Fistful of Vengeance: Jason Tobin Interview

Netflix’s 2019 supernatural martial arts series Wu Assassins is back for part two with the standalone movie Fistful of Vengeance. Several of the show’s major players return in their respective roles from the series, including Iko Uwais, Lewis Tan, Lawrence Kao, and JuJu Chan. Fistful of Vengeance also expands the Wu Assassins cast with such new members as Pearl Thusi, Francesca Corney, Rhatha Phongam, and Jason Tobin.

When the Wu Assassin Kai Jin (Uwais) arrives in Bangkok on a revenge mission with his friends Lu Xin Lee (Tan) and Tommy (Kao), they comes to realize there’s much more going on than they thought. Their enemy, Bangkok crime boss Ku An Qi (Phongam) is actually one half of the immortal Pan Gu, with the other half being Dr. William Pan (Tobin). When Pan fills them in on the situation, it’s up to the Wu Assassin team to stop Ku’s plot that could bring about the end of the world.

We speak to Jason Tobin on the making of Fistful of Vengeance, his role in the film as Dr. William Pan, along with a bit about the upcoming third season of the HBO Max-bound Warrior.

Screen Rant: You’re one of the newer members joining Wu Assassins with Fistful of Vengeance. How did that come about for you?

Jason Tobin: Thank you for the question. So, normally as an actor, you can in say in the second season of a show, to any project where the cast has kind of already been together and really gelled, it’s sometimes kind of intimidating to join a cast like that. But fortunately for me, that was not the case with Wu Assassins, because I had so many friends that were behind the camera and in front of the camera in Wu Assassins the series that when I was offered the role in Fistful of Vengeance, I immediately. It was like ‘Hey guys! I can’t wait to join you guys in Thailand and have a great time!’ And then, when we did finally get to Thailand, we had to quarantine for two weeks because we shot in the middle of the pandemic.

So we kind of bonded through this quarantine period, so we had a group to kind of support us through those couple of days where you wanted to throw a chair through a window. And then once we were out, because we were in this bubble in order to protect the production, we became very tight. We had a month of fight rehearsals before we started shooting, so it gave us plenty of time to gel. And for me, I have to say, that cast welcomed me with open arms, and I’m just so proud of them. I had watched Wu Assassins from afar, and I feel very lucky, I joke with these guys all the time that I’m the luckiest actor, because I get to be in Warrior and I get to be in Wu Assassins!

As far as your character William Pan, what really stood out to you as far as you’re playing this guy who is kind of this philanthropist, historian kind of character. And then we kind of find out a little bit more him that maybe his intentions are a little bit different as the story progresses. What really stood out to you about playing William Pan?

Jason Tobin: So, often times, what grabs me about a role is just one little thing that is different that I haven’t done before. And, I had never played a billionaire tech guru/cult leader who turns out to be an immortal being whose trying to destroy the world! Just on a very basic level, that interests me, you know, because it’s just fun. Sometimes, when I see actors and they ask me for advice, I can see the stress on their face and they’re taking it way too seriously. And I tell them and remind them ‘The reason why we’re actors is because we’re playing a child’s game, a game of pretend’, and to never forget that the reason why we originally called scripts plays is because we’re playing. So, this role gave me an opportunity to play something different, and I’d always wanted to play a kind of guru-ish type role and this gave me permission to do so. I’m actually from Hong Kong and my father’s British and I grew up speaking English with more of British accent, but as an actor working in Hollywood, I’ve always had to learn to sound American. And so, with this one, it gave me an opportunity as well to use my sort of real accent for William Pan. So, it was just a nice blend of things that made it interesting for me.

And of course, coming aboard the Wu Assassins franchise, you’ve got people like Iko Uwais from The Raid movies, Lewis Tan, JuJu Chan, all of these incredible martial arts people. What was it like working with them and jumping into Wu Assassins and meeting them?

Jason Tobin: Yeah, so, first of all, I’ve known Lewis for a long time. I knew him from he was a little kid. His father is is a very famous, iconic stuntman in the business, Phil Tan. So I’d worked with Phil and I remember Phil bringing his sons to set, so I remember Lewis from a very young age. And then when I was working on Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, Lewis was now an adult and he was a stunt man on there. And I’m so proud of him, to see him from when he was a little kid to where he’s come and where he’s at now, and to see what an amazing leading man he was on Fistful of Vengeance. You know, you don’t have to be any certain way, but I’ve always admired leading actors that raise the level of the game of everybody on set, and he’s one of those dudes. He’s got a fantastic work ethic, he’s an excellent martial artist. I mean, the guy’s tall, good-looking, the guy’s got everything made, you know what I mean. It’s just not fair! But, I’m just so proud of him. I’m not that old, but having seen him from a kid to where he is now just makes me very proud, and I’ve shared a few texts with Phil about that too!

