WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:03.660
- My daughter, I believe our
people can come together again,

2
00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:05.990
but someone has to take the first step.

3
00:00:05.990 --> 00:00:08.210
- [Raya] Now, in order to restore peace,

4
00:00:08.210 --> 00:00:11.200
we must find the last dragon.

5
00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:13.270
- You are notably Vietnamese/American

6
00:00:13.270 --> 00:00:15.400
and Kumandra is inspired
by Southeast Asia.

7
00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:17.390
What touches and nods to the culture

8
00:00:17.390 --> 00:00:19.510
did you really appreciate it in the film,

9
00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:21.780
and like, also did watching the movie

10
00:00:21.780 --> 00:00:24.386
make you as starving as it made me?

11
00:00:24.386 --> 00:00:27.570
- Yes, it did make me starving.

12
00:00:27.570 --> 00:00:29.570
Well, I'm also like, always starving

13
00:00:29.570 --> 00:00:32.600
so it just made my
starvation worse. (laughs)

14
00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:35.190
I will say, I feel like
there's so many moments

15
00:00:35.190 --> 00:00:38.750
in this movie where I felt
seen in a cultural sense

16
00:00:38.750 --> 00:00:41.120
if that, if, if I'm saying that correctly,

17
00:00:41.120 --> 00:00:43.720
but just from not only the food

18
00:00:43.720 --> 00:00:47.080
but also the style of
martial arts that's depicted

19
00:00:47.080 --> 00:00:49.310
in this movie is
specifically Southeast Asian.

20
00:00:49.310 --> 00:00:51.460
The fabrics and the colors
that people are wearing

21
00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:53.900
were definitely inspired from the region.

22
00:00:53.900 --> 00:00:56.230
And even little moments
like when young Raya

23
00:00:56.230 --> 00:00:57.930
and young Namaari take off their shoes

24
00:00:57.930 --> 00:00:59.750
before they go into see the dragon gem.

25
00:00:59.750 --> 00:01:03.750
Like, so many of those little
things made me feel seen.

26
00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:08.370
And I think it says a lot
about just the meticulousness

27
00:01:08.370 --> 00:01:10.130
with which people approached this movie

28
00:01:10.130 --> 00:01:12.270
knowing that they wanted
to be as authentic

29
00:01:12.270 --> 00:01:14.170
as possible to this part of the world.

30
00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:17.190
Yeah. So I'm stoked. (laughs)

31
00:01:17.190 --> 00:01:18.760
- The message of the film is

32
00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:21.300
in part about togetherness and inclusion,

33
00:01:21.300 --> 00:01:23.610
rather than exclusion and about like,

34
00:01:23.610 --> 00:01:25.320
sort of coming together.

35
00:01:25.320 --> 00:01:27.110
There are certainly some lines to be drawn

36
00:01:27.110 --> 00:01:30.020
to American culture right
now in that message.

37
00:01:30.020 --> 00:01:33.450
How do you sort of feel
about that, that idea?

38
00:01:33.450 --> 00:01:35.760
- No, I, I absolutely agree.

39
00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:37.920
I think with something
like this, it's really,

40
00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:39.010
you never really know the world

41
00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:40.610
you're releasing something into,

42
00:01:40.610 --> 00:01:41.443
if that makes sense.

43
00:01:41.443 --> 00:01:44.970
Like, this movie was in its ideas,

44
00:01:44.970 --> 00:01:47.710
like the idea of the movie
was created so long ago,

45
00:01:47.710 --> 00:01:51.510
and then it took so many years
to get it to where it is now.

46
00:01:51.510 --> 00:01:54.390
The movie, who's themes are universal,

47
00:01:54.390 --> 00:01:56.100
but at the same time, so timely.

48
00:01:56.100 --> 00:01:58.530
The importance of that,
it weighs really heavily,

49
00:01:58.530 --> 00:01:59.460
if that makes sense.

50
00:01:59.460 --> 00:02:02.130
It is really important to me that we,

51
00:02:02.130 --> 00:02:04.380
we're part of a movie that
feels like it is addressing some

52
00:02:04.380 --> 00:02:05.790
of the things happening
in the world today.

53
00:02:05.790 --> 00:02:09.315
You know, the the fact
that Kumandra was a place

54
00:02:09.315 --> 00:02:13.130
of unity and then became a broken world.

