You know how the Discovery Channel has Shark Week? Well, you might as well call this Kung Fu Panda week on Collider, as this interview marks the beginning of a boatload of coverage for the movie on the site.

The reason for all this coverage is…I participated in interviews with most of the cast this past weekend. And on top of my interviews, Erico from the website Omelete (Collider’s partner) flew here from Brazil for the junket and I’ll be using his video interviews as well. So…like I said…it’s Kung Fu Panda week on Collider.

Thankfully, I really enjoyed Kung Fu Panda so helping to promote the film is cool with me. And if you haven’t heard of the film yet…

Kung Fu Panda features Jack Black as Po the Panda, a lowly waiter in a noodle restaurant, who is a kung fu fanatic but whose shape doesn't exactly lend itself to kung fu fighting. In fact, Po's defining characteristic appears to be that he is the laziest of all the animals in ancient China. That's a problem because powerful enemies are at the gates, and all hopes have been pinned on a prophesy naming Po as the "Chosen One" to save the day. A group of martial arts masters are going to need a black belt in patience if they are going to turn this slacker panda into a kung fu fighter before it's too late. Fighting alongside Jack Black is a hell of a voice cast, with the film also featuring the voices of Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Ian McShane, Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie, David Cross and Seth Rogen.

Anyway, before getting to the interview with Jack Black and Producer Melissa Cobb, if you want to watch 10 movie clips from Kung Fu Panda click here.

And, as always, if you’d like to listen to the audio of the interview click here for the MP3.

Again, Kung Fu Panda gets released this Friday at theaters everywhere.

Question: Jack this was a very long process. 4 1/2 years since the very beginning. At what point did you get involved?

JB: I wanna say it was four years ago when I first came in and recorded. Is that right?

MC: That’s about right. Yeah, I think it was four years ago. So, every few months, three or four months. Five months. Six months.  We’d call. ‘No, we’ve got it right this time.  Can you come do it this time?’

Q: Did you feel like you had it from the very beginning or did you see a process of your character evolving?

JB: I evolved as a character. When we first did it, I remember I was like, ‘I wonder if that’s too whiney or too shrieky.’  And calling up the next day and saying, ‘I want to come back in. I think maybe I was too whiney or shrieky.’ And then I came back and we did it again. But, I never did it all in one sitting. I never sat down and did the whole movie at once, because that’s not the process they were working with – it was more organic script development. Performances would come in and is that fair to say?

MC: Yeah, I think he was a little bit more of a jerk in the beginning. And then once we started hearing Jack’s voice, it was like ‘Oh, this is!’  There was this one moment where he is in the dojo and feeling a little nervous about doing Kung Fu in front of his heroes and I think that was from one of the early sessions and as soon as we had that moment, we were like, ‘Oh, that’s the character we like!’ And then we sort of had to go back and find how to bring that character to the movie. But, that really came from working with Jack and finding where is he charming and likeable and working off that.

Q: Jack, I was wondering if there was a Master Shifu in your own life?

JB: I had plenty of mentors and people that advised helped me along my road. Great acting teachers.  Deb Devine was my teacher in 9th grade. She actually said, ‘Hey, why do you want to be an actor? Why don’t you be a writer or director? Those are the ones who are really the brains behind the movies.  Why do you just want to be a puppet?’ You could say that she was discouraging me from being an actor, but I don’t think so. I thought it was really great advice. And I have tried to do some writing. I’ve written for myself songs and sketches and stuff for my band, Tenacious D, and it helped me to find my voice as an actor. And that’s what I always tell people who ask me, ‘How do I become an actor like you?’ I tell them to write their own ticket. Do your own movies and things. Don’t wait around to be a puppet in someone else’s show. Make the show happen. That’s the one that pops in my head right away.

Q: Jack, thought there was a lots of emotional realism. Were there moments that you really connected his story to your own story?

