For the release of Dragonball Evolution, I was lucky enough to get to interview Emmy via telephone. The text below is a transcript of the interview I had with Emmy on March 29, 2009. :) Emmy: Hi Brooke!
Brooke: Hi Emmy!
Emmy: How are you?
Brooke: I'm good. How are you?
Emmy: Awesome!
Brooke: To start off, I want to give you a quick introduction of myself. Obviously you already know my name, but I work part time for The Fan Carpet and I also run a fansite for you...
Emmy: You do?
Brooke: Yeah.
Emmy: Oh my gosh! Which one?
Brooke: It's emmyweb.net
Emmy: Oh cool! I've seen that one. That's awesome. Nice to meet you!
Brooke: Nice to meet you too!
Emmy: Where do you live?
Brooke: Pennsylvania.
Emmy: Oh cool!
Brooke: I know that I don't have much time, so I'll start asking the questions now. What was your reaction when you first read the script and did it turn out to be as you envisioned it?
Emmy: I think when you make a movie you kind of... like, well I compare everything in life to cooking... you kind of, like, it's kind of like cooking or like baking a cake. You read the scripts and in this case it was based on other material, the original manga which I had actually not seen until I heard about the project being made but I have watched the, kind of, um, cartoon tv show as a kid. I don't know if you've ever seen it, it's, like, Dragonball Z. It was like a comic, um, cartoon in the mornings on... I think it was on WB or when the WB exsisted. Um, and it's on Cartoon Network now so it was originally in like a... kids morning cartoon and so that's how I originally got introduced to it when I was 8 or 9. And then when I... I'm so pysched that you run a fansite. That's so cool. Thank you so much, by the way, for your support. That is so cool. I'm not even thinking about what I'm saying right now because I'm so psyched and am so apprechiative of what you do. That's so awesome. Thank you so much.
Brooke: You're welcome
Emmy: Um... Yay Brooke!
Both: (laugh)
Emmy: Um, but... sorry it's just a question, right. I guess, um, when you read the script and then the movie gets made, there's so many different elements that come in and change it so much from what you read on a page and what you envision in your head to the finished product, but it is, it does have the same, it is close to the original manga and it is close to the script that we read. It's a lot of fun , it's funny, it's got a lot of action in it, adventure... and for me that was so exciting because this was such a new experience for me. I've never been this straight up, like, carrying a gun, wearing a leather catsuit, riding a motorcycle... like action chick, so for me this was like dressing up and doing something completely new for me. I was kind of nervous getting to work with Chow Yun-Fat because I'm such a big fan of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and so many other films that he's done. I even, like, played a videogame, um... okay I'm in Hard Boil. That's a movie that he did and there's a videogame of it so I was kind of nervous getting to work with him but he was so cool and so humble and such a prankster and played practical jokes and he made me feel really at home and he didn't make me feel like I was the new counterblock even though I so clearly was. I mean, I had never thrown a punch before making this movie so it was definently a lot of firsts for me.
Brooke: It definently doesn't seem like the stuff you usually do.
Emmy: It's definently not Phantom of the Opera.
Brooke: Yeah, definently.
Emmy: There weren't any elaborate ballgowns, there's no musical numbers.
Brooke: I love that movie by the way.
Emmy: Yeah, me too! I get to do different things and it keeps me, um, interested and it keeps me excited and getting to do different things... it's just so fun.
Brooke: I've always thought actors had fun on set. The second question is "You have stated in the past that Poseidon was the most physically demanding film you've made. Has Dragonball Evolution now over taken that in terms of physical training and preparation?"
Emmy: It was, it was different. Poseidon wasn't really any much training. There was some, like, physical workouts that we did to get our edurance up and some training that I did with the Navy Seals for breath control and support but kind of being in the water for 12 hours and being so run down and, I mean, everyone getting pneumonia and breaking their limbs... I mean, that was, that whole movie was on a whole new level of exhersion and exhaustion. Um... but I mean, I was such a big fan of Wolfgang Peterson and A Neverending Story and I really would do anything for him and he told me to like jump up and down and, you know, juggle a pomagranite, I would. Um... and this film was much more about the preparation and much more about, we spent about 4 hours a day training.
Brooke: Wow!
