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Lucy Liu on Kung Fu Panda
By Fred Topel | Image property of DreamWorks Animation
Kung Fu Panda
In Kung Fu Panda, fighting bears are only part of the fun. Lucy Liu plays the voice of a snake, part of the multi-animal fighting squad. An avid cartoon viewer as a child, Liu admits she never understood all the work that went into creating animation.
Lucy Liu Gets CG'd for Kung Fu Panda
"When you’re seven years old, like I am, you go and you realize that there is a voice behind it," said Liu. "There is a team of people that have been working on this project way before you even came on to do the voice-over. It’s pretty amazing to see. It’s lik, a lifelong project. When we went to see the movie at Cannes, I turned to [director] John [Stevenson] after the movie was over, because it was a standing ovation. I was like, 'How are you doing?' 'I don’t know' because it’s like, I don’t know. Five to ten years of your life on one thing. Finally it comes to fruition. What do you do next? It’s a big thing."
Even as a grown-up, the sophistication of modern animation blew Liu away. "Now obviously the technology’s so advanced, and even when I signed on for this project, I didn’t know that you couldn’t have the snake move in that manner. Like, that it was not something that had been seen ever before. And I thought, 'Wow, how hard can it be?' Cut to five years later, this incredible project. It’s magnificent to see it, and to see how, if I think about it, Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny, they didn’t really jump from a tree and do all these crazy things, and all these movements. So to see that and to be a part of that really is a dream come true."
Liu holds Kung Fu Panda in as high regards as the human martial arts movies, because kids will relate to the animals just as well. "That’s what’s great about kids. Generally, they love animals very much, and they can connect to them. I love that they become a part of that. It doesn’t separate your world from their world."
The distinguished actress does not actually recognize her own features in her character, but notices her costars. "I think you can see that more so in Po’s character, the Panda because you kind of see Jack, and then you see gestures. I mean, it’s an amazing thing to see him animated as a panda because they actually had the image of what the panda was going to be already. But Jack Black is in there somehow. It’s phenomenal and it’s definitely due to all the work that [these] guys put into it. It’s pretty amazing. It definitely comes out."
Kung Fu Panda will open to theaters on June 6th.
For the trailers, poster and more movie info, go to the Kung Fu Panda Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of DreamWorks Animation
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