoption, of course, is part of the Brangelina legend: Jolie and Pitt have six children, three of them adopted. Jolie said she took them to see the movie as a kind of informal test audience. Unsurprisingly, they loved it.
"I wondered whether they'd ask me questions about it, but (they didn't) because 'adoption' and 'orphanage' and 'birth mother,' in our home, these are happy words. They're very used to these discussions and they were just that much more proud that they were a little more like Po."
There are other themes in the film, such as the search for inner peace, but as Hoffman said, "I didn't think inner peace existed at the Cannes Film Festival." That was proven as the actors had to finesse a few tangents; for instance, Jolie declined to comment on the death of Osama bin Laden in the context of a Kung Fu Panda 2 news conference.
She did acknowledge she would love to work in China and announced that, professionally, "I'm available. I'm unemployed at the moment."
But Tigress could turn into a life's work: There are plans for more Kung Fu Panda sequels, perhaps as many as six in all, and while Jolie made no commitment, she sounded ready to give voice to the female action hero.
"When I first saw the character I didn't know if she was a boy or a girl or if I wanted to play her, whoever she was. And I was very excited that she was a girl. I think it was great for my daughters and me. We talked a lot about the fact that Po, for a male character, has a lot of sensitivity and emotion. And it seems like a very nice balance that she's the harder one, who needs to be a little bit more emotional."
jstone@postmedia.com
canada.com/stonereport
MTV #2
Angelina Jolie, Jack Black Talk Fashion At Cannes Film Festival
'When I'm not doing this, I wear the same pants and same shirt every day,' 'Kung Fu Panda' co-star Jolie admits.
By Christina Garibaldi, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
CANNES, France — The Cannes Film Festival brings out the biggest stars, but it has also become one of the most glamorous events of the year, as we witnessed on the first day of the event. So when one has to work the red carpet at the festival, one has to make sure she looks her best, which isn't a problem for "Kung Fu Panda 2" star Angelina Jolie.
Jolie, who is known for her classic, elegant style, is used to turning heads. But when we caught up with the actress, we had to ask if she ever feels she has to top herself at Cannes.
"It's all the same," Jolie said of the pressure of dressing for a red carpet. "When I'm not doing this, I wear the same pants and same shirt every day. I don't change."
Jolie's funnyman costar Jack Black chimed in, asking, "Don't you wash them?"
"On occasion, but I have a few of the same things. It's like a uniform," Jolie replied.
Well, we can't say that Black takes the same laid-back approach to fashion. When planning for Cannes, he decided to bring his style to a whole new level.
"I wore my best shirt, favorite jeans and cream-colored pumas," Black joked. "I'm giving you my A-stuff."
In the "Kung Fu Panda" sequel, Black and Jolie reprise their roles as Dragon Warrior Po and Tigress, respectively. But the audition for the role wasn't easy for Jolie, who had to get past her fear of her own voice.
"I was doing Southern, I was doing British, I was doing any accent I could come up with," Jolie said. "Finally, they had to give me the talking-to that they'd analyzed my voice, they'd hired me and everything was fine."
THR on KFP2 Presser
Angelina Jolie, Jack Black on Finding Inner Peace in 'Kung Fu Panda 2' (Cannes)
"I don’t think inner peace exists at the Cannes Film Festival," jokes Dustin Hoffman.
CANNES -- “I don’t think inner peace exists at the Cannes Film Festival,” Dustin Hoffman said, offering his deadpan assessment of the scene as DreamWorks Animations Kung Fu Panda 2 express rolled into town.
DWA, which makes it an annual habit of grabbing the attention of the international press assembled in Cannes, held its own screening Tuesday night of the new sequel to the original Kung Fu Panda, which collected $632 million in grosses worldwide when it was released in 2008.
It followed up with a press conference Thursday morning at the Carlton Hotel that included Jack Black, who plays the reluctant panda warrior Po, Angelina Jolie, who voices Po’s comrade-in-arms Tigress, Hoffman, who lends his voice to kung fu master Shifu and the movie’s director Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
The new movie revolves around Po’s search for inner peace even as he battles a new villain, the peacock Lord Shen, who’s voiced by Gary Oldman.
And so one of the first questions tossed at the actors was what they themselves consider inner peace.
