- Title: CHINA: Mark Wahlberg talks vanity and looking like Matt Damon
- Date: 20th June 2014
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (JUNE 20, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, LI BING BING, SAYING: "Nowadays we have more communication between America and China and we have a lot of opportunity to explain the two culture between us. And as our generation, as us, in our time, we have time to make a lot of stories to share the two cultures between America and China."
- Embargoed: 5th July 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Reuters ID: LVA4R1XMTW5IZYD7Q8ZZCFJKC586
- Story Text: The cast of the fourth Transformer movie talk about their experience, especially of collaborating with Chinese film companies.
The day after the world premiere of Transformers: Age of Extinction in Hong Kong, the cast sat down to talk about their experiences on the set of what is likely to become one of the year's blockbusters.
Mark Wahlberg plays a mechanic in the movie, who inadvertendly discovers that a truck he is working on is a Transformer and is soon drawn into the battle between the benevolent Autobots and the dastardly Decepticons.
He replaces Shia LaBeouf, who was the lead in the original trilogy.
The action-packed movie used the latest IMAX technologies but Wahlberg said despite all the green screens, the cast had a good idea of what the end result would look like.
"It's pretty close. I mean when I read the script, I try to visualise what it's going to look like, and I do that with every movie and it never does. It never looks like that, even when I'm producing the movies, I don't know why that happens. But Michael has these pre-viz, animated chunks of the movie of the action sequences, so he'll show you that. And he's also great about keeping the cast and the crew enthused about what they're doing by showing cut footage. Like every week he'll bring out a big screen and he'll show some stuff from the movie to keep people enthused, so you get a good idea of what it's going to look like," he said.
Asked about his interview in GQ magazine where he said he didn't care how he looked, the former Calvin Klein model denied he was making a statement. "I didn't want to make that statement. I don't ever want to make any statements other than 'do the right thing' and 'love one another'. But I just, I'm 43 years old. I wasn't like, 'oh, this is something that I really have to get across in this magazine and I want people to take notice, and hopefully they'll put it in bold letters as a quote'. I just, you know, I'm 43 years old and it is what it is. You know," he said.
Wahlberg, who often gets mistaken for fellow actor Matt Damon, did admit the two didn't correct fans when they got them confused.
"No, I just, if somebody says 'hey Matt, I loved you in the 'Bourne Identity',' I just say thank you. And 'Matt can I have you picture?' 'Absolutely'. He does the same thing. So, you know," said Wahlberg.
Although the first three movies were Hollywood funded, this movie has been co-produced by two Chinese film companies - China Movie Channel and Jiaflix Enterprises.
Transformers was partly shot in Hong Kong and Beijing and the government even allowed director Michael Bay to close down Wulong national park for two days for filming.
"Oh, I don't think without their help we wouldn't have been able to do all the things we did, obviously. Both in shooting in Hong Kong and mainland China. I mean, having access in the way that we did just makes the movie so much bigger and so much more interesting. Both mainland China and Hong Kong are important characters in the movie," said Wahlberg.
Newcomers Nicola Peltz, who plays Wahlberg's teenage daughter, and her on-screen boyfriend, Jack Reynor, said they couldn't believe to be a part of such a huge franchise.
"Honestly, I just grew up being a big Transformers fan and a fan of everyone involved in the film. And now to be a part of one and to be in one, and to watch the movie last night and just to see myself in one was, honestly, it was crazy. And it's so exciting for us because we're so new to the business," said Peltz.
Kelsey Grammer plays a paranoid CIA agent, trying to rid the world of the bad Transformers.
He said working with a Chinese film company gave the movie a different energy and possibilities. "It's a big market. There's a growing audience, there's an enthusiastic audience for the films they make in America. And I think it's a great relationship. And it was a great fit to have them be involved in the production of this. I mean it's extraordinary to see what we did to Hong Kong. I mean, it's pretty, pretty big. And I really enjoyed the collaboration of it," he said.
"First of all I think cinema is a great way for people to connect culturally and politically to build bridges. And I think that's a really important thing if you can do it with whatever genre the film is, I think that it's crucial. And we had a great time here," said veteran actor, Stanley Tucci, who plays a megalomaniac inventor, who inadvertently unleashes the power of the evil transformers.
Chinese actress Li Bing Bing, and Tucci's character's love interest in the movie, says that she is happy to be involved in another Hollywood movie after her turn in Resident Evil.
She said she thought there was a lot more potential for collaboration between East and West in cinema.
"You know, um, nowadays we have more communication between America and China and we have a lot of opportunity to explain the two culture between us. And as our generation, as us, in our time, we have time to make a lot of stories to share the two cultures between America and China," said Li.
"Transformers: Age of Extinction" begins its international rollout from June 25. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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