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  • ‘3 Body Problem’ Interview: Benedict Wong and Liam Cunningham

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    Premiering on Netflix March 21st is the new series ‘3 Body Problem,’ which is based on the popular Chinese novel ‘The Three-Body Problem’ by author Liu Cixin and was created by ‘Game of Thrones’ co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo (‘True Blood’).

    The series stars Benedict Wong (‘Doctor Strange’), Jovan Adepo (‘Babylon’), Eiza González (‘Ambulance’), Jonathan Pryce (‘The Two Popes’), and Liam Cunningham (‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter’).

    Benedict Wong and Liam Cunningham talk '3 Body Problem'.
    (L to R) Benedict Wong and Liam Cunningham talk ‘3 Body Problem’.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Benedict Wong and Liam Cunningham about their work on ‘3 Body Problem’, the book the series is based on, how they approached playing their characters, and shooting the game sequence.

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Wong and Cunnigham, as well as Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Alex Sharp, Rosalind Chao and Zine Tseng.

    Related Article: TV Review: ‘3 Body Problem’

    Liam Cunningham as Wade, Benedict Wong as Da Shi in '3 Body Problem.'
    (L to R) Liam Cunningham as Wade, Benedict Wong as Da Shi in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Ed Miller/Netflix © 2024.

    Moviefone: To begin with, Benedict, were you familiar with the book the series is based on before you signed on for the project?

    Benedict Wong: No, I wasn’t. I met the guys on Zoom whilst I was filming ‘Doctor Strange.’ I was just immediately very suspicious, why did they need three showrunners for this project? Then delving deep into the first novel is so dense, this science and this world of the game world. I was thinking, I don’t even know how this is going to be filmed. It’s such a challenge. I just picked up the gauntlet and ran with them.

    MF: Liam, did you read the book before you started shooting?

    Liam Cunningham: No, I’m going to wait till I’m done. I generally don’t do it. Even the last project I did with David and Dan (‘Game of Thrones’), I never read those books. I didn’t want two voices in my ear. My blueprint was the scripts and that’s what I was employed to deliver. If I read the books, if I’d had trouble with any of it, I would’ve used that as a reference. But that’s when I think I might be in trouble when I must go somewhere else for information. So, I didn’t want two voices in my ear, the book voice and the script voice. So, I am going to keep that treat until we’re all done on this. Then I’ll sit down on a beach somewhere under a palm tree and I’ll dig deep into the book.

    Liam Cunningham as Wade in '3 Body Problem.'
    Liam Cunningham as Wade in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Ed Miller/Netflix © 2023.

    MF: Liam, can you talk about your preparation and approach to playing this role?

    LC: We do enormous amounts of preparation. Enormous amounts, but we prepare for the scene. Our showrunners are very good at formulating a character that is not about, he went to school here or anything like that. In fact, I had a couple of small questions, but I don’t think I ever talked about where he comes from.

    MF: Benedict, how did you prepare to play your character?

    BW: I think the world builds around you and within this center of your universe, you have everyone at your command. The calls that you make are answered and there’s so much power within that, and that builds that level of who this person is. We did get the blessing of Cixin, the author, and he knew that this was going to be inspired from the books because they were telling a global story but then it still had this Asian spine of myself, being from Manchester and Jess (Hong) being from New Zealand, and then the character of Ye Wenjie played by Zine Tseng and Rosalind Chao. But to tell much more of a global story of look, we have someone who’s Irish in command with this duo and its fascinating to watch because it’s almost like, well, how did they get there? And they have every right to get there too.

    Benedict Wong as Da Shi in '3 Body Problem.'
    Benedict Wong as Da Shi in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2024.

    MF: Finally, Liam, can you talk about shooting the game sequences?

    LC: It was very much what the guys are very good about it, but they kept it to a minimum. So, these cinematics as they call them, the room we were in was very high-tech. It wasn’t that volume that they used on ‘The Mandalorian,’ that semicircular LCD wall. It was a very particular lighting setup on an enormous level. They gave us this huge amount of room to wander about in this place. There were minimal sets. What you hang your hat on is what happens. What’s the information that’s given? You’re seeing this AI representation of whatever word the threat is. So, there was a certain amount, and you did have to use an enormous amount of your imagination and paint the pictures in your head, which can be interesting if it’s very important to the storytelling. It was a joy to do. It was quite a challenge, but a real joy.

