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Kubera Fanfest 2019: Actors AU
An Exclusive Interview with the stars of ‘One Last God, Kubera’ on WBC Radio. Video posted to WBC’s YouChute channel.
[Fan-transcribed]
Interviewer: Joining us today are the lovely stars of the hit web series One Last God, Kubera – Kaycie Lee and Aerin Ryu. Kaycie, Aerin, good morning!
KL: Good morning!
AR: Morning to you, too, and thanks for having us.
Interviewer: The pleasure is all ours. Now, just as a refresher for our listeners, Kaycie, you play Kubera Leez, and Aerin, you play Asha Rahiro, we’re a short ways into Season 3, and we’re entering the tenth year running of the series, is that correct?
AR: Yep, that’s us. You can call us A and K, for short.
KL: That’s right! I can’t believe it’s been nearly a decade…
Interviewer: We’ve got a whole slew of questions for you that we picked from fan submissions over the course of last week. So, first question: you girls ready?
KL: Born ready.
AR: [laughs] Bring it.
Interviewer: All right, let’s get right to it!
Q: How would you describe your relationship with your character in Kubera?
KL: Whoa, that’s deep –
AR: Is Director Gom the one sending these in?
KL: [laughs] I wouldn’t put it past her. I can go first! To be honest, I actually wasn’t a huge fan of Leez at first. I thought she was too naïve and hard to relate to, so I was actually pretty shocked when I got the role. Especially since I was still a nobody at the time!
Interviewer: What?! Really?
KL: I know! Everyone gets pretty shocked when I say that. I like her and understand her a lot more now, of course. [waves hands] Character development!
AR: All it took was ten years in Leez’s head.
KL: [making a face] How are you still sane after ten years in Asha’s head?
AR: Who said anything about staying sane? [stares at camera]
[silence]
AR: Anyways, playing Asha has upsides and downsides. [thoughtful] She’s definitely a challenge. Unlike Leez, she doesn’t display a lot of outward emotion. It was a struggle early on to find the balance that Director Gom wanted between showing the internal turmoil and keeping it, well, internal. [chuckles] On the upside, it’s a lot of fun – she’s kind of a wild card in the plot, especially right now…
KL: [frantic] No spoilers!!
AR: I think even if I tried, the words wouldn’t come out. Just like Asha when she tries to talk about– …… [mouth continues moving but voice abruptly cuts off] [frantically gestures at throat].
KL: [laughs] Curse you, Director Gom!!
Q: Both of your characters are very popular. Do you run into fans a lot?
KL: I’d say more and more often in the past few years – the fans are getting better at recognizing me without the green wig, I think.
Interviewer: What do you do when you run into them?
KL: Most of the time they’ll want a selfie, or an autograph if they have something to write with. They’re usually very polite, so I don’t mind. One time I was walking past a book store and this girl sprinted out with every single book in the original comic series to ask me to sign them! They must have weighed a ton, she was really out of breath. [laughs]
AR: [nods slowly] I… don’t get out much.
KL: She hides.
AR: [indignant] I don’t hide.
KL: She gets nervous about meeting fans in person, but reads all of her fan mail and sends signed thank-you cards for all of the gifts she receives.
AR: I– How do– Where did you even hear–
KL: [grins] A certain red-haired cast member saw you writing the cards while waiting your turn in the makeup trailer.
AR: … [helpless expression]
KL: [turns to camera] She likes to act cool and detached like Asha, but the whole cast knows she’s really a softie. [turns back] Aren’t you?
AR: [groans] I’m gonna kill her.
Interviewer: [laughs] What kinds of gifts do you usually get from the fans?
AR: I get a lot of fan art, which I sometimes hang up in my trailer when we’re filming. We have a lot of artistically talented fans. [hums] I also get a lot of coffee.
KL: [bursts out laughing] But she prefers tea!! Sorry A, the secret’s out.
AR: [sighs] Asha is a “coffee enthusiast” on the show, so a lot of fans like to send me coffee – really good coffee, actually – or Barstucks gift cards. I’m more of a tea drinker, but I don’t put a lot of my personal life out there so not many people know. I don’t dislike coffee or anything…
KL: She usually shares it with the cast and crew on set, so now a lot of them call her the “Coffee Goddess”. You can see how that would inadvertently perpetuate the coffee-loving reputation.
Interviewer: So this has been a “secret” among the cast for almost ten years??
AR: Remarkably, yes. It probably would have come to light sooner, but the cast and crew begged me to just let the coffee keep coming in. [laughs] The actor for Chandra told me that I was single-handedly fueling the series’ production, at this point.
KL: [solemn] Sorry, Crewbera. Looks like we’ll have to find another source of fuel now. [turns to camera, winks] I like coffee!
Q: What is your favorite scene in Kubera so far?
