""Damnit Jim, I'm A Spy This Time""

New Zealand actor Karl Urban made his way up the ranks of Hollywood through works based in his home country, playing Julius Caesar in the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess and as Éomer in The Lord Of The Rings films. He soon made his way into Hollywood films such as The Chronicles Of Riddick, The Bourne Supremacy, Doom, and Star Trek.

Now the 38 year-old hopes to keep his Hollywood star on the rise as the youngest cast member of the action film Red. In the film, Urban plays William Cooper, a CIA agent hired to assassinate former black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses, played by Bruce Willis. He was asked what first motivated him to do this particular film.

“My process for decided to do this film wasn’t as scientific as Bruce’s,” Karl claims, “I threw dice. I think that it comes down to I was very fortunate that I had a really wonderful script, a truly insightful and specific director, and at the end of the day, I had the luxury of the most phenomenal cast that I think I’ve ever worked with. For me, it was a point of getting to work with actors whose work that I had admired for such a long time.”

“The wonderful thing was to find yourself in that situation,” he continues, “When you approach that you’re never quite sure if they’re going to be able to live up to your expectations, but right across the board my expectations were completely exceeded about how wonderfully supportive and generous they all were. I’m just really looking forward to this film getting out there and finding an audience, because it’s a really fun ride.

Red was based on a graphic novel written by artist Cully Hamner and writer Warren Ellis. Karl was asked if he was familiar with the original comic.

“I hadn’t actually read the graphic novel of Red until after I had met the director and read the script, and then I had

""Damnit Jim, I'm A Spy This Time""

to look at the source material,” he replies, “And the comic itself is really an opening act. It’s a very short, sharp, gritty, violent comic.

“And I think the Hoeber brothers did a fantastic job of extending this concept and building upon it and making a really funny film,” Urban adds, “Yeah, it’s got the action in it but full credit to them for taking it so much further.”

Urban was also asked if he believed there was a political theme in Red.

“For me it was rather interesting, in the process of researching for this film, we had the great benefit of speaking with Robert Baer, ex-CIA officer,” he says, “And he pretty clearly documented the different between the CIA of today, which my character represents, and the CIA of yesteryear, which Bruce’s character represents. In the old days they seemed to rely a lot more on human intelligence.”

“They would go out and recruit agents and that’s the way that they would get their information,” Karl adds, “As opposed to today where there seems to be more of a reliance on technology and satellites and all this sort of stuff. I think that’s one of the ways that that theme is represented in this film in this sort of new generation versus old generation, and you certainly get to see in the film which is the more effective of the two.”

Karl was asked to comment on a fight scene he has with Bruce Willis in the film, which his co-star claimed he “got his asked kicked” in.

“Really?” Urban replies, “That’s funny, because I got my ass kicked in that fight scene. I’m serious. I was in six weeks of physio after that fight scene. I’ve got the bill for him. I feel very blessed having this fight with Bruce. He’s obviously been doing it for a while and he taught me a few things that I didn’t know.”

“For example, if it’s not done correctly you can get

""Damnit Jim, I'm A Spy This Time""

hurt,” he continues, “So he taught me it’s always very important to maintain eye contact as much as possible so the other person knows what’s coming when. It was no holds barred; it was a pretty intense, gritty kind of a fight. I’m really proud of it; I think it stands up to some of the best fights that have been put on screen, personally.”

Finally, Urban commented on what will be his next film.

“I’m about six weeks away from commencing shooting on Dredd in South Africa,” Karl reveals.