About 2:30pm I finally got to go up to Rain’s palace of a hotel room. Rain, however, was not there. His rep told me that he was busy being mobbed in Time Square by adoring fans. I said to the rep escorting me, “You have bodyguards going with him right.” The rep, we’ll call him Bob, said, “no,” and that he really had no idea how popular Rain was globally. I told him Rain is easily the Justin Timberlake of Asia, on his way to the Michael Jackson stratosphere. Bob then said yea, he’s been hearing that a lot lately.
While waiting for Rain, Bob would tell me about how much Rain’s English has approved from Speed Racer to Ninja Assassin. He says the difference is “10 times” better in a one year span. Not only that, but Rain works hard before every interview to make sure he’s composed, relaxed, and natural in his speech. He would talk to Bob after each interview to see what he did good and bad and how he could improve the next time. This is not surprising for the fans that know Rain as the hard-working, perfectionist.
Another Warner Bros rep, we’ll call her Susy, updated us that Rain is on his way back and needs to finish his hot dog. That just made me laugh out loud to think that of all the good (but pricey) restaurants in Time Square, Rain settled for a hot dog street vendor. I guess it was Rain after all, stopping traffic on my walk there. It’s funny that I passed him without knowing it.
Susy also told me an interesting story in the Washington D.C. airport involving Rain and some overly rambunctious Clouds (fans of Rain). To protect Rain’s travel plans, Susy would book multiple flights during each leg of the Ninja Assassin press junket. That way, people wouldn’t know which flight Rain was leaving on or which gate. Apparently that wasn’t enough as according to Susy, “little Asian girls were chasing Rain wherever he went in the airport!”
source//ningin
