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  • 12 hours ago
Karl Urban, nerd movie legend and star of 'Mortal Kombat II,' recollects his audition for 'Star Trek' and some of his lines from 'Lord of the Rings' as Eomer, Billy Butcher in 'The Boys,' and 'Dredd.'

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00:00I am perplexed. I am genuinely perplexed. I'm doing so well at this game.
00:04Oh, I know that one.
00:09Okay, here we go.
00:12He means he went to one galaxy, his ass went to another.
00:19Oh, okay. He means he went to one galaxy, his ass went to another.
00:24I mean, Bones? Star Trek? No!
00:28Wow.
00:30He means he went to one galaxy, his ass went to another.
00:35Was it Johnny Cage? No.
00:37I'm doing so well at this game.
00:43I am perplexed. I am genuinely perplexed.
00:45Doom! There you go.
00:48Haven't seen that movie in a long time, clearly.
00:51Okay, rewatch that one.
00:53He means he went to one galaxy, his ass went to another.
00:56Occasionally, I do get people that come up and talk about it.
01:00I think the cool thing about that movie is the first person shooter sequence,
01:04which really was a pretty fair and accurate representation of the experience of actually playing the game.
01:08And, you know, for that reason, I think that movie, you know, stands up.
01:22I would cut off your head, dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground.
01:27I know this one.
01:28This is Aeoma, The Lord of the Rings.
01:31If you haven't seen it, classic movie, series of movies.
01:35Check it out.
01:36I would cut off your head, dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground.
01:41I had just done a small New Zealand film called The Price of Milk,
01:45and the director of that movie was very good friends with Peter Jackson,
01:50and he took a rough cut of The Price of Milk down to show Peter.
01:53And I think I just sort of happened to be in Peter's face
01:57when they were looking for someone to cast in the role of Aeoma.
02:00And so we got a call.
02:02Do you want to come and play?
02:03I was like, absolutely.
02:06And that was, without a doubt, and to this day,
02:09one of the most incredible experiences that I've ever had in my career.
02:14And shooting in New Zealand, which was phenomenal.
02:17I saw more of the country in that period of time than I had my entire life.
02:20And working on something that was so beloved,
02:23even the gaffers and the lighting guys and the catering,
02:26everyone's carrying around a copy of the book and saying,
02:30oh, okay, so today we're in Addorus, and okay, what are we filming?
02:33And looking and reading about it,
02:35and everybody was so invested from every department.
02:38It was really an amazing experience.
02:42Okay, here we go.
02:43I'm going to get this one.
02:46Are you out of your Vulcan mind?
02:48Come on.
02:50Spons, Star Trek.
02:51Are you out of your Vulcan mind?
02:52I really loved the original Star Trek series.
02:55When I was a kid, I used to watch the reruns of it with my dad.
02:59I always loved it.
03:00I always loved the notion of all this sort of eclectic group of characters
03:04that had to learn to work together to overcome their common differences.
03:07I loved some of the more scary episodes,
03:12sort of the more philosophical questions it would pose.
03:16I auditioned for Bones, and I went and read with JJ,
03:19and he goes, okay, let's see what you got.
03:21And I did it.
03:22And I remember I was partway through the audition process,
03:25and I hear this laughter.
03:27And I'm like thinking, what the hell are they laughing at?
03:29And then I also suddenly click, oh, my God, they're laughing at me.
03:33They, oh, they must like what I'm doing.
03:34And I completely sort of spaced out and lost the rhythm of the scene,
03:38managed to pick it up again.
03:39And at the end of it, JJ sort of looks at me,
03:42and he turns to his producing partner, Brian Burke,
03:44and the casting director, April Webster, and just said, yeah, that's Bones.
03:48And then he looks at me and goes, well, I guess you should do it again.
03:51And literally within an hour of leaving that room, we got the call.
03:56It's like, welcome aboard.
03:58It was a wonderful experience to be a part of
04:00and really wonderful to get to meet all those guys eventually, you know,
04:04and to work with Leonard Nimoy and see him don the point of years
04:07for the first time in 17 years was a trip.
04:09But I think the whole cast would love the opportunity to do another movie,
04:13and, you know, we'll wait and see.
04:19Fucking diabolical.
04:20I know that one.
04:21Billy Butcher, The Boys.
04:23Oh, fucking diabolical.
04:25Why is it so popular?
04:27That's a good question.
04:28I'm not sure I can answer that for you.
04:30It's a great catchy line.
04:31You know what?
04:32I had a lot of fun playing Billy Butcher.
04:35It's just one of those sort of characters
04:37that comes along every once in a while.
04:39And I figured if I have fun doing this character,
04:41the audience is going to have fun being with him
04:44and watching him and his crew and what they get up to.
04:47And we've got five seasons now,
04:49and I can't wait for the audience to get into what we've just shot.
04:52All right.
04:55I know this one.
04:57I am the law.
04:59Dredd.
05:00Judge Dredd.
05:01I am the law.
05:02Working with the helmet on the entire time was,
05:05for me, as a fan of the Judge Dredd comic series,
05:08the only way to do it.
