Jason Scott Lee: Primal Man 6/6 | Asian American Personalities

Asian American Profiles

Jason Scott Lee: Primal Man

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GS: Mid six figures?
JSL: No, not even there.

GS: Did you get any residuals?
JSL: Yeah, whenever you work for a studio you get residuals.

GS: But you never made big money off this huge movie?
JSL: No, I could have done big money, say in the sense of Van Damme. You can make like ten million a picture or whatever.

GS: Van Damme made ten million a picture?
JSL: Oh yeah, he's getting paid that, or Segal and those people. It all depends on what track you want to take. You can do that and say you're a clever businessman, but it depends on what you do with that money.

GS: Weren't you annoying your agents by not taking those kinds of parts?
JSL: Yeah, I've had discussions with heads of agencies, the head of my agency, one of the top guys. Basically they told me, “You gotta understand this: work begets work.” I said, “That's not true. Good work begets good work.” They said, “We don't know how long we're going to hold out keeping you on our roster if you don't do some jobs.” I said, “Well, you can let me go any time.”
     One of the agents was really behind me, and he goes, “This is a different guy. You can't treat him like the rest.” I said, “I'm not the kind of person to beg and plead to stay somewhere. You want me out of here, I'm out of here. I don't give a s***. My path is my path. It's not directed by you or anyone else. And my principles are my principles.”
     People tell me, “After Dragon came out, you should have struck while the iron was hot.” I said, “What does that mean? Does that mean that you can be a big success because you struck then? You're saying my career's going to be more prolific if I did that? How do you know?”
     Then I said, “I'm moving back to Hawaii after Dragon.” They said, “Why are you doing that? You're going to kill your career.” I said, “Really, how do you know that? Have you done it? Has anyone ever done it? No. Then you're speaking from speculation. I think everyone should just shut the hell up.” [laughs]

GS: You've really had to fight to act in quality films.
JSL: You have to create your own character. You can't just be a run-of-the-mill, afraid of the system, afraid of these kind of people. I tell people not to get into acting because I was willing to sacrifice everything, my entire life, to remain pretty much on the bottom. If you want to make that kind of sacrifice, then make that kind of sacrifice. If good fortune befalls you, let it befall you. If it doesn't, it doesn't. But you'll always know you made the choice on your own.”

GS: Has good fortune befallen you?
JSL: Absolutely. And it could be everything -- being born under the right star, or just having raw talent or some abilities. As you mature, you sense a feeling of refinement. I don't know what those things do, but maybe that's a quality they don't see in other performers. I'm not really sure.

GS: One of the low points of your career was Rapa Nui in terms of sacrifice and difficulty. You've said that experience made you decide to do only one film a year.
JSL: That was six months away from home and the entire time I enjoyed it! I've gone back there to visit friends many many times. It's not something that I've left in my past. That island enlightened me to a certain degree about life. It actually is a catalyst to how I live now. Easter Island in the native language is called Rapa Nui. It's the longest time I've spent with native people, real indigenous people who were still living a life of simplicity and isolation. And I felt the power behind that kind of lifestyle.
     Earlier when I was saying that living away from nature people become confused, they no longer have strength of character. They no longer have honor. And those are the things that make a performer dynamic and powerful and someone with conviction. When you play a man of honor -- and these are apparently the heroes of our time -- you'd better have it. If you don't have it, you can't make it up. It's not something you can fake. It's all a part of having your own principles and being an artist of originality.

GS: What did you think of Kevin Costner as a director?
JSL: He didn't direct us. Kevin Reynolds worked with us. Kevin Costner was the producer.

GS: He never went there?
JSL: He came. He tried to direct until I told Kevin Reynolds, “Uh, aren't you the director, Kevin?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “Well, there's another guy sitting there who's giving me directions so maybe you should go talk to him.” [laughs]

GS: What did Kevin Costner think of that?
JSL: He didn't know. I just kind of brushed him off. The moment I met him in Hollywood at his production office, I realized I probably wasn't going to work with him, not as a director per se. There was a feeling of speaking down to someone. I didn't care for that attitude. I think no matter how much experience you have, there's no sense in speaking down to someone. You don't create good communication.

