Jaeger and Kaiju will clash again in Pacific Rim: Uprising, the sequel to 2013’s tale of mech vs. monster. And the team behind the new film -- stars John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Burn Gorman and Cailee Spaeny and director Steven S. DeKnight (Spartacus, Daredevil) -- were on hand at New York Comic Con today to show off the new trailer for the film.
DeKnight took the stage in full military garb, medalled out like a Jaeger-trouncing champ. “It’s amazing,” he said. “I grew up watching Ultraman… Godzilla movies. To get a chance to play in this world, which GDT executed the first time around, has just been an honor and a thrill.”
The director then broke down the new Jaegers to expect in the film, which he described as “bad-a$$.” They’ve been redesigned from the ground up, which gave the filmmakers the opportunity to show that mankind has come together as a fighting force. It’s now all of humanity working together.
The new Jaegers include: The flagship Jaeger is the Gypsy Avenger. It can, among other things, hurl buildings and cars at the Kaiju. Another Jaeger is the Bracer Phoenix, a three-pilot rig that allows that third pilot to drop into the chest and operate its vortex cannons. The most advanced Jaeger in the fleet is the Saber Athena, which has a pair of plasma swords. The Titan Redeemer uses a “ball of death” which is attached to the end of its arm. Guardian Bravo is another “brute force” Jaeger that has some kind of whip. And there’s a little Jaeger called Scrapper that has been “slapped together,” the result of people using old Jaeger parts to make homemade versions of a sort.
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“The action takes place 10 years after the first movie, which really gave us a chance to explore where humanity is at this time,” explained the director. “And there’s a new generation of Jaeger pilots who have known nothing but a world of chaos. And one of the things that we wanted to show is that it doesn’t matter [who are you] … you can still make a difference. Inside the Jaeger, it’s you times a thousand.”
Boyega, who you might say knows something about genre filmmaking, is actually a big Pac Rim nerd. “I love the first movie and one of the biggest reasons is because of [that film’s star] Idris Elba,” he said. “I could not have imagined that I was gonna play his son. It’s cool to get into another franchise this way.”
The star recalled taking a “general meeting” with some studio people, which suddenly turned into a pitch for Pac Rim 2. “They were like, we want to show you a few things,” he laughed. “And I saw myself in a Jaeger suit! I was like, ohhhhh…”
He also talked about how his character, Jake Pentecost, is a reluctant hero who is avoiding his namesake when we first meet him in the film. “The greatest heroes don’t accept their legendary status,” said Boyega. “He’s a guy who does not want to live up to the Pentecost name.”
Eastwood said that his character is “the tip of the spear. He’s a pilot. He’s one of the best. But he’s nothing really without his best friend Jake. So they’ve got some issues in this one to work out from the past. … Being a friend with someone and having to come back around after some lost time, I thought that was kind of cool.”
The actor also stressed that Pacific Rim: Uprising is as much about the story and characters as it is the action and effects. “The great thing about this film is that it really has a great story first and foremost,” he said. “The action is there, but the story is really great.”
Cailee Spaeny makes her film debut as Amara, who lost her entire family in a Jaeger/Kaiju battle.
“She’s taken it upon herself to check in with the Jaeger [group] so that when the Kaiju come back, they’ll be ready,” explained the actress. “Jake and her are completely different but they see things in a lot of the same ways. Yeah, she’s super bad-a$$.”
Gorman, the sole returning cast member to take the stage today, joked about his character Dr. Hermann Gottlieb… or at least we think he was joking. “Let’s just say he hasn’t changed his socks since the last film,” he smirked. “Still problems with personal hygiene. But now he has a great budget for the first time in a long time. So he can do lots of things in dark corners and get away with it. … But where we find [him] is as a man very much affected by what happened in the first movie in terms of his Drift and his communication with the Kaiju.”
Not surprisingly, the hope is to franchise out the Pac Rim universe beyond this film. To that end, references to the original are of course peppered throughout Uprising even while the team promises to build upon the world further. DeKnight even laughed that that might include a “Jaeger built out of sticks” in order to avoid any pesky technological attacks. That’s a movie I’m sure many of would like to see (The Wicker Jaeger?).
And the panel ended with a video message from “super fan” (and Pac Rim co-star) Charlie Day proposing and playing potential songs for the movie. Our favorite went something like this: “Charlie Day… and the rest of the cast. Charlie Day… and the rest of the cast. And the guy from Star Wars!”
Pacific Rim: Uprising will be released on March 23, 2018.
Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura.
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