Interview: Henry Golding on Snake Eyes and his ideas for a sequel

Credit: Paramount Pictures / Ed Araquel

Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins is the latest live action film from GI Joe that follows fan-favorite character who is known for wearing a cool mask and is an expert in weapons and martial arts. In the film he saves the life of Tommy Arashikage and this leads him into the world of an ancient ninja clan and an evil organization.

The title character is played by Henry Golding, who is known for playing charming characters in Crazy Rich Asians and Last Christmas. We had the opportunity to talk to the actor about the film, the sets, the action, and his own action figure.

Nerd Reactor: How does it feel to have an action figure with its own face on it?

Henry Golding: It’s kind of overwhelming to put it that way. You go into a movie and expect, “Yes, it’s Hasbro. Of course they’ll bring out a range of toys. ”But when it arrives before you and you look at it, it’s like,“ Holy crap! You got that face really right. ”And then it starts to sink. It’s just like, “Whoa! This will be immortalized for the rest of the time. ”This can be buried in the bottom of my daughter’s or son’s toy box when they are around 30 years old and we dig it up and it’s like,“ Do you remember that time ? ” But no, it’s an absolute honor to be part of this franchise, and most importantly, such an iconic character from Snake Eyes.

Nerd Reactor: So what did you do for that role to prepare for it? Have you already researched or were you a fan before?

Henry Golding: To be honest, I didn’t want to do too much research on the Snake Eyes we knew from Larry’s pantheon of amazing comics. I obviously needed to understand the relationships between those I meet in this particular film. And of course the motivations. But what I really had to get into was the difficulties our character goes through at the beginning of this movie. He’s a broken man, he’s been led on this trail of destruction and vengeance, looking for that kind of reward from people who have somehow wronged him in the past. And it goes through his transition to the understanding that if he becomes the person he always made up that is not the goal. He has to get better. To see how this type of story arc plays out, I had to really do research and the influence of a particular family on its direction in life.

Nerd Reactor: And in this film your character travels around the world, meets different characters. I don’t know if there is a moment on set for you where you say, “This is great!”

Henry Golding: I mean, every chance you get on a set is a gift. We play in the largest possible sandpit. So as a child, you dream of dressing up as a ninja and fighting with 15 other people. But to be able to see the finished product on the big screen, with all that that goes with it and with all the talent that has been put together, it’s a pleasure to sit there and just be in awe of this movie.

Nerd Reactor: And you talk about the action and the set piece. I don’t know if you ever guard yourself against getting hit in the face by all the different blows like flying blows or swinging katanas?

Henry Golding: All the time. It happens, you know. It’s such a frantic, fast-paced dance that of course it gives you a stray sword that will twirl you around. But you have to keep going because there will be another one if you don’t block the incoming barrage. But, you know, it’s expected. Fortunately no serious injuries. I still have both of my eyes and you know we did well.

Nerd Reactor: Let’s say future films for Snake Eyes, do you have any ideas you want to share? Your own ideas about what you think would happen?

Henry Golding: We’re leaving this movie in an area where you want to long for more. So many people come to like, “When are you going to do the next one?” Because that’s not done yet; We need more. And I think a lot of the existing fans said, “This is the movie, and that’s the vibe that we wanted all along.” To be able to give people this to enjoy this new iteration of GI Joe -I think it’s fantastic to be open-minded about the universe. But for me I want to see where this is going between Storm and Snake. That is my ultimate goal. This relationship is one of the most iconic. Of course we got to pepper a couple of Cobra and GI Joes, but for me the focus is on this blood brotherhood.

Check out the video interview below!

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