“My inner peace is in pieces,” Black joked, while Jolie, showing a kind of radiant graciousness as she put up with the often off-the-wall questions, responded more seriously, saying, “Especially for people who have children, you wake up and they’re healthy, you know that’s the most important thing, so you have that peace. But I think we’re all searching for it as part of the human journey. We all have moments of inner peace, then we lose it, then we look for it again.”
It remained for Hoffman -- who at one point announced, “It’s tough to get laughs in this room” -- to turn the question on the questioners as he added, “I have never had as much inner peace as I have at the moment, being infront of all these cameras and sitting next to Angelina. It doesn’t get anymore inner than that.”
The new movie also follows Po’s search for his birth parents -- the panda has been brought up by a goose, a fact that went unexplained in the first movie. So the press naturally wanted to know of Jolie, how her six kids, who included three adopted children, reacted to that aspect of the film.
Smiling easily, Jolie said, “I brought my children to see the movie and they absolutely loved the movie and laughed though the whole thing.”Although she admitted she wondered if they would have questions, the issue never came up. “They just felt that much more proud that they were a little more like Po,” she added.
Nelson, the movie’s director, also talked about the role that Guillermo Del Toro, who is credited as creative consultant, played on the film. “It was a very long process, three years, and he came in right in the middle, when things were the messiest and pointed out all the things in the movie that we really should believe in and he helped us come up with some really great ideas,” she explained. “Part of what he did was try to make Shen even cooler. He came in and cracked a lot of jokes and really cheered us on. He was just an inspiration to work with.”
The trio, along with debut director Jennifer Yuh, made their way into a packed press conference after the usual posing-with-a-cuddly-panda photo duties.
Jolie was classy and charming, Black was typically boisterous and Hoffman kept himself amused by offering some hilariously sardonic responses to some of the sillier questions.
The film picks up the story of titular warrior Po (Black), who sets out to defeat evil peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) with the help of fellow ‘Furious Five’ fighter Tigress (Jolie) and red panda master Shifu (Hoffman).
“The trick with sequels is you have to make it better than the first one, and I think we’ve pulled it off,” said Jolie.
“It was more fun the second time around because we’d all gotten to know each other [on the press tour for the first movie] and our characters had history, so it was fun to jump in.”
When asked why he’d signed on for a sequel, Hoffman quipped: “At my age I have no short-term memory, so I can’t answer that…”
Being serious for a moment, he added: “I think we’re in a golden age of animation and I think this is as good as it gets.
“It’s very difficult to make any sequel as good if not better than the first and I do think my colleagues have made a deeper, more emotional film.”
Black, meanwhile, applauded the film’s anti-weapon stance, albeit in his own unique style.
“The Furious Five never use actual weapons. It’s all kung fu, so in a way it’s a non-violent film – it discourages weaponry!” he said.
“I don’t like guns. I like laser blasters, but that’s where I draw the line.”
Amid all the craziness, first-time director Yuh hardly got a look-in, although she did manage to applaud the involvement of exec producer Guillermo del Toro.
“It’s a very long process,” she explained of the film’s three-year production. “Guillermo came in right in the middle and helped us come up with some really great ideas, like making Shen even cooler.
“He cracked a lot of jokes and really cheered us up in the middle of a really long project. He was just an inspiration to work with.”
Kung Fu Panda 2 opens on 10 June.
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It followed up with a press conference Thursday morning at the Carlton Hotel that included Jack Black, who plays the reluctant panda warrior Po, Angelina Jolie, who voices Po’s comrade-in-arms Tigress, Hoffman, who lends his voice to kung fu master Shifu and the movie’s director Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
The new movie revolves around Po’s search for inner peace even as he battles a new villain, the peacock Lord Shen, who’s voiced by Gary Oldman.
And so one of the first questions tossed at the actors was what they themselves consider inner peace.
“My inner peace is in pieces,” Black joked, while Jolie, showing a kind of radiant graciousness as she put up with the often off-the-wall questions, responded more seriously, saying, “Especially for people who have children, you wake up and they’re healthy, you know that’s the most important thing, so you have that peace. But I think we’re all searching for it as part of the human journey. We all have moments of inner peace, then we lose it, then we look for it again.”
It remained for Hoffman -- who at one point announced, “It’s tough to get laughs in this room” -- to turn the question on the questioners as he added, “I have never had as much inner peace as I have at the moment, being infront of all these cameras and sitting next to Angelina. It doesn’t get anymore inner than that.”
