How to Take a Punch in the Stomach: Gilmore Interviews Ray Park

Ray Park is one of the most skilled martial artists in the entertainment industry today. Even with his British accent, his designer t-shirt, and his youthful enthusiasm about everything he does: most people know him as Darth Maul. For those of you who don’t know he was in a little movie called Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He was arguably the best part of the movie. He was also Toad in the X-Men movie.

Most recently, though, he has been cast as the black ninja (and always the hardest toy to find in stores) known as Snake Eyes in the upcoming GI Joe live action movie. When I bring it up, he lights up like a kid who wore that toy’s joints out as much as you and I did:

One of the reasons I always wanted to play Snake Eyes is because I played as him when I was a kid. Star Wars fans and the fans I’ve met at conventions have said “You’d be the best Snake Eyes ever if they did a GI Joe movie!” So when I heard they were actually going to do it I did everything possible to try and get in a meeting or try and get an audition cause I wanted to do it for myself, I wanted to do it for the fans and I wanted to do it for my cousins and all my nephews and my kids. It’s great to be here and to be able to tell those stories.

So that was your favorite GI Joe character?

That and Storm Shadow, believe it or not. I actually liked Storm Shadow a lot because whenever you saw a ninja movie with a white ninja or a red ninja. He always looked different…and I like Snake Eyes because he was different as well. He was a commando. He reminded me of the British special forces – the SAS. That’s why I like that kind of stuff.

I’ve always been fascinated by anything special forces, you know? Anything that’s military, or warrior or…really just anything to do with weapons. Especially traditional weapons. I loved [them] as a kid.

When did you actually start actually playing with weapons? Well not “playing” with weapons, but training with them?

When I was 7. That was the first time I started to get into martial arts. And I got into martial arts purely because I saw Star Wars and I was blown away by the lightsabers and my dad introduced me to Bruce Lee and kung fu movies and I’m like, “I didn’t know it was all special effects”. I thought it was really real [at the time]. So I wanted to do what the guys were doing in the films, so I thought, “how am I going to do that?” – through martial arts. So that’s why I got into martial arts.

So you got into martial arts specifically to be in film.

Yeah.

Sweet.

Well I got into martial arts to do what the guys were doing in film and when I got to about 13 or 14, I realized – I want to be an Arnold Schwarzenegger, I want to be like Van Damme and Rocky. I want to be like Rambo.

Van Damme, eh? What’s your favorite Van Damme movie?

Actually, No Retreat, No Surrernder was my favorite one to see because he was a bad guy and that inspired me as a kid to train a lot and work a lot on my skills.

Fighting skills or acting skills?

On my martial arts skills. Acting? I really hadn’t even thought about acting school then. I just wanted to do my martial arts in movies. I had to do drama at school, but I never went to any special or specific acting school.

Just Martial Arts training, then. Nice. So did you ever get into any fights as a kid? Have you ever been in any actual fights?

Not really, I try and walk away from them. The more you do martial arts, the less you actually have to use it, which is great.

A lot of kids, like when I did karate when I was little (I stopped because i was too fat) are just into it because of the ass-kicking. I started doing karate at that age because of Kickboxer.

[excited] Oh yeah, actually! Bloodsport was one of my favorite movies as well!

Remember in Kickboxer when they get those sticky gloves and rub them in glass instead of using gloves for the last fight? How bad ass is that?

You know what I loved about Kickboxer? It was the guy who trained him in the forest. I always wanted that.

So, I did that with Daniel the other day [Daniel Logan – who was standing a few feet away from us. You might know him as young Boba Fett from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones]. He was in my trailer and I had the medicine ball. I was trying to teach him, because Daniel trains with me every now and then. I was trying to teach him how to breathe. I said “look, you can take a blow and you can take it well if you breathe properly.” So I got a medicine ball and at first he wasn’t gettin it and I said “look, you’ve got to just concentrate on your breathing.”

I said “throw it at me. Just do it.”

Then I started thinking about Kickboxer in that scene when that guy was up in the trees and he drops the coconut on him – and we [started] doing that the other day as conditioning. It was more about the breathing, rather than the actual ball hitting him in the stomach. I wanted to just teach him a little bit more about breathing for sport.

How do you breathe if you’re going to get hit in the stomach?

Well, hopefully you’ll know it’s coming [we both laugh]. But most of the time, you don’t really know it’s coming, so the best way to prepare for that is probably just to not get hit in the stomach.

That’s probably good advice, I think.

Yeah, just avoid it and don’t get into any situation where you know you’re going to get hit in the stomach. Or anywhere you think that might happen to you. At all [laughs]

What I always do when I think someone is going to hit me in the stomach is I flex. Is that right? Will that kill me?