JB: Yeah, there’s lots of -- I knew Dustin Hoffman was in the movie so I wanted to be absolutely method acting in my performance. I didn’t want to be outshone by the master himself. Ah, I would think about things like when we were doing the scene where I was talking about the Furious Five and how much I idolized them and was really excited that they were going to have a presentation of the Dragon Warrior. And I substituted, ‘OK, what would I get that excited about? Radiohead my favorite rock n’roll band is going to be playing at the Wiltern. I have to go see them.  They are going to be adding a new member of the band and maybe I can be in Radiohead!’ And, y’know, things of that nature. Little ‘What if?’ exercises is what we like to call it in the Strasbourg technique that I’m really good at.

Q: What was your childhood dream? Was it always acting? Was it music? Were you into martial arts?

JB: I loved acting and I loved the arts in general. I also loved the martial arts. Yeah, I was crazy for improv games.

Q: Can you talk about the experience Cannes? You let slip that Angelina was pregnant with her baby. Any repercussions of that?

JB: The truth is I didn’t tell the whole story. I held back. What the hell I’m going to tell you. She’s actually pregnant with triplet…pandas. Which is great news for the panda population. We got three new pandas coming.  Unfortunately it’s really bad news for Brad Pitt. Because they are not his.

Q: Still friends?

JB: We are still friends. Good, good friends.

Q: Can you talk about the day you worked with Dustin Hoffman and what that was like?

JB: Dusty and I worked together --  and I can call him Dusty now, we’ve gotten to that point. Um, it was great to work wit him and I think you guys and Jeffrey just wanted us to get together to see what would happen. ‘Cause for the most part, we work in isolation. It’s just easier that way so you don’t have overlap and just technical reasons. And schedule reasons, y’know? It’s fun to work together, but it’s also really helpful to be able to just focus on your performance and to just explore all the different lines and joke angles you can take without the other actor there who is like, ‘C’mon Jack, we’re on hour number three on the same joke. I’m Dustin Hoffman, I have to move!’ But, when we did get together, I was intimidated because I have been a huge fan of his for my whole life, it seems. And, um,  it was cool to get tips from him. Acting tips and, yeah, he is the master for real.

Q: Are you like the other character who is nervous when he meets the Superheroes? Did you suck up?

JB: Yeah, I was a suck up. I don’t think I said anything too embarrassing. I think I actually clammed up a little bit. I got a little quiet.

MC: We were actually just looking back at that footage just early this week for another reason and it was really cool to see, because I think even we’d forgotten. It was a few years back. And we had cut the two performances from that day together. And it was that moment in the movie where they are having that face off between each other and it’s a great moment in the movie I think as a result because there is a really quick back and forth between the two of them that came out of that day.  A great moment for the movie I think.

Q: Jack, Dustin – the Master, was telling us how painstaking it was. Was this a whole different challenge?

JB: No, I think we have different approaches. I’m more of a stand up than a method actor. I think he definitely prefers to have another human being to bounce off of and have like, real human interaction. I’m fine with just doing it in a vacuum. In a space vacuum of my own.  Yeah, I’d do it in a mirror, my technique. I would find it just as difficult if I had his role in ‘Kramer vs. Kramer.’ That would be very painstaking to me.

Q: How much are you looking to being a dad for a second time? Challenge? Is it fun for you?

JB: You just gotta make all the time precious that you have with the babies when you are working.  Like right now? I should really be with my babies right now. But I’ll get back.  And you have an hour in the morning and an hour at night. And you really make the most of that time. 

MC: Hours in the middle of the night would probably help with that.

JB: Oh, yeah. Hours in the middle of the night, oh, I have been. I have a new one that’s 8 or three hours.

Q: Are you a method actor like Dustin is a method actor?

JB: Totally. I lived with Pandas for three years before we even started recording, since I heard about the project.  I eat bamboo. Bamboo and cheeseburgers. No, I did actually take a summer of Strasburg classes here in LA and I learned how to hold an imaginary cup of tea. And I still have it. Sense memory.  ‘Hot, hot, hot, hot.’  And I’ll use it. I’ll use that technique on you. 

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