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A Conversation with Will Yun Lee
(Danny Woo)
Q: Last year you said Danny was like Sara's voice of reason. Does play a similar role in her life this season, even though he's no longer a ghost?
A: I think the voice of reason is there, but there was a line in the pilot, in the two hour movie, in which she asked, 'Why did this happen? Why did you die?' And I said, 'Karma.' So this year it's kind of exploring what some of the blurry vision, blurry line between the bad and good of Danny Woo's character was that brought him to that graveyard.
Q: He's not only partner, but he seems to be her best friend. And enter Gabriel Bowman, who is also kind of vying for that position. Will there be any tension between you and Gabriel?
A: I don't think so. I mean the great thing about our characters interacting is it's almost like brother and sister as opposed to best friend. So there's a 'call me when you call me, I'll see you when I see you' kind of thing. But you know yeah there's a good connection there, so it's unsaid. There's no jealously or anything I don't think.
Q: Last season, because Danny was a ghost, he was privileged enough to know things about the WITCHBLADE that even Sara didn't know. Does would he retain any of that?
A: No.
Q: Will he be let in on any of the secrets?
A: I don't know. I think we get our scripts slower than you get 'em, so (LAUGHS) you probably know more than us.
Q: And what it's like when you do get your scripts?
A: We get our scripts probably about a week and a half before our shooting date -- week to two weeks. And. . . anything could happen. So you're like, well we'll see what happens this week. And the shows, the things that we've seen so far, are incredible. I mean really wild, fun, edgy, but definitely delivering some kind a message too.
Q: When you get your scripts and you read through and you see this is what happens in this episode, do you ever try to get more out of Ralph Hemecker (Executive Producer) like, where is it going down the road?
A: Oh yeah all the time.
Q: What's your best tactic for getting information out of Ralph?
A: Out of Ralph? Whew! I don't know; I haven't figured it out.(LAUGHS) I mean it took all the way up until getting the last episode, eleven, last year to find out that time was gonna be reversed. I haven't figured it out. If you figure it out you gotta tell me.
Q: How did you feel last season when you were handed script number eleven? All season long you thought you were this ghost character. And you find out you come back for Season 2 as flesh and blood.
A: Well, yeah, it was exciting. 'Cause I called my parents . . .or they called me and I said, 'oh did you see the show?' And you know they don't understand everything, so they go, 'oh yeah, you look good. . .' And I go, you know I came back to life?' 'Oh that's why you touched the coffee!' So yeah, in that sense, it was cool that, hopefully, they'll get to see more.
Q: What's the best part of working on a show like WITCHBLADE?
A: I think it's just the whole cast of characters. We've all become really close. It's become a real tight knit family here. I would say that's the best best thing.
Q: Where do you think Danny's character will go this season?
A: I think he will be going to a much darker side. Because I think part of the reason he was with Sara last year was a little bit of redemption. It wasn't that they were just connected. It was serving part of his soul to help someone with the mistakes that he made in his actual life. So I think this season will explore some of those, the darker side. To say demons is goin' a little too far. But I would just say the darker sides of Danny Woo.
Q: It's a much more physical role for you, for obvious reasons this year. What are you doing to get yourself pumped up for that?
A: You know, I've done martial arts my whole life, so it's just stretching (LAUGHS). But it's exciting because I haven't been asked to do martial arts for a long time, which is a blessing in many ways, and developed myself as an actor. So Ralph really did some cool things in bringing a full-fledged three-dimensional character. And he goes, all right, you've done the pilot and the whole season, let's see a little bit. So yesterday we filmed that scene (Danny attacks Dalack in "Nailed") and it was pretty cool.
Q: Is there ever a question of feeling you can do the stunt yourself, but being a little hesitant for fear that you might get hurt?
A: No, I'm pretty cautious on taping up and putting on the knee belts and and doing all that, so I don't worry about that. I guess it's like the falls and stuff, you know. I won't do that.
Q: One of the great misconceptions of production for many fans is that an hour-long show is actually shot in an hour. What is it like to shoot one episode of WITCHBLADE?
A: Long days and so many things are shot out of sequence. And with WITCHBLADE there's flashbacks. There's so many different elements involved that you really have to do your homework, because everything's shot out of sequence. So like yesterday, our first day of this episode, we shot the last scene first. I think it's really being on your toes and it's a fast-moving show. And they're really knocking it out of the box, so everyone expects everyone to show up and deliver.
Q: Take us through a typical day. How long is it? What time do you start?
A: One day I got up at 4:45. I knew I had the action sequence yesterday, so I got up about 6:30 that day and just stretched for about an hour. Did a little bit of recap of what I'm gonna work on the day. Get to set, have some coffee, breakfast. Rush to make-up. Then off to set. And shoot all day. About fourteen hours.
Q: What's the first thing you do when you walk off the set or get home?
A: First thing, I manage in ten minutes to annihilate my apartment with my bags and my clothes, so that's usually what happens.
Q: You do work these long hours. What motivates you to get out of bed every morning and come back to the set?
