Hey guys! I had the pleasure of heading out to Los Angeles a few days ago for a press junket with Warner Bros for their upcoming film, The Meg. It’s a science fiction action thriller and you will want to see it, great summer movie for sure! It’s a star-studded cast too and I got to sit down with one of the lead actors from the film, Page Kennedy, who plays a drone pilot in the movie by the name of “D.J.”
His character brings a lot of comic relief to the film and he was great to watch on the big screen. Check out my interview with him inside and see what he had to say about working alongside so many great actors like Jason Statham, Rainn Wilson, what he learned on set about sharks, working on his first sci-fi movie and more!
Five Questions With Page Kennedy:
Do you think this film could be this generations Jaws? Well, we are hoping, so that’s the goal. The goal is to start a whole new generation of kids that grow up with this movie like we did with Jaws. We want the first Meg to be the one. Jaws for them is so old, this is new and sexy.
How did it feel working amongst so many great actors like Jason Statham, Rainn Wilson and more? It was great, I was fans of all of this people before. Actually, Raiin Wilson and I did a tv show three years ago on Fox called, “Backstrom”. We worked close with one another. So for this movie, we called each other like you got it? And while on set, we spent a lot of time together. You know iron sharpens iron.
Was this your first Sci-Fi movie? If so, how did you like it? I think this is technically my first Sci-Fi movie. I did a horror movie that falls into the Sci-Fi category too. It was called, “Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood”. It kinda falls in there because it has a majestic mystique about his magical powers, so because of that. This was my first big theatrical feature release sci-fi. I’m excited to be in that world.
One fun fact. Did you learn anything new while on set? They claim that if you are getting attacked by a shark to poke it in the eye. I don’t know if that is true or not lol. That’s what they say.
Can we look forward to you in any other block buster hits or projects?
Well prayerfully, we will. Hopefully, prayerfully we will see me in more blockbusters coming up. But none as of yet. We have an album coming out called, “Same Page, Different Story” we’re excited about that. It comes out the same day as The Meg August 10th.
Jason Statham (“Spy,” “Furious 7,” “The Expendables” films) and award-winning Chinese actress Li Bingbing (“Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Forbidden Kingdom,” “The Message”) star in the science fiction action thriller “The Meg,” directed by Jon Turteltaub (the “National Treasure” movies, “Last Vegas”).
In the film, a deep-sea submersible—part of an international undersea observation program—has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific…with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew—and the ocean itself—from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying creature. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below…bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time.
Rounding out the international main cast of “The Meg” are Rainn Wilson (TV’s “The Office,” “Super”), Ruby Rose (“xXx: Return of Xander Cage,” TV’s “Orange is the New Black”), Winston Chao (“Skiptrace,” “Kabali”), Page Kennedy (TV’s “Rush Hour”), Jessica McNamee (“The Vow,” TV’s “Sirens”), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (“The BFG,” TV’s “The Missing”), Robert Taylor (“Focus,” TV’s “Longmire”), New Zealander Cliff Curtis (“The Dark Horse,” “Risen,” TV’s “Fear the Walking Dead”), Sophia Shuya Cai (“Somewhere Only We Know”), and Masi Oka (TV’s “Hawaii Five-0,” “Heroes”).
Turteltaub directed the film from a screenplay by Dean Georgaris and Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber, based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Steve Alten. Lorenzo di Bonaventura (the “Transformers” films), Belle Avery (“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”) and Colin Wilson (“Suicide Squad,” “Avatar”) produced the film, with Gerald R. Molen, Randy Greenberg, Wayne Wei Jiang, and Barrie Osborne serving as executive producers.
Turteltaub’s behind-the-scenes team included Oscar-nominated director of photography Tom Stern (“Changeling,” “Sully,” “American Sniper,” “The Hunger Games”), Oscar-winning production designer Grant Major (“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” “X-Men- Apocalypse”), editor Steven Kemper (“Salt,” “Mission: Impossible II,” “Face/Off”) and costume designer Amanda Neale (“Truth,” “Pete’s Dragon,” “What We Do in the Shadows”).
Filming on “The Meg” was accomplished on location in China and New Zealand.
“The Meg” is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Gravity Pictures. It is production of di Bonaventura Pictures, Apelles Entertainment, Maeday Productions, Inc., and Flagship Entertainment, in association with Beijing Digital Impression (BDI) Film, Inc.
“The Meg” will be distributed in China by Gravity Pictures, and throughout the rest of the world by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company. It is slated for release on August 10, 2018.
