Keanu Reeves makes an explosive return to action-adventure in 47 Ronin. After a treacherous warlord kills their master and banishes their kind, 47 leaderless samurai vow to seek vengeance and restore honor to their people. Driven from their homes and dispersed across the land, this band of Ronin must seek the help of Kai (Reeves)—a half-breed they once rejected—as they fight their way across a savage world of mythic beasts, shape-shifting witchcraft and wondrous terrors. As this exiled, enslaved outcast becomes their most deadly weapon, he will transform into the hero who inspires this band of outnumbered rebels to seize eternity.

What was it about 47 RONIN that made you want to be a part of it?

I loved the themes of honor, revenge and sacrifice in the script as well as the tragic love story. I also liked my character, who was an outsider trying to regain honor.

How have you been involved with this project?

I watched 47 RONIN evolve and change with Carl Rinsch, who paid a lot of respect to all the elements that were inspired by Japanese folklore. Being on this journey and collaborating with Carl on the story has been a great experience.

Speaking of Japanese folklore, were you familiar with the legend of the 47 Ronin before working on the film?

I was not familiar with the legend, but as soon as I knew about the project, I did my research and read as much as I could about it. This movie is one of those rare examples of something that comes your way and is just so exciting from the beginning.

You play the lead character of Kai. How do you see him?

I think of him as an outsider who yearns to be accepted, like an immigrant. He is honorable and a man of nature, which helps ground him. Kai is also a bit cursed, and he is aware of that.

How did you prepare for this role?

Looking at the bigger picture, I basically tried to familiarize myself with the source material and thinking about my character’s place in the story. I always thought the tale of the outsider and these Ronin becoming samurai outsiders was universal because all cities and towns and places have these kinds of events and integration problems that happen. I tried to get in touch with who Kai is and how this affected him. I wanted my character to have a dignity and respect towards the world around him and others. I also wanted him to be capable, to be a hunter and a tracker that is connected to nature.

What kind of training did you go through for the role?

I was excited to work with the katana, the Japanese long sword. I trained a lot with the expert Tsuyoshi Abe and worked with the stunt teams. Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Ôishi, also gave me some tips. I did a lot of exercises with the sword and some dieting as well.

Can you briefly talk about the main characters in the story and their relationships with Kai, starting with Lord Asano?

Lord Asano is the ruler of Ako. He sort of takes my character under his wing after he has been abandoned and brought up by these Tengu lords, who I think of as monks. I always saw Lord Asano as an enlightened ruler and a paternal figure.

Lord Asano’s right hand is the warrior, Ôishi. How would you explain the relationship between Ôishi and your character?

Initially, Ôishi thinks Kai is some kind of a demon, and he grudgingly puts up with him. However, their relationship changes throughout the course of the story. Ôishi asks for Kai’s help to restore the honor of the house of Asano.

You are surrounded by a great Japanese cast. What can you say about Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Ôishi?

I had already seen some of Hiroyuki’s work in the past and knew a bit about him, but meeting him was special because he is such a gentlemen and a movie star on an epic level. Hiroyuki is a master actor, and it was wonderful to work with him.

You also worked with great actors like Tadanobu Asano and Rinko Kikuchi among many others.

I had also seen Tadanobu Asano and Rinko Kikuchi’s work before getting involved in the movie. The truth is that everyone was so excited about this story and participating in the world that Carl Rinsch was creating. We all got along very well and felt we were a part of something special.

What is Carl Rinsch like as a director?

Carl is very collaborative and passionate. He is amazing with story, but he is also a visionary with great energy and enthusiasm.

Did you enjoy the martial arts and action side of the shoot?

I love shooting action and was very excited to be in a samurai film. The fights were tough but fun to do.

Were there any bumps and bruises along the way?

As I was working with great professionals, I didn’t get beat up much, although I did hit Hiroyuki Sanada a couple of times by mistake.

The story wouldn’t work without a powerful villain. Here we have Lord Kira, who is aided by a witch and dark magic to obtain his evil goals.

Lord Kira and The Witch both made a great couple and I really thought they managed to put their performance between their teeth, as I would say. I think they are wonderful and delicious villains with even a kind of yearning to them, which made them a bit sympathetic.

In what way did you find Lord Kira and The Witch sympathetic?

Lord Kira feels underappreciated. The same thing happens to The Witch, who wants to have this earthly love that he is denying her. In a way, they are victimized by their passions. I liked that sophistication, the complexity of both of them being extroverts that go for what they want but are so wounded at the same time.

You have worked on a number of movies with groundbreaking special effects. 47 RONIN combines CGI with practical effects harbored by the detailed sets that were created for the film.

Yes, they built such remarkable sets that made you feel you actually were in that world. There was so much that was there! Then, the work they did with the special effects and the creature creation was awesome.

In this case, what do you believe 3D will add to it all?

The filmmakers knew they were making a 3D film from the beginning and everything was considered in that regard. I appreciated that they took the time and effort to work on it specifically. It was great to see the care they took with the story and the storytelling.

What should the audience expect from 47 RONIN?

The audience should expect a big movie with great themes. I think it is a film that is entertaining but also has an intimacy to the story and the acting that I hope people will enjoy as well. There is action, drama, love and suspense. It has it all!

“47 RONIN” released and distributed by United International Pictures through Solar Entertainment Corp. Showing on January 8, 2013. Nationwide!