    '3 Body Problem.'
    ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    What is the Plot of ‘3 Body Problem’?

    Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) is an astrophysicist who saw her father brutally murdered during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Later, she was conscripted by the military because of her scientific background and sent to a secret radar base in a remote region. Her fateful decision at the base echoes across space and time to a group of scientists in the present day, forcing them to face humanity’s greatest threat.

    Who is in the Cast of ‘3 Body Problem’?

    • Benedict Wong as Da Shi
    • Jess Hong as Jin Cheng
    • Jovan Adepo as Saul Durand
    • Eiza González as Augustina “Auggie” Salazar
    • John Bradley as Jack Rooney
    • Alex Sharp as Will Downing
    • Rosalind Chao as adult Ye Wenjie
    • Jonathan Pryce as Mike Evans
    • Liam Cunningham as Wade
    Sea Shimooka as Sophon in '3 Body Problem.'
    Sea Shimooka as Sophon in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    Movies Similar to ‘3 Body Problem’:

    Buy Benedict Wong Movies On Amazon

  • TV Review: ‘3 Body Problem’

    Liam Cunningham as Wade, Benedict Wong as Da Shi in '3 Body Problem.'
    (L to R) Liam Cunningham as Wade, Benedict Wong as Da Shi in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Ed Miller/Netflix © 2024.

    Launching on Netflix with all eight episodes on Thursday March 21st, ‘3 Body Problem’ represents two gigantic challenges all at once: how do the creators of the ‘Game of Thrones’ TV adaptation follow their mammoth fantasy undertaking, and how do they do it using one of the most acclaimed science fiction novel series of recent years?

    As it turns out, the answer is: with an abundance of brains and style, putting together a quality cast and fully using the resources offered by Netflix’s deep pockets to bring the novels’ story (or at least the first in the ‘Remembrance of Earth’s Past’ trilogy, which in book form is known as ‘The Three-Body Problem’) to life.

    Related Article: TV Review: ‘The Brothers Sun’

    Does ‘3 Body Problem’ solve the adaptation challenges?

    Eiza González as Auggie Salazar in '3 Body Problem.'
    Eiza González as Auggie Salazar in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    ‘3 Body Problem’ is excellent right out of the gate, even more so than ‘Thrones’. It’s audacious, detailed, emotional and sweeping, hooking you with a teasing mystery (at least for those who have not read the books) that slowly and logically unfolds.

    A hefty challenge is that a chunk of the narrative revolves around some big physics concepts, but the show smartly explains them in ways that anyone can understand. You won’t feel like you have to have ‘A Brief History of Time’ open on your lap as you watch.

    The story weaves its way towards big revelations, but never feels out of reach, grounding its concept in human behavior and satisfying character interactions –– the main group all feel like people you want to spend time with as you take this journey alongside them.

    Script and Direction

    Jess Hong as Jin Cheng in '3 Body Problem.'
    Jess Hong as Jin Cheng in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Ed Miller/Netflix © 2024.

    D. B. Weiss and David Benioff know plenty about adapting sprawling stories with big casts, but here, even more than with ‘Thrones’, they smartly choose to follow a (relatively) small group so as to keep viewers engaged.

    So while the story trips through two different time periods and focuses on a few different places across the planet (plus an advanced, immersive video game system that becomes key to the plot), you’re never left wondering who is doing what and why.

    Working alongside fellow showrunner Alexander Woo (‘True Blood’), they stay mostly faithful to the book while making necessary changes for the new medium. Thanks to certain moments, they do get to indulge in what you might expect given their previous show –– the series kicks off with some serious head trauma and there is some nudity (though not sexual) in a future episode.

    Sea Shimooka as Sophon in '3 Body Problem.'
    Sea Shimooka as Sophon in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    And with luck, they’ll avoid the pitfalls of ‘Thrones’ controversial final season, as the ‘Remembrance’ novel trilogy has an actual ending (no disrespect to George R.R. Martin there).

    The show employs ‘Thrones’ veteran director Jeremy Podeswa plus Minkie Spiro, Derek Tsang and Pixar leading light Andrew Stanton, who has been building his live-action directing career steadily with the likes of ‘Legion’ and ‘For All Mankind’, and they all contribute some fantastic visuals as well as subtle and entertaining character work.

    There are moments in this series that will have your jaw drop, though we won’t spoil anything here –– trust us, though, you’ll be sorely tempted to watch all the episodes as soon as possible.

