Chinese movie star Russell Wong and Chinese child star Izaac Wang join Paramount's new film "Big Red Dog Cliffor"
Reporting by Maggie Ma, Los Angeles
Jet Li's disciple, Russell Wong, a Chinese-American movie star who has worked in Hollywood for more than 30 years, and rising Chinese child actor Izaac Wang teamed up to star in the upcoming Paramount film "Clifford the Big Red Dog", which will be released on November 10, starring as father and son. Based on a well-known children's book in the United States, "Big Red Dog Cliff" tells the adventures of a giant red dog in New York, and is an entertaining and educational family story. In the film, Wang Shengde transforms into a rich man of Chinese descent and tries to help his son find a new place for the big red dog.
Based on a best-selling children's book series published in 1963, Big Red Dog Cliff tells the story of Emily Elizabeth, an 8-year-old girl who accidentally picks up a homeless little red dog and takes the name Cleaver. Emily felt that the little red dog was as small and alien as she was, so she made a wish that they would all become stronger. Who would have thought that under the power of magic, the little red dog would actually become a giant dog, but this not only did not make its situation better, but it provoked some technology companies to hunt. Emily and her friends go through all kinds of hardships to keep Cleaver safe.
Izaac Wang, a 14-year-old Chinese child star, starred in the film as Owen Yu, a friend and classmate of the heroine Emily Elizabeth, a smart little genius who has been trying to help Emily solve various difficult problems. Izaac Wang told U.S. News Feed at the film's press conference that his father is from China and his mother is from Laos, but he was born in the United States and has been familiar with the story of "Criever the Big Red Dog" since childhood. He believes that this story is about those who cannot fit into the mainstream due to personality or appearance, hoping to get the attention of others, but after experiencing this adventure with the big red dog, he realized that in fact, everyone has a shining point, not to become stronger and more beautiful to get attention.
He said: "The story tells us how to discover our own potential, even the smallest character can change the world. He sees himself as Owen as a minority, and Emily, an introvert and from a single-parent family, who is humble and sometimes excluded from school, but through their relationship with Cliffor, they form a real friendship, become a good team, and in the process both discover their self-worth and help each other grow into better people.
Because in recent years, more and more Asian characters have appeared in Hollywood movies, including family movies, Izaac has also gained more acting opportunities and quickly become a rising child star. He also starred in Disney's "Raya and The Last Dragon" and Universal's "Good Boys." He said that he would become an actor by accident, and his father met an agent client as a pharmacist, and optimistic about his potential, let him audition, and unexpectedly inspired his love of acting.
Izaac was only 11 years old when he starred in "Big Red Dog Cliff", but he was articulate, intelligent and clever, and his performance in the film was very eye-catching. And the big red dog is a special effects production, on the set, Izaac can only play against the model, and has a new honk in acting. Izaac said: "They sometimes use models, sometimes they use people to play, sometimes they show us where to look, it's all fresh and interesting, I love acting!" As a child, acting is also a form of entertainment, and Izaac says one of his favorite scenes is when everyone sits at the dinner table together, and when preparing or reshooting, he can always eat the chips on the table, and the crew is constantly adding new ones.
Izaac also said that his biggest idol when he was a child was Jackie Chan, and he especially hopes to become an international star like him in the future. However, compared to martial arts, he feels that he has more comedic talent, like there are many comedy performances in this film. Regarding the collaboration with Chinese film star Wang Shengde, Izaac said: "He doesn't need to teach me anything, I can learn a lot just by watching him perform, he is a very dedicated actor." He described The father played by Wang Shengde as somewhat similar to his father, who was very desperate to help the child. But the father in the film is also a wealthy Chinese businessman with greater power and status.
In the film, Wang Shengde's father, who owns a huge zoo in Shanghai, proposes to take the big red dog Criever to China to escape the pursuit of some well-intentioned people in the United States. Wang Shengde also said in a telephone interview: "This father really loves his son, like many Asian parents, we want to do our best to protect our children, but sometimes, children need more than their own experience from failures and setbacks." Wang Shengde was also surprised by the performances of several child stars in the film: "Although I didn't have much time on the set, I was playing with children, and they entered the scene quickly and were well trained, which made me admire." ”
Wang Shengde is no stranger to Chinese audiences, is a hollywood veteran Chinese movie star, born in New York, the United States, brother Wang Minde is also an actor, ex-wife is a well-known designer Zhang Tianai. Wang Shengde has starred in "The Joy Luck Club", "Romeo Must Die", "Lost in the Pacific", "Mummy 3" and other films. But when he was young, Hollywood did not have many opportunities to play his main role, and now that he is middle-aged, Wang Shengde has not stopped, and more and more opportunities have come to the door, even if many are no longer action movies. Wang Shengde laughed and said: "Maybe it is because of the appearance, I look like a big boss, and now I am transformed into a Chinese rich man and entrepreneur!" ”
Starring in this film, but also because Wang Shengde has worked with the producer, even if the role is not much, he is still very happy to participate, he said: "I saw the script and felt that this is a very entertaining and meaningful family movie, it tells that inconspicuous little people can also become heroes, made great innovations, and this adaptation has given Chinese actors participation, for young young audiences, they can appreciate the charm of this series of children's books from a new perspective." After all, when we were young, in cartoons or children's movies, we couldn't see Asian faces at all. ”
Talking about the past 30 years of hard work in Hollywood, Wang Shengde said: "In fact, discrimination and prejudice have always existed, we as ethnic minority actors often have to face the situation of more monks and less porridge, but at present, the roles given to Asians have begun to increase, in addition to action movies, comedies and dramas, there are also a variety of Asian characters, which can reflect the real life." ”
"Big Red Dog Cliff" is directed by Walt Becker, director of "Rat Noble 4: On the Road," and other stars include American talk show comedian Jack Whitehall and darby Camp, the child star who starred in the lead actress Emily Elizabeth. In addition to landing in theaters on November 10, the film will also be launched on streaming Paramount+.