Keanu Reeves says that he was motivated to direct his first film "Man of Tai-Chi" because the story was close to his heart and vision.

"The origins of the story date back nearly fifteen years, to when martial artist Tiger Chen Hu met Keanu Reeves while working as part of the stunt team for The Matrix. Their friendship developed over the course of the trilogy of films, with Tiger eventually assuming more prominent stunt roles, impressing Reeves with his work ethic and imagination. “I had to do Kung Fu training with Tiger, and he would tell me stories about his Tai Chi master and his unusual training methods,” Reeves recalls today. “That lead to a lot of deeper conversations about the Tao of life, Chi, martial arts, everything.” It was from these initial conversations that the two eventually decided to collaborate on a screen play that would not just feature Tai Chi as a device or excuse for high-octane fight and action sequences, but actually reflect the martial art’s philosophical values within the story.

We decided to work together. And over the years we developed a story that eventually came so close to my heart and my vision that I wanna to direct it. It became a story that I want to tell."
Tiger Chen Hu believes that the character Tiger’s struggle is something that most audience will be able to relate to, even if they have no experience with martial arts or the underlying philosophy of taiji. “It’s easy to get trapped by the idea of money and power,” says Chen Hu. “Young people like money, smoking, drinking, but all that stuff is excess in the world. But you can’t just say, oh, I’m forbidden to know so I will just stay in my temple of purity. If you want to be completely Taoist, you have to go taste that. You have to go through the journey, to see it through, otherwise you aren’t really part of the full life.”

In addition to borrowing his own nickname for the character and collaborating with Reeves and screenwriter Michael G. Cooney on the script, Chen Hu also was happy to lend his own perspective and experience to help flesh out the story. “Tiger is about eighty percent me, my experiences, my personality, I think,” he says today. “Keanu said we don’t have to make another person, we’ll just put you into the story. So it was easy for him to ask me questions like ‘what would you feel like in this situation,’ and I could answer.” These conversations were often held across oceans and continents via video chat, leading to some unusual hours for Tiger to contemplate the fate of his character: “It would be the middle of the night when I would start these calls, and Keanu and Michael would be talking about the story. They’d ask me through the computer, ‘how would you feel’ and I’d answer, and they’d go back to talking and I’d fall asleep on the call. Then, a half hour later, they’d shout ‘Tiger!’ and ask me another question.”

Like his film’s namesake, Chen Hu trained in Tai Chi as a youth before moving on to other forms of martial arts in order to develop himself as a stunt artist and film professional. “Two years before we started filming, I went to another Tai Chi master to specifically train for the role of Tiger,” he recalls. “Tai Chi is a very unique martial art with a different philosophy: you are always trying to use the opponent’s power; you have to wait for the opponent to punch, kick, whatever, to throw power at you, so you can give the power back – you never attack first.”

Because of the complexity of Tai Chi as a martial art, Chen Hu, Reeves, and master fight coordinator Yuen Wo Ping (another Matrix veteran and a legendary fight choreographer and film director) had to ask themselves unusual questions when creating the fight sequences for MAN OF TAI CHI. “I think it’s the first time you have MMA [Mixed Martial Arts] style versus Tai Chi,” says Chen-Hu. “And, of course, we have to make all of the fights different from one another, so it’s not just the same moves over and over. Finally, you also have to tell the story, to live the journey through Tiger.” This would lead Reeves to ask Hu-Chen questions that are unfamiliar to most fighters used to basic stunt fighting: “Keanu would ask me ‘why do you have to kick?’ That’s a hard question to answer….why do you have to throw the punch or the kick now, at this moment.” “The fighting scenes had to express that journey,” adds Reeves. “Where Tiger is emotionally, and that got into the specifics of where you are in your head, what style of martial arts are you fighting, what are you feeling during the fight, and how do you change as a result of this fight? Every scene had to have change and development of the character going into the fight sequences.”

Ultimately, Reeves was very impressed with Chen Hu’s ability to render Tiger not only in terms of martial artistry, but also in terms of emotional vulnerability. “Tiger is a very talented actor,” Reeves avers, noting that even as a stuntman on The Matrix films, he was able to immediately understand the need for playing a character and not just executing the physical moves. “I saw him do some work with Laurence Fishburne, and I could tell that he knew what it took to shoot a scene, to be on a movie set. So acting wasn’t unfamiliar to him; and in terms of the character work, he was so open and committed, and he completely understood the role.” Reeves cites one fight sequence where Hu-Chen’s performance during the shooting forced Reeves to reconsider the way the scene would be shot: “The way he looked at his opponent, I had to change the way we filmed the fight…that came from Tiger’s understanding of the character and the situation, and being alive as an actor. I look forward to see what he’s going to do with his acting in the future.”

For Reeves, it wasn’t simply a matter of guiding Chen Hu, a stunt man largely unused to the demands of a leading man who must carry the emotional weight of the film. He also had to supervise an international crew, most of whom who spoke an unfamiliar language, as well as bring weight and meaning to the role of Donaka Mark, the film’s shadowy antagonist. “One of my feelings about acting and directing at the same time is that as a director, you are really looking outward. You have something internal, an idea, a feeling, and you look outward and you collaborate. As an actor, you have a perspective of the outside but you’re looking at your place in it from this internal perspective. So it’s almost like having two sets of eyes. It was a new world for me, but it was a really great world to explore.”

“Man Of Tai Chi” is released and distributed by United International Pictures through Solar Entertainment Corp.