ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Luke Evans about Weekend in Taipei. Evans discussed how he filmed the fight sequences for the new action movie, reuniting with Luc Besson for the project, and more.
“On a deep undercover assignment in Taipei, DEA agent John Lawlor (Luke Evans) was doing everything right… until he fell in love with his informant, beautiful Josephine ‘Joey’ Kwang (Gwei Lun-mei), one of the Asian underworld’s best transport drivers,” the synopsis for the movie reads. “Compromised and cover blown, John was forced to flee. Now, years later, John is back in Taipei for the weekend. But is he here to finish the job? Or to win back Joey’s love?”
Weekend in Taipei releases in United States theaters on November 8, 2024, from Ketchup Entertainment.
Brandon Schreur: Can you tell me a little bit about how this project came about, what made you want to sign onto it, and what stood out to you about this character?
I think it was four or five years ago, I did a movie with Luc Besson called Anna. We had a really great experience and I loved working with him. He made a promise that he would write something for me one day. Sure enough, he co-wrote this script with George Huang and Weekend in Taipei came into my inbox.
It ticked every box imaginable. It had humor, it had heart, it had strong characters, really well-developed characters, and a lovely relationship situation going on. Surprises. I knew that fight sequences within the Luc Besson world are always going to be explosive and brilliant because of the stunt department who he’s worked with for a very long time. We were lucky enough to work with those people. Yeah, it’s just a really fun, great story, brilliant action pieces.
Taipei delivered on every level as a beautiful city that not everybody would know about. It’s very unique; it looks different with these high-rises and then these small little markets and little alleyways. We just used everything that Taipei had to offer. It was a great experience, from start to finish.
Sure. You can tell in the movie, too, it looks so cool — the whole look of the city and the way you explore it. I loved that part, too. I wanted to ask, I know you’ve been in a bunch of action movies over the years. You mentioned Anna, and I know you’ve been in some bigger-budgeted ones like The Hobbit and Dracula Untold. I’m curious how working on something like this compares to something like The Hobbit. I know The Hobbit probably has a lot of CGI and green screen. This feels a lot more intimate. Is doing something like this more intense or harder?
No, it’s not less hard or more difficult. Every job comes with its own bag of challenges. The same amount of work goes into delivering the final product on performance day. I’ve put in weeks and weeks of rehearsal. I was in Taipei before everyone else rehearsing with the French stunt department and the Twaineese stunt guys with a translator, in a room, day after day after day, building the choreography until we finished it. Then we would rehearse the whole thing over and over and over until it became second nature. I would leave that room every day soaked to the skin, as did all the other stuntmen. It was a lot of work.
So, no, it didn’t feel any different, the process. I also love, when you do fight sequences, you make sure the character that you’re playing is represented within the fight sequences. It’s not like you stop, you do something crazy, and then you go back to being your character. I think that’s what we did very well within these fight sequences. You see John Lawlor making decisions as he’s going along. ‘Okay, there’s a wok, there’s a blade, there’s a flame. I need a glass of water.’ It’s him, it’s who he is, and I love the fact that I was allowed to bring the personality of John to the fight sequences. It wasn’t just explosive fights, it’s still a part of the story.
Thanks to Luke Evans for discussing Weekend in Taipei.
