Kristin
Kreuk:
From Lana to Chun Li
by Lynn Barker
 We've
known her as Lana Lang on "Smallville" for eight years but,
with Lana and Clark now sadly parted and Kristin Kreuk's last episode
aired, the beautiful young actress is moving on. The Chinese/Danish star
plays the title character in an action-packed film version of the mega-popular
video game in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. One of Kristin's
major goals, as she continues and expands her career, is to empower young
women, set a good example and tackle characters she is passionate about.
We sat down
on the patio of her room at the famous Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly
Hills where we must have looked very "Hollywood" in our sunglasses
and Kristin in her cute, strapless, black-and-white stripe Nanette Lepore
top and sleek pants. Our first impression of lovely Kristin was how great
she looks in her new short-ish bobbed hairdo and, yes, again, another
gorgeous young woman who doesn't need make-up! Kristin was happy to let
us know that she is super glad to get rid of her longer hair and all the
extensions she had to wear to play Lana for so long. Let's dish....
AGW: Street
Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li is based on the famous video game
so popular at arcades in the 1980's. Are you a gamer at all?
Kristin: I’ve
never been a gamer, but I’ve seen a lot of 'Street Fighter'. It
was really popular when I was in late elementary school into high school,
so I’m very familiar with it. I’ve seen a lot of people play
it.
AGW: You shot
Street Fighter in Bangkok. Was that the first time you had been
to that part of the world?
Kristin: Yeah,
totally.
AGW: Did everybody
have time to look around, eat out and goof off when not shooting?
Kristin: Well,
I was the one who was always on set so I didn't really hang out with everyone
as much. I think they were able to build a rapport with each other, especially
significant others. Everyone's significant others met everyone else's
significant others and they all hung out while we worked but it's an amazing
country. I got to see Bangkok a lot because I was there five weeks early
with my business partner and we actually did a teen girl workshop while
there so I did that while I was training on the weekends.
AGW: A workshop
for your website? You are putting up a website for girls called "Girls
By Design". Can you tell us about that?
Kristin: We're
building beta right now but it's a content creation social network for
girls with a focus on self-esteem building and project creation so it's
going to be a lot of fun. They can interact with each other as well as
build specific projects and challenge each other to develop projects in
the world. I'm very excited about it.
AGW: Are you
going to come on it occasionally and blog?
Kristin: Yeah,
I'm heavily involved. It's my company so, me and my business partner Kendra
(Voth).
AGW: You have
some awesome martial arts fighting scenes in this film. Didn't you do
some karate when you were a kid?
Kristin: I
did karate starting in third grade until I was in ninth or tenth grade.
Then I did competitive gymnastics from when I was in sixth grade until
around eleventh grade.
AGW: So the
Wu Shu form of martial arts was new to you?
Kristin: Wu
Shu is new but I didn't do a lot of Wu Shu in the movie. There was a little
bit of sword fighting that we didn't end up shooting but mostly it was
just combat stuff.
AGW: Did you
speak Chinese at all before the movie?
Kristin: No.
I went to Chinese school one year in the summer and I don't remember any
of it.
AGW: Was there
a costume from the film you loved and one you hated?
 Kristin:
The blue dress is hard to fight in (a beautiful blue silk number) and
everything [I wore] was filtered through, 'is this going to be easy to
fight in and is there going to be a tank top involved?' All of the outfits
were really interesting. I would never wear any of them in real life but
I did enjoy wearing them for the character.
AGW: You are
fighting in high-heeled gold ankle boots at one point.
Kristin: Yeah,
spray-painted boots! Don't look too close.
AGW: What
is it about Chun Li that is a good role model for girls?
Kristin: The
thing about Chun Li is that she goes from being reactive to pro-active
in her life. So, for girls, I think that's really valuable. She goes from
really wanting to get revenge to going on a very strong personal journey
and being able to let go of her emotional attachments so she can actually
see a greater good. I think that's a really great thing for young women
and I think we all go through it in some capacity in our lives or we try
to.
AGW: You were
part of a big ensemble in "Smallville" so what was it like to
be the star of a film with so much focus on your performance?
Kristin: It
was fine; being on camera was fine. It was just the work and I look back
at what Tom [Welling] did in those first years of "Smallville"
and I'm like 'dude! Brutal!' For years, nine months out of the year. That's
crazy. It's a lot of work.
AGW: Are you
looking forward to doing it again, being the star of a film?
Kristin: Yeah.
Whether it's the star or not the star, I'm just looking forward to doing
more stuff.
AGW: What
was the best thing about being in Street Fighter and the hardest
thing?