AR: Oh, that’s a good one…
KL: Wait, to be in or in general?
AR: [pauses] Oh, I assumed in general.
KL: Ack, that’s so hard, I can’t pick!
AR: I think my favorite scene so far was the big reveal when Teo and Gandharva crossed the Lake of Reflection.
KL: Oooooh yes!! I loved that scene! I got goosebumps when I watched the episode.
AR: The alternating closeups between the look on Teo’s face and the reflection spreading across the lake – I just remember thinking “wow.”
KL: [mimes wiping away a tear] Tae is so talented. She does all her own action sequences too. I heard they added in a lot of fight scenes for her when they adapted Season 2 ‘cause the original comics barely had any and it would have been a waste.
AR: [snorts] Yeah, and they also learned not to waste the entire CGI budget on extended shots of sura forms. Maybe next time Ran casts hoti varuna, we’ll get something that actually looks like water magic instead of a rigged motorboat.
KL: [laughs] Watch it! Director Gom might enact vengeance and write you out of the story until the end of Season 3! Your fancy OP magic eats into the CGI budget too, y’know.
AR: Shhh! Don’t give her any ideas!
Q: What is the most challenging part of being in Kubera?
[turn to look at each other]
AR: On 3?
KL: On 3.
AR & KL: 3…
AR & KL: 2…
AR & KL: 1…
AR & KL: PT!
[both laugh]
Interviewer: What’s PT?
AR: Stands for “Physical Training”. It’s a little different for both of us, but equally challenging.
KL: I have a lot more action sequences now, so I have to keep up a workout schedule and fight training with three different trainers almost every day of the week to prepare. It’s beyond exhausting, but Leez is supposed to be a super strong fighter with a killer body, so sacrifices must be made. [sighs] Half of what makes PT hard for me is the stinkin’ diet.
Interviewer: Wow, that sounds intense. Is everyone on a similar PT regime?
AR: Depends. Mine is pretty different – the main challenge for me is that I have to get used to performing actions with only one arm while the other one is held down by a weight. Luckily, I’m already left-handed, but whenever Asha does any of that floating and flying around, it’s a nightmare to adjust and maintain balance. It takes hours of wire training to get that “walking in the air” effect –the hardest part is that it has to look practically effortless.
Interviewer: Speaking of which, what’s up with Asha’s arm?
KL & AR: …… [look at each other]
[both turn back to the camera, full poker faces]
AR: [smiles]
Interviewer: Can you give us any spoilers for the ending of Kubera?
KL & AR: …… [look at each other]
[both turn back to the camera, full poker faces]
KL: [smiles]
Q: What do you think of the romance in the story? Any hints on how your character’s “love line” will develop?
[both laugh]
KL: Oh gosh, we have to tread carefully here.
AR: [hurriedly] Next question!
Interviewer: What?! Hold on, why–
KL: Let’s just say the fans aren’t the only ones who are… sensitive about the whole “romance” aspect of this series. [laughs nervously]
AR: Let’s just say we do have opinions, but we want to keep our jobs. [smiles tightly]
Interviewer: So you can’t tell us anything?
KL: [robotically] I can neither confirm nor deny any “ships” pertaining to One Last God, Kubera.
Q: How would you describe Kubera to someone who hasn’t seen it before?
AR: Complicated. Chaotic.
KL: Long.
AR: [making air quotes] “Fantasy-romance”.
KL: Pain and suffering?
AR: [laughs] We are so getting fired.
Q: Do the cast members hang out when they’re not on set?
KL: Yes! We have a group chat.
AR: It’s not often that we can get everyone together, since the cast is huge, but we do hang out. Usually over fried chicken.
KL: It goes against, like, all of our diets, but it’s a tradition at this point. Maruna – Marc, Maruna, whatever – still acts like he’s offended every. single. time.
AR: Yeah, and then he ends up eating the most.
Interviewer: Do you guys ever just call each other by character names off set?
KL: Oh, all the time. I’ve been saying “Yuta, Asha, Ran” for the past ten years, probably more than I’ve used their real names.
AR: At this point, most of the cast responds reflexively to either. Sometimes I wonder if Director Gom even remembers our actual names.
Interviewer: All right, now it’s time for cast member superlatives! We got so many of these questions that we decided to just make it its own section.
KL & AR: [turn to look at each other with wide eyes]
KL: Oh boy, I’m feeling a little apprehensive about this.
AR: [turns to camera grinning] They’re totally going to kill us when we’re done.
Q: Which cast member is the most frequently late?
KL: Hmm…
KL & AR: [turn to each other]
KL: Ryan?
AR: I was going to say him or Chan.
KL: Oh, right. [laughs] We had a tally running at some point, I wonder what it’s at now.
