Luke Evans, Sung Kang appreciate dimension of 'Taipei' roles

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Luke Evans and Sung Kang said their characters in the movie, Weekend in Taipei, in theaters Friday, have more dimension than the usual action hero and villain, respectively.

Kwang (Kang) is a drug lord, whose wife (Gwei Lun-Mei) turns to a former lover, undercover agent John Lawlor (Evans) for help escaping her criminal spouse. John doesn't know that her son (Wyatt Yang) is his biological son.

"The characters are well-written," Evans told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "John is an everyman. He's a very relatable character."

Kang, 52, plays a character so beloved in the Fast and the Furious movies that fans demanded he be resurrected from a death scene established in multiple sequels. He said he was interested in the villain turn because it avoided many stereotypes, particularly for Asian villains.

Kang said three such stereotypes included "Kung Fu, doesn't speak English that well, just mad for the sake of being mad."

"We've seen that before and it's something that I desperately try to avoid," he said.

Kwang said he does not know Kung Fu, but he has a fight scene against John. Kang said the stuntmen made it look more brutal than the actors could on their own.

"They're the ones who broke bones, who bled for that scene," Kang said. "A lot of times the actors get the credit, but we just learned the steps. They're the ones who come in and make us look good."

The fight occurs when John chases Kwang into a movie theater. They battle in front of the screen and the audience.

Director George Huang, who co-wrote the script with Luc Besson, said they came up with the idea during a location scout in Taipei.

"We'd originally written the fight to take place in some of the back alleys of Taipei and the street markets," Huang said. "We were passing by a movie theater and I said, 'Too bad we can't shoot in the air conditioning of a movie theater.' Luc Besson literally stopped walking, looked at me and said, 'Well, why can't we?'"

Evans said the choreography he and Kang rehearsed did not change when they moved the location. They just had to work around a movie projector shining in their faces.

"The projector was blinding us every 10 seconds," Evans said. "Hopefully, the fist is going to land where you're expecting it to land because you can't see it."

Kwang is fighting John not just to protect his drug empire. It's personal because he learns John is the father of his stepson and his wife's true love.

"To lose his first and only love, I think that gives it that extra flavor," Kang said. "He is not your typical bad guy because you're rooting for him."

Earlier in his career, Evans played a villain so beloved he said fans were still waiting for him on location in Taipei. He portrayed Gaston in the 2017 live-action remake of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

"They were outside the hotel every day, every single day," Evans said.

Evans said he had hoped to reprise the role in a prequel series for Disney+, adding that the project was far along in development when the streaming service canceled it.

"Alan Menken had written the music," Evans said. "It's a shame it didn't come to fruition, but that's the way this business is sometimes. Maybe one day."

Evans had his work cut out for him in Weekend in Taipei. With several fight scenes, he said he embraced the challenges of the film's elaborate action.

"When you're doing it for the 10th time, everything aches," Evans said. "I'm 45 now."