GS: He's authoritarian?
JSL: I don't know if that's his entire character but it's what I felt with my introduction to him.

GS: When you were casting Rapa Nui, had Dragon come out?
JSL: No, it hadn't. I had just finished it.

GS: So you were working without much of a track record. How did you get cast?
JSL: I auditioned.

GS: They just recognized your physical abilities?
JSL: I don't know. Kevin Reynolds just said, “I like what you did.” There's some merit to that.

GS: So the first movie you were cast in after your movies started coming out was Jungle Book.
JSL: Yeah. I had met the director, Stephen Sommers and the producer. They said they wanted me for the part. That's one I didn't have to audition.

GS: So you were already a big name at that point.
JSL: Yes and no. I guess, yeah. Not a big name but I was a new sensation. I was the new kid on the block.

GS: Was the money much better for Jungle Book?
JSL: Yeah, yeah. Triple maybe the amount I got.

GS: Almost seven figures.
JSL: No, no, but maybe triple the amount I got for Dragon.

GS: Did you enjoy working on Jungle Book?
JSL: Yeah, Jungle Book was sort of a highlight because it allowed me to work with animals and also gave me a sense of playing fantasy with something I had grown up in childhood with, the idea of Mowgli.

GS: Did you also like doing a film that was directed at a younger, less sophisticated audience?
JSL: I didn't take it that way. I wanted to do something a little more hardcore, like the reality of a boy being raised by wolves. That would have been more fascinating to me. That was the line of study I had taken. But when I read Stephen Sommers's script, I realized that wasn't going to be true. This was going to be for Disney per se and it was going to have that storybook feel to it. I just worked with it and fit into that style of performance.

GS: There was a Peter Pan quality in the way you played Mowgli, a pixielike quality.
JSL: Yeah, that's what they were going for. Once you started seeing the color, the costuming, the sets, and how the performers were doing each role, I thought, “Well this is fitting for this one.” So you just play it a certain way.

GS: There was a kind of a hiatus after Jungle Book
JSL: Actually before Jungle Book.

GS: Why was there that hiatus?
JSL: I was exploring a personal relationship.

GS: Did that personal relationship go anywhere?
JSL: Yeah, straight down the tubes. [laughs]

GS: Are you married now?
JSL: No, no. No children.

GS: Can we ask who the personal relationship was with?
JSL: Of course not. [laughs]

GS: Is there a significant other to whom you will eventually get married?
JSL: No. No scandals, sorry. [laughs]

GS: You did The King and I on the stage in London. How did you get involved in that stage production?
JSL: They were doing it in New York and they originally asked me to open the show in New York. But I was skeptical about doing stage at that time and I had other film obligations, so I backed out. When they said they were going to do it in London, the timing was right. I accepted it because I had never done anything on a big stage, especially on a big stage in the West End of London. It was in one of the old Dame theaters and there was just a classic feel to it all with a classic tale of this King of Siam. And I had never sang on stage so I thought, “This is going to be challenging, this is going to be scary, this is going to be great!” I went and started taking voice lessons and started feeling what it's like to play in a big space. I think actors should do a big stage production if they can.

GS: Did you enjoy it enough to do it again?
JSL: Yeah, I'd definitely do it again. I have a different perspective on it now. If you look back on a job or a role, you go, “I could have done this or I could have done that!” At the time you don't think of it because you're caught up in the whole thing.

GS: Would you do the King of Siam role again?
JSL: Yeah, I'd do it in Hawaii. I'd love to do something like that in Hawaii.

GS: But you had to cut it short because your father died?
JSL: Yeah, my father was ill so I came home and took care of him. I helped out my mom. I didn't fulfill my one-year obligatioin but I did about six months.

GS: Are you close to your family?
JSL: We're not the Waltons but we're close enough. We talk. We're not estranged from each other.

GS: It's said you speak Chinese.
JSL: The only Chinese I learned is from the martial arts. I know a little Spanish, a little French and a little Russian. I know a little Japanese but not Chinese.

GS: Have you ever felt obligated to represent Asian Americans?
JSL: Yeah. A lot of the Asian American population is struggling to get recognition. Whenever they have someone who can raise a torch to their cause, they put a lot of responsbility on that person. And I think that person in a way has been me.