AR: Thankfully, neither of them need a ton of prep time. Ran’s outfits are pretty simple, it’s usually just attaching the braid that causes a hold-up. Same story for Chandra, he doesn’t even need to button his shirt. [rolls eyes]
KL: [pitches voice comically low] “Well at least he gets a shirt”. [laughs] How’s that for an Agni impression?
AR: [snickers] So good it doubles as a Maruna impression too.
Q: Which cast member takes the longest to get ready?
KL: It kind of depends… Among the guys, it’s hands-down Gandharva right now. It takes hours for the makeup team to apply the blue body paint. Back in Season 2, though, it was probably Maruna, since Gandharva was just in human form. The red face paint and ear-attachments take a while to put on.
AR: And, if their complaints are anything to go by, they're a b**** to take off.
KL: [laughs] And among the girls…
AR: [lets out a long sigh] Well, it used to be… [points at self]. My natural hair color is nearly black, and Asha’s hair is this pale, blue-ish silver. I didn’t want to bleach it, so they got this really expensive wig and it could take the hair team up to two hours some days to put it on. Both Leez and Sagara have to do the same thing, though. What took even longer in my case was getting into the costume beforehand.
KL: For most of Seasons 1 and 2, Asha wore this big, pale purple fur coat that would shed everywhere. [hands sweep wide] And I mean everywhere.
AR: [groans] It took forever picking the purple fluff off of the rest of the outfit, even with a lint roller. It just kept reappearing.
KL: But! At the end of Season 2, Asha got a makeover, and now she’s one of the fastest to get ready. Congratulations! [pats AR on the back]
AR: Goodbye, evil fur coat. I can’t tell you how much better the new one is – barely any shedding and it’s lighter. I’m in and out of Hair in a flash, too, ‘cause of the new haircut. Since it got cut short like my style in real life, I decided to just bite the bullet and dye it. Now I wonder why I held out for so long [laughs]. It saves so much time! I don’t have to get up as early now. I can see why Bri just dyed hers red from the start.
KL: Oh yeah, she’s a pro at getting ready super fast. And now that Asha’s in her Season 3 look, I think Sagara officially takes the longest. Those gigantic pigtails are no joke. I think they changed it to a single side-ponytail for Season 3 just to cut down on styling time. Director Gom nearly threw a fit, but I guess they convinced her in the end.
Q: Which cast member eats the most?
AR: It’s got to be Marc or Kyu-bin.
KL: Those two could put a buffet out of business. Actually, don’t they go to All-You-Can-Eat Korean BBQ a lot? I always see them on Immediagram.
AR: Yeah, they’re always hanging out. Besties born of matching PT regimes – same workout, same diet, same abs – for ten years straight.
KL: [stifling a laugh] Yeah, straight. It’s a shame that Maruna and God Kubera hardly ever interact in the series!
Q: Which cast member is the worst texter?
KL: [scrunches face in thought] Probably… Bri?
AR: Yeah, Bri. She’s always busy and never has time to read the group chat messages. [thoughtful] Agni always seems to be able to get a hold of her though.
Interviewer: This question actually started from a poll on Chirper, where fans voted for who in the main cast they thought would be the best and worst texter.
KL: Oh my god, what?! They did that??
AR: [cringes] Oh yikes, here we go.
Interviewer: So the person with the highest vote count for best texter was… Leez!
KL: [fist pumps] Yes!! It’s my victory, Kubera! HA!
Interviewer: Are they right?
AR: [laughs] I think so, yeah. K and Ryan message the most frequently, I think. Yun messages pretty consistently too, but less often recently because of his overseas filming schedule.
Interviewer: Coincidentally, the person with the highest vote count for worst texter was…
AR: [sighs] Asha?
KL: [laughs] Must be Asha.
Interviewer: A tie!
AR & KL: [eyebrows raise in unison]
…between Asha and God Kubera.
AR: [groans] I knew it.
KL: [bursts out laughing] They’re half right!
AR: [sputters] What?!
KL: [still laughing] Okay, okay – honestly, A isn’t terrible. She doesn’t message that often but she checks occasionally and responds if we ask her something. Kyu-bin doesn’t check that often either, but he somehow always pops in right when we’re making plans to eat.
Q: Which cast member is the most like their character in Kubera? Which cast member is the most different from their character in Kubera?
KL: Oh, this is a good one. For most similar… it’s gotta be Ryan.
AR: [nods] A hundred percent Ryan. Ran, Ryan, same deal. [laughs] Even their names are similar!
KL: [counting on fingers] He talks really loud, has a boat, is bad at math, was a competitive swimmer in high school…
AR: Really everything minus the braid and the student-teacher relationship.
KL: As far as we know. [wiggles eyebrows]
AR: [chokes on water]
KL: For most different… Gen?
AR: [pause – still recovering] Or Sandara.
