Snake Eyes Round Table with Henry Golding

MIXED ASIAN MEDIA - JUNE 9, 2021

By Stephanie Mieko Cohen

We see car chases, sword fighting, ninja choreography, and explosions. These are just a few images seen in the trailer for Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins starring Henry Golding. Snake Eyes, one of the most prominent characters in the G.I. Joe American Hero franchise, was originally played by British actor Ray Park in the 2009 live-action film, G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra, and the 2013 sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation. This new origin film, taken on by Golding, will follow Snake Eyes before he lost his voice. Snake Eyes, a mysterious loner, is welcomed into the Japanese clan, called the Arashikage, after saving the life of their heir. While in Japan, he not only learns the ways of the ninja warrior, but also a sense of belonging. When secrets from his past are revealed, however, Snake Eyes’ honor and allegiance will be tested, even if that means losing the trust of those closest to him.

Last month, I, along with several other panelists, had the honor of interviewing Mr. Golding in a round-table style interview about his upcoming film. Snake Eyes is not the only movie coming out this year with an Asian leading man. Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Simu Liu, will also be released. As we see Hollywood shift its focus to include more Asian leads, Golding responded to what it means to be a part of the movement pushing for more representation.

Henry: I think it’s so important. I think to have representation on screen for Asians around the world, let alone, Asian Americans…but Southeast Asia, South Asians, you know with Marvel announcing Miss Marvel and her being of South Asian descent. We keep expanding and keep building upon it, and it’s a long road to get to and build, but I think we have to start somewhere. And to have Asian leads at the forefront of studios goes to show that we can be represented, but also be successful. You know, Crazy Rich Asians showed everyone that an all-Asian movie can make the bottom dollar at the box office. And so, I think people have been so hungry and craving diversity. There have been so many, many Asian leading men before me. And it goes back to Bruce Lee… it’s just endless… we’ve got Daniel Dae Kim, who’s the bastion of all Asian Americans across the globe and doing wonderful things… Jason Scott Lee came before… Brandon Lee before him. We’ve had representation, but we haven’t had the highlight we’ve had of modern day media that we deserved. Now is the turning point, now is the time we can be proud of our heritage.”

As made obvious in the Snake Eyes trailer, and keeping in line with the G.I. Joe franchise, there is an incredible amount of stunt work and action in the film. Golding’s training and rehearsal process were inevitably brought up.

Henry: Yeah, we did a phenomenal amount of training. We did about two months with our choreographer, Kenji Tanigaki, who has been in the industry for years, like 30, 40-odd years, a crazy amount. But he was Donny Yen’s right-hand man with his action movies, he’s worked with Jackie Chan, he comes from that school of hard knocks. And so, for my character in particular, Snake Eyes, it was a lot of katana work. A lot of traditional sword techniques. We did 4-5 hours of choreography every single day with private training all in the run-ups to do justice to these characters. And we did 98% of all the stunts. Every single bit of the choreography, we did. Of course, jumping off the side of a building has to be done by braver men — our amazing stunt crew — but we did every single action sequence that we could. And I think it was testament to the training that we had.

Next, I was up to ask a question of our favorite mixed Asian heartthrob turned action star.

Stephanie: My question for you is are there any lessons from your days as a broadcaster that you find are relevant to your work as an actor?

Henry: Oooh (thinking) — this! I mean, I used to be on the other end of the call, I used to be the one asking the questions. I remember I covered all of the Harry Potter launches in London, sat down with the cast and crew, did the questions. I have a respect and absolute admiration for how much work goes into the preparation of interviews and things like that. And I think it’s helped me as an actor just to stay grounded, I suppose. We can be whisked away and put on a pedestal, but keeping to your roots and keeping humble is always a good thing. Being used to the cameras, being used to the pressure under eyes definitely helped. I remember my first couple of days on Crazy Rich Asians which was my first movie entirely, it took a couple takes to be able to relax and be like, “you know what, I’ve been doing this the past eight years of my life, like, this is no different. Just close everything off and hyperfocus.” So, it definitely helped. Journalism and travel journalism, especially, has brought a lot to my characters.

In response to the Crazy Rich Asians reference, another writer mentioned that following the release of that film, there was certainly a lot of optimism for Asian actors in Hollywood. He then asked if things have gone the way Golding hoped, in terms of his trajectory in the business.

Henry: Yeah, you know, it’s an interesting question, because the industry really works on, sad to say, but like, what’s hot right now, you know what I mean? And that’s really sad when it comes to diversity because it’s like what’s the hot race right now that we need to put at the forefront of our movies, which is terrible. It shouldn’t even be that decision to make, it should be like, “who do we want that is going to fit this character that people are going to be like, ‘give me more,’ not like, ‘how do we appease those PC viewers and audience members.’” Let’s try to get the industry to a stage where all of that doesn’t matter. We make the movies, we cast the films the way that represents, and the actors are able to become the roles. So, we [are] a long away from that. Every time a person of color gets cast, it’s like a whim. We are always keeping a tabulation. But it’s going to be a never-ending clause until the industry flatlines and becomes normality. You now, that’s what we’re all hoping for. With becoming Snake Eyes, it was such a great opportunity because it was a colorblind casting. Snake Eyes’ story is a fish out of water story — he goes to Japan to learn the ways of the Arashikage. And people are like, “Ah, but he’s meant to be White.” It’s like, you do understand that any culture going to another culture is going to be a fish out of water story. You could be white American and do you think if you landed yourself in Iceland you would have the same cultural references that you would with each other? No. Him going to Japan is a complete and utter new world and territory for him. So, it doesn’t matter what race you are, let’s just bring it back to the core essence of the characters and what the actors can play.

Even over Zoom, Golding presents an undeniable, affectionate charm. Because he’s such a sweet guy, with the romantic remnants of Nick Young following him through his career, his response to how the look and personality of Snake Eyes differs was as follows...

Henry: He’s a guy who’s been through the ringer. He’s fallen on hard times, he’s at a place in his life where he doesn’t understand his being, and he’s driven by motivations which he thinks are the right ones but through the journey realizes like, “What have I been doing for my entire life? These are absolutely not the right goals or motivation.” He’s an everyday guy who’s been beat down, who has made the wrong decisions, and so we needed that darkness and self-stoicism, for someone who internalizes emotion needs to show [it] weirdly, outwardly. We’ve created a Snake Eyes in which people can sort of see themselves in it. Anyone who has gone through what we find out what he’s gone through completely understands his standpoint. We’re not reinventing the wheel, we’re not completely revamping the character Snake Eyes, but we are giving him the definition he deserves and the life that we believe is behind the mask.

The other roundtable participants included: Erin Chew from Asian American News, Momar G. Visaya from Asian Journal, Kai Curry with the Northwest Asian Weekly, and Maggie Dela Paz at ComingSoon.net. It was such a joy to listen to Golding talk about Snake Eyes and his craft. Be sure to look out for the movie’s release on October 23, 2021!