Director Raman Hui Talks 'The Tiger’s Apprentice' In New Peek
Director Raman Hui Talks 'The Tiger’s Apprentice' In New Peek
The long-delayed film releases on Paramount+ on February 2
It’s three weeks until the long-gestating The Tiger’s Apprentice movie is released on Paramount+. On the day the film it essentially traded places with, Mean Girls, opens in theaters for previews (a week sooner than this film’s last theatrical-intended date), Entertainment Weekly has released seven new images for the film while getting a chance to talk to the film’s director, Raman Hui, who was a longtime DreamWorks animator.
In talking about what drew him to the gig, Hui explained “Being Chinese American and having lived in San Francisco for a long time, the story of a Chinese family in San Francisco Chinatown with the magical world of the Zodiacs excited me to be part of this movie.” EW seemed very interested in the angle of the film being Golding’s first feature voice role, and so the director gushed that he “gave us a great, proud Tiger who can be powerful and stubborn as a teacher, but can also be fun and sympathetic with the apprentice.” Tiger is so mystical that the photos reveal he can seemingly change colors.
The Tiger’s Apprentice, based on Laurence Yep’s book of the same name, sees Chinese-American teenager Tom Lee, voiced by Brandon Soo Hoo, who discovers he is the latest in his family to become part of the Guardians, a familial line of magical protectors. Such a life-changing revelation has Tom taking up training with Hu to take on Loo, voiced by Michelle Yeoh, an evil force about as powerful as a Guardian seeking to use magic to destroy humanity. His best chance at victory is to reunite all twelve Zodiac animal warriors while mastering his own powers.
While the supporting cast had been known, this peek revealed who each cast member was playing. The actors voicing the Zodiac animal warriors are as follows: Sandra Oh as the dragon Mistral, Bowen Yang is Sidney the Rat, Sherry Cola is Naomi the Monkey, while the other Zodiac animals don’t get their own names. Greta Lee is Rabbit, Jo Koy plays Rooster, Diana Lee Inosanto as Horse, Patrick Gallagher as Dog, Poppy Liu as Snake, and Deborah S. Craig as Pig. Discussing their characterizations, Hui told “Mistral the Dragon is the insightful and caring big sister to the other Zodiacs. Sidney the Rat can always come up with something inappropriate but hilarious to say. Naomi the Monkey is cheerful, energetic, and can perform unbelievable magic. The Rooster is loud and constantly looking for opportunities to be in charge.”
When The Tiger's Apprentice releases on Paramount+ on February 2, it will have been 9 days short of two years of release delays to finally see the light of day, having been originally scheduled for February 11, 2022. The film is co-directed by Paul Watling and Yong Duk Jhun, and written by David Magee and Christopher Yost.
Source: Entertainment Weekly