And then on the other side, I’ve known JuJu for years, having lived and worked in Hong Kong, and I’ve loved seeing her arc so to speak. Because I remember when she first busted out on the scene, she had a very different look, she was much more the Hong Kong girl-next-door kind of vibe. And as the years progressed and I started seeing her martial arts skills a bit sharper and then she starts to develop more of a look. Sometimes as actors, we want to be chameleons and we want to be anything and everything, but actually, it’s really important to sort of develop your own look and style, and JuJu has really matured in that regard. So now, her look, her acting, and her skills as a martial artist have really kind of met each other, and it’s just so awesome to see her kicking ass in these kinds of shows and movies.

And then Iko, I feel so lucky because I work with Joe Taslim on Warrior and I’ve been a huge, massive fan of The Raid movies. So, for me to go, having worked with Joe and fanboying in front of him and then going to meet Iko was incredible. I was saying earlier to a friend that I’m a fan and the first day I got to meet Iko, we were staying in the same hotel. I walked into the gym, the gym had been empty for days because of COVID, so I thought I had the place to myself. And all of a sudden, I see Iko there, and I’m like ‘Oh God, that’s Iko! Uhhhh!’ I literally went through this process in my mind of ‘I could leave, I could turn around and come back in an hour and a half so I don’t have to look nervous in front of him.’ But anyway, I worked up some courage and introduced myself, and he could not be more humble. This guy has zero ego, there’s nothing about him that says ‘I’m a movie star, I’m on another level’, he’s just a down-to-Earth, humble dude who has elite skills and amazing creativity. Watching him and the team work and how they personalize and stylize every character’s choreography is truly remarkable. Sometimes, I would see something that looked amazing, and then they would change it, and I would be thinking ‘Wait, that looked really cool. Why are they doing that?’, and then they would tweak it, they’d move it, change it, and then you’d see something that and be like ‘Oh, now I get it!’ And that’s why he’s at his level, you know. So yeah, that’s, more than anything, more than just the role attracting me to this movie, it was to see who I was going to work with. That, at the end of the day, is almost more important, because these relationships are invaluable.

And of course, a couple other things you have coming up, there’s season 3 of Warrior and the two-part finale of Fast & Furious coming up. Is there anything you’re allowed to share about those yet?

Jason Tobin: Well, I don’t know much about the last two episodes of the Fast franchise, I just don’t know what’s going on at the moment. I know that they’re putting it together right now, so we’ll see what happens. But in terms of Warrior, we’re supposed to head back probably this summer, they’re just wrapping up the writer’s room as we speak, and the little bits and pieces that I’ve heard come out of the writer’s room is that everyone’s just super-excited. I think it’s a project that’s really special in a lot of people’s hearts and Andrew Koji is actually filming a movie in Capetown where we film Warrior. He’s just arrived in Capetown, he’s filming his new film, and a got a couple of messages saying that he’s ran into so many crew members that have said that Warrior‘s this really special project and they can’t wait to work on it. All I can say is I think we’ve got a couple of seasons, HBO Max is keen, and pretty much everyone is back, everyone is back.

Well, I definitely look forward to it! Jason, thank you so much for your time and good luck with both of those and the release of Fistful of Vengeance!

Jason Tobin: Thanks Brad, I appreciate your time.

Take care!

Jason Tobin: See you buddy!

Wu Assassins and Fistful of Vengeance are both now streaming on Netflix.

About The Author

Brad Curran
(714 Articles Published)

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Growing up, Brad developed an innate love of movies and storytelling, and was instantly enamored with the world of adventure while following the exploits of Indiana Jones, Japanese kaiju, and superheroes. Today, Brad channels his thoughts on all manner of movies, from comic book films, sci-fi thrillers, comedies, and everything in between through his writings on Screen Rant. Brad also offers philosophical musings on martial arts and the filmographies of everyone from Jackie Chan to Donnie Yen on Kung Fu Kingdom, where he’s also had the privilege of interviewing many of the world’s great stunt professionals, and hearing plenty of gripping stories on injuries incurred in their line of work and the intricacies of designing the acts of death defiance he first thrilled to as a youngster. When he’s not writing, Brad enjoys going on a ride with the latest action hit or Netflix original, though he’s also known to just pop in “The Room” from time to time. Follow Brad on Twitter @BradCurran.

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