Premiere screening in Beijing | ‘Now You See Me 2’ director confident of China success

Jon M Chu (left) and Mark Ruffalo during yesterday’s press conference

Chinese media and social blogger fans became fanatical yesterday at the press conference that preceded the red carpet and Chinese premiere of action thriller “Now You See Me 2.” The press conference was attended by MDT and held at Beijing’s Park Hyatt.
As Macau features for a good 45 minutes in the blockbuster Hollywood sequel, director Jon M Chu is full of hope that the Chinese market will be enticed by the movie, as it boasts several views of the city.
“It’s fun, we enjoyed making it! There’s a great fight scene, it has a pace that moves fast and the themes are universal,” commented the actor, Mark Ruffalo, who was one of the stars in attendance at the press conference.
The director stressed that the film offered a significant supporting role to Jay Chou, a Taiwanese singer and actor followed by millions in China.
Chu and Ruffalo praised the singer-actor for being the “best magician” on set.
“He should have his own magic show,” the director acclaimed. “He was great and I keep telling him we’re not going to show too much magic of you yet, it’s just the beginning of your character. We need to calm him down.”
The director said the movie presents Chinese culture and people in a way that is not stereotypical. He noted that there is a mysterious man, played by Chou, who is “cool, awesome and young,” and comes to the picture to end the stereotype that typical Hollywood movies and the magic world fall back on.
“Jay has what we call swag. You can see in the pictures, everybody in the picture is ‘nice’ but he just stood there and oozed his cool,” the director joked.
The audience was curious about Daniel Radcliff’s role in the film as for Chinese fans, he is still the Harry Potter they “grew up with.”
Radcliff plays a sociopathic genius techie who is trying to steal a “super computer” so he can rule the world.
“That’s the best part, you expect one way of Daniel but actually he has this dark side that he gets to bring out,” Chu said. “The best word I could [use to] describe [him] is delicious,” he joked.
Chu also revealed they had doubts over whether Radcliffe’s character should either be extremely good or bad at magic.
Separately, the director praised Ruffalo for being committed to his character, Dylan.
He said the best part was all the characters brought their own angle to the characters they played.
“They bring extra layers, they bring truth to the characters that in a world full of crazy magic, these are human beings going through a real journey within themselves,” said the director, who is also a big fan of the first movie.
Chu said the cast were trained on performing magic as he aimed to include real magic tricks in the film, providing Lizzy Caplan, who plays Lula, as an example.
In one scene, Lizzy Caplan’s character, Lula, gets her head “cut off” as part of a magic trick. Filmmakers had to build real apparatus and train the actress for the scene, so as to avoid the use of computer generated imagery.
Meanwhile Mark Ruffalo revealed to the audience that there is a sequence in which his character is thrown into a river to mock the way in which his father died. Ruffalo described it as an “intense day of shooting.”
“Even when you know that there are a lot of people around you keeping you safe, when you’re sinking in the water and there’s only a little bit of air to breathe inside this box, your body still thinks you’re about to drown,” he remarked.
Moreover, the director and cast added that they believe audiences will enjoy the movie as much as they welcomed the first in the series.
Although the sequel director refused to disclose the possibility of a rumored “Now You See Me 3,” he said that they are prepared should the fans want them to make another sequel.
The cast’s pictures were up on the ballroom of Park Hyatt, however Ruffalo could not find his shot.
“I just looked freaked out in my picture,” said Ruffalo.
“Where are you?” Jay asked looking at the cast’s pictures.
“They didn’t even put it on, it’s so bad,” Ruffalo joked.
The star-studded film is set to hit the screen in China this Friday. Lynzy Valles, MDT, Beijing
MDT was in Beijing at invitation of Sands China Ltd. and Lionsgate

Mark Ruffalo

Jon M Chu (left) and Mark Ruffalo