Skip to playerSkip to main content
Director Fergal Costello, Writer Paddy McDonald and Actors Steven He, Gemma Chua-Tran & Finola Xie talk to Fest Track about balancing dark and light in character moments, finding the limits of comedy in genre and the aspect of heartbreak and humor in Dublin life in regards to their feature: "Kung Fu Deadly" making its World Premiere at the 2026 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.

#FilmInterview #Filmmaking #Comedy #Action #KungFuDeadly #StevenHe #Ireland
Transcript
00:26This is Tim Wasper from Fast Track on CERC TV.
00:32You have to know how to push and how far to see how much the comedy would work with that
00:37character.
00:38Because he still needs to be dark, but he still needs to be light, does that make sense?
00:42Yeah, yeah.
00:43We actually had two songs in the movie and I think it was, there were two reasons that
00:48one of them got removed, got put into the end credits, but that was initially in the
00:52edit and we thought, half of it was maybe the movie was running a bit long with the
00:57second song in there, but also it felt like it weakened Tang a tiny bit, where he stopped
01:01being threatening, even though the gag was quite fun.
01:04Yeah.
01:04So you take those things into consideration and I'm always a big fan of, you know, first
01:10three takes, let's take it too far with a character like that, who's that big, because there might
01:14be little elements, little golden moments you can take on for the quieter performance levels
01:19if you do, you know, take four, five and six and basically modulate it that way.
01:23And you basically, you get too much, then you get too little and you can generally find in
01:27the middle of all those takes a performance that'll work, you know.
01:30But Jason and I, we kind of had many conversations beforehand of what was too far.
01:35And then, I don't know, we kind of felt that there wasn't, you know, we didn't hit far
01:41enough ever, you know.
01:42It was just fun to see what he did with it and how kind of campy he could be.
01:47And then, but then when he turns, to feel the sense that he really turns, when he jumps
01:51towards Leanne and gets right in her face, that's for him to feel like a monster and a
01:55beast there, you know, that was no jokes in that moment.
01:58But then when he's back into the deal, he loves the deal, you know, and that's when he
02:02kind of lightens up a bit more.
02:04500 quid.
02:05No way.
02:05Too much.
02:06That's too much.
02:07Feel free to call someone else, but we are the only service in the city open on the weekends.
02:12But I'm sure you can wait till Monday, yeah?
02:18I think it's all in the context of the genre as well.
02:21Yeah.
02:21And the films that we're talking about, the reference points like Sam O'Hong, Mr. Vampire
02:25movies, there's a real highness to them, you know, and so that was part of the challenge
02:28as well when you're like, is how you take that, the highness of those movies that are
02:33period, you know, that look aesthetically very different, they're made in a different
02:37way and try to transpose that into a setting in Dublin.
02:40So there's a highness, I think, that you get away with it because it fits within the
02:45whole world of the film and the genre of the film.
02:47But there's a difference between, obviously, Irish humour and, you know, humour, say,
02:51in the Far East with some of the films like Macomb and all that.
02:54Yeah.
02:55Could you talk about finding that, well, finding the tone?
02:57Because the thing is, is that it's a buddy comedy and yet there's, you know, the Kung Fu
03:02of action and yet there's a weird in-between sort of comedic element that it's not American,
03:08it's not European, it's somewhere in the ether.
03:11Yeah.
03:12It's very Irish.
03:12Yeah.
03:13Like, there's gags in there that an international audience won't get that are so Dublin and so are.
03:18So there's gags in there that the Irish audiences are going to, like, there's, there's, when you're
03:23characterised and you're told, welcome to the, welcome to the north side.
03:26Yeah.
03:26Irish audiences are just going to lose it over that.
03:28Like, it's, there's, so it's, it ain't like, it's the thing that is something that is so
03:33specific, it can be universal at the same time.
03:36And we just, you know, and you're, when you're working in, that's why the genre is so important
03:40because you can actually be local and it's the genre elements that carry, carry an awful
03:45lot.
03:45They carry a lot of weight for you.
03:46Yeah.
03:46But yeah, it's Irish leading, like it really, it's an Irish movie.
03:50Okay.
03:51Okay.
03:51I'll repeat.
03:52Happy days.
03:53Oh, total hottest.
03:54Knowing here, they come from outside.
03:57Again, you follow them, stop them, then you get paid.
04:04That sort of like nonchalance in a little way with these two characters.