Emmy: I know. It's a lot. Um... like the first hour and a half would be like, as a team me and Jamie Chung and Justin Chatwin... Chow Yun-Fat didn't need to do any training - he could do this all with his eyes closed. Um - we'd all do our, like, martial arts mixture of tai chi, taekwondo, and kickboxing together and then we'd all go out and do our seperate training because everyone's characters fight in a different way. My character, like, in the magna, is a weapons expert so I had to train with the marines to learn how to shoot guns and um... I'd never even seen a gun before so it was a little intimidating but also extremely empowering and the respect that you feel for yourself and the people around you - it's intense.
Brooke: Wow! It sounds like it was a cool experience.
Emmy: It was awesome. I mean, when else am I going to, like, dye part of my hair blue and wear a leather catsuit and shoot guns looking for Dragonballs? I mean, I'm like a kid in a candy shop.
Brooke: It definently sounds like you had a blast filming. The next question is "Fans are always concerned when there's an adaptation that holds true to or respects a source material. There's going to be pressure, or standards, put on the actors portraying the characters beloved by so many. Did you feel any pressures when you found out that you were going to be playing Bulma in this film?
Emmy: Absolutely. I think both Justin Chatwin - Justin Chatwin's, like, one of my best friends now. I Justin Chatwin and I both felt the inital, like, "This is awesome! We got the part." and then the second feeling was like "Oh crap, we got the part. Now we have to play it." and there are so many people who feel like they know the characters. I've kind of been through it a little before - like when I played Audrey Hepburn. I felt that amazingly mod of responsibility to not only her but to her fans and family - to be able to portray it correctly with sensitivity. Um - and playing Christine from Phantom of the Opera because that character had been so brilliantly and iconically played before by Sarah Brightman. It was a lot of pressure to do that too. But I think you just have to take it and try to make it your own because if you try to copy your - instill any other original interpreptation in your performance - then it kind of can become very overwhelming and distracting. I think that it'll - if it doesn't emanate from you, it just ends up to be like a second-hand version of whatever there was before.
Brooke: You filmed Dragoball Evolution in Mexico. What was the best part about filming there?
Emmy: The food and the weather. Um - you might think that we were on the beach in Kabo - like shooting a movie but we were not. It was not like a vacation at all. We were in the dessert for 4 months, shooting at night. I was in, like, a leather tank top and I was freezing my butt off and it was a lot of exhersion involved and it was definently hard work but it was really fun and exciting and I think the best part about it was this adventure that we all got to go on and we had so much fun making this movie. There was a lot of time in between, you know, the workouts and the action... everything. We kind of - Chow Yun-Fat was a big prankster - he came the first day to me and told me he was vegatarian so out of respect I kind of didin't eat meat around him for the first week and then I realized that he was just joking when I saw him eating a big plate of steak in front of me. So we - Justin Chatwin and I kind of, like, formed this (very jokingly) formed, like, a band. I was the singer, Justin Chatwin was our spoken word, Joon Park was a rapper and Chow Yun-Fat... we forced him to be our procussion. There were even, like, dance moves involved in it. Joon Park was in a famous boyband, a boyband called G.O.D., and he taught us these Britney Spears-style dance moves so we had a little dance troup going around set rapping Dragonball terms and it was really fun. We were very silly on this movie. This was literally, me with all the guys and Jamie Chung, totally being a tomboy. People think I'm pretty girly because the dresses that I wear in my everyday life are pretty girly and frilly and sophisticated, but I'm really kind of one of the boys - especially on set. I just roll around in jeans and sneakers and pretend to shoot guns and roll around in the dirt.
Brooke: That's very cool. I'm kind of the same way. My next question is Would you appear in any Dragonball seaquels, if the first one does well?
Emmy: Of coarse! I love all the people that I made this movie with. They're some of my best friends. I see Jamie Chung once or twice a week. She drags my butt to piloxing, a new workout she's doing, and she's my motivation. Justin Chatwin is the funniest kid I've ever met and he's one of my best friends so of coarse I'd go back to Mexico, roll around in the dirt, and shoot some more guns. I mean, it's just like complete fantasy-action-adventure-comedy. It was really fun.
Brooke: This kind of goes back to what you said earlier, but you worked with many international stars on this film. Were you at all nervous about meeting and working with them?








