Andrew Koji Interview: Snake Eyes

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is poised to reinvigorate the G.I. Joe franchise on July 23, focusing on the origins of the mysterious hero played by Henry Golding. But he’s not the only iconic character in the story. The titular hero is joined by his ninja blood brother and later, enemy, Tommy a.k.a Storm Shadow.

Andrew Koji, who brings the infamous ninja to life in the film, spoke to Screen Rant about taking on the legacy of such an important franchise.

Screen Rant: What is the biggest difference you wanted to bring to your performance in comparison to your predecessor from previous G.I. Joe films?

Andrew Koji: I don’t think I wanted to go, “Okay, I want to do this different.” I just wanted to do the best I could with what we got. 

But that’s an interesting question. I think it was more to do with finding out – like with previous iterations of the Joker and all that stuff – you don’t want to kind of go, “Oh, what did he do? What did they do?” It’s, “What is this one, and how do I bring this to life the best that I can?” I’ve been given this role for a reason, and I’ve got to go and explore that and go as deep as I can. 

That was more the thing. “How do I bring it justice?” Yeah, that was the main thing.

Will the Storm Shadow we see in this film be a little bit closer in authenticity to the source lore in comparison to the divergences made in prior films?

Andrew Koji: Yeah, it’s close. I think it’s hopefully more specific. It’s hard to do comparisons to films that were made in a different era and sensibility, etc. 

But I think the main thing was to try and make him as three-dimensional as possible, and that was the work. There [are] generations of us, future generations, that are gonna watch this film. The kids are gonna watch this film, and they’re gonna go, “Oh, I remember [that].” We want to empower and all that stuff.

A character like Storm Shadow has such an iconic history for the past almost 40 years. Is there an intimidation factor that comes when you take him on?

Andrew Koji: Yeah, but I try not to get too bogged down with that. The role I did before, Warrior, was supposed to be played by Bruce Lee. So, there was a lot of that on that. But what I learned from that is all you can do is your absolute best. You’ve got to work. You prepare as hard as you can, as much as you can. You immerse yourself in it, and I think that will come later. 

Because all that happens right now is, “Can I do this scene?” You take it back to the now.

I’m happy that you brought up Warrior because I’m a huge fan. How did making a ninja movie like Snake Eyes compare to the action we see in Warrior?

Andrew Koji: Yes, it’s different because Japanese cinema action styles are very different. All the different East Asian countries have evolved in different ways. 

I think this one, with Kenji [Tanigaki] and the stunt team, is different. It’s shot slightly differently, and there’s different psychology behind it. You’ve got to embrace that, figure out what it is, and then you can play around with that. Once you know the style, that’s the main thing, I think.