    Performances

    Eiza González as Auggie Salazar, Jess Hong as Jin Cheng, Saamer Usmani as Raj Varma, Jovan Adepo as Saul Durand, Alex Sharp as Will Downing in '3 Body Problem.'
    (L to R) Eiza González as Auggie Salazar, Jess Hong as Jin Cheng, Saamer Usmani as Raj Varma, Jovan Adepo as Saul Durand, Alex Sharp as Will Downing in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Ed Miller/Netflix © 2024.

    Having clearly been happy with a lot of their cast on ‘Game of Thrones’, a few of key actors carry over here.

    John Bradley plays Jack Rooney, a man who has hit it rich with his snack business but is still close to his college friends. Rooney offers Bradley the opportunity to play a polar opposite of ‘Thrones’ Samwell Tarley, a cocky but still loveable sort who is one of the first start playing the mysterious game that will be a core element of the early chunk of the story.

    Liam Cunningham, meanwhile, feels more like his ‘Games’ character of Davos Seaworth, sharing the cunning brain and salty tongue of the Westeros resident, but as Thomas Wade, a man with a definite mission to protect humanity (no matter the cost), he’s authoritative and darkly funny –– suffering zero fools.

    ‘Thrones’ High Sparrow, Jonathan Pryce, meanwhile, plays a character who… Well, that would be telling.

    Benedict Wong as Da Shi in '3 Body Problem.'
    Benedict Wong as Da Shi in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2024.

    On Wade’s team is Benedict Wong’s Da Shi, and this is honestly the best role the actor has enjoyed for years. He knocks it out of the park as the world-weary but funny not-quite-cop who is investigating what is happening to scientists in the UK. While we’re big fans of Wong’s role as, well, Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he has more to do in one scene here than most of the movies he’s shown up in.

    The core of the characters is the scientist group who are friends with Rooney, who all feel like actual buddies instead of actors swapping dialogue. And they’re all very different personalities, brought to life by the likes of Eiza González, Alex Sharp, Jess Hong and Jovan Adepo.

    ‘3 Body Problem’ is a show blessed with a near note-perfect cast: everyone is worth watching here.

    Final Thoughts

    Jess Hong as Jin Cheng in '3 Body Problem.'
    Jess Hong as Jin Cheng in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    Our advice for this one is: if you’ve yet to read the books, stay away from them and avoid Wikipedia! It’s absolutely recommended to go into this one knowing as little as possible, so the surprises hit harder, and the characters feel fresh.

    Book readers are likely to be happy with the adaptation, which certainly doesn’t embarrass itself when put up against the literary source. But having seen the whole series, we’re confident in saying that this is a superior, satisfying piece of science fiction TV we can easily see ending up on Best of 2024 TV lists.

    ‘3 Body Problem’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.

    John Bradley as Jack Rooney in '3 Body Problem.'
    John Bradley as Jack Rooney in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    What’s the story of ‘3 Body Problem’?

    ‘3 Body Problem’s story begins in 1960s China when a young woman makes a fateful decision that reverberates across space and time into the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel, a tight-knit group of brilliant scientists must join forces with an unflinching detective to stop humanity’s greatest threat.

    Who is in ‘3 Body Problem’?

    The ‘3 Body Problem’ cast includes Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong and Jonathan Pryce.

    Vedette Lim as Vera Ye in '3 Body Problem.'
    Vedette Lim as Vera Ye in ‘3 Body Problem.’ Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2023.

    Movies Similar to ‘3 Body Problem’:

    Buy Benedict Wong Movies On Amazon

  • Movie Review: ‘Living’

    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus' 'Living.'
    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’

    Arriving in theaters on December 23rd, ‘Living’ sees Bill Nighy as a man choosing to try and live even in the face of death and is one of the most moving and poignant movies of the year.

    Though his movies have been adapted many times––‘Seven Samurai’ alone is the basis for a wealth of other films––it’s still the brave filmmaker who chooses to tackle one of Akira Kurosawa’s classics.

    In this case, the brave souls include writer Kazuo Ishiguro and director Oliver Hermanus, who bring a new version of Kurosawa’s 1952 drama ‘Ikiru’ to screens.

    Instead of switching genres, the two have largely faithfully adapted the story (with some changes that shrink the running time to under two hours), moving the setting from 1950s Tokyo to 1950s London. It’s a smart choice, as the themes and emotions of post-war Britain were similar to those of Japan.

