Interviews With "Kung Fu Panda 4" Stars Jack Black, Awkwafina, Directors Mike Mitchell & Stephanie Ma Stine

[00:00:00] You are listening to The Next Best Picture Podcast and these are Daniel Howett's interviews

[00:00:05] with the stars for Kung Fu Panda 4, Jack Black, Aquafina, and directors Mike Mitchell

[00:00:11] and Stephanie Bistini. It is time to take the next step on your turn.

[00:00:17] I'm not going to be the dragon warrior anymore?

[00:00:19] You will advance to spiritual leader Hugga Valley of Peace.

[00:00:23] Inner Peace. Inner Peace.

[00:00:27] Give your surf off my arm!

[00:00:31] Dinner please. Dinner with peace. In a sesame sword glaze.

[00:00:36] This is not working at all.

[00:00:41] Thailand, Big Fan.

[00:00:46] Once I possess the Kung Fu of every master villain,

[00:00:51] no one will dare question my power. Not even the great dragon warrior.

[00:00:58] Who's that? The most powerful shapeshifting sorceress, the Camelian.

[00:01:02] How do I find this, the Camelian?

[00:01:06] I'm going to lead you right to her front door.

[00:01:08] Jack Aquafina, how are you guys doing today?

[00:01:10] Good, how are you?

[00:01:11] Oh, Jack it's great to talk with you again. Aquafina chatting for the first time.

[00:01:16] So good to have you guys here. Kung Fu Panda 4 is so much fun,

[00:01:21] so I'm excited to hear more about the movie.

[00:01:24] Jack will start with you. Not too many animated franchises extend into their fourth film.

[00:01:29] What's kept you coming back to Poe and to this world?

[00:01:32] It's the love.

[00:01:34] I mean, I just...

[00:01:37] I really thought we were done after three but it was one of the best phone calls I've ever gotten

[00:01:43] my manager called and said, hey, they wanted to do another Kung Fu ban. Are you kidding me?

[00:01:49] I was overjoyed. I was stoked to get back into this world. Love playing the character

[00:01:54] and love the opportunity to continue the arc of this panda's life.

[00:02:00] It's good. And Aquafina, you're diving into the world for the first time.

[00:02:03] What's it like working with Jack again and developing the character of Shen for Kung Fu Panda 4?

[00:02:10] I was so honored when I got the call because I'm a huge fan of the franchise and obviously

[00:02:14] very huge fan of Jack. And yeah, I think it was surreal to be in a movie with characters

[00:02:23] that you know you know and love. And yeah, no working with this guy.

[00:02:29] Well, you've both done so much voice over work. How do you both push yourself and keep it fun

[00:02:36] as you're creating characters with just your voice? Well, I always approach it the same

[00:02:42] way whether it's voice work or stage work or film work. It's always the emotional life of

[00:02:48] the character and I just have a ball look. I love to put on a show. Even today, me and Aquafina

[00:02:56] have been doing interviews all day. That's just a little mini show and I guess I'm a ham

[00:03:03] and doing voice work is no different. It's an opportunity to tell a story. I love it. I don't

[00:03:09] know what else to say. I guess I'm addicted to this jam we call the theatrics.

[00:03:17] And I think it's um, I like being able to play around with different things. That's why it's

[00:03:26] really deeply collaborative experience and Mike and Stephanie you know guiding that provider really

[00:03:32] like safe and open space for riffing and like adding your own spin. So yeah, every session was fun.

[00:03:40] That I went to you. Yeah, I want to ask more about how you guys recorded. Were you able to record

[00:03:45] together at all? And tell me more about how much space there was for improv and kind of making

[00:03:51] this your own or along the way? Well, we're able to work. We could go every once in the studio

[00:03:56] together. You know, it's you don't usually do that typically because they need to isolate your

[00:04:02] vocals and stuff like that but having that opportunity was great, but I understand why we need

[00:04:07] to keep going because I feel like I kept interrupting his takes because he wild out in there. And

[00:04:13] it's a it's hard to keep the check-holes from a chuckle-edding. I think they like to go isolation so

[00:04:20] that they can drill down on certain moments too. They want to make sure they get it exactly where I

[00:04:25] saw you do, you know, tons of takes on one specific section and they don't want to have the other

[00:04:31] actor there waiting around to get through that one drill down. So it's more effective and efficient

[00:04:38] for them to do it that way but we did have a ball on that one day that we did it and we did make

[00:04:43] a promise if we ever do it again, we got to get some more of those collaborative sessions in

[00:04:47] because there's certain sparks and magic that happens from that. We want all time out on one mic.

