INTERVIEW: Kung Fu Jack Black Style

“I’m dancing with the Devil!” grins Jack Black, with the maniacal energy that has made him such a household name. This isn’t a general statement on his career, more a judgement on a brief lapse from his struggle quitting smoking. “It’s going good. I think I’ve had one cigar- one celebratory cigar when my son was born. That’s not so bad but it’s still nicotine.”

Black’s not here to talk about smoking, however, rather he is here for Kung Fu Panda, an animated movie where he plays a high-kicking Panda called Po, called upon by an old master (Dustin Hoffman’s Red Panda) to save his village from an evil force. Although he was embodied on camera by an animal, Black didn’t do too much character development for the part. “I was just being me! Sue me, it’s a hit!” he laughs, “I’ve never even seen a Panda face-to-face so I’m looking forward to seeing one. But I think I did the Pandas proud, I think they’ll be OK with that performance.”

Black cut his teeth with smaller roles in films such as High Fidelity, but soon found fame with School of Rock, King Kong and most recently Be Kind, Rewind. Whilst his output has been fun for all the family, Black insists being a new father hasn’t influenced his career path. “If anything, it makes me wanna make good movies. Not necessarily for kids. Just because my real fear is when they get older then they’ll judge me and say (muffled voice) ‘yeah my dad’s Jack Black’. So if becoming a father has affected anything it’s made me a quality controller.”

Black, of course, is also famous for his comedy band Tenacious D, who recently got their own movie with The Pick of Destiny, as well as touring the globe with his musical partner Kyle Gass. Does this dual role affect family time in the Black household? “There’s time for everything”, he nods, “I just squeeze it in. You know how I do it? I cut out all the ‘fun’ stuff, like I’ve cut out video games, so there’s more time for anything else. I don’t go clubbing anymore, you’ve got to make some sacrifices to spend time with the loved ones.”

Finally, could the man behind the Kung Fu Panda hold his own in martial arts? “I took a year of Karate. It was like obligatory…every kid took a year of Karate and a year of piano at some stage, in my town at least.” Was he any good? “I was not a white belt, I had a coloured belt! That’s all you need to know - it could’ve been black!!!”

Kung Fu Panda is released July 4.

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