"Expats" Cast and Director Lulu Wang On Hong Kong, Womanhood and More

like I brought the team from the farewell often we were like wait how do we do this you know we've never done anything of this size and we were like oh that's how this works cool we love each other so much and have such a wonderful Bond but I guess that was sort of sometimes happening offset hi I'm Lulu Wong and I am the director of expats hi I'm sarry you blue and I play Hillary in xats hi I'm G youngu and I play mercy in xats my name is uh Brian T and I play the character Clark woo and I'm Jack Houston and I play the character David star Hong Kong was supposed to be a fresh start for me a fresh start really at 24 I think my marriage is over what was it like working alongside Nicole Kidman to kind of produce this project it was you know a really epic journey for all of us um we came in into it knowing that it was going to be um a a series of um significant scope and um and we just um yeah you know went through so many emotions and and it was so personal for all of us um and um we all come from such different backgrounds so it was just a learning experience a learning curve um to get to know each other and to share our different perspectives so I feel this story focuses on three female protagonists and the interconnectedness of their stories uh what was the collaboration like behind the scenes overall I working with this Ensemble was wonderful oh um yes I think that it's so great uh when you work on a project like this you can really trust that all the actors are going to be phenomenal so um I think what helped it what was sad for me personally was that I didn't get to spend more time with saru and with Nick uh because I think it would have been really great but um I think that informs the show of the feeling of these relationships can be so brief or can have such a little contact in some ways but can be so impactful on your life yeah it is I mean G young actually addressed it earlier in one when we were earlier today but it is one of those weird shows where we all have pretty Divergent storylines and so um I mean obviously I got to shoot with Nick which was amazing and shooting with the cast all around was incredible but it's true that much of our stuff was kind of fractured which is so fascinating because we love each other so much and have such a wonderful Bond but I guess that was sort of sometimes happening offset we had lots of dinners together we did we sure did I think we need to think about getting out of here cuz we're drowning and you don't see it the minute our feet leave Hong Kong soil we are abandoning our son I feel like this show is is all about the interactions between the characters and whether that be a pairing or a trio um what was it like working opposite of Nicole Kidman uh s blue and then G young you uh I think when you have this these class of women all of them at such an incredible level of of Brilliance and talent and smart and strong I think you just want to elevate your game with that I think these three women really carry our show and it's helmed by one of the best and strongest and smartest and Brilliant and talented Lulu Wong and I think for us we love being a part of that and along for the ride and and in support of what we wanted to create as a whole yeah it's a a show written by produced by starring shot by Art directed by women it is it's nice to actually be a man supporting that I think it's it was it's a real treat to be on a certain witnessed that it's um and you know hopefully that this is to so many more exactly like it because um yeah I I I it was it was it was beautiful to witness um and it be done with such care and such Grace and such humility and Humanity I think it's um it was a it was it felt like a very important project to be a part of to me I mean watching the show which is great by the way uh I feel like it kind of ruminated a lot on how women like ironically our individuality is tied to other people and what we are to other people what were the themes that you really wanted to tackle in this show um that's a really interesting one and um I love that what you said about you know women um and our identities being attached to other people uh I think the main one for me as a show that deals with grief um was um looking at women and their resilience and the different types of resilience because you know the women that I know are all so resilient and strong but it doesn't always look the same you know one of the questions we asked a lot in the writer's room is uh this question do you fight do you stay and fight or do you endure right and like either way it's a it's a form of res resilience you know and people make different choices and I I think all of the characters have to make that choice and Hong Kong as a city is grappling with that you know um do you fight do you endure um and yeah and so I I it's weird because then you know the pandemic happened we started the show before the pandemic but then I think that those themes became even more relevant as people experienced such tremendous and often ambiguous losses during the pandemic we all need to keep living did working on this project make you think about how you view yourself and your own individuality or personhood more wow yes what a great question yes I think it did and I think probably since the time that I've stopped filming I've grown even more around that there was there was a real growing process I felt like I did playing Hillary there was something about playing her that grew me both as an actor because of the of the project working with Lulu and working with Nicole working with our entire cast that are so incredible um and just the process of playing her grew me and I think that it's really there's a resilience that she has and an ability to really handle the punches of life that um I guess is the gift she's starting to give to me because I'm learning that