KL: Ohh, good point. [turns to camera] Okay, so while Gandharva is gloomy and depressed and indecisive, Gen is probably the funniest person I’ve ever met. It takes about twice as long to film Gandharva and Agni scenes because they can’t stop laughing mid-conversation.
AR: They’ll be in an argument, and Gen will just turn around and say – out of nowhere – [pitches voice lower] “everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked”.
KL: [laughs] Or that time he wouldn’t stop fluttering his eyelashes whenever the camera cut away. [pitches voice lower] “Director Gom! Does this count as winking or blinking?”
AR: She nearly killed him on the spot. [shakes head] Sandara is pretty different, too. She’s quiet, easygoing, and super polite – I’ve actually never seen her raise her voice. [thoughtful] I’m always impressed by how smoothly she switches on “King of the Snakes, Boss Mode”. I wish we had more scenes together…
KL: [guffaws] No way, it’d be an instant bloodbath! Director Gom doesn’t want to lose our PG-13 rating. Asha and Sagara have interacted once and it ended with a nuclear bomb explosion that wiped both of them out for seven years.
AR: [laughs] Spoiler alert.
Q: Which cast member is the most crushworthy?
KL & AR: [silent stare-down]
AR: [warningly] Don’t–
KL: [grinning widely] Rumor has it that A’s been asked out by nearly half of the regular cast members–
AR: That’s not–
KL: [still grinning] – men and women.
Interviewer: Wow! Is that true?
AR: I can’t– it’s– [clears throat] I can neither confirm nor deny these baseless rumors.
KL: Baseless? Bri said–
AR: [talking loudly] Yes! Agreed, Bri is quite crushworthy – shall we move on to the next question?
KL: [smiling mischievously] Are you sure there isn’t anyone else you find crushworthy?
AR: [stone-faced] I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Interviewers: Oh? Aerin, are you dating someone?
KL: She isn’t, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a crush–
AR: On the contrary, it means exactly that–
KL: [gasps] You’re blushing! [points and turns to camera] She’s blushing!!
AR: I’m not! [raises arms to block face]
Interviewer: Well, I guess we know what tomorrow’s headline is going to be. I think our listeners are going to explode any second now.
KL: [laughs] I wish I could say more, but I think A will literally kill me if I do. All I can say is that I think there’s a certain someone she has a lot of chemistry with, the rare times they appear onscreen together. [wiggles eyebrows]
AR: [refusing to look up] Please don’t mind her, she’s delusional. Leez’s defining character trait is self-delusion.
KL: Aw, don’t be embarrassed, A. I’ll tell them who I find most crushworthy!
AR: [huffs] This isn’t fair, we already know what your answer will be!
KL: [cackles] I only have eyes for giant pink ponies! Just a reminder to the world that Shess is taken. [winks at camera]
Interviewer: I remember the dating announcement a while ago! How long has it been now?
KL: [beaming] About a year and a half. Our characters don’t interact much, but we always bring each other stuff like snacks or blankets when one of us is busy filming.
AR: It’s nauseatingly cute.
Interviewer: [laughs] Well that’s all the time we have for superlatives! Before we let you go, we’ve got one last question for you.
KL: [turns around, searching for a clock] Oh wow, we’re done already?
AR: [rubs temples] It’s not over yet?
Q: Can you tell us about your upcoming work?
KL: A’s going to be in Murder on the Occident Express and has an upcoming photoshoot for Rogue magazine that she didn’t tell any of us about.
AR: K’s starring in the upcoming Edge Racer movie that she told every one of us about.
KL: [laughs, nudges A’s shoulder] You’re coming to the premiere, right?
AR: [exaggerated shrug] Perhaps, if I’m not too busy…
KL: We don’t have any filming scheduled for that day!
AR: What if they need me again on Tower of God?
KL: You haven’t appeared since January!
Interviewer: Oh, that’s right! You guest star in the Tower of God series as Khun Maschenny Zahard, correct?
AR: [chuckles] I do! And my younger brother, Ki-yoon, stars as Khun Aguero Agnis himself. We even share an inter-series co-star. Bri stars as Brilith and Hwa-Ryun!
KL: She’s been a main cast member on both Kubera and Tower of God for nearly a decade now – that’s why she’s always so busy. The biggest reason she keeps her hair dyed red is because it saves her a lot of time in prep on both shows.
AR: [shakes head] I don’t know how she does it.
KL: Pure magic. And coffee.
Interviewer: Well, it’s clear that all of you are working crazy hard and I can’t wait to see you guys in your upcoming projects! Hopefully we can welcome you back as guests here at WBC Radio again soon. Thank you for sitting down with us!
AR: [laughs] Thank you for having us.
KL: [waves] Bye! Thanks everyone!
[End of Interview]