04:09Can you talk about that?
04:10Because that really sort of gives the film the levity.
04:13It really leads.
04:16The relationship between Danny and Frank is such a large part of the movie.
04:21You know, it helps, it carries a lot of weight, if you know what I mean.
04:25And I think a large element of that is the casting is you guys genuinely found like two
04:31people who just, Michael and I, from day one, from day one, we were like best friends.
04:36We were geeking out.
04:37And I was just talking about how, how first conversation wasn't even about acting or the
04:42job, or we just geeked out about YouTube.
04:44It's something we're genuinely passionate about.
04:47So, yeah, when you find two people who, who like love each other like that and can be
04:53with each other, like overnight at an airport, I wouldn't get tired of them, you know?
04:57So that, that means something.
04:59And like, since you, you put the pieces together that fit so well, everything else was banter.
05:05Like we made up the, the handshake thing on the spot.
05:08But there was a good bit of, there's a good bit of banter, you know, on set.
05:11I think some of it was kept into the movie, finally.
05:14So, yeah, I got to give credit to, to first of all, you guys for finding Michael and secondly
05:18to Michael himself for being so brilliant.
05:20In the age we are obviously with YouTube and all that, you know, people think they know
05:23you, but then you have to change it up to sort of play a character outside yourself.
05:29Can you talk about the interesting thing of that, bringing those fans from there to this
05:34for you?
05:35Because it's a meta, it's an interesting meta sort of process.
05:39Yeah, it is.
05:40Actually, I stay more on the, on the filmmaking side of YouTube.
05:44As in most YouTubers, you'll, you'll see them as them.
05:48Whether it's a face cam of Log, something like a Casey Neistat.
05:52On my channel, you actually never do.
05:54So anytime you see me on my channel, I'm playing a character delivering a script.
05:58So in that way, I think the audience will be a bit more used to the switch.
06:02You know, it wouldn't be as jarring as a, if I'm a, like a PewDiePie type.
06:16Fall down.
06:17Stop them.
06:18Maybe you'll get paid.
06:20Maybe.
06:22In the script, it's a, it's the journey of Danny taking the responsibility of what he
06:29always should have had.
06:30And he even felt it in the beginning, right?
06:32He felt, he felt that something was missing.
06:35And it was something that the, in the beginning of the movie, he wasn't the guy to stand up
06:40to that challenge to bear the weight of something that is quite extraordinary.
06:43To be, to be the, the protectors and the defenders against a, a, a mythical monster, the Jiang Shi.
06:53And I think the journey of him learning to take that responsibility, the challenges along
06:57the way, and the, it's heartbreaking.
06:59The scene that gets me is between him and Frank.
07:02Like when the two of them kind of break up in the, in the bromance, bromance way, the
07:09challenges he has to go through to, to eventually realize what he should be.
07:13And then to, to take that responsibility a hundred percent and to be proud of it too.
07:19I think that's the journey.
07:20There's a tiny bit of trivia about that scene, the breakup scene, which is like one of the
07:23most, probably the most important part.
07:25One of the most important parts of the movie.
07:26We had 18 minutes to shoot that.
07:29Yeah.
07:30Yeah.
07:30Cause it was, I remember looking at my watch going, like, I'm going to die.
07:36That was a luxury.
07:37It was a luxury.
07:38Yeah.
07:41Well, maybe we'll get paid.
07:47You know, the great thing about the movie and the reason I think that it's connected
07:51and you probably saw that here is because everybody takes the piss out of each other.
07:55You know, it's literally, it's about, you know, you can take it seriously, but the thing
07:59is, these people are always sort of jabbing, even the bad guys are jabbing the good guys
08:03and back and forth.
08:04Yeah.
08:05I mean, again, like that kind of speaks to Dublin as well.
08:07I mean, you can't go through any kind of conversation without somebody being very insulting in the
08:11most, in most endearing, lovely way.
08:13Cause you know, it means affection.
08:16Yeah.
08:16I think, I think that's just that, that, that speaks to kind of the Irish side of things
08:19and that level of humor where, and also just to kind of, I think it's in the balancing
08:24of the tone to keep things to a certain, always trying to bring it back to the light, even
08:29when it's getting very intense.
08:37Bye.
08:44Yeah.
08:45Yeah.
08:47Yeah.
08:48Yeah.
08:52At solid.
08:53Yeah.
08:56Yeah.

Recommended