From rom-com ladies’ man to kick-ass action hero, it’s the meteoric rise of HENRY GOLDING…
Every version of Snake Eyes has been masked. Until now. The Ninjitsu master who was introduced to Hasbro’s G.I. Joe toy range in 2000 became one of the most popular toys in the G.I. Joe canon. In his on-screen appearances so far he has never shown his face or uttered a word. When Henry Golding was cast in the new Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins movie, however, it was no surprise that his heroic features made an appearance.
The Malaysian born actor’s road to leading man territory has been a relatively short one. He started his career as a TV show host and found himself the winner of the annual Shout Awards “hot guy” category for three years. He eventually landed parts in a couple of local Malaysian productions before stardom began knocking on his door.
It was his lead role in Jon M. Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians (2018) that started it all. The adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s bestseller of the same name was a game-changer. It was the first Hollywood production with an all-Asian cast and thrust Golding and his co-star Constance Wu into the Hollywood spotlight. The story of a young American girl flying to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s parents for the first time, only to find out they are rich beyond her wildest dreams, was a huge hit. A comedy of affluent errors, the kitsch colourful drama boasts the likes of Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan and Ken Jeong among its talented cast.
It was two films directed by Paul Feig that solidified his position as a star in the making. In an unusual diversion for the director, Feig’s glossy psychological caper A Simple Favour (2018) tapped a rich vein of pitch-black drama. Anna Kendrick played Stephanie Smothers, a perky craft vlogger turned private investigator, Blake Lively oozed sex appeal as Emily Nelson, a sultry femme fatale she meets picking up her kids from school and Golding plays Nelson’s hapless husband caught up in this twisty ménage à trois when his wife goes missing. Golding delights in playing the duality of the character, the debonair husband who may be a killer.
His next film with Feig returned Golding to the rom-com genre that had made his name. But with extra Christmas trimmings and the music of George Michael and Wham. Last Christmas (2019) was based on the perennial Wham! stocking-filler “Last Christmas”. Written by Emma Thompson and starring the Mother of Dragons herself Emilia Clarke. The Game of Thrones star plays a down-on-her-luck singer in a dead-end job who meets a seemingly perfect gentleman on the wintery streets of London. No surprise who plays the gent.
Then Golding got to show off his inner geezer in Guy Ritchie’s testosterone-heavy gangster comedy The Gentlemen (2019). The actor spent his younger years in London and punches above his weight amongst the tough-talking cast including Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery and Colin Farrell. Directed by the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) helmer, it’s a typically foul-mouthed machismo-fuelled cockney knees-up involving drug dealers, con-men, tracksuit wearing hooligans and Hugh Grant chomping on a nice steak. Lovely!
And now Golding is trying his hand as an action star headlining his first blockbuster with the G.I. Joe spin-off Snake Eyes (2021). Supported by Andrew Koji as Tommy aka Storm Shadow, The Raid (2011) star Iko Uwais as Hard Master and Aussie Samara Weaving as Scarlett, the story sees the masked martial arts expert’s past coming back to haunt him and test his allegiance to the Arashikage clan he now calls family. The star trained for the role with fight coordinator Kenji Tanigaki, who previously worked with Hong Kong icons Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen.
“We all went through the Kenji school of hard knocks,” Golding told Entertainment Weekly. “We had a phenomenal stunt team who were with us literally every day. We would do five hours of choreography and training. I would do an extra hour and a half of private training. Then, we would do a solid, like, two-and-a-half hours of script work with our amazing director. It was such a finely tuned machine. Everybody was just in sync.”
It’s a testament to how far Golding has come in such a short time, that he was invited to participate in a table read of Cameron Crowe’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) script organised by Dane Cook to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts. Joining Shia LaBeouf, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, John Legend, Ray Liotta, Matthew McConaughey, Jimmy Kimmel and Morgan Freeman as the narrator, Golding lent his dulcet tones to biology teacher Mr. Vargas and proved that even in that illustrious company he is a talent to be reckoned with. ■
OWN SNAKE EYES: G.I. JOE ORIGINS TODAY ON 4K ULTRA HD, BLU-RAY, DVD & DIGITAL
By DAVID MICHAEL BROWN
Photographed by Gavin Bond for Paramount Pictures
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