[00:04:52] Haha, all the whole cast on one mic. Do we are the world's self? Yeah, we all have to be world's

[00:04:58] on a room and an old-time radio play. The world's the sound effects there too. Exactly. I love it.

[00:05:04] I love it. Well, Kung Fu Panda 4, Jack, like you said, you know, it kind of felt like Kung Fu Panda 3

[00:05:09] was the end of things but then we're back with Kung Fu Panda 4 and it finds Poe in a pretty good

[00:05:14] place. He's happy things are going well but it's still time to move on and turn the next page in his

[00:05:21] life and pass the torch of the Dragon Warrior. So a question for both of you, can you think of a time

[00:05:25] in your career where you felt a similar page turning? This is a page turning moment or you had to give

[00:05:31] up some things in order to move to the next chapter of your career. Aquafino, I'll start with you.

[00:05:36] Wow. I think like when you start in this business, you definitely feel like sometimes you don't

[00:05:43] like it's really exciting and you're it's I just kind of like a roller coaster where you have you

[00:05:48] feel like you know it's going and it's exciting. It's exhilarating but you don't really have any

[00:05:52] direction of where it's going and I think that there comes a time where you want to be able to

[00:05:59] control how you feel about certain things and the momentum of it all and yeah, I think and just

[00:06:06] providing an environment for younger generations to come in that probably feel the way that you felt,

[00:06:12] you know, remember one time when in 1999 I got an offer to play a role in high fidelity. That was like

[00:06:22] my big breakout role with John Q. Zach and he loved Tenacious Dean, my band Tenacious Dean. He said

[00:06:30] oh we gotta have you in this movie Steven Freer's is directing is one of my favorite directors

[00:06:35] and we got this part that you're perfect for and it was all about these guys that worked in

[00:06:40] in a record store, a vinyl store and they would just talk about rock and roll music of all

[00:06:48] genres all day long and I was nervous. I was like ah no because I got my band Tenacious Dean

[00:06:53] I'm really serious about it and I want it to be like a real band. I don't know if I want to do a

[00:06:58] movie where I'm talking about music because then it's like that might step on my actual music

[00:07:04] career that I'm trying to get going here but then I was like oh screw it. I can't be I'm just

[00:07:09] afraid I kind of not be afraid. I can do in this thing is the best role I've ever been offered

[00:07:13] so I took it seems dumb now that I almost passed but at the time it was a big step for me to take

[00:07:20] a chance and I'm really glad I did and ever since then I'm like you're really really examined

[00:07:27] before I make big decisions out of fear, you know and say wait am I just afraid

[00:07:32] that I'll fail because if that's the only reason I should go ahead and take the plunge.

[00:07:37] Hmm. Well and Tenacious D is still going strong even into

[00:07:41] the end of the world. Yes so I have to ask about baby one more time come on so good

[00:07:47] what's it been like for you and Kyle to let out your inner pop stars and cover Britney Spears?

[00:07:54] I mean it's a blast it's really fun and to have the song at the end of the credits

[00:07:59] I almost can't believe it's real and we went to the premiere on Sunday and I was like

[00:08:03] did they leave it in there I'm staying till the very end because I want to see if it made the credit

[00:08:08] and by God they did the whole version the whole three minute version of like this is rocking

[00:08:14] and I always had banging hard and looking around like is it just me or does it just

[00:08:20] it's a flop it's a flop mood I did see your hand then it was a flop it was a flop that is a legit

[00:08:27] jam the Britney cranked out all those years ago and it was like an opportunity to rock it in our own

[00:08:34] style and I'm really proud of it and I hope she likes it too I don't know I'm gonna talk to it.

[00:08:39] Yeah and partnership is such a theme of Kung Fu Panda 4 2 and you've been partnering with Kyle

[00:08:45] for what near 30 years here well you know tell me about what it's like to have a partner in

[00:08:50] Tn. A. C. D. for all these years yeah you know that's the the magic of that band really is our

[00:08:58] chemistry together me and Kyle and when we first started off we were just getting high and playing

[00:09:04] guitar acoustic guitars in his apartment and eating jack in the box and you know we just have

[00:09:11] some dreams and and just having fun and friendship and I did feel like you know there's something here

[00:09:18] um because if we got up on stage the two of us this looks really ridiculous the two of us there's

[00:09:25] something so wrong about this band of the two of us that it's funny it is funny there's something

[00:09:32] funny and we just kept on going until we had our first song and I still remember our first concert

[00:09:38] we played that first song and uh and I was it I it's hard to explain but anyone who who's getting

