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Q&A with Ray Park
Ray
Park, star of blockbuster movies like The Phantom Menace, X-Men and
G.I. Joe made his second appearance at Super Megafest this past
weekend. On Sunday afternoon he took time from signing autographs
for for his loyal fans to sit down and share some stories from not
only the movies sets he has graced, but from his own personal life
as well.
Mr.
Park started off the session by sharing some information from his
time on the Episode 1 set. One of the nuggets he passed along was
that contrary to the rumor, the reason for for another actor dubbing
over his vocals was not due to his accent. The voice actor had
already been hired for Darth Maul's vocals before Mr. Park had even
signed on for the role. Another bit of inside information he shared
with the intimate audience was that each of the actors on Episode 1
were encouraged not to use the original trilogy as a source of
research into their respective roles. He also revealed that as a
child growing up in Scotland, the original Star Wars (A New Hope)
was the first movie he saw in color up on a big screen.
It
was Mr. Park's work on the Star Wars prequel that led to his being
cast in the original X-Men movie. While he really wanted to play the
role of Gambit or even Wolverine, he was originally offered the role
of Pyro, which he turned down. Director Brian Singer then offered
him the role of Toad, which he also intended to turn down until
Singer himself promised to rewrite the role into something specially
created for Ray and his talent. The character of Toad was scheduled
to make a return performance in the X-Men sequel, with the highlight
being a one-on-one fight with Nightcrawler. Unfortunately due to
budget restraints, the fight was scrapped and the role of Toad was
completely eliminated.
When
not on a movie or TV set, Mr. Park teaches martial arts classes from
his home. He recently converted the garage of his new home into a
gym/studio complete with all of his equipment. He even has a series
of Master Replica sabers stored along with his martial arts weapons
and often uses them when training and teaching private classes. For
those not lucky enough to in London or Los Angeles, learning
techniques from Mr. Park is still possible. He produces and edits
his own martial arts videos and his instructional video on the "Art
of the Butterfly" can be downloaded online.
His
new gym has helped him in preparing for the present and possible
future work that are coming his way. In addition to returning to the
set of the NBC series "Heroes" after the Thanksgiving holiday, Mr.
Park has 2 other projects he hopes will be in development shortly.
Iron Fist, a movie based on the comic book of the same name is a
project Mr. Park has been hoping to shoot since the early 2000's but
has been hampered by a series of setbacks. Also on the horizon for
him is G.I. Joe 2. While not officially green-lit, it's one he feels
confident will eventually get made.
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