New kind of hero

The first time I met Asian-American actor Daniel Wu was in 2004, when he came to Kuala Lumpur to promote the film New Police Story, in which he played the villain.
Our interview took place at the lobby of a hotel. Nobody recognised him then. But within a couple of years, Wu had become one of the most sought-after stars in the Hong Kong film industry.
During a recent tele-conference call from London, Wu revealed that he stayed away from Hollywood back then as he did not want to be stereotyped as a gangster or a geek – pretty much the only two roles for Asian actors at the time.
After years of making Hong Kong and China his base, Wu got noticed by Hollywood when he was cast as the lead in the genre-bending martial arts TV series Into the Badlands.
Now, he is making an impression in the reboot of Tomb Raider, partnering with kick-ass adventurer Lara Croft, played by Alicia Vikander.
The two earlier films – Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) – starring Angelina Jolie were hits, and expectations are high for the new addition to the film franchise, which is based on a popular video game series.
Wu said: “It was a reboot of an incredibly-liked franchise ... Seeing Alicia taking on a big action role – and we all know she is a great dramatic actress in smaller films – made this franchise more exciting, and I wanted to be part of that.
“What was also interesting is that my best friend Terence Yin was in the second movie years ago. So I have the opportunity to be in the same franchise as him.”
Wu was also fascinated to experience South Africa – where they were shooting all the scenes – despite the fact that the story is set in Hong Kong. He added he felt right at home.
In the film’s trailer, his character Lu Ren utters: “Dying is not an adventure.”
“Lu Ren is a pretty cynical guy,” Wu explained. “Lara is on this path to find where her father disappeared, and she finds these clues from her past that tell her where he may have gone.
“This leads her to Hong Kong, where she finds me. She is actually looking for my father, who took her father on that journey. She finds me in this kind of drunk and depressed state.” Turns out that Lu Ren’s father was also a deadbeat, absentee father.
“I think there is where his cynicism comes from. Plus, he is always drunk.
“But then she convinces him to go on this journey. He may deny he cares about his father but deep down, he wants closure.In a typical male fashion, he says it doesn’t affect him but it obviously does.
“I thought it is an interesting setup for the character, and an interesting departure point for these two characters who are similar, but also very different.”
The previous Tomb Raider films featured very stereotypical Asian characters.
Wu said his role in this film is an indication of Hollywood’s change in direction in cultural sensitivity.
“After the ‘Oscars So White’ thing, Hollywood definitely tried to make a paradigm shift in becoming more diverse.
“Not only ‘me’ diverse, but more authentic and true to other people’s cultures, and not just trying to stereotype them.
“Me being an Asian-American having grown up in America, I am very conscious of how Hollywood portrays Asian-Americans, which is why I never really made an effort to go there earlier. There was more enriching work for me in Asia.”
Wu believes that the success of Into the Badlands may have helped him land the role of Lu Ren. However, he admitted that unlike his Into the Badlands character Sunny, Lu Ren doesn’t do much action.
“Lu Ren is not a killer like Sunny so I don’t think it will realistic for him to suddenly do a flying kick,” he added.
Wu also said it helps that China is the second largest box-office market in the world. “Hollywood wants to make that market happy too by adding known Asian actors, so that the film can be more appealing on a global level.”
As for Tomb Raider, Wu said: “This is not just a reboot, it is an origin story of how Lara became the Tomb Raider.
“Here she is a young girl trying to find her way. She is not like the Lara Croft of the first two movies where she is an already skilled, strong [warrior].”
Wu added Vikander is well cast, because she brings a strong sense of realism to the character, while still managing to pull off a lot of action scenes.
Tomb Raiders opens in cinemas nationwide on March 8.