At the press day for the film, James McTeigue spoke about making such a high-action film, and gave some glimpses into his next project, The Raven, about a serial killer who uses the stories of Edgar Allen Poe to shape his methodology.

Q: How was it to put together the cast for this movie?

James: I did some second unit on Speed Racer and I worked with Rain on that. We'd always been talking about doing a ninja movie and breathing life into that genre, and we thought that if there was ever going to be anyone who'd be perfect for that, it was Rain. So, we basically decided to make Ninja Assassin a vehicle for him. Naomie Harris, who plays Mika in the film, was one of the actresses who really understood what the movie was and what I was trying to do with it, and so she came on board. The casting came together pretty quickly, actually.

Q: How did you know Rain could do all the ninja stunts, or did you just use stunt people so that wouldn't matter?

James: A lot of it is him, actually. I always do storyboards. Then, I brought the fight choreographers in and started to flush it out. And then, I brought the actor in to see how many of the moves he could do. Through his dance and singing background, with that muscle memory and the way dancers count off and all that, Rain just kept getting better, so we just kept giving him more. At some point, you usually stop and go, "Okay, bring the stunt guy in," but he just kept doing it, so we just kept giving him more and more complicated choreography, which was good. It's not usually like that, let me tell you. You get actors that hit people in the head with swords.

Q: Since you wanted to bring the ninja mythology into the 21st century, what were the changes that you hoped to make with this film?

James: Ultimately, what happens when your budget is limited, or you're trying to make something really cheaply, which was how those ninja movies in the ‘80s were made, they become cheesy just because of what you have available to you, so you end up with a B-genre film. Because I like the idea of a ninja movie, and kids like ninjas, ask a kid and they'll say, I wanted to try to bring other genres into the ninja genre, like bring some gaming into it, some anime, some horror and some film noir, and try to give it the affectation of an Asian film. That's what I was hoping to do.

Q: Isn't this the first type of film like this that you've done?

James: It is. It's the first time I've done a straight-out genre piece. I did V for Vendetta, which crossed genres. That was two hours of talking and maybe 10 minutes of action. There's a lot of action in this, but when you have a movie like this, you want to keep the story pretty straight-forward and you want to have the characterizations, so you understand the people enough that you care about what happens to them.

Q: When you started this, did you discuss how far you wanted to go with the violence?

James: In the first scene in the tattoo parlor, I set those guys up as super bad guys, so when all that stuff starts happening to them, it's kind of funny. And, I guess that was the aesthetic I was going for, from the outset. You end up being very inventive in the way people die.

Q: Which prop were you the most afraid of, the chain or the swords?

James: That chain with the blade on the end of it. Obviously, you don't swing that around on set.

Q: What was the biggest physical challenge in shooting this?

James: That big car scene was a challenge. That was a lot of nights, and you have to be very precise. By the time you get to set, you have that all mapped out as this complete, laborious scene. You have to map all the cars out and where everyone's running, but you want to keep it all spontaneous so there's always that element that something could happen. I put Rain in the middle of the traffic. It was all real, so that was a pretty hard one.

Q: Along with having great stunts, this film also has a really interesting story. Was it important to you to get those relationships right, in the story?

James: Yeah, it was important. Ninja movies in the ‘80s didn't have much of a story, and it was important to me to hang the film on a story. I dared to give you the history of the Ozunu clan, and what set Raizo on his path of rejection and revenge, and why he wanted to kill his brother and his father. I thought it was important to have a strong narrative that you could hang all the action on. Raizo is in that Clint Eastwood mode. He doesn't say much. It's all in the expression of his face, but then his actions speak. I wanted to make sure the Mika character, who's played by Naomie Harris, and the Maslow character, who is played by Ben Miles, were all talking about what was happening, going from A to B. Essentially, the story is that there's someone investigating the ninja world, and that world collides to become one world, and then they're on the run.

Q: What kind of relationship did you have with Rain? Is he very collaborative, or does he want to do his own thing?

James: No, he's super collaborative. The good thing about him, and the reason he is such a huge star in Asia, is that he keeps pushing himself to the next level. His English is pretty good, but he learned a lot of stuff phonetically. When you have English as a second language, at some point, you understand a lot more than you can actually express, and I think he was at that point. I could give him very nuanced direction, and he would get it.

