Everybody was king fu fighting at the Sydney premiere for Sucker Punch, the Zack Snyder directed action fantasy which saw Australian stars Abbie Cornish and Emily Browning walk the red carpet.
Sucker Punch stars Browning as Babydoll, a recently bereaved 20 year old who is placed in a mental hospital by her scheming step father. Once inside she hatches a plan to escape, using her imagination to conjure a fantasy world as a coping mechanism during her harrowing ordeal.
For Browning, the role required months of preparation for her and also her classmates.
“We had 3 months of training before we started filming. 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week,” explained Browning. “ Mixed martial arts. Gun training, strength training with Navy Seals...it was intense. But it was a really amazing experience, and sort of prepared us for the roles.”
For Browning’s co-star and fellow Aussie Abbie Cornish, who plays one of Babydoll’s allies named Sweet Pea, the chance to star in a film like Sucker Punch proved too good to pass up.
“I wanted to do a film like this for a long time, so when this film came along I couldn’t believe that it was real, that someone had managed to transfer this sort of multi dimensional dynamic into the form of the script”, said Cornish. “Then I was even more amazed when Zack managed to put it on screen, because with a film like Sucker Punch you have to orchestrate hundreds and hundreds of people to create this world that you have in your mind. It’s quite a feat.”
Coming from a dramatic background, Cornish found the experience of acting in a CGI dominated action movie to be a unique and rewarding experience.
“It was actually a really wonderful discovery for me,” revealed Cornish. “Going into the film, that was what I was most fearful of, because I’ve never worked with CGI before. On the first day I realised the green screen was only limited to my own imagination. So if I can utilise that as a bouncing board for my imagination and for the dream world, then I knew I was gonna be ok. It was actually really, really fun. Kind of like being a kids again”.
Sucker Punch has already been released in American and the UK, and so far reviews have not been kind, with many critics comparing the film to a fanboy, sexist fantasy come to life. It is criticism which Browning does not agree with.
“I think it’s kinda strange. I find the film was really female empowering, to be honest” said Browning. “The friendship these girls have is something we unfortunately rarely see. There is this myth that females can’t get along, but I love the fact that these girls love each other, fight for each other, and are willing to die for each other.”
Sucker Punch will be released on the 7th of April through Roadshow Pictures
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