Kristin: It's
the same thing. The training and the action was amazing and it was also
the hardest thing, the hardest I've ever worked in my life. I had done
some wire work but that wasn't anything close to Street Fighter.
It was a good taste of what it feels like being in a harness. It was hot
and uncomfortable but it was a good experience all around for me.
AGW: Your
character Chun Li lives on the streets of Bangkok for a while to get a
taste of the life of the poor people there. Did you see any of that in
real life while there?
Kristin: Bangkok
is fairly wealthy in a lot of areas but go to Mumbai. That's where there
are really slums [witness Slumdog Millionaire]. It's weird to
go to a place where yes, there is a lot of poverty in some areas, but
it's not as shocking as walking into a slum in Mumbai.
AGW: What
about the wealthy areas of Bangkok?
Kristin: What
was a surprise for me was the size of the malls. Bangkok’s malls
are so big and elaborate. And, there were movie theaters I went to where
I was like, “Whoa! This place is crazy!” The malls there are
insane. The food there is amazing. I expected the food to be amazing,
and I thought it was really good.
AGW: Do you
have any goal to direct or write?
Kristin: I
want to produce. I don't want to direct. Mostly, because I don't want
to be the one controlling the set in that way. My darling friend Allison
[Mack on "Smallville"] is an amazing director. She's great.
She directed one this year. But I want to produce and I wouldn't mind
building my skill as a writer. That's something that I've always wanted
to do. Not as a script writer, necessarily, but I want to go there because
there are so many stories that I want to tell that I'm not seeing out
there at all.
AGW: Stories
featuring women?
Kristin: With
women but also just human stories from a female perspective which I think
is different. There can be male characters but from the viewpoint of a
holistic female I think, is important.
AGW: Do you
have a pet project that you have been nursing for a long time?
 Kristin:
There's a couple of projects that my girlfriends have in mind. We're starting
a production company. Allison and a couple of other girls. There are three
of us who are going to head the company and there will be many of other
women involved. We've got one thing in mind that we've been working on.
AGW: "Little
Women... 5"? [laughter]
Kristin: [laughing]
'Little Women 29'!
AGW: What
is the average day like up at home in Vancouver when you're not working?
Kristin: If
I'm really on my goals, generally, I'm probably going to a yoga class
and visioning; doing a lot of mission statement stuff at the company,
searching for stories. Then I'm building this company "Girls By Design"
so I've got lots of stuff to do. Then, if I'm not on my goals, then I'm
grabbing a TV show DVD set and sitting down watching that.
AGW: And you
have a puppy?
Kristin: Yeah,
a French bulldog; very sweet.
AGW: What
kind of music are you into now?
Kristin: I
like Annie Lennox. I still really like Amy Winehouse even though she's....She's
got a great voice. [we chat about how famous singers like Billy Holiday
were into drugs and how unfortunate that is].
AGW: Where
do you see yourself in ten years?
Kristin: I
see myself having that production company up and running and have had
at least two successful films that have been released by that time, probably
more. I see myself, by 36, having a kid. I want to keep working but I
want to be around to raise kids. That's important for me. I want to be
able to travel with a child but I don't want to make that their life.
But, I can't predict that until I'm there and I'm not there yet.
AGW: What
is the main quality you are seeking in a guy then?
Kristin: Self-awareness,
understanding, interest in development, curiosity; someone who is open
and willing to grow.
AGW: So you
are finished with "Smallville"?
Kristin: Yeah.
The Feb. 6th episode with the superpowers was my last one.
AGW: I understand
that the episode was a super emotional parting for you and Tom to shoot.
Kristin: That
was an afternoon of crying all the time for me. But that wasn't the last
scene to shoot so it wasn't emotional because of that. But, the parting
of those two characters was very sad. But it was a good parting and I
think Tom did a really good job on that scene.
AGW: I hear
you did too. Would you do another TV series?
Kristin: It's
weird. I don't watch TV but I buy the DVD sets and I loved "Six Feet
Under", really good TV shows that have a thought-out arc are amazing.
I would do that. But, seven years, eight years is really hard. I was 18
[when "Smallville" started] and I had no idea. Now, I'm looking
for work that I like. I want to do things that I'm really passionate about.
AGW: What
do you want to say to "Smallville" fans who have watched you
for so long?
Kristin: "Smallville"
fandom is pretty intense so anyone who has really supported me, I really
appreciate that and I know, for them, it's been sometimes a challenge.
Lana's been through a lot and flip-flopped here and there and gone all
over the place and I think it's really amazing that they supported me
through all of that. I really appreciate it. It's made it a lot easier.
Photos
from Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li courtesy of and copyright 20th
Century Fox, 2009
Photos
from Smallville courtesy of and copyright ABC Family Network, 2009
|
