David Cross

Interview: Directors Mark Osborne, John Stevenson Create Balance Between Action, Zen in ‘Kung Fu Panda’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:01:00 -0700

CHICAGO – In this summer movie season of old men with whips, gals in stilettos and superheroes a go-go, you may ask: “Where’s the cartoon?” (“Speed Racer” doesn’t count.) Indeed, the most highly anticipated animation event of the summer is “Kung Fu Panda”.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Filled with the voices of “A”-list Hollywood stars and featuring a classic combination of well-choreographed action, laugh-out-loud comedy and feel-good philosophy, “Panda” doesn’t pander and works on all levels.

HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed “Kung Fu Panda” co-directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson about putting together a major animated project for the first time and how their lead actor, Jack Black, helped shaped the destiny of the final product.

After having spent 20 years in the inescapable Chorh-Gom Prison, Tai Lung (Ian McShane) makes his daring escape in DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda”.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

“There was a general desire to return to that classic, timeless sense of story that Mark and I remembered as we were growing up,” Stevenson said. “We just wanted to make a story and a world that would endure and would be its own, self-contained universe.”

Unexpectedly chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy and train in the art of kung fu, giant panda Po (Jack Black, above) begins his study under Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman, below) in DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda”.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

“As for the films that inspired us most with animated action, there is no higher bar than ‘The Incredibles,’” Osborne said. “That was a film we looked at not necessarily as a template but for the level of quality and sophistication of the action.”

Jack Black is cast perfectly as the voice of Po: a lumpy panda bear working at his father’s noodle shop in China’s Valley of Peace. Po is an advocate of the fighting cult of kung fu and has kept up with the heroics of the “Furious Five” – Monkey, Mantis, Crane, Viper and Tigress – animals based on the fighting style.

They have been trained to protect the valley by Master Shifu (the voice of Dustin Hoffman) against the rages of evil, avenge-seeking tiger Tai Lung (Ian McShane). One of the five is about to be crowned the top warrior, which is also known as the “Dragon Master”.

Osborne praises the lead voice actor: “We rewrote and rebuilt the original story around Jack Black. That was one of the great things that happened in the genesis of the project. It is perfect casting.”

He added: “There was a lot of inspiration from Jack as a person, Jack’s movie characters and what we knew of Jack especially in association with Tenacious D. We took a lot of inspiration from all that in creating this ultimate fanboy character.”

Seth Rogen voices the fast and quick-tempered Mantis (one of the legendary Furious Five) in DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda”.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

“Jack gave a huge gift really early on about bending the concept to make it work,” Stevenson said. “There were interesting choices to be made and it all came from Jack.”

He added: “When he started doing his first sessions as Po, we all imagined that it might be Tenacious D Jack or something more cocky and abrasive. But Jack himself started to do these more vulnerable and ‘self aware of your failings’ kind of readings.”

Through a series of misadventures, Po becomes the Dragon Master and must endure the rejection and jealously of the Furious Five along with Shifu’s reluctant training. When Tai Lung escapes from prison, it’s up to Po to put into practice the teachings of his master and trust what he has learned to defeat the foe.

The story evolved through several renderings before Osborne and Stevenson found the right tenor.

Stevenson explained: “While we knew Po would eventually have to go one on one with Tai Lung, we didn’t want him to cheat, use magic, turn into Bruce Lee all of a sudden or have him do things you hadn’t seen him do before.”

He continued: “In the Tao Te Ching, there was this stanza in there: ‘The sapling that bends in the breeze is greater than the mighty oak that is rigid.’ It ends with this couplet: ‘The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome.’ When we read that, we said ‘hurrah’! We found our overall philosophy.”

“Also, the philosophical underpinning of the story is that Master Shifu and Po are a balance of opposites,” Osborne expressed. “Villain Tai Lung and Po are a balance of opposites. We thought to build everything on that and we started to discover things.”

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View our huge, high-resolution “Kung Fu Panda” image gallery.

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The fluid nature and the excitement of the action sequences – epic without being cartoony – are the centerpiece of the film’s legitimacy.

“One of the big conceits of the film was to use the five original animal fighting styles,” Stevenson said. “The Furious Five in the film actually personify them. It was kung fu in such a way that honored its source, but it also did it in a way you’ve never seen before because it was animals doing it instead of human beings.”

Bring the kids and line up for the popcorn as the result is a fundamental balance and a perfect summer animated classic. Osborne concluded: “It had to be authentic and still feel like kung fu, but at the same time, we knew we had to find our own path and our own way of doing things.”

In all, “Kung Fu Panda” features the voice talent of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Dan Fogler and Michael Clarke Duncan.

“Kung Fu Panda” opened everywhere on June 6, 2008.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Interview: Mary Lynn Rajskub – Star of Hit TV Show ‘24’ – Discovers She’s Hilarious

HollywoodChicago.com — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:58:25 -0700

CHICAGO – On the other end of the phone, Mary Lynn Rajskub (best known to most Americans as Chloe O’Brian on the hit television show “24”) tells me her Thanksgiving plans.

Even though her voice is sweet and humble as we discuss the logistics and square footage needed to properly deep fry a turkey, something in my mind can’t separate her from the government agent she plays.

