Yukio is the wild Ronin who fought and slept with Wolverine and inspired Storm to explore her wild side and get a Mohawk! Rila Fukushima brings the character to the big screen in The Wolverine.
Yukio works as a bodyguard for Clan Yashida and is sent to bring Logan to Japan for a reunion with a man he once saved in World War II with an offer the X-Man can’t refuse.
The model turned actress tells Empire about her training to become a lethal martial arts master.
“Once I got the part, I started training for three weeks before we started training. It was challenging, but I had a lot of fun. I learned Japanese swords and Bo staff and to fist fight, plus some knife work. At first, I learned a little bit of everything, mainly katana and Bo staff. My character is the type of girl who can fight with anything. She can fight with a cell phone probably! Anything she finds. For this film, I had swords, staffs and my fists. I learned some gymnastics too. I can’t spin in the air, unfortunately, but I learned basic things.
I was exercising before I got the part because I love it, and I was taking martial arts classes for fitness. So it was definitely helpful because I had a little bit of muscle and some experience, and was okay with kicking people! I kicked people before, so I was ready for that. But I never killed people before, so they trained me very well. Now I can kill people, okay?”
The Wolverine is Fukushima’s first big role but she says Hugh Jackman made her feel welcome.
“It was, so everything was so new and fresh and amazing. Especially working with Hugh. He’s a great performer and he’s very nice to everyone on set. You felt like he’s a superstar but he’s a real person, and he made me want to keep acting in the future. I hope I can become like him in the future. I told him “thank you” a lot, and he said, “you don’t have to thank me, when I started acting, a lot of people helped me out.” He told me never to feel like I didn’t belong. And that if I establish myself as an actress, I can help other people. It was such a lovely thing to hear from someone like Hugh. I’m excited to see the movie, but so nervous too!”
The Wolverine opens July 26th.
By Editor