Gadgetory

I'm taking that drive to the roof you could either be attached to it or not it's your choice ciao all right so what's the plan the movie skyscraper is an action-packed romp and in the movie Qin Han plays Joe the man who is responsible for the Pearl that is the building one of the most important characters in skyscraper in Jinan is here with us right now I thought you're very nice of you thanks for coming by our studio and telling us a little bit about your role in skyscraper this must be really exciting it is I play Joe who is the the designer of the Pearl and also the owner of the building he is this maverick techno premiere billionaire in in Hong Kong and he has decided to build this 8th wonder of the world basically as the sentian building which is self-sustaining so it has this wind turbine engines using solar panels it's got all this stuff it's got 30 story garden in it Opera House so you know I mean it is a thing unto itself and and and pretty monumental it's the the biggest smart home yeah I like it so you mentioned a kind of maverick tech entrepreneur that sounds so unfamiliar in Silicon Valley we don't have a lot of those now we have so many of those what kind of research did you do for the role well I watched Iron Man a million times you know channeling your inner Tony I know I'm no I only being ha facetious because I mean that is the same person that we did research on because I heard Downey jr. had done research for the role you know based on Elon Musk and so I mean Elon Musk being the most current and I think such a colorful character is very colorful yes uh I got to reading his biography first and then you know for for history you know I went for the back you know when the Tesla and went to Edison and you know to get a sense of what what drove these people even Steve Jobs as well obviously sure but what drove these people and what were the you know what were their motivations for all the innovations that they have created that's really cool I would imagine it was an interesting sort of journey to kind of piece together a lot of like what all of what makes those men and women tick which is pretty cool to bring that to jail yeah so in the way of disaster movies because obviously unfortunately the Pearl I it's not all fun and rainbows at the Pearl like bad things start happening and I know that you are a little bit of a fan of disaster movies and so what when you're able to do this movie one how did you feel when you got the role to do it and then to what are some of your favorite disaster movies that you've been influenced by well it's so great though because rawson marshall thurber you know i think we've kind of not to age ourselves but we grew up in the same era right out of the 70s 80s and so the movies that he loved I mean not only the disaster ones but things like Raiders of the Lost Ark and die Han and fugitive and cliffhanger are the same movies that I loved so reading it I mean it felt like a an ode you know a Valentine to movies from from that era it was an easy you know it was an easy decision to say yes and a very emphatic yes to it - rawson in this movie now the the movies that I love from that time I mean obviously Atari inferno you know being such a seminal piece of work the Poseidon Adventure you know is great you know Shelley Winters and then there were some lesser-known ones that are banal and ones like the swarm or earthquake or meteor you know with Sean Connery I love all of that stuff I mean that was just terrific that's really cool and I mean now you are part of that history which is really neat that's really neat so in the movie we talked about how the Pearl is sort of the sentient building obviously skyscraper do you in the way of your role do you did you see any parallels between sort of how tech companies today build their products and how in the movie we kind of have this this tech product really it's it's its own tech product how that building was built well you know I think everything starts with the best of intentions right I mean making this a better world I think the poll to Jo is basically you know his own little microcosm of the of the world at large so you know it's this idea of what utopia would look like and obviously that becomes the fortress the faut Fort Knox in the sky which he calls it becomes its prison and I think that you know that's you know in Silicon Valley in with with technology as well we start with the best of intentions like you know with social media they're meant to bring people together you know I mean they're they're you know allowing people miles apart to to stay connected but it has become this other thing you know I mean that no one has foreseen and I think that you know that kind of development you know it it it pays to be mindful of what things can become sure and and then you know and then we'll see what the next step of this evolution of this technology is gonna be yeah it seems like there's a lot of parallels between the idealism of Zhao and this building and the pearl and and tech companies today tech CEOs feeling very idealistic about how their products are going to be used without thinking of the potential consequences or how it could be turned against them so I think that's that's really cool it's like very timely I know one of the things that is really important to skyscraper the cast and crew skyscrapers diversity and accuracy in diversity and I'd love to hear a little bit about your thoughts on that process and being on a set where that was an important thing well I mean it is important you know I think that it is obviously very current and you know is something that people are talking about a lot representation and diversity but there's some there's one other element that is actually very important as to why the you know we the accuracy and the cultural of all the cultural norms and you once's of the place that is set in which is Hong Kong are there you know because when you have of such a big story you know so epic in scope and and and you know this giant building and then you have the the world's biggest movie star doing the one thing you want to do with something so large is is to ground it in reality you know I mean so that the audiences can then take this as a jumping off point and and be invested in these characters because you know I mean that that's that that will enhance the movie-going experience that much more so I think on the practical level you know in terms of filmmaking and storytelling I mean it was an important decision I mean to have it be grounded in reality you mentioned Hong Kong as the setting of the movie and how do you feel the features and the design of the Pearl kind of played a role or the setting played a role in the design of the building very much so you know I mean I think that you know Hong Kong is such an interesting and uniquely landscaped place you know it's kind of dense a small is hilly you know and and this water all rounded and so in the design of the Pearl basically they're building a city upwards vertically instead of horizontally because they don't have the space so they're building the city vertically but not only that I mean rawson had done his research and together with the production designer Jim Bissell they used a Chinese a fable about the dragon and a pearl and so it's about a boy and a fishing village jumping into the water finding a pole transforming go dragon and then protecting this village base oh wow so it looks like a dragon you know you know with a mouth and a prohm at the top of it and I and and so all this you know played into the and the you know the design of the film basically that's really interesting I didn't know that that's so cool that is really cool um okay so if you if the Pearl World real place where would you spend the most time uh I would spend the most time at the spa I mean same same tone hot stones massage yeah I get that nice clay room take a nap I get it but you know I mean as in the movie you will see that you know that that sphere is it's a magical place you know it's got these holographic panels and projections and stuff it's like a literally like a funhouse you know and I think that I would love to be in that space you know and and observe the landscape from 225 stories up yeah yeah definitely okay so very last question I think it's always really important for people out there especially in Western countries to learn about new actors who do you feel is maybe an up-and-coming or the sort of rock of Asian cinema well I I don't know about up-and-coming but you know I mean we have traveled on the with the pressed tour through Beijing and Hong Kong and New York and I've seen the way people respond to them you know they love him there is something that he connects with that Dwain connects with with the audiences with all over the world cross culturally and this will not the person that I known and I've met who has that effect you know and it's Jackie Chan right yeah you know I mean there's this there's something about these two characters that are so accessible and yet the things they do is so incredible yeah you know you know Duane with his physical promised way from you know the time of his wrestling days and Jackie Chan really I mean even if you went back to his older movies like police story or you know drunken master phenomenal stuff and so I seen a lot of parallels and I think those those two actors are you know there are the legends of our time really I think they're worth work ethic touches something in everybody you know you see that how hard they work all the time and you're just like if I work that hard maybe I could do those incredible things but then there's also something like you said that intangible magic where you see them on screen it's just like wow maybe not maybe if I work really hard I'll never be able to do that because that's incredible a night but it's it's it is some kind of magic which is really cool it is and then I will you know full disclosure I think I don't think that you know any amount of time in the gym will will get me to Dwayne's size I think I can agree with you there and I think that's a great place and to end our interview thank you so much for coming and talk to us you guys can see it Qin Han as Xiaolin skyscraper and of course there is an up-and-coming actor called the rock who's also in it as well they check out I stay tuned to see nut comm for all of our entertainment coverage eager humans you enjoyed this week's show you can check out last week's show over here and of course if you are interested in more stream economy content we got you with bonus content right here because dreamers