I find myself fighting the urge to talk into the headset with a deep, raspy voice a la Kiefer Sutherland and demand she send me the schematics of an abandoned industrial complex.

“I thought [deep frying a turkey] was a terrible idea, but apparently it’s pretty delicious,” she says completely unaware that in my mind a bomb is about to go off somewhere in the city unless she can get me the information I need.

Mary Lynn Rajskub.
Photo credit: GeekSugar.com
Rajskub has found playing a hit character on a fast-paced action show a high point in her career. Meanwhile, an oft-forgotten bit of information known only to fans of her earlier work and attendees of the annual CTU holiday party is that Mary Lynn Rajskub is hilarious.

In case you don’t believe me, she performed stand-up at the Lakeshore Theatre in Chicago on Nov. 24 in a show called “Mary Lynn Rajskub: Turns Out I’m Funny”.

The Trenton, Mich. native started her comedy career on the first two seasons of the HBO sketch comedy “Mr. Show”. At that time, she was dating the show’s co-creator (David Cross), and when their relationship ended, she was no longer allowed on the set.

While working as a barista at Seattle’s Best, her agent took a video of her doing a stand-up routine of a performance artist on acid to Garry Shandling. He cast her in the “Larry Sanders Show”.

Mary Lynn Rajskub.
Photo credit: GeekSugar.com
Between being a foil to Bob Odenkirk and over-the-top David Cross sketches and making out with Jeffery Tambor (in what was the funniest “Larry Sanders Show” episode), Rajskub became a favorite to comedy nerds throughout the nation.

One such fan was director Paul Thomas Anderson who cast her as an assistant to Tom Cruise in the film “Magnolia”. When her scene didn’t make the final cut, he made a point to give her a much bigger role as Adam Sandler’s overbearing sister in “Punch-Drunk Love”.

This is what caught the eye of “24” executive producer Joel Surnow.

“He really liked my character. He decided he wanted somebody somewhat like that at the CTU,” Rajskub said. “I had never watched ‘24’. I really didn’t audition for very many dramas. I didn’t really want to go in on it.”

Mary Lynn Rajskub (left), Emily Watson and
Adam Sandler in “Punch-Drunk Love”.
Photo credit: Bruce Birmelin, Columbia Pictures
The decision to sign on paid off. Rajskub was an immediate hit for critics and fans when she joined the cast in the third season. The following year when the show was retooled, she was one of the only characters to stay on as a regular.

Rajskub has been manning the computer at CTU ever since and even has some fun with it by parodying the role on shows such as “The Simpsons” and “MADtv”.

Of course, she won’t be going anywhere any time soon. The much-anticipated new season of “24” will feature Chloe working for a rogue CTU agency outside the government while Jack Bauer faces torture charges. The much-talked about “24” movie is still in the works as well.

“They have written a first draft of that,” she says as she seems to search her brain for something she hasn’t thought about in a while. “Then FOX put it on hold because they wanted to do it when the series was entirely over.”

While talking about “24” seems like it has become almost overplayed in the comedian’s life, sometimes her television show is all the audience can think about when they see her perform other places.

Mary Lynn Rajskub.
Photo credit: GeekSugar.com
“Sometimes I can feel that they’re really beside themselves,” the actress says of some “24” fans who see her live show. “They think Kiefer is backstage or something. I can tell all they’re thinking about is ‘24’.”

How does the comedian/field agent diffuse this situation?

“I’ll just talk to them,” Rajskub said. “Like: ‘What do you want to know?’” She admits that while she does mention Hollywood briefly, the show is on a more personal level. It’s less like a conventional stand-up show and more like old-fashioned storytelling.

“I tried to put together a show that was more theatrical, but I just end up standing there talking to the audience any way. I’ve never been a straight-up ‘joke teller,’” Rajskub confesses. “I’ve always been funny on stage.”

Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub in “24”.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
This comes as no surprise because she’s always funny on screen. Hopefully we can see more of that sooner than later.

While Mary Lynn tells me that she would love to work with Ricky Gervais or Garry Shandling again, there might be another collaboration with a former “Mr. Show” cast mate in the future. She is currently reworking a feature-length script based on an earlier short film she made with comedian Paul F. Thompkins.

The story follows a recently dumped woman who becomes a hit man just to not look pathetic in front of a guy at a bar. Following through on her word, she takes out an advertisement and becomes possibly the most inept assassin ever.

Interestingly, Rajskub doesn’t even have a copy of the original short film. “I found it on YouTube,” she laughs. “I thought ‘somebody found that and put it up. I’m going to watch it.’”

A short film featuring Mary Lynn Rajskub as an adorable hitman.
“I haven’t really shown it to anyone,” she says. “I just keep rewriting it.” In the meantime, we can expect to see more of Mary Lynn Rajskub on televisions on the upcoming premiere of “24” as well as the recently released “Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show” on DVD.

As the phone conversation ends, I’m again a bit heartbroken. She hasn’t confirmed that she hacked into some terrorist computer network or at least a decent cliffhanger to lead into the next hour.

While I know the beautiful and funny Mary Lynn Rajskub will go on to call into radio shows and will do more interviews, my inner Jack Bauer hopes Chloe is investigating a mole working inside Mancow’s “Morning Madhouse”.

By Dustin Levell
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com