[00:09:46] started that wants to have a band or wants to have a comedy band I always say well you've got to

[00:09:50] find yourself a pile you got to if that's my that's how I like our thing together is more than

[00:09:57] I could have done by myself and it really was the thing it sparked my career because when they're

[00:10:02] came high fidelity and etc the rest is history amazing well we love Kung Fu Panda 4 and love

[00:10:09] you guys together when are we getting the Jumanji sequel what do you guys know is it coming is it

[00:10:13] happening I've heard nothing have you heard anything I'm not heard radio silence I think Duane is

[00:10:20] busy with wrestling but you've never stayed never okay well we're gonna make it happen I appreciate

[00:10:26] you guys thank you so much for chatting with me and thank you for Kung Fu Panda 4 thanks bro

[00:10:36] that will just have to get an army of our own what is this place the best crooks and criminals live

[00:10:42] here you're a wanted criminal you sound surprised is it surprising now you kids be careful those fireworks

[00:10:54] why should we help you we can take down the chameleon together being the dragon warrior

[00:11:00] it's who I am good for why no about being a spiritual leader what is it you're holding a cookie

[00:11:07] you were chosen to become something more than you already are

[00:11:17] how can we do that quick and painless or slow and painful

[00:11:24] you finally met your match chameleon we're not so different you and I

[00:11:39] stand back I'm gonna kick my

[00:11:54] hi Daniel hi how you guys doing today awesome well kung fu panda is so much fun so such a pleasure

[00:12:02] to chat with you guys I appreciate your time look there's so many things we love about kung fu panda

[00:12:08] and one of those is the action sequences so I'd love to hear about how you guys approached

[00:12:12] the action in kung fu panda 4 to keep the movie feeling fresh first thing we did that was

[00:12:19] unique to the previous three is we hired a team of stunt performers and it was led by what was

[00:12:25] this guy's been led by Don tie Don tie and his team and they put together tons of cool moves

[00:12:32] and specifically authentic moves because poe got the staff of wisdom the stow to him in the last

[00:12:38] film so now he's got this staff that he uses in all of his battles so they really helped us

[00:12:43] with that look and in fact the woman that played the the fox who performed all the stunts

[00:12:49] for the fox was more big tail she wore a tail for the animators to judge and look at it she moved

[00:12:55] and swooped around and so that was something that we had tons of this great push that we then

[00:13:00] gave to the animators and then they added even more to the the choreography of the of the fight

[00:13:08] and then beyond that a lot of our animators and I call this like mixing old school with new school

[00:13:14] they would actually hand draw a lot of the fight sequences or easpa moves before we even started

[00:13:22] animating them in CGI and it was really inspirational and everyone really got into that technique

[00:13:28] and strangely enough it helped us move faster to go back in time and hand animate they had this loose

[00:13:36] pencil sketchy quality to him that like really added to the to what I think was the final

[00:13:43] product of the fight. I think it's you know it's really a testament to the story and the characters

[00:13:48] if you know if you really love the fight scenes it was very important to us and we were talking

[00:13:53] to the choreographers about how each character behaved differently and how they grew up

[00:14:01] what the roles used were and how that informs the way that they moved

[00:14:07] and the way that they fought and used Kung Fu so for example with the Fox piece

[00:14:14] then she's a scrappy fox who grew up on the street that's an orphan and the way that she fights

[00:14:22] with super dirty and super scrappy but if you're if you're entertained by that it's you

[00:14:28] if you're like wow that's super epic you know with the villain fighting too it's all due to having

[00:14:35] these amazing characters who were pitted against each other or fought with each other.

[00:14:42] Coming up on five minute news I'm Anthony Davis

[00:14:47] you might think it's partisan because maybe it's critical of one side or the other but it's not

[00:14:52] just the truth and I think that's also something that's kind of unusual for Americans listening to

[00:14:58] the radio or to podcasts because the news landscape in the states has been so partisan

[00:15:05] for so many decades so five minute news is verified truthful independent unbiased and essential

[00:15:12] world news daily. Absolutely I mean Janice such an amazing character such a like great complicated

[00:15:23] partner for Poe and and so is the chameleon such a phenomenal villain there's so many phenomenal

[00:15:29] new characters in this but tell me about casting aquafina and viola Davis and how you knew they were

[00:15:35] right for those two roles. Well aquafina right away we knew we wanted to work with her she was the

[00:15:42] great voice and we knew that if someone was going to be on this journey with Jack with who better

[00:15:47] than aquafina. One they're already buddies to begin with so that made our jobs a lot easier and

[00:15:52] two she's hilarious it's hard to keep up with the great Jack Black and she's like really funny

[00:15:58] and then together they're both and I don't think people notice this from comedic actors

[00:16:03] they're both terrific actors they're really making like choices and getting to the to the to the emotion

[00:16:10] or the or the purpose of each scene and so to so beyond hiring her it was then just

[00:16:18] choosing what her animal wasn't designing it and from that I was kind of interesting.