The new movie also follows Po’s search for his birth parents -- the panda has been brought up by a goose, a fact that went unexplained in the first movie. So the press naturally wanted to know of Jolie, how her six kids, who included three adopted children, reacted to that aspect of the film.
Smiling easily, Jolie said, “I brought my children to see the movie and they absolutely loved the movie and laughed though the whole thing.”Although she admitted she wondered if they would have questions, the issue never came up. “They just felt that much more proud that they were a little more like Po,” she added.
Nelson, the movie’s director, also talked about the role that Guillermo Del Toro, who is credited as creative consultant, played on the film. “It was a very long process, three years, and he came in right in the middle, when things were the messiest and pointed out all the things in the movie that we really should believe in and he helped us come up with some really great ideas,” she explained. “Part of what he did was try to make Shen even cooler. He came in and cracked a lot of jokes and really cheered us on. He was just an inspiration to work with.”
Jolie, Black seek "inner peace" in Kung Fu Panda 2
Cannes 2011: Kung Fu Panda returns to the Riviera
Jolie, Black and Hoffman bring A-list glitz to the fest.
Hollywood hit the Croisette in force this morning as Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman turned up to promote animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 2.The trio, along with debut director Jennifer Yuh, made their way into a packed press conference after the usual posing-with-a-cuddly-panda photo duties.
Jolie was classy and charming, Black was typically boisterous and Hoffman kept himself amused by offering some hilariously sardonic responses to some of the sillier questions.
The film picks up the story of titular warrior Po (Black), who sets out to defeat evil peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) with the help of fellow ‘Furious Five’ fighter Tigress (Jolie) and red panda master Shifu (Hoffman).
“The trick with sequels is you have to make it better than the first one, and I think we’ve pulled it off,” said Jolie.
“It was more fun the second time around because we’d all gotten to know each other [on the press tour for the first movie] and our characters had history, so it was fun to jump in.”
When asked why he’d signed on for a sequel, Hoffman quipped: “At my age I have no short-term memory, so I can’t answer that…”
Being serious for a moment, he added: “I think we’re in a golden age of animation and I think this is as good as it gets.
“It’s very difficult to make any sequel as good if not better than the first and I do think my colleagues have made a deeper, more emotional film.”
Black, meanwhile, applauded the film’s anti-weapon stance, albeit in his own unique style.
“The Furious Five never use actual weapons. It’s all kung fu, so in a way it’s a non-violent film – it discourages weaponry!” he said.
“I don’t like guns. I like laser blasters, but that’s where I draw the line.”
Amid all the craziness, first-time director Yuh hardly got a look-in, although she did manage to applaud the involvement of exec producer Guillermo del Toro.
“It’s a very long process,” she explained of the film’s three-year production. “Guillermo came in right in the middle and helped us come up with some really great ideas, like making Shen even cooler.
“He cracked a lot of jokes and really cheered us up in the middle of a really long project. He was just an inspiration to work with.”
Kung Fu Panda 2 opens on 10 June.
KFP2 on Twitter, Day 2
LisaCannonXpose Lisa Cannon
Angelina admitted to me she loves wearing no make upon jeans and eating pizza and she didn't know brad backpacker around Ireland!!!
totalfilm Total Film
They're here! Ange looks amazing #CannesS
She's just as beautiful in the flesh! #cannes
QUEM Online Fotos Getty Images
EmmaPJones Emma Pritchard Jones
Considering every other question is about angelina's brood, she is being very gracious. She's a mother, get over it ! #cannes
7sur7stivals 7sur7
Angelina annonce que Brad et les kids sont avec elle a Cannes. "Ils sont a l hotel, ils jouent a des jeux" #Cannes
Some journo just asked Angelina Jolie what she thought of Bin Laden's death at a Kung Fu Panda junket. Inappropriate much! Rich #cannes
thecarpetbagger The Carpetbagger
Do pandas have existential problems? "No" - Jack Black in response to Italian journo's question at "Kung Fu Panda 2" presser. #Cannes
AwardsDaily Sasha Stone
The photographers in the wi-fi room are processing pictures of Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman for Kung Fu Panda 2 #cannes
DigitalLA 37 mins 29 secs ago
#Cannes: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman just did a fan photo opp to promote #KungFuPanda at the Carlton http://yfrog.com/h7eqrrapj
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