Exclusive: Rza Talks The Man With The Iron Fists 2Posted by Wilson Morales
April 14, 2015
Now available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD as well as On Demand from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is The Man with the Iron Fists 2. Global hip-hop superstar, actor and filmmaker RZA reprises his role as the enigmatic blacksmith Thaddeus in this explosive sequel to the 2012 action-adventure The Man with the Iron Fists.
RZA (The Man with the Iron Fists, co-founder of the Wu-Tang Clan), who co-wrote the film with screenwriter John Jarrell, stars alongside a stellar international cast including Dustin Nguyen, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Eugenia Yuan, Pim Bubear, Carl Ng, Simon Yin, Ocean Hou, Grace Huang and Andrew Lin.
When Thaddeus (RZA) is found badly wounded near a 19th-century Chinese town, miner Li Kung (Dustin Nguyen) and his wife Ah Ni (Eugenia Yuan) offer him refuge. As he heals, he becomes entrenched in a conflict that pits the townsfolk against the evil Master Ho (Carl Ng), his nefarious Beetle Clan and the terrifying Lord Pi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). With Thaddeus at his side, the mild-mannered Kung transforms into a deadly warrior in this martial arts epic.
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with Rza about coming back and doing a sequel.
Why a sequel?
Rza: Why not? This character was one of my imaginations and is part of my fascination with Asian cinema and a lot of films that inspired me over the years. There’s actually a well of information of life that this character has, and so, it’s a chance to express it more. It’s a chance to continue Thaddeus’saga. I remember when one of the producers Marc Abraham came up to me and said, “Would you like to do another one? Maybe we would downscale it a bit.” I said, “Why not? Let’s keep the character alive. There are a lot of stories that we have already pre-written before we develop them. One thing any writer or director can say about the character is that when you’re developing the character, there’s a whole life that this character has, but when you’re making a movie out of it, it ends up being just that portion of his life. You don’t see how he grew up. You don’t see his demise. You don’t see some of the things that he goes through. With Rocky Balboa, you were able to see him rise, then fall, then rise again, have a son, and follow the life of that character, and we learned his life. So for me, a sequel is great, and I would love to do another one.
Was it a conscious decision to have Thaddeus served as the secondary story of the film?
Rza: Definitely. When I first wrote it, the moral for Thaddeus was the same for Li Kung, played by Dustin Nguyen. Thaddeus is an religious ex-slave who escaped and made it to China by being stow away on a ship, and finds another way of life which is buddhism and cuts his hair to become a monk. He then gets to jungle village and make weapons and becomes part of a bloodshed. Now he has to redeem himself five years later and he’s headed back to the temple, but guess, it’s not that simple. Just because you want to say sorry mean that the world will accept your apology. In the middle of his crossroads, he meets someone who else is struggling with their past. His presence there helps their struggle at the end of the day.
Was it a challenge wearing many hats on the film, from writer, producer, actor and composer?
Rza: With this particular project, I wasn’t directing so I was able to serve many roles. It didn’t take as much time as the previous one. With the first film, it took years of development and when we finally got the green light to do The Man with the Iron Fists, I spent over 150 days in China and away from my family and everything I knew. It was a deep challenge to my mind, body and everything, but it made me a better man. With part 2, the time wasn’t spent that way. I was able to write it here in America and as a producer, I was able to prep it from here and as actor, when I arrived on set, I was able to be an actor. There were times because I was the writer, some of the actors would come to me and ask me more about their character and make sure they are delivering the right thing, but having this movie in the hands of director Roel Reiné was a cool thing. He had a great grip on it. He spent time with me watching Kung Fu movies before he went into pre-production. We had Kung Fu Thursdays, watching old movies. I felt I was in good hands. The thing you can tell in this film was that the character seemed a bit more loose. He got another substance of life.
Besides the action in the film, there’s a lot more blood and gore. Is that your vision or producer Eli Roth since that plays wells with the genre of films he likes to make?
Rza: (laughs) I could blame it on Eli because that is his genre but The Shaw Brothers always had blood in their films, with body limbs being chopped off. You go back to ‘The Flying Guillotine’ or ‘The Five Deadly Venoms’ or ‘Super Ninjas,’ one of my favorites where they must have killed over 150 people in that movie. So with Spaghetti Western, Martial Arts, and Horror genre, these films have gore, but the difference is that with a martial arts films, you will get a moral out of it. There’s a meaning to the madness. It’s just not glorified gore. In this film, we see the people fight against the oppression by Master Ho. Another moral is that Thaddeus is a black man and we see what goes through his mind and he’s not the only one struggling. By the time he hooks with Li Kung, he sees that he’s not the only person going through life in pain.
Going back a bit, it’s been 10 years since you had your first role in a film where you didn’t play yourself. That was ‘Derailed’ with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. From there til now, you have come a long way. Can you reflect on that journey?
Rza: For me, it’s been a great journey. Someone saw something in me that I probably didn’t see in myself. That happens in life sometimes. Harvey Weinstein told me to go this film and I will have a new career. He felt that I was a natural and had something to offer to the world. ‘Derailed’ was the first time I had to let go on my coolness. I played a character who met a tragic end. I was wet behind the ear. As time went on, I got better and better, whether from coaching or doing TV shows like Californication and movies like Gang Related. I’ve been around great actors to learn from, from Clive Owen to Russell Crowe, so all of those things helped me. The producing and directing part is something I developed as a hip hop producer. I’m the guy who spent 14 hours in the studio while others guys spent 4 hours and being the guys who had to go in meetings and marketing dept. All of these things help me become a multi talented guy, but I’m constantly working as an actor to make myself better.