better after playing her yeah I would say um every role I play I learn something about about myself and I also I probably take bits and pieces of the character with me um I thought a lot about uh personhood and identity when doing this show I I don't know if I can even articulate what because I think I'm still going through a lot of it it's so funny that um because I started in theater releasing the show in the way that we are it feels like I'm not actually like giving it to the world until now um so maybe ask me in a year and maybe I'll have better answers I feel like the show obviously it focuses a lot on themes of motherhood and female like experience but then it also has themes of fatherhood or I guess husband Hood in some cases um what do you think it has to say about the like themes like male experience kind of themes I think it's interesting because um it it it uh you know it's told from so many different perspectives and in my case David you know he's going for a midlife crisis I think his past trauma has suddenly reared its ugly head and he sort of question himself his life who he is I think you know um it's uh he's human he's flawed he's he's he's going through it and I think um it's very easy to judge or point fingers and say someone does something wrong but sometimes you have to go a little deeper and find out why they're doing it or what's happened what is the past and I I I I that's what I love about the show I think it really digs very deep into all of these characters and it really sort of tells you why they are the way they are and how they are so yeah it's amazing I think everybody deals with trauma and tragedy in a in a different way both male and female and I think the Brilliance of this show is each individual has their own personal perspective and when coming together it it causes is for such a a nuanced and complex situation of of relationships and I really TR truly feel that it is like a universal sense of humanity right on all different levels and in different aspects so when audiences are watching both men women everything across the board it's so incredibly relatable because those themes are so Universal I just wanted to let you know your director's Round Table is on at my apartment every month we have like a month through rewatch of it me and my roommate and I was wondering what shooting in Hong Kong was like and I know it was a bigger budget than the farewell but I know you said there was kind of the scrappiness that you had on the farewell shoe and I was wondering if it was similar it re yeah you know I I can't work from a place where um I'm not agile you know I think that that's just like how what I'm used to and and so obviously on this production we had a lot more resources for things that I couldn't even Dream Of on the farewell you know we have an a whole episode where there's a typhoon taking place and so we had rain machines we had wind machines and so it was incredible getting to have these resources and portray you know the stories on a much larger scale but at the same time um we were just on the ground in Hong Kong during a really difficult time and a lot of people who would normally come from the studio and you know producers and things like that didn't come because you have to do a 21-day quarantine and so those of us who did the quarantine and were there together were like oh here comes another real typhoon what do we do now like you can't actually shoot a typhoon in a typhoon it turns out at first we were like great let's go film it and we're like no that's not safe you can't go out there and it's you know Sunny now but we need it to be raining in the movie or in the show so um and it was the same team you know like I brought the team from the farewell um my cinematographer my production designer and so and my producer as well and me often we were like wait how do we do this you know we've never done anything of this size and we were like oh that's how this works cool so we were learning as we were going we' never built a a set of this scale before um you know the apartment for the expats were all built on a Sound Stage so don't you ever miss it home I feel like Hong Kong in itself is kind of a character in the story there's a lot of life in it what words you use to describe its like personality I mean I always think vibrant I think vibrant I think flavorful I think um singular I think you know diverse I mean it's such an exciting place I any other words G young you've got them I've got some words um yeah I mean I don't think there's another place on the planet like Hong Kong and that's not an exaggeration at all um it is such an incredible place I think uh architecture I could probably write like essays on and I think the the feeling of structure and compactness in the city um definitely is a large part of the show the idea of like how much space people have to live in um and it's just amazing and I miss it I want to go back soon there's a a lot uh warm exciting fun epic yeah great architecture wonderful people yeah um food yeah it's just an incredible experience I mean it's it's nothing diverse in so many ways it's just it's a really I I found it it was one of the great cities I've ever visited no same I loved every second of being there it wonderful

Channel: Character Media

Views: 7,851

Keywords: Character Media, Asian Americans in Hollywood, AAPI, Asian Celebritites, Asian American Pacific Islander, Representation, Asian Representation, Korea Asian Media, Audrey Magazine, Koream Journal, Unforgettable Gala, UNFO, Acceptance Speech, Awards Speech, Asian Oscars, Asian American Award Show, UNFO 2023, Asian Prom, Expats, Prime Video, Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Lulu Wang, The Farewell, Ji-Young Yoo, Brian Tee, Jack Huston, indie, Hong Kong, Asia, Immigrant, Drama

Id: H3ttnUJoPyo

Length: 13min 18sec (798 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 27 2024