[00:16:22] You know I just really appreciate how Mike always calls out that

[00:16:28] that you know these two actors being so well known for their comedy are also great actors because

[00:16:36] I actually believe that like you know being funny is the hardest is the hardest like

[00:16:41] builds to like have it's the rarest you know it's very hard to make them one last but it's part of

[00:16:51] like you know being being very observant of other people and like noticing the absurdities

[00:16:58] and then commenting on it without being mean you know and there's that very light touch

[00:17:03] and if you do it just right then we can make so many people laughing and we all see

[00:17:07] you know see ourselves in so many of these absurd moments you know so like being able to

[00:17:16] to make people laugh it's not just like a ha ha that's that's silly it's a ha ha like I'm learning

[00:17:24] stuff about myself too yeah and what about Violet Davis I mean of course we know what a phenomenal

[00:17:31] actress she is how did you know that she was the right choice for the chameleon we didn't

[00:17:38] we had a voice yeah actually our problem was could we design a character that's it that would match

[00:17:44] how wonderful her voice is because we knew that she had the perfect it was weird we wanted this villain

[00:17:51] to be the most it's a first female villain first of all and she's also got more supernatural powers

[00:17:58] than any previous villain and also she's smarter than all the villains so with Violet Davis' voice

[00:18:04] the challenge was oh my gosh can we design a character that lives up to the gravitas of this

[00:18:11] performance and this voice and I feel that we did it and and furthermore the score really helped

[00:18:16] too I've never it's really rare when a character's voice and the design and then the the villain's

[00:18:23] score that on Zimmermaid like man it really all lined up perfectly for us and and by all they had

[00:18:31] had that character almost instantaneously like we planned one day just to play around with voices

[00:18:37] and we didn't have to she just had it right away and there's an elegant to this character too

[00:18:41] that she brought to it in a confident it was really cool it turned it turned out good it was one

[00:18:46] of those maybe it was just a happy accident that we all everything converged yeah I think I think it

[00:18:52] was it was also just like so awesome that she and her daughter are a huge fan of the Kung-Koo

[00:19:00] Panda franchise yeah um so you know she came in and she was like oh my gosh like this is a dream

[00:19:05] come true and we thought the same way about her so it was just awesome I was awesome to fans

[00:19:12] that's amazing earlier on you guys were telling me about kind of mixing the new school and the old

[00:19:17] school you know it's been eight years since the last Kung-Koo Panda and 16 years since the first one

[00:19:24] were there ways that you took advantage of new technology or new techniques in addition to

[00:19:30] the stunts in order to up the ante for Kung-Koo Panda 4 the canoe transformation was was definitely

[00:19:38] your favorite Mike yeah and it easier said than done because well I don't know if you

[00:19:43] knows but when she transforms like into like a snow leopard she's not furry she retains her creepy

[00:19:49] skin her creepy chameleon skin and so it's essentially a snow leopard built out of a chameleon

[00:19:55] hide her her flesh her skin and that was something that it wasn't as hard for Stephanie and I as it

[00:20:02] was for the effects people had to work day and night to figure out these techniques and they actually

[00:20:07] came up with new tools did you know that like yeah oh yeah we did in that Q&A the other day they

[00:20:14] created new tools that would actually paint scales on another character and somehow I don't know

[00:20:21] how they did it that's how they accomplished it but that was one of our cool things yeah technology

[00:20:26] is about my strong spirit but I definitely admire all of our technicians and and our sex artists

[00:20:32] who worked on the TV because they they really locked it. Yeah that's awesome and Stephanie this is

[00:20:41] your first feature film as a co-director what was the biggest thing you learned from Kung-Koo Panda 4

[00:20:47] that you'll take into future projects oh that's a great question um I think the the biggest thing

[00:20:56] I learned was was um to take every single department as seriously as possible the same way that Mike

[00:21:05] does he goes into every single meeting fully prepared and knowing exactly the language that every

[00:21:13] department speaks and and he knows how to communicate with everyone so clearly that everyone gets

[00:21:20] in the right way I think that's a very difficult guilt to acquire but that's definitely something

