No controversy about ‘The Interview’s’ Randall Park–he’s good

Park portrays Kim Jong-un in controversial movie. photo by RUBEN V. NEPALES

LOS ANGELES—“The Interview” has stirred controversy and finger-pointing as to who chickened out in showing the comedy (update: Sony Pictures decided last Tuesday, Dec. 23, to release the movie in some independent US theaters and a few online video services) and who’s really responsible for the Sony Pictures hacking. But, there’s one thing that critics are unanimous about: Randall Park is impressive as North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

We hope the movie eventually gets shown for a number of reasons, but a key one is Randall’s performance. In his biggest film break, Randall, 40, holds his own against James Franco and Seth Rogen. It was crucial that the actor playing the dictator that James, as celebrity show host Dave Skylark, interacts with through most of the film, should be just as interesting to watch.

Randall’s credits include HBO’s “Veep,” where he plays Minnesota Governor Danny Chung, ABC’s upcoming “Fresh Off the Boat” (he stars as Louis Huang) and Fox’s “The Mindy Project” (Dr. Colin Lee). Excerpts of our interview with Randall last month:

There were reports that North Korea made threats of terrorist attacks inside the US if “The Interview” was released. Are you afraid for your own safety?

No, but I was surprised when that threat was made. I didn’t think they’d be crazy enough to create policies based on a comedy.

Do you have any ideas to unify North and South Korea?

No (laughs). I wish I did—but, I’m just an actor.

Body language

Did you study Kim Jong-un’s body language and speech patterns?

I started my research right away. There’s very little out there about this guy. But, I was able to find some things, like there’s a documentary series on HBO called “Vice.” They did an episode where they followed Dennis Rodman to North Korea. I got a lot out of that episode.

Like what?

You could tell he’s a little nervous around Rodman. That was something I took—his body language, and avoiding eye contact with Rodman. That was very telling for me, because there’s a parallel in the movie for my character when he meets Dave Skylark (James Franco), whom he greatly admires.

Anything else that stood out from what you saw?

Just pieces of information like the fact that he was young when he was immediately thrust into that position. So, the unpreparedness, the paranoia that he must be going through, the desire to appear as strong and as worthy of that position as possible—those were factors that played into how I approached the part.

Did you have to put on weight for the role?

Originally, they were going to give me prosthetics to put on, but it looked a bit off. They decided to nix the prosthetics. So, I ate a lot of donuts and hotdogs. Taking the weight off wasn’t as fun, but putting it on was a blast!

As an Asian-American actor, do you find it easier to land roles now?

I find that things are progressing steadily. There are more opportunities for me, but it isn’t the case for all Asian-American actors. There’s still a lack of opportunities. But, I do think that, slowly, it’s changing. People are opening up their minds and, more importantly, they’re writing roles for Asian-American actors!

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