A man of mystery, Major Ben Daimio is played by Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim.
His character struggles with identity issues as he navigates his position as an agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. The role originally caused some backlash from fans and critics; the character was set to be played by British actor Ed Skrein, but he turned down the role after social media accused Hollywood of “whitewashing” another minority role. The Knockturnal caught up with Daniel Dae Kim in Los Angeles to talk about diversity in casting, his take on the role, and special effects.
The Knockturnal: Your character has some inner turmoil, talk a little about that- watching the movie he seemed like he was going back and forth.
Daniel Dae Kim: Yeah, he has a side of himself that he doesn’t want to show. That’s something that I think a lot of us can relate to. You know we have a certain face that we show to the public but not everyone gets to see all of us, you know? He’s spent a lot of time trying to hide it, so he’s lived with a lot of guilt a lot of shame and those are not great things to be holding inside. So when he gets to release it all it’s pretty cathartic, it’s pretty freeing and I enjoyed that part of it.
The Knockturnal: How did you prepare for that?
Daniel Dae Kim: There was something about this character that I could relate to, he’s defined by his appearance. He has this massive scar on his face that it’s the first thing anyone sees when they talk to him there perception is tainted by it. Being someone of color in America that’s something I can relate to, so it was an immediate way into the character and I started my work from there.
The Knockturnal: What do you think about the cast and the diversity they casted?
Daniel Dae Kim: I think it’s great! What I love about it, is that it’s not like in your face- well, that’s not true- What I like about it is that we’re not hitting people over the head about diversity. The cast is diverse and it’s just understood. Sasha brings a great element to this role, her character I believe was originally a white woman and the fact that she’s in it brings a great flavor and the fact that Mike Mignola wrote a character like mine into his comic books is pretty forward thinking and I’m the lucky beneficiary to that.
The Knockturnal: How was working with the special effects, because I know when you’re acting you don’t actually see the special effects so how did you approach that?
Daniel Dae Kim: Thankfully there were a lot of elements that were practical, like we had a lot of costumes, and a lot of wardrobe, and a lot of makeup and we had animatronic creatures so we had a head start that we didn’t have to imagine as much, but anytime you have an effects movie you’re imagining a lot.
The Knockturnal: Coming from shows like Lost and Hawaii-Five-O what do you like most about the medium of movies and the medium of television?
Daniel Dae Kim: Now they’re blurring a lot, You know? There are certain movies that I enjoy watching on “TV”, but epic scales big movies about these panoramic vistas and larger than life characters- literally, are movies to me and they deserve to be seen in the theatres.
The film hits theaters this Friday!
