Fantastic Fest audiences got to be the first to see Red Dawn, the long-awaited remake that suffered from reshoots, MGM’s bankruptcy, and changing the film’s invading forces from Chinese to North Koreans. Adrianne Palicki plays one of the high school Wolverines resistance fighters, and she attended the premiere screening along with fellow Wolverine Josh Peck. We got to speak with both Wolverines, but first, fresh off Fantastic Fest, is Adrianne Palicki.
CraveOnline: How do you like Austin?
Adrianne Palicki: I love Austin. This is my home.
With the path this Red Dawn took to finally come out, what was it like to finally see it?
Scary. It’s never fun to watch yourself on screen obviously as an actor, or at least that’s the way I am. It’s always a little nerve wracking but I was really happy with this final cut. I thought that they finally got it. The action flows, all the characters are there. I’m just happy that it’s finally out there.
We know they changed the villains to Koreans. Did that change any of the content of the movie?
[Just] ADR everything. Poor Will [Yun Lee] had to pretty much dub everything that he did in the movie. But other than that, everything was pretty much the same. We didn’t have to change anything ourselves.
When G.I. Joe: Retaliation got delayed, did you think, “Here we go again?”
[Laughs] Yes, it’s the third movie that’s done that to me. Legion as well was like two years after or something. Yes, but in that case G.I. Joe’s different because it was coming out within a year that we wrapped. It was coming out super early so now it actually makes more sense when it’s coming out and they’re going to convert it to 3D which I think will make the movie much, much better but I definitely don’t have the same fear with G.I. Joe.
Do you have to reshoot anything for G.I. Joe?
Not as of now, no.
What are your favorite action movies?
Ooh, that’s tough. I have to think on that one for a second. Mine would have to be Die Hard. Those movies, that character John is a perfect hero I think because he’s so realistic in the fact that he’s not perfect, and he’s funny and such a badass.
Die Hard just never gets old no matter how many times you watch it.
It really doesn’t.
When you were shooting with the whole gang, did you have a feeling everybody was going to go on to the success they’ve all had recently?
Well, I mean, everybody had things pending. It was interesting because Chris Hemsworth was actually leaving our set to go directly to shoot Thor. So on set everybody was literally calling him Thor, but you could tell. We were so lucky with such an amazing cast that I’m not surprised to see where everybody’s gone personally.
What action scenes were really hard to do?
It was just four months of our lives. Actually, there were a lot of hard, hard scenes too just because we were doing a lot of our own stunts and it takes a lot out of you. But as hard it was, it was equally awesome and fun and you start to lose track of those really hard moments because they are counteracted with these really cool moments with these amazing cast members. We had a blast together.
How close were you able to get to actual explosions?
We were pretty damn close to actual explosions. None of us got babied.
How do you look back at the “Wonder Woman” pilot?
I’m incredibly proud of that project. I was so grateful to get to play Wonder Woman. That was a childhood dream of mine and I’m proud of the outcome. I do wish it would have gone to series but everything happens for a reason. Looking at it as a positive, I got to work with some amazing actors, [an] amazing writer and I got to wear the outfit. It was not comfortable but it was totally worth it.
Were you surprised that not only a Wonder Woman show but a David E. Kelley show didn’t go?
It was shocking. There were obviously politics involved. It had gotten picked up as far as I knew so when we got that call it was incredibly shocking. We were set up to go to Jimmy Kimmel and everything else so it was a real shock. It was hard to take at first.
What’s up next for you?
Just promoting this movie and I’m promoting G.I. Joe. That’s what’s on the agenda for me at this moment.
