The awesome KUNG FU PANDA 2 hits UK cinemas from this coming Friday 10th June, and some of you lucky people will have gone out this weekend to see the special previews that have been taking place up and down the country. Well, earlier today the film’s star, Po himself Jack Black and the film’s director, Jennifer Yuh, headed down to the Westfield shopping centre in west London to attend the UK premiere of the movie. Our own Georgina Wahed was on the red carpet and chatted to both of them.
Jack Black
What makes Kung Fu Panda 2 so awesome?
Jack Black: What makes it so awesome? Of course there’s the funny, and of course there’s the action and the kung fu, but ultimately I think it’s the heart, and the feeling. By the end of the movie I was really moved… emotional. You might think I’m joking but I’m not. It’s a powerful film.
What journey does Po go on in the film?
JB: Well you know he’s more mature than the first film. Now he is the Dragon Warrior and he is in charge of the Furious Five, and together they need to protect China from a new evil villain Shen and Shifu, who threaten to enslave all of China with a new weapon and destroy Kung Fu. At the same time he’s searching for his origin – trying to get to the bottom of who he is.
Can you send out a message to all of your British fans?
JB: To all of my British fans I’d say a fond hello. Heello [breaks into song]. That’s not a very good message I know, but that’s all I can come up with right now.
I haven’t done a lot of shopping mall appearances (referring to the Westfield setting for the UK premiere). It’s very Tiffany. “I think we’re alone now…”
Jennifer Yuh Nelson (director)
Jennifer Yuh Nelson (director)You were story director on the first film. How did it come about that you ended up directing the second film?
Jennifer Yuh: They asked me to [laughs]. I mean I was on the first movie for so long, and I knew the characters and for the sake of the continuity they wanted to make sure that the director was familiar with all of that.
And was it the same crew that worked on the first film?
Jennifer Yuh: Yes. Pretty much all of the same crew. Same art director, same writer, a lot of the same story artists all working. It’s just one big family, and we started on this right after finishing the first one.
Did you find that there was a big difference between head of storyboard and actually directing overall?
There is because there’s a lot more different departments that I never saw, but I actually got to do much more with as a director. I also get to work with the actors as a director, which I didn’t get to do before and that was quite fun.
There’s a hint of a sequel at the end. Is there anything in the pipeline? What are you working on at the moment?
I’m on vacation. We’ll see what happens. It really depends on the audience. There’s a lot of worlds that we could explore because Po is such a rich character and I’d love to have the chance to see more of him, but it’s really up to the audience.
Here are some fantastic pics from the event.
KUNG FU PANDA 2 opens in UK cinemas from Friday 10th June. Check back to THN later in the week for our own review of the movie.