    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus' 'Living.'
    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’

    Bill Nighy––who according to Ishiguro was one of the reasons he thought the new film could work at all––plays Mr. Williams, a staid, buttoned-up civil servant who works in a department of the London City Council.

    He’s so sunken into duty and free from emotion that co-workers joke about him being known as “Mr. Zombie.” It’s an apt description for a man who ostensibly appears to be alive, but only in the most basic fashion. Stiff upper lips have rarely been stiffer.

    At work, he’s distant (though not always completely cold) with his colleagues and underlings and more concerned with shuffling papers than being concerned with anyone’s feelings. But then, he’s part of a generation of men raised to be proper and reserved, who have been through a global conflict forever changed.

    Then, at home, the widower is still diffident when it comes to his son, Michael (Barney Fishwick), who, encouraged by wife Fiona (Patsy Ferran), is aiming to confront his father about selling the family home so they can get money to buy their own.

    Williams’ world is detonated (albeit silently since he decides not to tell anyone at first) by diagnosis of terminal cancer. It does at least prompt him to act, leaving work for days on end and heading to a coastal town in search of something more in life. He meets and hangs out with disheveled, frequently drunken writer Mr. Sutherland (Tom Burke), who introduces him to the salacious delights of burlesque shows and crowded pubs, but despite opening up enough to start singing in one bar, Williams stills feels buttoned up, complaining that while he’s finally seeking out a life, he’s not good at it.

    Aimee Lou Wood stars in director Oliver Hermanus' 'Living.'
    Aimee Lou Wood stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’

    He does at least find some solace in Miss Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), a young woman who had worked in his office before moving to a tea house in search of a better job. Her positive energy has a real effect on him, their chaste friendship becoming more of a motivator in his life, even if his son and daughter-in-law confront him about the potential scandal of Williams spending time with her––this is still 1950s London, don’t forget, where people of his standing are expected to be proper.

    And at work, he also becomes more inspired, pushing to help a women’s group get a playground built on a patch of waste ground, seeing it as the most important legacy he can leave behind.

    Opening with beautifully restored archive footage of the period before seamlessly segueing into the movie itself, ‘Living’ is a striking, moving achievement.

    A lot of that is a credit to Nighy, who has excelled in light comedies and heavy dramas (and the occasional blockbuster, acting through CG prosthetics in some of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies.)

    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus' 'Living.'
    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’

    Here, he’s the perfect stone-faced performer for Williams, able to imbue the man with an aloof sense of authority that melts into human realization as time marches on and the character learns of his fate. Nighy can say more with a twitch of his lip than some actors can with an entire monologue.

    Which is not to say that Ishiguro’s script isn’t wonderful––it is, finding new layers to the story that even Kurosawa and his esteemed colleagues didn’t dig out.

    Director Hermanus, meanwhile, stages it all with style and grace, an evocation of British life at the time that pops off the screen in different ways, whether it’s the forest of suits and bowler hats boarding a train at the start or the tents full of bawdy behavior that Williams experiences on his trip.

    And Nighy is surrounded by some superb supporting cast members. Wood, a veteran of Netflix series ‘Sex Education’ is a real delight here, her sprightly yet demure Miss Harris a tonic for the viewer as much as she is for Williams. The likes of Alex Sharp, Adrian Rawlings and Oliver Chris shade in his co-workers even if they’re not the biggest part of the story.

    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus' 'Living.'
    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’

    And an awkward scene between Williams and his son is a masterpiece of frosty British reserve, emotions that are bubbling under the surface kept firmly in check.

    If there is one downside to the film, it lies in the pacing towards the end (which also affects the original). Once the inevitable befalls Williams, those left behind are a little at sea, and the narrative is similarly impacted. A slightly overlong speech from a policeman reminiscing about having seen Williams sitting in the playground he helped make a reality feels uncomfortable and momentarily breaks the spell that the movie has so effectively cast.

    Yet it’s a blip in an otherwise unimpeachable film that rewards patience and confirms that Nighy is one of the best actors working today. Like Williams himself, it might seem cold and mannered, but there’s a huge heart at work in ‘Living’.

    ‘Living’ receives 4.5 out of 5 stars.

    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus' 'Living.'
    Bill Nighy stars in director Oliver Hermanus’ ‘Living.’
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