Ben Wang chats with THR at the 'Karate Kid: Legends' premiere and dishes on the casting process, saying it was "really grueling," and that there were 10,000 submissions in the first week. Plus, he talks about meeting Jackie Chan for the first time on set.
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00:00There was a global casting for this role with thousands of submissions.
00:04Can you talk a little bit about the casting process for this for you?
00:09Yeah, it was really grueling.
00:12It was like well over a month and a half, maybe two months from first audition to them telling me that I had the part.
00:19But yeah, like you said, there was an open global casting call.
00:22They got like 10,000 submissions in the first week.
00:25So I was part of that.
00:26And so the rest of it is sort of waiting while they narrow it down.
00:30And, you know, you put in a tape and then another tape and then another tape and then you get a meeting and then another meeting.
00:35It's not terribly exciting.
00:37It was mostly like nauseating for me.
00:40But in the end, it worked out for me.
00:44It paid off.
00:45It paid off.
00:45Where were you when you found out you got the role?
00:47I was at home.
00:48I was in the bathroom when I got the call.
00:53And then I left the bathroom when I saw who it was.
00:55You're like, this is an important call.
00:56You should probably leave the bathroom.
00:57I should leave the bathroom, yeah.
00:59I love that.
01:00Do you remember your first time watching the Karate Kid movies when you were younger?
01:03Yeah.
01:03I saw the Jackie Chan, the 2010 Karate Kid.
01:06I was in elementary school when I came out.
01:09So, and that movie was one of the reasons why I started doing martial arts in the first place.
01:14Wow.
01:15So it was crazy.
01:15That movie got me started on martial arts.
01:17And then that martial arts got me in the sequel of that movie.
01:20Yeah.
01:21It was kind of weird.
01:23Can you talk about your first meeting with Jackie?
01:26I heard that you called it Jackie Week when he showed up on set.
01:30Yeah.
01:30That's what I've been unofficially calling it.
01:32Jackie Week.
01:33Everybody, it was like leading up to, you know how on Shark Week, like two weeks before
01:36Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, like the ads start playing.
01:39They're like, they're like, Shark Week is coming in two weeks.
01:41Get ready.
01:41And then there's like, sharks, na, na, na, na.
01:43That was like two weeks before Jackie came.
01:44I was like, you start hearing people like, yo, Jackie, this is, I'm going to do a French accent.
01:48This was Quebec.
01:49Like, Jackie is coming, Jackie.
01:50Well, next week, Jackie is coming.
01:52And then Jackie lands.
01:54And I hear this guy on the radio.
01:55He's like, Jackie, Jackie is here.
01:57And it's like his driver.
01:58He's like, Jackie, Jackie wants to drive himself from the airport.
02:00What do we do?
02:00What do we do?
02:01It's like, Jackie is driving himself.
02:02And then like 20 minutes later, Jackie pulls up in an SUV.
02:05You were alerting everyone.
02:06You were warning them.
02:07You were like, get ready, Jackie.
02:08Yeah, I was like, I heard, guys, that Jackie is here.
02:11So, so get ready.
02:12So talk to me about that first meeting with him.
02:14Yeah, I was, I was like speechless.
02:17It was weird.
02:18I actually lost the ability to speak.
02:20No, because, you know, he, he, he's, I grew up in China.
02:24And for me, Jackie Chan is like ubiquitous with just cinema, plain and simple, you know,
02:30and he's an all timer, you know, it's like meeting Charlie Chaplin or something.
02:34He's going down in history for sure.
02:36Right.
02:36So I, I was, I really was like, I don't know what to say to this guy, but, but after you
02:43meet him, I don't know if you've interviewed him yet or not.
02:45Yeah.
02:45So, so, you know, he's such a jovial, charismatic guy.
02:49So once you meet him, it's fine.
02:50Yeah.
02:51Well, switching gears a little bit, you also are part of the new Hunger Games.
02:54Project.
02:55Talk to me what you can tell us about the new project.
02:58I mean, I, I, I'm super, I just got on board.
03:00So I, they're onboarding me now as we speak.
03:03I know, honestly, not that much more than you do, right?
03:07Once the paperwork clears.
03:08Yeah.
03:08Once the paperwork clears.
03:09This, you know, this is my second time working with Francis Lawrence.
03:12I did the long walk with him, which is, I'm also, that film, I'm really, really excited
03:17for people to see too.
03:18It's coming out in September.
03:19And yeah, I'm just really excited to jump into this like grand narrative.
03:24You know?
03:25Yeah.
03:25You know, they got, they got money over there for this thing.
03:28And I can't wait to see how they're spending it.
03:31And as for Karate Kid, where does the franchise go from here?
03:34I don't know.
03:36You tell me, where do you want it to go?
03:38Listen, I, I hear that there's a lot of possibilities where we can take this.
03:41Yeah, it's true.
03:43We'll see.
03:44We'll see.
03:44We'll see.
03:44Yeah.
03:45Yeah.