You know, sometimes flexing can do more damage than good if you’re not breathing properly. If you push your stomach down and tighten it in – pull it in -[while] flexing at the same time, [then] there’s a lot of pulling and tugging that actually makes your stomach a lot harder. It also lowers your center of gravity. But you don’t need to know that, right?…

[both laugh]Oh yes, well, of course! So, growing up as a GI Joe fan – is this movie staying true? Will it make all the GI Joe fans who played with all the toys, read all the comics and watched the cartoons as kids (or full grown adults) happy?

Oh definitely. Yeah, definitely. You should be big time excited. I’m excited and I’m on set. The sets are unbelievable! The costumes, the wardrobe, the look is unbelievable and it’s such a nice, fun set to be on. I mean, I’m lucky – I’m playing Snake Eyes! I get to live out [the character] that I’ve been playing since I was a kid and now I get to actually be Snake Eyes! It’s just bizarre. I feel very lucky.

And you also got to wield the coolest lightsaber in the Star Wars universe.

I’m very very lucky. They’re all coming around. My childhood dreams. I’m grateful to my parents and my martial arts teachers and anyone that’s been in my life that has actually had the patience to help me and to guide me. Even if it was a small bit here and there, I’ve taken that, and I’ve learned a good lesson from it.

You’ve played one of the coolest new Star Wars characters, an X-Men character, and now Snake Eyes. What’s your dream character? If you could play any character ever, which one would you play?

It’s funny, I always said I wanted to be Batman. It’s funny because I grew up with Batman and the Hulk when I was a kid. Thinking about it now, though, I would love to play Danny Rand – Iron Fist. I’d love to do that. Even though I’m supposed to be doing it – I would love to actually get to do it [laughs], because it’s a traditional story. My dad used to read the comics, so I’d also like to do it for my father. So I’ve become a fan of Iron Fist. I would love to do it because the fans have really supported me in it and I’d love to do it for the fans as well.

What I really want, though? I’d love to do a movie where I goof off – but I use my martial arts skills as well. Not like Jackie Chan, but [I’d like to] do something stupid and be funny.

So like a Rush Hour?…Or…[both laugh]

Something…more…different than that.

Like early Jim Carrey?

Yeah! Yeah!

So do you want your own Ace Ventura?

Well, not so much like an Ace Ventura, but…I’d like to do a period piece where I’m a circus performer or something like that. Where it’s got a lot of comedy and romance and boyish charm. I want to do something different. I love doing movies where it involves wardrobe of a [different] time. You can really get to sink your teeth into those and have a good time.

Right now, Snake Eyes is my favorite character, though. I mean, I’m more excited about that than I was about Darth Maul and I’m really lucky to be able to say I’m Darth Maul and now I’m going to be able to play Snake Eyes. It’s my first good guy role. Ever. I get to be a good guy.

And now kids won’t be scared of you when they see you at conventions. When their parents show them who you were [speaking about Darth Maul and Toad] and then they just kind of run away.

Yeah, it’s really hard for the kids to put two and two together sometimes unless they get to see the behind the scenes and stuff. I mean, I wouldn’t want to know who the guy [who played these characters] was at all!

When I found out who the guy was on Nightmare on Elm Street I wasn’t scared anymore. I got to see what his personality was like – the real person – and it all went away.

That character scared me to death. That was the worst movie I could have ever seen as a kid. I couldn’t sleep at night. That scared me the most.

What scared you about it so much?

Well, just, the character! The fact that he could come out of the bed at any point and just take you away! Just because you were dreamin!

Then when I saw the behind the scenes and they did an interview with Robert Englund, I wasn’t scared anymore. Then I could sleep. Before that, though, it really scared me. It really did scare the pants right off me.

Any other messages for the Geekscapists? Anything you’re working on?

There’re some other things…There’s a piece called The Descendants – Joey Andrade and Dark Horse are putting something together. We shot a trailer and the comic is already out there. I’m looking forward to doing that.

There’s also a good friend of mine, Kevin VanHook. We’re doing Aries: God of War, which is another story of Jason and the Argonauts – there’s a period piece!

What’re you playing in that?

I’m playing Phileas. He’s Jason’s best friend, and, of course, he’s an awesome swordsman as well. It’s a good script cause Kevin knows how to write a good story and make it fun. He’s a friend of mine and I like working with friends and good people, but…I just feel really blessed because, well…Snake Eyes. I can’t believe it.

Well we’ll definitely keep our eyes peeled for that.

Thanks! I want to say thanks to the fans as well for all the support. I wouldn’t be at any of these conventions I go to or anywhere if it wasn’t for the fans. It really means a lot.

Well thanks to you for kicking some ass, my good man.

Thank you!