A: Oh I love it you know. I feel blessed every day. And every night when I go to bed working on this show. I always say I would not wish my worst enemy to want to become an actor because it is so hard and it is too painful, with all the rejection and things like that. But once you're bit you're bit. And I couldn't ask for a better job.
Q: I know you have a film career as well. What's the biggest difference for you in shooting a series versus shooting a feature film?
A: The amount of pages a day. I mean, we'll shoot between six and nine pages a day here. And probably shooting half a page a day is pretty remarkable. So you get to be on your game a lot more I think. On the feature you have a lot more prep time. And shooting half a page to a page a day is pretty cool.
Q: Do you have any special things that you do to memorize your lines?
A: I start early. I start on the first crack of opening the pages. People have different techniques, and mine is more just memorize the lines and not worry about the story so much, so that I can at least start sinking it in. And then start bringing in all the other factors of who these people are and how I feel, or how I'd act in that situation.
Q: What do you think it is about cop shows set in New York that draw such a huge fan base?
A: Well the magic of New York City. It's a special place. It really, really is. I grew up there when I was really young. I did a film there last year too. And we shot a scene in Chinatown and it was amazing. . . There's just something about it that's in the air. And it's just a city that really never sleeps. I've never seen a place where there's so many different people but that are kind of the same.
Q: What makes a cop's life so dramatic?
A: In a sense of WITCHBLADE it's . . . pretty easy. All the hardcore cases that Ralph conjures up. And there's some heavy stuff this year. . . there's huge lines of what's justice. Justice of the heart or justice of the law?
Q: How do questions of justice and Danny's darker side correlate? Especially in terms of this episode ("Nailed").
A: Danny lives by a very strong code about how things should be. And that's why he gets along with Sara so well. She has an edge but her heart is too big. In this episode we're dealing with some serious topics of kidnapping, of things that the show will go into when people watch it. But what do you do when someone comes after your family? And being a New York City cop, do you follow your heart, or do you follow the law? You know what you were sworn in to. So that's what this episode's about, is what would a father do? And to research this character, I don't have kids, so I've asked a lot of fathers. And the first thing that they said is, 'I would do anything for my child. I would kill anybody.' And so I think that's the journey of Danny Woo on this episode: How thin is the line between the law and your heart?
Q: Why do you think Danny became a cop?
A: I mean, according to the script and the things I worked on before, it's pretty close, what Ralph and I came up with. . .And the backstory I had is my family had a store in Chinatown. And were being bullied into putting out protection money. So this was something that I wanted to do because we were always put in a position of not feeling safe.
Q: You're in the next James Bond film, Die Another Day. I know you can't tell me details about it, but how does it feel to have that come down the pike?
A: It's pretty cool. It's pretty wild. I mean talk about big toys and chases and explosions at such a massive level. It really is fun. I've never left the country except for once when I was really little. Like our vacations were in U-hauls. So this is nice, seeing British Airways. Pierce Brosnan is an amazing person to just be around. And actually learn from. I couldn't be more excited.
Q: What role do you have?
A: I play a character named Colonel Moon, a baddie. That's about it. It's being directed by this guy named Lee Tamahori. And I think it's going be a much different James Bond.
Q: Will we see more of your martial arts?
A: You'll have to see.
Q: How does it feel to be chosen one of People magazine's '50 Most Beautiful People'?
A: That was an unfair question (LAUGHS). It's flattering, I guess. It put my mom in an uncomfortable spot because she hates talking in English. She gets so nervous. It's flattering. It's cool.
Q: Will you go past the newsstand and check it out?
A: My mom will probably buy a hundred copies, so I think that'll be taken care of.
Q: Season 1 was phenomenally successful. What do you think drove that success?
A: It was one of those shows that just took a lot of chances. Sara Pezzini, I mean Yancy -- the way Yancy is as a person came through. I really think the whole team putting it together, kind of like the brains of Ralph and the heart of Yancy, just there it went. Just stick those two together and you should be all right.
Q: If you had to hook those same fans and pull them into Season 2, what would you say gives the new season its edge?
A: We've pushed the envelope even farther. And I think last year we did but. . . you had to watch one to understand the next one. I think this year they're more stand-alone, so that you can drop in on any episode in a sense. This year for fans that come back and check it out, I think it really pushes the envelope. And you'll get to see a lot of the other characters too and what their lives are like, which is kinda cool.
Q: Two characters in particular have a higher profile this year: Gabriel Bowman and Vicky Po. Who is Vicky Po?
A: Vicky Po is our forensics specialist. And she's almost like the light of the show in the sense that she always adds a lot of good comedic elements. She has her quirks. I mean she's eating donuts while she's touching dead people. That's her sense of humor. And as an actress she brings that humor to it.
Q: Last year after Danny passed, Jake became Sara's rookie partner. How will that dynamic work with all three of you working together?
A: It's been interesting so far. It's been good. There's been tensions between the characters. Danny was, even in the beginning of the two-hour movie, a little jealous of Jake. But I don't think that shows as much. It's just more of the resentment of a rookie. And little does Danny know that Jake has a few tricks up his sleeve. So it's about winning each other's hearts, which is cool.
Q: Thank you so much.
A: Thank you.
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