At the LA press conference for Dragonball: Evolution Chatwin explained the challenge of making a movie fans will enjoy while at the same time satisfying those who are Dragonball virgins. "The original fans are like 20 or 30 years old. There’s a whole generation of 6 to 18-year-olds that Dragonball wasn’t introduced to because they have Batman and they have all these other cartoons. This is for the new generation – people that have no idea – to get more involved with Dragonball - and also for the fans. I hope they like it."
Dragonball: Evolution Press Conference with Justin Chatwin, James Marsters and Emmy Rossum
Did you watch the animation when you were a kid or read the manga before you were cast as Goku? What was your reaction when you got this role?Justin Chatwin: "When I got this, Jim [Wong] called me and I was driving downtown. I didn’t get it at first. I was like, 'Oh really?' I didn’t know how to react to it because I was excited but then I was also like, 'Oh man, now I actually have to do it. It’s not like I’ve just been given a suitcase full of money. I actually have to perform and there are so many people that have an idea of who this iconic figure is.' So I knew it would be a challenging part, but I was definitely honored to have been given this part."
"A friend of mine as a kid, I would always go over to his house. His little brothers and sisters would be talking about Dragonball like it was the Grail, and [they were] so passionate about it. I watched it later. I think I was like 18 when I watched it. When I watched it, I was like, 'Wow, this is crazy. I really like this.' But it wasn’t until I got the part that I actually sat down with Dragonball and Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT and actually started studying the character. That was the first thing I did. I was like I’ve got to understand this character and understand the qualities, understand all the episodes and the family tree and all that. And then I have to get rid of all those ideas and bring those qualities out of Justin because I didn’t want to play an idea of the character, because that I think would have been the biggest pitfall of the movie – actors playing ideas of what these characters are as opposed to genuinely bringing forth qualities of themselves."
Why do you think so many people are attracted to Dragonball?
Justin Chatwin: "I went to the manga museum when I was in Kyoto. They had a library and it was like three floors, like a giant natural history museum-size building full of manga and there are so many different kinds of manga out there. I asked myself that same question. Why is Dragonball so big and there’s all these other ones out there that haven’t become popular? I think it comes down to the story. It’s the values. These stories are like these Greek epics. They’re about virtue and honor and fighting evil and becoming a man and serving your country and serving a greater cause. For me, what’s important is to carry on those stories and evolve it from the Monkey King, which Dragonball was based off of, and keep those stories alive because if we don’t adapt them, they’ll just drift away."
Was there any upside to Lord Piccolo that you discovered? Was there something you liked about him?
James Marsters: "Oh, very much. Yeah. Part of the challenge was to realize that the Lord Piccolo that we see in the first film is the same person as the Piccolo that will be transformed into, which is the more recognizable one for fans who are more familiar with Dragonball Z. There’s a younger version that we’re going to get to. But, as an actor, it was to realize that it was the same person in both sides of it. That he’s going to transform his body but his mind is pretty much the same. For me, it was taking Piccolo, the wonderful guy - and this is what I love about Piccolo - is that he’s not a nice person, he’s not trying to make friends, but he’ll never let you down because he’s living up to his own code. I always thought that was a really wonderful character because of that. And just to take that character and say, 'Well, what would make me so angry that I’d want to destroy every human being on earth? To know that everybody has buttons - you can do something to anybody and they’ll get that mad. What happened to him?' So hopefully it’s really the same character as we go through the next phase in the other movies."
Did you have any input into your make-up?
James Marsters: "The first time we did the make-up it took 14 hours and it was nobody’s fault but my own because I was really married to the idea that my character be old and decrepit and ugly. I told them that when my girlfriend comes into Durango, I want her to run for the hills. And then she did, which was not so great. In the manga and in the anime, he is so old that he needs a walking stick. It’s only at the end of the season of Dragonball that he throws off the cloak and you see he’s all cut, and then he starts to fight and it’s a big surprise. The difference that we’ve done is we don’t do the fake out. We just reveal him from the first shot as being powerful, but other than that, it’s kind of the same as the manga."
How many hours did you end up in make-up?
James Marsters: "Oh yeah, oh that was so funny because I kept saying, 'Uglier, uglier, more lines, more age, more uglier.' And finally after 14 hours the make-up artist just slapped me upside the head and said, 'I’m done! Go to set!' That was it. But then we got Edward French to come in and do the make-up and he got it down to 4 hours and I shut up. I let him do his job."
