-My next guest is a fantastic actor who you know from
films like "Crazy Rich Asians" and "The Gentlemen."
His latest movie, "Monsoon," is available in virtual cinemas
and on demand on your favorite streaming platform.
Here is Henry Golding, everyone.
-Hey! -Oh, come on!
It is so great to see you. -What's up, Jimmy?
-Ah! Thank you so much for coming on the show.
You look great, buddy.
Before we start the interview, I just want to say,
I wish you were in person so I can say congratulations,
because you and your wife, Liv, are expecting a baby!
-We are! Our first. Man!
I made the most out of quarantine, you know?
-Yes! -We got there.
-That's great!
-It's literally the only time that we've spent longer than
two or three months together without traveling.
So, I think a lot of people were like,
"This is the time you've got to concentrate on family.
This is the time where you reconnect."
And we just made the most of it.
We're so excited.
-We need good news these days. This is such good news.
Honestly, you're gonna be the best dad.
Congrats on that. -Oh, I appreciate it.
-Before we talk about your movie, "Monsoon,"
I want to ask you about another movie you're starring in,
"Snake Eyes."
It comes out next year. -Mm-hmm.
-Snake Eyes -- this is from -- Anyone who knows "G.I. Joe."
I was into "G.I. Joe" growing up.
Probably a little bit too late.
I think my parents had to be like,
"Okay, you're too old for this."
But I was watching every day after school and into it,
into the cartoons.
I had all the action figures. -Damn!
-And now -- Wait.
So, is this like an origin story?
-So, this is -- Yeah, it's Snake Eyes' "G.I. Joe" origins.
We start all the way from the beginning
to get to the core of who this guy is.
It's super-exciting.
-This is a giant, giant, giant action movie.
-Oh, yeah.
-I mean, was it "Gentlemen" that got you into the --
everyone was like, "Oh, he can do action great"?
-They definitely went out on a whim for me.
Like, they had no idea I could achieve any of this.
-Did you know that you could achieve it?
-Luckily, like, my movement's pretty good.
I've been boxing for a little while and a bit of Muay Thai.
But it put me through my paces.
We had like four hours of choreography every single day.
We had two hours of script work, then like an hour of P.T.
For literally 2 1/2 months, I could not sit on the toilet
and I could not -- Well, and if I made my way to the toilet,
I couldn't get up from the toilet.
Literally, my legs were in ruins.
-Really?
-But it was worth it, because I became a weapon.
I'm not going to lie. -Yeah.
You actually brought us footage of you rehearsing
some of your fight scenes
and you cleared it with Paramount,
so thank you for doing this.
-I know. This is a world exclusive.
Nobody has seen anything, apart from a photo from behind.
-Here's Henry Golding training for "Snake Eyes."
Look at this.
-Hey! -Oh!
Yeah! Come on, dude! -Yeah!
-Oh, my gosh! Oh! And face! Yes!
Oh, my gosh! -You've got to do the look-away.
You have to do the look-away.
If you look at the fallen bodies on the floor, it's not cool.
You've just got to, like... -Of course.
You walk away from the explosion like it didn't happen.
-Exactly! -It's right behind you.
It's over.
That was -- I mean, Look at the work that just went into that.
That's one scene in the movie. -I know.
A little different from Nick young of
"Crazy Rich Asians."
So I'm super-excited for everybody to see this.
Sadly, you know, with everything going on,
we had to move it from this October to next October,
but it's going to be great.
-Next October, "Snake Eyes" will be in theaters October 2021.
Thanks for brings that footage. I'm so psyched about that.
Let's talk about "Monsoon."
It is out now. -Hey!
Can you tell everyone what it's about?
-Yeah. It's about a young man who's Vietnamese
but grew up in the U.K., much kind of like my story
of being Malaysian and growing up in the U.K.
-Yeah.
-He finally finds his way back to Vietnam.
And a lot of time when you go back to your motherland,
you kind of feel this sense of like,
"Oh, I'm going to feel a connection.
I'm going to be home."
But a lot of the time and more often than not,
there's a sense of alienation.
You don't speak the language.
You don't understand the culture.
So what would or should feel like coming home
feels very, very weird.
So, it's a young man delving into his past,
his history, and trying to find kind of his true identity.
-Wow! I know that before movies, didn't you host a travel show?
-That's right, yeah. -I remember you saying that.
Did you ever try to connect to your roots or find out,
you know, where exactly --
-You know what the greatest thing was?
When I was doing all the journalism for the travel shows,
I actually brought my camera and I sat my parents down,
and, through the filter of a camera, they just open up,
because, like, talking to face-to-face is
so difficult sometimes.
So when you kind of make it into an interview,
something else in their brain kind of triggers,
and they're like, "Oh, I better tell the truth" or
"I better tell, like, the entire story,
not the convenient truth."
-Wow!
-So, I did that and I have this, like, beautiful footage
of my parents letting me know -- like, telling me
how they met, what their lives were before.
And it's so difficult to get that out of them sometimes,
you know?
-You know who's really going to benefit from this?
Is baby. It's the best. -Yes.
-That's so true. -Oh, buddy, that's so cool.
-I'm going to store this interview.
-Yeah! This is the opener. -Play it in the crib.
-Yeah. Just add the name in later.
Like..."Enjoy the clip of your dad talking to his parents."
You can add that in post. You put that in post.
I want to show everyone a clip of Henry Golding in "Monsoon."
Take a look at this.
-I mean, there are some parts that remind me of
the Vietnam I grew up in, mainly the poorer parts,
like that street behind the hospital.
-When we first met, you said it was your first time here.
-Did I?
-Yeah. You did.
-I lied.
Sorry.
-Why?
-Keep it simple.
-You just can't get enough of me, can you?
I have that effect. [ Both laugh ]
-Henry Golding, everybody.
"Monsoon" is available in virtual cinemas and on demand
on your favorite streaming platform.