05:10That was the version of it that I knew from the comics
05:13and that I loved.
05:14And it posed a significant challenge
05:17because, obviously, the actor's face and the actor's eyes
05:20are some of the most valuable tools
05:23that they have to communicate with an audience.
05:26And so it really became sort of an exercise
05:29in utilizing the entire body
05:31and body language and voice to communicate.
05:35Every single project you do teaches you something.
05:38And certainly on Dredd,
05:41there was a lot of those sort of lessons,
05:44whether it's vocal or body language,
05:46that I was able to then utilize on other projects.
05:49Okay.
05:51Behold My Stuff.
05:54Yeah.
05:54That's Scourge from Thor Ragnarok.
05:59Behold my stuff.
06:03Fun film.
06:04Working with my dear friend Taika Waititi,
06:07who's a phenomenal director,
06:09and Chris Hemsworth,
06:10and getting to work with the lovely Cate Blanchett,
06:12whose work I've admired for so long.
06:14I had a lot of fun playing Scourge
06:16and playing in that sandbox.
06:17I really enjoyed the way Taika worked.
06:20There was nothing sort of really sacrilegious about the take.
06:22You'd be in the middle of the take
06:23and he would just sort of shout out directions at you.
06:26Oh, try this or try that.
06:27And that sort of really comes from,
06:29I guess,
06:30his origins of comedy and improvisation.
06:34And there was a sort of,
06:35it sort of imbued the set
06:36with a kind of fun,
06:38looseness and relaxation.
06:40And yeah,
06:42I had a blast working on that movie.
06:45Okay.
06:48Aha.
06:49After all,
06:50if you're not committing sin,
06:52you're not having fun.
06:56Oh.
06:58I know this one.
06:59This is Black Hat.
06:59This is Priest, right?
07:00After all,
07:02if you're not committing sin,
07:05you're not having fun.
07:06I did have a lot of fun on that movie.
07:08One day, though,
07:09that wasn't so fun,
07:10we were shooting the scene
07:11where I'm on top of this train
07:12and I'm tethered to it
07:14and Paul Bettany,
07:15who plays the priest,
07:17is hanging on the side of the train
07:18and I have to stomp on his hand.
07:21And they had me sort of stomp down
07:24and just kind of like stop the boot
07:26from actually impacting his hand
07:28by hitting the heel
07:29on the side of the train.
07:31But, you know,
07:32with everything that was going on
07:33with the wind
07:34and the everything,
07:36I kind of missed the mark
07:38and actually crushed his hand.
07:40And I just remember,
07:41in the take,
07:42I smashed my foot down
07:44onto his hand
07:45and he just screams in pain,
07:48but more so than he'd done
07:49on the previous takes.
07:50And I'm thinking,
07:51God, he's a good actor.
07:53He's phenomenal, this guy.
07:55And then he lets go
07:57and it just suddenly dawned on me
07:59what had happened.
08:00And I'm feeling completely helpless.
08:01I can't apologize, you know,
08:03immediately because I'm tethered
08:04to this train.
08:05I can't get off it.
08:05But he was a good man about it.
08:07He forgave me.
08:08And, yeah,
08:10but it was a fun shoot.
08:12Okay.
08:13Oh, yeah.
08:14Bad move, Grandpa.
08:17This is William Cooper
08:19in red.
08:21Bad move, Grandpa.
08:23I didn't know initially
08:24the true extent
08:25of the caliber of cast
08:27that were in that
08:28until we really sort of
08:29got into it.
08:30Every day on set
08:31was watching the top tier
08:32go to work and bring it.
08:34And it was a great experience.
08:35Bruce Willis was so lovely,
08:37so generous
08:37with his time and energy.
08:39And he was actually remarkably
08:41down-to-earth
08:43and humble.
08:43He was always very,
08:44very good with me.
08:45I loved working with him.
08:47Okay.
08:49I'm just incredibly handsome.
08:53I'm going to say
08:53this is Johnny Cage.
08:55Mortal Kombat 2.
08:58In theory it is May 15.
09:00Don't miss it.
09:01Just incredibly handsome.
09:02When I think about
09:03Mortal Kombat 2
09:05in relation to Mortal Kombat,
09:07it's like
09:08The Road Warrior
09:09versus Mad Max.
09:11Like everything
09:12in Mortal Kombat 2
09:14is leveled up.
09:15The production value,
09:16the cinematography,
09:17the fights,
09:18everything is just
09:19dialed right up.
09:20The challenge
09:21of rising to
09:23the physical level
09:25that was required
09:26to play Johnny Cage
09:27was immense
09:28and I was very grateful
09:29for the team
09:29that I had around me.
09:30I just thoroughly enjoyed
09:31working with everybody
09:33and the experience
09:34of making it
09:34super proud of this movie.
09:36We'll see you next time.
09:38We'll see you next time.
09:38We'll see you next time.
09:41We'll see you next time.
09:41We'll see you next time.
09:41We'll see you next time.
09:42We'll see you next time.
09:42We'll see you next time.
09:43We'll see you next time.
09:44We'll see you next time.
09:45We'll see you next time.
09:46We'll see you next time.
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