Minnesota native starring in Stephen King's newest film adaptation 'The Long Walk'

NINA MOINI: A long-awaited film adaptation of a Stephen King novel opens tomorrow, and a Minnesotan plays a prominent role. Actor Ben Wang was born in China, but grew up in Minnesota before starring in the movies Karate Kid-- Legends and Chang Can Dunk. Now he's playing a supporting role in The Long Walk.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film is a dystopian thriller about young men forced to compete in a deadly test of endurance. Wang spoke with arts reporter Jacob Aloi about the film and what got him into acting. A quick note for listeners-- this conversation includes mentions of violence.

BEN WANG: Well, the first place that we lived was we lived with my grandparents, and they have a house, actually, out in Cannon City, which is between Faribault and Northfield. But I went to Northfield schools, so Northfield felt like my home, and we later moved into town. But I started acting because I was no good at sports and I wanted friends and I was bored.

And so tried out for the school play, and it just turned out to be something that I really liked, and it also turned out to be a community that I really enjoyed being a part of. So it was just for fun. It was just for fun and I wasn't going to do anything as stupid as moving to New York and doing it professionally. That would actually be dumb and idiotic. And I'm glad I didn't do that, and I'm glad that I'm still a small-town boy.

JACOB ALOI: With this film, you've been in a lot of other projects with big stars, and you've fronted projects. You've been supporting in others. I'm curious, often with your other projects, they've been a little bit more family-friendly. They've been a little bit more, a lot of people can come see this. This movie certainly earns its R rating, and I'm just curious your experience in working on a project like this, as opposed to something like American Born Chinese or The Karate Kid.

BEN WANG: Yeah. Well, I mean, my approach is always the same, which is just find the humanity, find the truth. And with Karate Kid, with American Born Chinese, the truth is very PG, like a normal, nice kid in high school, right? Whereas the truth of this, it's like you're in a death game. So of course you would swear a lot more in a death game, I would think. Of course you would bleed out when you get shot. As an actor, you just try to service the story and you try to service the truth that is set up by the script, and by the environment that the team builds. So to me, that's the same part of my brain. It's just a matter of circumstance.

JACOB ALOI: Working on this, The Long Walk, it's about an authoritarian state. It holds an annual contest that pushes these boys to their absolute limit, and when they drop out, they're killed. And the character you play, Hank, is this loudmouth. He's a wisecracker, and he is the funny character. He has these fun quips and he is the one, I think, often in the film that is bringing some of that levity to the moment. But in the progression of the character, he hits the point where he's so tired that the quips come less often. And then eventually, he gets to a point where they almost stop entirely.

BEN WANG: Yeah, he turns philosophical. And that's when you that someone's really lost it. If a funny guy starts getting philosophical, you're like, oh man, he's at his limit. [LAUGHS]

JACOB ALOI: Well, and I'm curious-- so in preparation for the role, you have the book by Stephen King, and then you also have the great screenplay that's written by TJ Mollnar. And then, of course, you have Francis Lawrence on set, who's working with you. I'm curious, in preparing for the role, what parts did you draw from the book? What parts were, I'm going to talk with TJ and we're going to-- oh, I like how this reads and I like how it flows? And what parts were working with Francis Lawrence on it as well?

BEN WANG: This is how I did it. This is not how I recommend others do it. What I did was I just read the screenplay, and I read the character, and in my head I was like, I want to do it like this. And then I didn't tell anyone. [LAUGHS] And then I got on set and I did it like that. [LAUGHS]

And I was like, look, if they're-- because it's kind of a bold choice for the character. There's nothing in the script that's like, and he's a wisecracking old-timey Brooklyn actor. Nobody said that. Nobody said, please do this. I said, that's the way it reads to me. That's the character that immediately came to me when I read JT's script. But that instinct to do it like that was so strong that I was like, I'm just going to listen to my gut on this one.

And so it started with the audition. I sent in an audition tape where I did basically exactly what you see. And I was like, there's a 10% chance that they like this, and they hire me. And there's a 90% chance that they're like, I never want to see this kid again. I was like, I got nothing to lose, basically. I sent it in and somehow the spinner landed on the 10%.

So really, it was like I came with it. And I was like, I hope that they're-- well, also, I trusted them enough that I was like, either they're going to like it and they're going to let me do it, or they're going to tweak it with me, right? Because that's how you do these things. But what happened was they loved it and they just let me roll with it. And I was like, are you sure? And they're like, yeah, man. And so I did.

Yeah, that came down to what I did, and there was a lot of ad-libbing to that. I was like, I want to say this thing. [LAUGHS] And they're either going to love it or they're going to come and say, never say a word that's different from the script again.

JACOB ALOI: I'm also curious, working on this film, it's been a long time coming. This is the first book that Stephen King worked on. It's the first novel that he ever worked on and stuffed in a drawer until he had the chance to publish it. And so I'm curious, what does it feel like taking on a film like this, a project like this that has that long history, has that weight? And also it is dealing with large themes that have mattered back in the '70s when he was writing this and matter now in the present day.

BEN WANG: Yeah. Well, when you're making it you try not to think about any of that at all. The characters aren't aware of the themes of the story of the walk that they're going on. They're aware of the fact that they're tired and their feet hurt, and they might die if they stop. And that's really all you need to focus on.

But all of that, of course, I'm feeling now, being a part of this rollout campaign for the film, is that you start to realize and you start to be in contact with Stephen King and his work and the way that it's moved people and touched people and inspired people. And you just hope that the thing that you made lives up to the rest of the works in the lexicon, some of which are just truly all-timers. So yeah, I hope people like it, and that's all. And that's about as far as I'm willing to think about that. [LAUGHS]

NINA MOINI: That was actor Ben Wang speaking with reporter Jacob Aloi about his latest film, The Long Walk. The film is in theaters tomorrow, September 12. You can hear Jacob's review of The Long Walk on All Things Considered, coming up this Sunday right here on MPR News.