Q: Did you ever consider adding a love scene with Raizo and Mika?

James: Yes, I was tempted. They did have good chemistry and there was one scene that I cut out, that wasn't a love scene, but it was an awkward, sexy scene of them together.

Q: Will that be on the DVD?

James: Yeah. Don't worry, I've got it in the wings there.

Q: This film could definitely turn into a franchise. Are you hoping for a sequel?

James: At this point, you just wait for it to come out, see how it does and take it from there. But, I'd like to work with Rain again, and Joel Silver, the Wachowskis and Grant Hill. I have a long history with the producers. I like making films with them. I'd like to work with everyone again.

Q: How was your relationship with them on the set?

James: It's always good. We've known each other for such a long time now, it's like this dysfunctional family. We all get together, every now and then, over the past 10 years, actually starting with the first Matrix film. It's been a good experience. They're all great and unique at what they do. Joel is like a Barnum & Bailey producer, which is fun, and Larry and Andy Wachowski are great creative producers.

Q: How could you think up new ways to kill people for the sequel?

James: In the film, they talk about the nine clans. Raizo has destroyed one, but he has another eight to go, so I'm sure he's plotting some new and inventive ways to seek revenge on the others somewhere.

Q: What is the style of fighting that Rain uses in the film?

James: It's a mix. We taught Rain a mixture of styles, like Kung Fu, Jujitsu and Taekwondo. There was a whole bunch that he ended up using in the film, at some point. And, we had weapons training, so he trained with two swords and a single katana, and we got him to throw shurikens (throwing stars).

Q: Can you talk about your next project, The Raven? Is it a biography of Edgar Allen Poe's later life?

James: No, it's actually not a biography. He disappeared for the last five days of his life. That's the true part of it. And, they found him drunk in a bar, in not very good shape. This movie is a cross between Seven and a series of Edgar Allen Poe stories. There's a serial killer loose in 1850s Baltimore, and he uses Poe's stories as his methodology to kill people. He kidnaps Poe's fiancé and says, "I'm going to keep killing people and leave a clue at each killing that I do, which will eventually lead to where your finance is, if you get there in time." That's the basic premise of it.

Q: So, Poe's involved looking for the killer?

James: Yeah, he is.

Q: Have you cast anybody in it yet?

James: I'm in the middle of that. I've just come back from Europe where I was scouting some locations. I might make it there or, hopefully, I could make it in the U.S. I've been thinking about a couple of places in the U. S. that it would be possible to make it in.

Q: Who would you want to play the killer? Do you have anybody in mind?

James: I do, but I'm superstitious about it because I'm right in the middle of it. It's dangerous to say.

Q: What about Johnny Depp?

James: Yeah, that would be great, if I actually had $50 million more and I could shoot it in 2018, when he becomes available. Unless you're Tim Burton, there's not much of chance, these days.

Q: Have you always had a fascination with Poe, or was it the story in this script that attracted you to the project?

James: I've always read Poe, but then this script was given to me by the producer, Aaron Ryder, who did Memento, The Prestige and Donnie Darko. He's done a lot of really interesting movies, and Poe's stories are fantastic. It's sort of ubiquitous in this country, too. A lot of kids read Poe at school. It was such a unique blend of thriller, with the very inventive psychotic way that Poe wrote about things. It's nice to have a film that has The Tell-Tale Heart, Murders in the Rue Morgue and Premature Burial in it. All those scenes are woven into this story. It's cool. It was a good idea.

Q: When do you start shooting?

James: Hopefully, I would start shooting by Spring of next year. Whenever Johnny's available. I like that idea. Could you just put that in your article?

Q: What genre haven't you tackled yet that you'd like to do?

James: Am I ever going to do a romantic comedy? I don't know. Me and Jennifer Aniston? As a filmmaker, you always want to keep expanding and moving into different genres. I think I'd like to do anything. There's always genres that you'd like to make movies about. I grew up on westerns and I would like to make a western, but nobody wants to make a western anymore. I guess you could go back into it, but the last one that really did anything was the Clint Eastwood one, The Unforgiven. And, Kevin Costner tries a lot. There's a really great story that I'd like to do, called Altered Carbon. Joel Silver has the property. I'd like to do lots of different genres. I guess the musical is dead, but I can't see myself doing that.

NINJA ASSASSIN opens on November 25th

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