HomeBiographyFilmsSearchNewsResume : CVContactLinksMedia ClipsFans CommentsFrom StaffFanFics

Visitor Statistic Hits:

Newsflash

The Unofficial Karl Urban news site is your source for the latest information and updates on the talented Karl Urban.


View the links for the most recent news. Check out the newsfeeds for more information relating to and non-relating to Karl Urban.


Mini Bio: Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Karl Urban now lives in Auckland. Born on June 7, 1972, he is the son of a leather goods manufacturer (who had hoped hoped that Karl would follow in his footsteps)... (read more)

sci fi interviews - Karl Urban

Written by Vandi Yang

Karl Urban is, on one hand, the ruggedly charismatic star of Lord of the Rings (playing Eomer), The Bourne Supremacy, and The Chronicles of Riddick. On the other, he's a remarkably normal bloke, and a pleasure to talk to. Well, what are you waiting for? Read on! We promise faithfully to avoid the 'Urban Spaceman' joke. It's probably a bit too obscure anyway. SCI FI: Looking at the recent insurgence of Australian and New Zealand actors in Hollywood, it's almost like there's some kind of sinister conspiracy to take over the movie business. Is there some secret plot you guys have got cooked up together? KU: There definitely is - we are taking over. SCI FI: You fiends! KU: It is interesting that there seems to be a lot of Australasian actors who are cracking through. I've got my own theories about that. I think that we are fortunate enough that, for the formative years of our careers, we're not encumbered with too much time spent thinking about peripheral elements like publicists or stylists, or managers, lawyers - the business aspect of it. We have a luxury that we can just focus on mastering the job at hand, and I feel that American actors get entrenched in the business and get very top-heavy very quickly, and perhaps it's easier for them to lose focus on the reasons why they got into it in the first place. SCI FI: All the acting craft without the nonsense surrounding it? KU: Yeah, coming from New Zealand you can't afford the luxury of being picky and you get adept at working in all the different mediums - film, television, theatre - because you have to. SCI FI: You've had extraordinary success recently with some huge franchise films, particularly, Lord of the Rings. We imagine it's difficult to top as an experience. Is it difficult spending a lot of time away from your family? KU: Balance is always tough, and that is probably the most important thing to me. We've structured it in a way where sometimes they come with me, and that's fantastic, sometimes they'll be there for the duration of the shoot, other times I'll be working in places like Russia or Goa and it's just logistically not as easy. But I think that's why a lot of industry relationships break up. There's a hell of a lot of strain. For example, I calculated that in the past year I have spent a solid month-and-a-half, literally, in hour terms, a month-and-a-half at 30,000 feet. SCI FI: Good Lord. And you don't just mean in high, mountain-top towns? KU: No, those Everest days are long gone. (We're pretty sure he's joking, here!) It's crazy. For Bourne Supremacy I literally... I think I had maybe 15 flights from Europe to Australia, where I was living at the time, over the course of four months. I would come in and work for a week and then fly home, to try to maintain that balance. And it is tough, it takes work. SCI FI: Airline food connosseur? KU: I tell you what I'm expert on, is airline champagne. SCI FI: Ah, so there is an upside! KU: There are some perks. It's not all bad, mate. SCI FI: Speaking of The Bourne Supremacy, that really is a great film. Extraordinary action. KU: It's a slick piece of film work. Yeah, I was fortunate enough on that that they actually let me do a hell of a lot of my own stuff. They trained me up to do a reverse-180 in rush-hour traffic. A bit nuts. SCI FI: And Doom, of course, is no less action-packed. KU: It's intense. It's a rollercoaster. For about a minute-and-a-half, two minutes set-up it just grabs you by the nuts and it doesn't let go. SCI FI: So tell us a bit about your character. KU: I took the character of John Grimm who was the first person shooter, they dubbed the Doom guy. He is a character who is running from his past. He is really a reluctant hero. He is very, very good at what he does, that's why his nickname is The Reaper... SCI FI: Nice. KU: ...And through the course of the film he is forced to confront his inner demons in order to triumph in the face of adversity. And really, the story is about many things, but most importantly for my character, it's about the birth of a superhero. SCI FI: So would you say people might be surprised at the character arc? That there's more to it than just blasting aliens? KU: Well, I hope I played him with pride because, let's face it, 99% of the gamers out there aren't necessarily playing these games for the storyline. It's that immediate adrenaline buzz that you get off the great action in the game, and it scares you shitless. If we've done our job correctly, and I think we have, the audience should get a great sense of that in the film. We actually come the closest, in my opinion, to being the most faithful movie rendition of a game yet. We actually have a first person shooter sequence in this film. It's unique because, really, for the first time in film history I think, the audience becomes the hero of the film. SCI FI: It's an interesting blurring of mediums, isn't it? KU: Quite right, but I'm very, very confident that it's going to knock people's socks off. Who are we to argue with a man who had SAS training? No-one, that's who. Karl Urban takes centre stage in Doom, released nationwide on Friday October 28 2005. Source: Source: Sci fi

 

< Prev		Next >