John Cho talks A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR CHRISTMAS and STAR TREK Sequel
John Cho may still cringe at the fact that he is the face that introduced the word MILF into America's vernacular. But he's well beyond that. He's currently one of the stars of an ABC hit show, and he's sitting on two film franchises... both without the word Pie in them. While on the set of Flash Forward -- which he may or may not return to, depending on whether his character survives and if the show gets picked up -- Cho spoke with Collider, and gave some updates on the status of the third holiday-themed installment of Harold & Kumar, and filled us in on what he knows about the sequel to J.J. Abrams Star Trek.
I'm a big fan of the Harold & Kumar films (the first more than the second), but the direction Cho says they're taking with the new sequel sounds promising. As we know, the film is titled A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, and will obviously take place over the holiday season. But Cho insists that the aim is for "a LEGIT holiday movie," and it seems like the characters are definitely evolving. The sequel will find our main characters previously joined at the hip for their misadventures, now living apart, a few years later in their lives. So this will jump a bit further than the real life time between films, which will only be 2 years, as Cho says the plan is to start filming in June, with a Holiday 2010 theatrical release.
The only two things that are currently standing in the way of moving forward with production in earnest, is the fact that they are still looking at directors to helm the film, and the fact that Cho's co-star Kal Penn has a bit of a complicated schedule -- for the past year Penn has served an associate director in the White House's Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama Administration. But Cho assures that they are definitely moving forward, and that the studio is well aware of his scheduling window. But for all of you NPH fans out there, yes, Neil Patrick Harris is expected to reprise his role as... well, Neil Patrick Harris -- albeit an extremely exaggerated and very heterosexual version of himself. The first movie definitely paved the way for NPH's comeback, and Cho jokes that he gets 80% of his earnings.
Then of course there's Star Trek 2! Cho stepped into the iconic role of Hikaru Sulu, and got a chance to save Kirk's ass, while kicking ass, in the first film. So will Sulu get some more action under his belt??? Cho says he's happy with what they gave him in the first film, without him asking, so he trusts that he'll get to see some action in the sequel. He recently spoke with Star Trek writer/producer Damon Lindelof (Lost), and heard they are still working on the script, but hasn’t heard anything about the villain yet. Cho did however get a chance to weigh in on the lens flare topic, and says that the use of them on ship made more sense, but that he didn't really notice them while watching the movie.
Here's an embed of the seven and half minute interview Cho did with Collider:
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