Hello again my beloved CBM readers. By now if you’ve read my interview with Don "The Dragon" Wilson and yesterday’s piece on Victor Webster—You must be wondering: "Why all the fuss over a VOD or Straight to DVD movie Manny?" It’s because these are great actors, having a lot of fun making a campy fantasy film. Even though I myself wasn't sure I'd like the movie--I was pleasantly surprised when I did.
Will Kemp was next on my list and he was a wild over-the-top villain whom you could tell was having way too much fun portraying this bumbling bad guy--Drazen. But I’ll let his answers do the rest of the talking. The movie releases on VOD and DVD/Blu-Ray today. So let's dive into this interview.
CBM Manny: “Oh Wow! I have all of you guys on the phone!"
ALL: (various salutations in the clamor)
CBM Manny: "So I have Will, Don, and Victor? Excellent, Excellent, Excellent. Hello! Good afternoon. It’s a pleasure meeting all of you."
Victor Webster: “Good to meet you too Manny”
Will Kemp & Don Wilson [chuckling]: “You too!”
Left -> Right: Will Kemp, Victor Webster, Ellen Hollman, Lou Ferrigno, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, and Barry Bostwick
CBM Manny: “I originally thought we were going to be speaking individually, but I can go round robin or ask you guys as a group…”
Victor Webster: “Manny—no worries, do whatever you want to do buddy, do what makes you comfortable.”
CBM Manny: "Awesome—OK. I am recording, so I can transcribe it all later […] I will go individually so I can get everyone’s individual take from their characters and experience.
I spoke to all of them for a brief moment regarding how I would conduct the interview and I began with Will Kemp, who played Drazen on the film. Will Kemp is an amazingly talented actor and dancer. Most of us in the world of mainstream films will see him and remember him from Van Hellsing and Step Up 2: The Streets, where he played the Wolf-Man, Velkan, and Blake Collins.
CBM Manny: “So Drazen, hi there—you were great in Van Hellsing and in Step Up 2. Those were the first projects I saw you in.
Will Kemp: “Thank you.”
CBM Manny: “I had a weird little tidbit for you. I wasn’t sure if you knew. Are you aware you share the same exact name as one of the original actors and dancers to first perform in one of William Shakespeare’s plays?”
WK: “Yes, I do indeed, very, very much. He danced a jig from Norwich to London. The Nine Days Wonder.”
CBM Manny: “Yeah! I was curious, because I know you got your start in dance as well.”
WK [chuckling]: “Yes, he was mentioned as Shakespeare’s first clown.”
CBM Manny [chuckling]: “Yes! (Laughs)"
WK [laughs]: "Haha!"
CBM Manny: "Now you looked like you were really having…a lot of fun in this role as Drazen. What was it like playing a villain that was running amok? It almost seemed like the director [Mike Elliot] said ‘Here you go, go crazy with this character, and go ahead of give everyone [the heroes] a hard time.”
WK: “It was great fun. Yeah, It’s very true what you see on screen is definitely me having a fantastic time. I really took on this role with a lot of relish. Both physically—with all the demands of the training—I hadn’t had a huge amount of time to prep, but it was a great opportunity to change my body in about a month. In order to look like a warrior, next to Victor, which is a bit difficult because he is a really big guy. But I relish the opportunity to hone my horse riding skills, my sword fighting skills and then to be able to have a role handed to you where you can play that duality. I had a great time trying just really trying to mess with Victor’s character [Mathuyus, The Scorpion King] throughout the movie.”
CBM Manny: “That’s awesome…now, speaking of your sword! There’s always some kind of random lore surrounding the items of these movies. Is there some kind of story to the sword? Because it was pretty crazy looking and ornate with all these weird details and dragon-like wings by the hilt.”
WK: “It was heavy. I believe you’re talking about Drazen’s medieval looking sword. Right?”
CBM Manny: “Yes. Yes, huge medievel sword.”
WK: “Yeah, that was a heavy, heavy sword. We also used a lot of short swords, which of course are much lighter. And it was, we were very lucky to be working with Grant Powell—A great fight choreographer. […] Certainly it was a first time for me wielding such a big sword. It was quite an ego trip [chuckles]”
CBM Manny: “When I was speaking with Ellen [Hollman] I was saying that her character reminded me of old school characters like Xena and characters from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Your character, at first, reminded me of Iolaus, if Mathuyus was more like Hercules…you’d be more the apprentice as he aptly titled you in the first scene. Even down to some of the kicks you gave in the film. Did you draw any inspiration from outside sources?”
WK: “To be honest with you, there was nothing as sort of concrete or as clear as that. It’s a very well written adventure story. And I think that any good script that comes up has all of these elements. […] The apprentice, the warrior, the good cop, bad cop. That sort of companionship that Drazen and Mathuyus definitely have in the beginning. It’s like with any good adventure […] Parallels could be drawn, for me it was very much delving into what was on the page and what was not on the page and what I was able to bring. Victor and I had a great rapport and that helped us develop the characters very quickly and set it up so I was able to turn against him in the movie.”
CBM Manny: “Awesome, and because I have such limited time I have one more question that I’m going to fire at you. Are you ready? Do you have any favorite comic book characters that you loved growing up and still do now as an adult? Who would you play in a CBM?"
WK: “Yeah, I grew up always enthralled by anything adventurous—Robin Hood, sort of was a huge part of my growing up—I loved Star Wars, of course, and it’s great. Having kids now myself there’s all the Marvel stuff coming back or the DC stuff, or other superheroes coming back. It’s a world that I love, that as an actor I’m definitely drawn to. I long to jump into a universe like that. But I'd like to Play Robin Hood.”
Unfortunately with time ticking away and having Victor Webster and Don “The Dragon” Wilson hanging back I continued with Victor at this point. That interview went live yesterday. Don's Interview was posted before the winter break to tease the release of the film. Funny enough Will has a meme of his dancing "Tushie"
This was another fun interview to conduct and you can tell from Wills answers he is passionate about his craft. The movie is out today and I hope those of you picking it up will enjoy it for its campy take on these characters' story. It has a rebooted feel to the overall franchise and is more light-hearted from the previous entries. While his extraordinary dance skills are not used in this film, I'm sure his female fans will enjoy his "Tushie" in this movie just the same.
Will has a couple of upcoming films--The Midnight Man in 2015 and The Secrets of Emily Blair in 2016. If you hadn't seen him before, check out Van Hellsing and Step Up 2: The Streets, For now catch him and his antics in The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power.
By @EmanuelFCamacho
Editor, Staff Writer | CBM