Ahoy, squirts! Quint here, newly returned from San Francisco where I was able to sit down with some of the Rogue One cast and crew. The two actors I was able to get before jumping on my last minute shuttle from Lucasfilm to the airport were Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk, which is appropriate since Cassian and K-2S0 are besties in Gareth Edwards' Star Wars spin-off.
Tudyk plays K-2S0 (who is affectionately called K2) an Imperial Security Droid that was reprogrammed to fight for the Rebellion. He's a tall drink of water and oddly sweet even though he's essentially a killing machine.
I talked with Alan Tudyk about being a part of the Disney family, his desire to be in a Marvel movie (maybe a Guardians of the Galaxy sequel), a deleted scene involving K2 and the droid's relationship with Luna's Cassian Andor.
Enjoy!
Quint: How're you holding up?
Alan Tudyk: Fantastic. I love talking about this movie.
Quint: Good, then that makes this day easier. First off, I want to say I saw you in Spamalot back in the day on Broadway.
Alan Tudyk: Hey! Nice!
Quint: That was my first real-deal Broadway show I saw, so thanks for giving it your all. So, I wanted to start by talking about how you've been so fully embraced by Disney. You seem to be their lucky charm right now!
Alan Tudyk: I guess so. I guess they've convinced themselves of that and I'm so happy they have. All the animated movies are a blast and now to do Star Wars... Well, it helps that Disney owns everything. (laughs)
Quint: That's true! And everything they own is cool, so that's good news for you!
Alan Tudyk: No doubt. I just need a Marvel movie now.
Quint: You'd fit well into a Guardians of the Galaxy film, I think.
Alan Tudyk: Oh, my God! What a cool world! I love James Gunn. I just saw the new teaser trailer. It's fantastic and his humor is perfect for those movies. And this is a cool one to be in, definitely. Star Wars has such a rich history and it's impactful to so many people. Riz Ahmed said it's why he became an actor.
Quint: There's a whole generation of filmmakers working right now who were all kids when they saw the first one in the theater or even saw it on VHS and obsessively watched it over and over again...
Alan Tudyk: I was 6 when I saw it in a theater and my brother was 7. We played with the toys... It was big for me. Empire Strikes Back was bigger because I was a little bit older and could appreciate it a little bit more.
Quint: You grew with the series.
Alan Tudyk: Exactly.
Quint: One of the things that struck me about K2 in the footage was that we have never really seen a droid like him in the series before, even in the animated series. All the droids that were imposing or dangerous were very mechanical and didn't have their own personalities. But I thought K2 was a nice mix of Chewbacca's strength and 3PO's humor, without being as stuck up as 3PO, obviously...
Alan Tudyk: (laughs)
Quint: Can you talk a little about how much of K2 was firmly established in the script and how much of his personality was shaped by you, Gareth and your chemistry with the rest of the cast?
Alan Tudyk: Definitely his essence was in the script, even in the beginning. As we went on the script developed as we were going, which happens a lot. There was a scene that was a really good jumping off point with me and K2 that doesn't appear in the movie anymore. They landed on a planet and I'm going to go with Cassian on one little mission, we were going to go to another place on the planet, and a high ranking officer says “Droid, grab the cargo” and K2 says “No, but you can” and walked away.
He doesn't listen. He's got his own personality. He's not a slave. He and Cassian are soldiers, you know? They've been working together before this movie starts. You don't get a chance to see how they worked, but it's established that's what their relationship is.
I would say he's not like C-3PO. I could see the Chewbacca thing, but C-3PO is a servant and K2 is not. It's almost one of his defining qualities.
Quint: Is he protective of Cassian?
Alan Tudyk: He is. And he's protective of his relationship with Cassian, which is another aspect (of his personality). All these people come along on this ride and in the beginning he's a little bit like “What?” He'd rather just do it with Cassian by himself. “What's she doing here?” He'd rather she just got the hell out.
As far as how he developed, I'm a smart-ass in my own life. If situations are intense or uncomfortable I'll tend to lean on humor in those moments and there are a lot of those in this story. There was a little of that in the script, but it's a part that got amplified when I took over and Gareth was very open to us leaving the page. Once our characters develop they let them be who they are. I've got a lot of smart-ass lines in the movie because of that. They just came out on the day.
Quint: That looseness would seem to me to be critical in a people on a mission movie like this. Guns of Navarone, Dirty Dozen, Magnificent Seven and those sorts of movies live or die based on the group chemistry and it seems to me being less rigid with the dialogue would lend itself to making that chemistry work.
Alan Tudyk: It is fortunate that we were a stand alone movie in this world that carries so much reverence because we had that freedom and that Gareth was supportive of that freedom. You're right, it did bond us closer together and it definitely helped me create K2, to live K2. I think it's in the (footage you saw), where I slap Cassian?
Quint: Yeah.
Alan Tudyk: I can't believe they even put that in the movie. He does say “Silence” (like in the script), but he also says “There's a fresh one, if you mouth off again...” which is something I would say. Or, when confronted with where I'm taking him, to say “To prison... to imprison him.” The moment is there, but how would you bullshit your way by a group of Stormtroopers? It definitely becomes more real for me and I think it comes across in the movie that he is his own character, definitely different from other droids in the past.
Quint: As someone who grew up with Star Wars, who played with the toys when they were kids, what was it like for you to see K-2S0 fully realized for the first time? I mean, you probably saw production art and rough animation bits and pieces, but did you have a reaction to seeing the first fully finished scene with your character in it?
Alan Tudyk: It was a thrill. It really speaks to how good of a job they did with it because ultimately I'm an actor who was there, but is not going to be seen and there is the potential of me going “Hey! I liked it better when it was me!” But it's not that at all. The character comes alive with that animation. He's so much cooler than I could have ever been and I think we gel really well together in costume and personality.
Quint: Thanks for your time, man. I appreciate it.
As I said goodbye I told Tudyk that since his face never appears in this one he can totally start petitioning for a part in Episode IX. He was like “You know, that's not a bad idea!” So, if it happens I totally get to take credit for it!
Many thanks to Mr. Tudyk for the chat!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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