'The Interview' Costar Randall Park Talks About Playing Kim Jong-un
"I know that North Korea, although they seem crazy, they’re smart and there’s no way they would make policy based on a comedy movie," The Interview star Randall Park told the Los Angeles Times in November in an interview published this week. That seemed like a reasonable assumption prior to the hack of Sony pictures (which U.S. officials have linked to North Korea) and the security threats that resulted in Sony pulling The Interview from theaters entirely. Now it’s possible that the raunchy satire, in which Seth Rogen and James Franco play journalists attempting to kill Kim Jong-un, may never been seen. But in his Los Angeles Times interview, Park, who has been widely praised by critics for his performance as the North Korean dictator, had nothing but love for the film. “I’m just so thrilled to be a part of this movie,” he said. “I want to do as much as I can to help.”
The son of South Korean-born parents, Park made sure that his family was okay with the film before he accepted the role. In the original script, his character was not explicitly identified as King Jong-un. Still, he knew that the satire would strike a nerve. Fortunately his parents “thought it was hilarious,” Park told the Times, and his friends in the Korean American community around Los Angeles “all seemed to think it was a great movie idea.” The actor even hoped that the film, however goofy, might open up Americans’ eyes to the human-rights abuses in North Korea. “When I got the part, I remember thinking, ‘This will be a great way to let people learn what’s going on over there because I don’t think enough people know,’” Park explained.
In order to prepare for the film, Park gained twenty pounds, studied Forest Whitaker’s performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, and obsessively watched the episode of HBO’s documentary series Vice about Dennis Rodman’s visit to North Korea. “I know Kim Jong Un is obsessed with the NBA and he looks nervous around Dennis Rodman — he’s kind of avoiding eye contact,” said Park. “He’s trying to be a leader but also losing it a little bit.” He was determined to make the character of Kim Jong Un funny without turning him into a caricature, or worse, making him overly sympathetic: “He doesn’t deserve to be humanized too much,” Park noted. In the end, the actor seemed hopeful that Kim Jong Un might appreciate The Interview, much like Adolph Hitler reportedly enjoyed Charlie Chaplin’s satire of him, The Great Dictactor. “I think it’s a great movie and aside from the obvious stuff — like him getting killed — I think Kim might like it,” Park told the paper. “I don’t know. He’s kind of a cool character, you know?” You can read the full interview in the LA Times today. Park has not commented on The Interview since news of the Sony leaks broke.
