Skyscraper provided plenty of action thrills when it was released in cinemas earlier this year.

But the Dwayne Johnson movie – about a former FBI agent named Will Sawyer who must clear his name and save his family after 'The Pearl', the (fictional) tallest building in the world, is set on fire – also stands out in its setting.

Taking place in Hong Kong, actor Chin Han – who plays Zhou Long Ji, the financier of The Pearl – told Digital Spy that it wasn't just the verticality of the area that complemented the fact that the movie revolves around a massive skyscraper. There are thematic ties as well.

Chin Han, Skyscraperpinterest
Universal Pictures

"Hong Kong is the perfect place for it," the actor said. "I think it really lent itself to the story of The Pearl.

"There's a lot of water surrounding Hong Kong, and basically The Pearl is built from this Chinese fable of the boy who jumps into the river, picks up the pearl, turns into a dragon, and then protects his village.

"So in many ways not just geographically but also thematically, I think it was the perfect place for it."

preview for Skyscraper – Official Trailer 2 (Universal Pictures)

Much of the film wasn't shot in Hong Kong but instead in Vancouver, Canada – although Chin explained how the movie approached recreating the setting of Hong Kong.

"Some of the exteriors were filmed in Hong Kong. Some of that stuff is done on location," he said.

"The rest of it – the crowd scenes that you see in some of the scenes involving Dwayne especially when he's running from the cops and the assassins are coming for him, there was painstaking detail that went into changing all the street signs, licence plates of cars – and Vancouver has a very large Asian population, so getting hundreds of extras to fill the scenes was not that difficult to do.

"In that way, I think we achieved a level of veracity for those scenes with large crowds.

Skyscraperpinterest
Universal Pictures

"As for other aspects of the movie, such as linguistically, I think [director Rawson Marshall Thurber] had cast actors who were native speakers of the language they had to speak.

"The character of Inspector Wu (played by Byron Mann), he's a native speaker of Cantonese. Xia, the assassin played by Hannah Quinlivan, Mandarin is her native language.

"So you get a level of performance that is authentic, which I think serves the movie, especially a movie of this size and magnitude because everything else is so large, you need to have performances grounded in reality for the audience to feel for the characters."

Dwayne Johnson in Skyscraper trailerpinterest
Universal Pictures

Chin also had high praise for Dwayne, calling him "tireless".

"I don't know how he fits the number of things he has to do into a 24-hour timeframe," he said. "But he does that.

"The thing about him too is, the job of being an actor extends far beyond the acting. He's very mindful of his fans, and he always takes out time for them."

Skyscraper Blu-ray cover, Dwayne Johnsonpinterest
Universal Pictures

Skyscraper is available now on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.


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Lettermark
Jess Lee

Chief Sub-Editor

Jess has more than 10 years of experience writing and editing online, specialising in entertainment. 

As Digital Spy's Chief Sub-Editor, they oversee the subs' desk while working with the wider team to ensure news and features content fits the brand's editorial vision.

 Jess also helps with gaming coverage, including anything to do with The Sims, and has volunteered as a judge for the Independent Games Festival Awards since 2018.