How a prequel to a prequel to a sequel ends up being called The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior is a likely conversation topic this weekend at Fan Expo Canada, where 26-year-old Etobicoke-born Karen David will sign autographs for guys who relate best to a bikini-clad warrior princesses when she’s wielding a sword. Last weekend, she helped unleash the flick on the big screen of the Bloor Cinema, as part of the South Asian Film Festival, just prior to its straight-to-DVD release. During an era where celebrity is achieved by playing to increasingly detailed niches, David seems eager to reach out to every possible one.
“As a three-year-old I became obsessed with Xanadu,” David tells Scrolling Eye. “I thought Olivia Newton-John sang like an angel. I wasn’t really exposed to people in real-life who expressed themselves like she did — I come from a family of bankers. And after getting that exposure, I wanted to be blonde and blue-eyed, too.”
With a Chinese mother and Indian father who carried a Jewish surname, David wasn’t going to get her wish. However, after moving to Etobicoke from the foot of the Himalayas, the entire family was equally eager to catch up on the history of Hollywood. Olivia became a gateway to studying Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.
When they pointed out a newspaper advert recruiting kids to star in television commercials to their six-year-old daughter, though, it was simply to enlighten her to the fact that there was an industry dedicated to putting people on the screen. What they didn’t expect was Karen dialing the agency herself.
Fortunately, the man who answered the phone was legit, charmed enough to help her land a part saying the darndest things to Bill Cosby in a made-in-Toronto commercial for Jell-O. But, preferring not to devote all their spare time to dragging her around on auditions, David’s parents steered her on a saner path. Her high school days were spent mostly at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts in North York, where she perfected her craft in the context of a Catholic school.
“It was never about wanting to be the centre of attention,” she says. “I didn’t even know about that aspect initially. My parents just wanted me to be happy — except they emphasized that I would have to work hard if I was going to make this into a career, let alone have any longevity.
“I was able to focus on it because I’m a big nerd.”
Ah, right there, the magic N-word essential for any starlet of a historical fantasy epic involving martial arts. The role in Scorpion King 2, however, is the result of David’s decade spent living in England, having moved immediately after high school, armed with a scholarship to attend the Guildford School of Acting.
Yet the initial accommodations weren’t the stuff of 17-year-old showbiz dreams.
“The room I was set up with in Guildford was basically a hole,” she recalls. “It was a shed built by the owner of the house, who had elderly parents that wanted a space where they could overlook the garden, and now it was supposed to be my home away from home. The instant I walked in there I broke down and cried.
“Then, the family dog walked in and rested his head on my leg, as if to assure me that everything was going to be alright. It wasn’t easy, but eventually I figured if Shakespeare could write his sonnets in a small confined space, then I could survive, too. And, after a while, it was humbling. The dog and I became good buddies.”
Soon enough, David made a series of human friends, which led her to a chorus part in the original 1999 West End production of Mamma Mia! “I was glorified wallpaper,” she says. “But I also got to be the understudy for two characters.
“No one I talked to ahead of time imagined a musical written entirely around old ABBA songs was going to take off. But, from the opening night at the Prince Edward Theatre, there were so many bouquets sent backstage, it was like a flower shop.”
Noticed from the audience by a Bollywood music producer, A R Rahman, she was lured on tour across North America. But then, David passed up the chance to star in Rahman’s stage musical, Bombay Dreams, in favour of pursuing the kind of film parts she dreamt of while based in the UK. The biggest such production for 2005 was Batman Begins, even if David ended up credited as “Courthouse Reporter #1.”
“I had 12 lines that were reduced to three,” she explains, “and instead of the close-up there was a long shot. It also took longer in the credits for my name to appear. But it’s still on my CV that Christopher Nolan picked me for the part. And, for a director working on his level, those small parts are just as important as the big ones.”
Scorpion King 2 actually boasts a director whose work has been seen by more people of a certain age than just about any: Russell Mulcahy, whose credits include “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles, all the memorable exotic video from the first incarnation of Duran Duran (including made-in-Toronto “The Reflex”) and the behatted 1980s oeuvre of Elton John. Mulcahy's 1986 big-budget feature film, Highlander, also retains its snug place in the sci-fi geek canon.
As a prequel to The Scorpion King, itself a prequel to The Mummy Returns, itself a sequel to The Mummy, the decision to call his DVD release The Scorpion King 2 is sure to confuse anyone not familiar with that reverse-backward chronology — although Universal Studios is obviously banking on the tens of millions of people around the world who are. (A similar strategy was applied to Universal's recent release of a sixth American Pie film, explained here.) Mixed martial artist Randy Couture gets his name above the title, playing the main villain, but Karen David’s character is the female lead, watching her back in his foreboding shadow.
Her character of Layla is the childhood friend of Mathayus, the future Scorpion King, a relationship that requires fighting a bunch of battles throughout Ancient Egypt.
Filmed around South Africa late last summer into early fall, David’s research for the role consisted of contemplating different portrayals of a warrior princess type, albeit one who speaks with feisty sarcasm that probably didn’t exist in the dialect of 3000 BC.
“I researched characters like Xena, Wonder Woman and even She-Ra: Princess of Power just to get a sense of the part,” says David. “It was like cooking, where I took a teaspoon of this, and a tablespoon of that, in order to inhabit the Layla character.
“This isn’t one of those girls who’s ready to settle down right away. Maybe she has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, but she’s adventurous. She doesn’t want to do what’s expected of her all the time. She wants to see the world, and yet there’s also a lot going on in her head. She’s naïve, looking for life experience.
“Layla is a lot more fearless than I am, though. Scaling 20-foot walls, walking through fire — I would never do those things. I was tomboyish for a time around age 12, wearing preppy clothes and desert boots. Now I’m actually very girly. I like to be feminine, and clean. Personally, I’m not one for getting mud in my hair.”
The real Karen David, then — outside of this realm of cleavage, corsets and swords — will be articulated on a forthcoming debut music album, Me Versus Me, while striving for more roles where she can continue portraying somebody else.
“It’s been a journey of discovering my roots,” she says. “Working in India, I felt as much of a foreigner as I’ve ever been, and yet sometimes I also felt like I was one of them.
“When I was growing up I just wanted to be maple syrup. And now I realize I’m different, and how cool it is to have other quirks, or speak different languages, even if these qualities are still going to confuse some casting directors out there.
“Going out on auditions, I can still see the puzzled look on people’s faces: What are you?”
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