55
00:02:13.130 --> 00:02:15.130
And here are these
characters trying to figure

56
00:02:15.130 --> 00:02:19.520
out how to find the
good in each other again

57
00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.893
after having demonized
each other for so long.

58
00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:25.353
Yeah.

59
00:02:25.353 --> 00:02:26.980
It feels definitely relevant for sure.

60
00:02:26.980 --> 00:02:28.930
- I of course have to know which part

61
00:02:28.930 --> 00:02:30.930
of Kumandra would you like to live in.

62
00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:31.930
- (laughs)

63
00:02:31.930 --> 00:02:34.223
- If you're going to
settle, are you a Talon?

64
00:02:35.234 --> 00:02:38.100
You know, what, like landscape
is looking the best to you?

65
00:02:38.100 --> 00:02:40.620
- Well, I think it depends on, on when,

66
00:02:40.620 --> 00:02:42.050
cause I feel like by the end,

67
00:02:42.050 --> 00:02:43.360
Heart is dope,

68
00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.292
but the whole time Fang has
like the best infrastructure

69
00:02:46.292 --> 00:02:49.720
and best schools. (laughs)

70
00:02:49.720 --> 00:02:53.200
So I would love to, I'd
love to visit all of them,

71
00:02:53.200 --> 00:02:55.730
but I think either
Heart or Fang, probably.

72
00:02:55.730 --> 00:02:57.390
- In what ways are you like Raya?

73
00:02:57.390 --> 00:02:58.740
And in what ways are you different?

74
00:02:58.740 --> 00:03:01.040
Like, obviously you don't
ride a huge pill bug.

75
00:03:01.040 --> 00:03:03.707
I mean, unless you do and I don't know.

76
00:03:03.707 --> 00:03:04.540
- (laughs)

77
00:03:04.540 --> 00:03:06.260
I like to keep my private
life out of this interview.

78
00:03:06.260 --> 00:03:07.870
I'm just kidding. (laughs)

79
00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:10.760
Yeah, I feel like there's so many

80
00:03:10.760 --> 00:03:14.740
it's such a strange thing to
be an actor because the way

81
00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:17.890
into a character is finding a
commonality between the two.

82
00:03:17.890 --> 00:03:21.080
And then I feel like for
me, if I do it right,

83
00:03:21.080 --> 00:03:22.320
then by the end of it,

84
00:03:22.320 --> 00:03:24.060
I'm totally enmeshed with the character

85
00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:26.870
and can't tell who's who and what's what.

86
00:03:26.870 --> 00:03:28.143
And I feel like that's
definitely what happened

87
00:03:28.143 --> 00:03:30.030
here with Raya.

88
00:03:30.030 --> 00:03:32.450
She has so many qualities that
I think I would like to see

89
00:03:32.450 --> 00:03:33.293
in myself.

90
00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:36.100
But at the end of the day

91
00:03:36.100 --> 00:03:38.943
I think the thing that
she does really well is,

92
00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:41.240
there are moments in this movie

93
00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:42.780
where she definitely believes

94
00:03:42.780 --> 00:03:46.080
that the world is broken
and pretty hopeless.

95
00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:47.020
And by the end of the movie

96
00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:49.380
she's risking everything to
fight for a world that's better

97
00:03:49.380 --> 00:03:51.490
than the one that she's
currently existing in

98
00:03:51.490 --> 00:03:53.440
regardless of the fact
that she's not even sure

99
00:03:53.440 --> 00:03:54.280
if it's going to work out,

100
00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:56.190
she's not even sure if it's even possible.

101
00:03:56.190 --> 00:03:58.170
And yet she still takes that step.

102
00:03:58.170 --> 00:04:01.980
And I think for me, that's
something that I want to practice

103
00:04:01.980 --> 00:04:04.530
in my life every day and
something that I want to take

104
00:04:04.530 --> 00:04:06.423
with me from playing this character.

105
00:04:07.740 --> 00:04:08.573
Yeah.

106
00:04:08.573 --> 00:04:11.050
- Maybe it's broken because
you don't trust anyone.

107
00:04:12.187 --> 00:04:14.646
You just have to take the first step.

108
00:04:14.646 --> 00:04:17.729
(intense rock music)