[00:21:25] that I looked up to and I want to take that away um you know for myself to to use in in in

[00:21:33] in the future movies I may direct is just being able to communicate very clearly with every single

[00:21:42] person in every single department whether it's pastor crew about what story is what the theme is

[00:21:49] all of that amazing well Mike you've been around the block directed many excellent films not your

[00:21:55] first rodeo but I do want to ask the same question uh you know I know you you learned something new

[00:22:01] on on every project so what did you learn on Kung-Koo Panda 4 that that will influence you on future

[00:22:06] projects well I learned that um you know even though I've done tons of franchises man did I

[00:22:14] learn that this one's beloved and people are very sensitive and I'm almost thankful that I did

[00:22:19] know this until the end of the project people are very sensitive to their Kung-Koo Panda characters

[00:22:24] and they want them handled properly they want to see them uh they want to see them on the big screen

[00:22:31] doing everything that they want them to do and they want every character service that I don't think

[00:22:36] I was so hit to that at the beginning and it's nothing that I ever just missed but I thought I

[00:22:41] did enough of my research and I just didn't know I didn't know the passion of the fans of Kung-Koo

[00:22:47] Panda I mean I didn't either and I'm I'm I'm a huge I'm a huge fan of the Kung-Koo Panda franchise but it

[00:22:52] was it was uh it was just awesome you know getting to work with the cast and crew who who also grew up

[00:22:59] watching the films and so we were constantly surrounded by people who could fact check us yeah

[00:23:05] that was very helpful a lot of people were passionate yeah yeah strangely passionate and different

[00:23:12] areas and you know there would be a lot of debate to people getting together and discuss it

[00:23:17] especially when it comes out to Kung-Koo Moons I remember the Thai long nerve strike you know

[00:23:22] lot of discussion about that one that I don't even want to get into right now like

[00:23:27] yeah um yeah he's one or two you know claws and and like uh you know did he only use it on

[00:23:34] like the heart or or could he use on you know different parts of the body yeah very specific

[00:23:39] him wouldn't work again considering in the first movie like Poe's like Poe had a way to deflect it

[00:23:45] a lot a lot of intense mostly Kung-Koo battle I didn't know that it was possible to have hours

[00:23:50] of discussion about pylons nerve strike but yeah I was like saving for the comic books for God

[00:23:55] and she wins that's amazing that's amazing I definitely would not have expected that either but

[00:24:02] either way the movie turned out so good and before I let you go uh I have to ask about getting

[00:24:07] tenacious D to do baby one more time for the end of this film what a choice incredible choice

[00:24:14] tell me how that came to be well we knew we wanted the song to be violent and we thought what

[00:24:20] the best violent song about you know because of Kung-Koo and it's like hit me baby wow that's

[00:24:26] pretty aggressive that's a great Kung-Koo song so uh so Jack and Kyle just killed it they did such

[00:24:34] a great version of the song and the fun part about that is while they're still working on the

[00:24:40] song definitely and I were doing the score in London and so we sent the song it that I think

[00:24:49] the current version of the song they weren't even finished with it yet we sent hit me baby to

[00:24:54] Hans Zimmer and his 80-piece orchestra at Abbey Road and they weaved in violins and if you listen

[00:25:04] to it at the in our film at the end of our film they weaved in the Kung-Koo Panda score and when we heard

[00:25:11] that man the hair stood up on the back of our next we're like this is the most amazing wonderful thing

[00:25:17] I've ever heard and so you've got Jack Black you've got Tenacious B you've got um Britney Spears

[00:25:26] and Hans Zimmer who knew that Hans Zimmer would work with Britney Spears all connecting on this song

[00:25:33] it's pretty magic well only Poe could bring all those things together Mike and Stephanie thank you

[00:25:39] again so much for the film and and thank you for your time today I appreciate it yeah thank you

[00:25:43] and thanks for helping people see this in the theater it's so important we worked so hard to make

[00:25:47] these for the big screen so thank you for getting people out of their homes and interested to see

[00:25:52] this in the theater thank you hey everyone thank you so much for listening to Daniel how it's

[00:25:56] interviews with the stars from the new film Kung-Koo Panda 4 Jack Black Aquatina and the film's directors

[00:26:03] Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Mustine Kung-Koo Panda 4 is now playing in theaters from Universal Pictures

[00:26:10] you have been listening to the next best picture podcast we are proud to be part of the evergreen

[00:26:14] podcast network and you can subscribe to us anywhere where you subscribe to podcasts

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[00:26:35] much for listening as always and we will see you all next time

[00:27:05] bye

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