Warner Bros Pictures photo
By Louis Chan
AsAmNews National Correspondent
Actor Masi Oka takes his acting talents below sea level in director Jon Turteltaub’s new shark film, The Meg, which opens Thursday night across the country. The film stars Jason Statham (Jonas Taylor), award-winning Chinese actress Li Bingbing (Suyin), and a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon, or Meg for short.
Oka plays Toshi, one of three crew members aboard the Origin, a submersible which reaches what was thought to be the bottom of the ocean. Instead they encounter a whole new ecosystem, and a giant pre-historic shark previously thought to be extinct-the Meg. Toshi’s sub is attacked by the giant creature and the submersible lies motionless in the deep trench of the Pacific. The crew is trapped and must be rescued by Jonas and Suyin.
“When we were shooting, the Meg didn’t exist yet,” said Oka in a phone interview with AsAmNews. “I only had a reference of its size. When I actually saw the CG, the finished film, Oh, my God it’s amazing. It will bring a lot of nightmares to people in a good way.”
As with any shark movie, comparisons to Jaws are inevitable. The reference to the Steven Spielberg 1975 thriller is one that is welcomed by Oka.
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“I find it to be an honor,” he said. “Jaws is one of the legendary films that created a genre. Meg is a Jaws of a new generation. I don’t think kids have a shark movie that they can point to. This is Jaws all grown up.”
At just 5’6″, actor Masi Oka had a screen presence that’s much bigger than his small frame in the popular NBC science fiction drama, Heroes. The words fan favorite have long been associated with the Japanese-born, American-raised star since Heroes debuted in 2006 and lived for four seasons.
“The way I approach all roles, everything is an exaggerated part of who I am,” he explained to AsAmNews. “In Heroes I took the innocence and curiosity and just expanded it. It’s hard to analyze why it’s the case. I try to bring the fun into a lot of myself.”
Early in his career, Oka worked as a visual effects artist for Industrial Light & Magic. Among some of the films he’s worked on are the prequel to Star Wars, Hulk and Terminator 3.
He goes back to Japan on occasion to teach improv classes. He is also now writing a series and moving into producing.
“Mega Man is based on a beloved video game,” he said. “It’s in script phase right now. Hopefully in the next month you’ll hear about more projects, a lot of producing projects. I’m trying to create opportunities for the next generation. That’s where I could contribute the most.”
However, acting remains in Oka’s DNA.
“I would love to play a romantic lead. The idea of a father. A romantic lead. Probably something more rounded. What’s preventing it is people writing the character. People seeing me in that light. I’ve been blessed to be in some great science fiction stuff. At the same time, it would be nice to branch out. I would love to be in Marvel movie. We saw Black Panther do wonders for the African American community. Hopefully we’ll see Crazy Rich Asians do fantastically. We can actually do business with an Asian lead. I’m at point of career I’m blessed with the career I’ve had.”
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