Q&a / Henry Golding on Snake Eyes, fatherhood and that Crazy Rich Asians sequel we’re all gagging for – interview
- Crazy Rich Asians was a massive breakthrough for Asian representation in Hollywood – now Henry Golding is smashing more barriers in Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins
- He and wife Liv Lo just welcomed daughter Lyla – next up the Malaysian-British actor stars with Dakota Johnson in Netflix’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion
Henry Golding’s 14-week-old infant daughter is on the move these days, and he’s putting his new skills as a movie ninja to good work on the home front.
“She’s already kind of rolling over on her own accord. So I’m running across the room, making sure that she doesn’t roll onto something or off something,” the Malaysian-born star of Snake Eyes says with a laugh.
The Crazy Rich Asians heartthrob has his first lead action role in the martial-arts adventure, subtitled G.I. Joe Origins and based on the 1980s toy and cartoon franchise. Golding lends voice and face to the mute masked commando from back in the day, as Snake Eyes ventures to Tokyo to learn the ways of the Arashikage clan with his friend Tommy (Andrew Koji) and take on global terrorists.
Instead of just making Snake Eyes a human weapon, “We’ve given him a life – a life that he’s led thus far pretty terribly. He’s a guy who’s made a lot of mistakes,” says Golding, 34.
“We look up to these superheroes and crazy metahumans but we can never [normally] find moments where we go, ‘Hey, yeah, he made that mistake that I made,’ or, ‘He’s done some pretty terrible things but he deserves a second chance.’ I love that.”
Raised in the UK from when he was aged eight, Golding now calls Los Angeles home alongside wife Liv Lo and daughter Lyla. During the past pandemic year, Golding took up mountain biking and surfing, “amped up” his computer game skills and also souped up a Jeep for trips to Yosemite National Park and Big Sur in that “babymoon period”, he says: “It was a silver lining in the chaos.”
Golding, who next stars opposite Dakota Johnson in Netflix’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, spoke bout Snake Eyes, being a new dad and when we can expect that Crazy Rich sequel.
You’re gonna hit somebody in the face one time and you’re gonna sure as hell hope they forgive you for it
The cartoon Snake Eyes in the 80s was very much a hero, but was it enjoyable to throw in a little darkness?