“Dìdi” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it received positive reviews and won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award. Writer and director Sean Wang and stars Izaac Wang & Joan Chen were all kind enough to spend some time talking with us about their experiences making the personal coming-of-age story, which you can listen to, read, or watch below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is now playing in theaters from Focus Features. Thank you, and enjoy!
Thank you so much for listening. The Next Best Picture Podcast is proud to be a part of the Evergreen Podcasts Network. You can subscribe to us anywhere you listen to podcasts or listen in the embedded player below. Please take a moment to review us on Apple Podcasts here. And if you’re feeling generous, you enjoy what you hear, and you want to hear more, please help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, and you’ll receive some exclusive podcast content from us.
*These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.*
Is there anyone having a better year than Sean Wang? This January, his short film, “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short. Days after the nomination, Wang’s debut feature film, “Dìdi,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. For Wang, “Dìdi’s” premiere was “exhilarating.” Adding, “the most nerve-wracking thing of my life.”
His Oscar-nominated short and feature share DNA: They’re both deeply personal reflections on his family and upbringing. “Dìdi” explores the coming-of-age of Chris (Izaac Wang), a 13-year-old kid trying to fit in while balancing a complicated relationship with his mother (Joan Chen). The power of Wang’s film is in its naturalism and relatability, something he worked hard to preserve on set. “It just felt like a real family,” Wang describes. He says we wanted the set to feel “communal,” as though “everybody could just hang out with one another, and it could feel like family summer camp.”
While “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” is a documentary, there’s a bit more fiction within “Dìdi.” “It’s a little bit nebulous,“ Wang says of the difference between him and “Dìdi’s“ main character. “Chris, to me, is a character. Obviously, I’m pulling from very lived and real things. But what he goes through…the emotions are similar to the things I felt, but they’re kind of their ownversion.“ As much as Chris is a fictional character, the experiences are rooted in the painful truths of awkward adolescence in the year 2008, complete with MySpace and AOL Instant Messenger.
In a recent conversation with Next Best Picture, Wang discusses the making of “Dìdi,“ including some of the input he received from other established filmmakers.
SEAN WANG: Daniel! Good to see you again.
NEX BEST PICTURE: Yeah, you as well, Sean. I appreciate your time and I’m excited to talk about “Dìdi.”
Of course.
First and foremost, I was rewatching the movie, taking notes, and thinking of things I would ask you. And one of the guys refers to Chris as “Spike Jonze.“ And so I made a note of that to ask you. Then I watched the credits and discovered that Spike Jonze was actually in this movie. We have to start there. How in the world did that happen?
Well, it’s one of my favorite things about the movie, even though it’s such a minor cameo. Spike’s DNA is in the thread of this movie. His work has had such a big influence on me. Obviously, there’s a direct namedrop in the movie, but I had the really good fortune of getting connected with him during our first week of post-production. We kind of just hit it off. It felt like meeting a friend. He was so unassuming. We just really talked as filmmakers and talked about the process. He had seen a short that I had made that was also a little embarrassing because there was a photo of me in it, and there was a speech bubble drawn on it that said, “I love you, Spike Jonze.”
And he was like, I love the short. He was asking me questions about it. And I was like, “Did you see the shout-out?“ He was like, “I did, I did. I was very flattered.“ And I was like, this is so embarrassing. But it was a really, really lovely conversation. They say, “Don’t meet your heroes,” but that was awesome. It gave me this energy going into post[-production]. He didn’t give me any advice, but I just went away really energized. He was like, “happy to watch a rough cut, if you like, just as an extra eye or whatever you need.”
Obviously, he’s a very busy man. While we were editing, we had that cameo. It was my voice for a long time. And I was like, “I think Spike would be amazing for this,“ because he’s always in these little movies and small cameos. He did say to reach out after all. So I texted his assistant, like, “Hey, we have this voice role. You think Spike would be down to do it?“And she said, “Let me ask.“ And he said, “I’d love to.”
I didn’t remember that from the first time I watched it back at Sundance. Was it in there in that cut?
Actually, no. We recorded it before Sundance, but it was too late to put it in the cut that we had delivered to Sundance. After we sold the movie, we knew we were going to have to reopen it anyway to mess with the credits and stuff, so we slotted it in. But it wasn’t in the Sundance cut, actually, but in every subsequent screening, it was.
Did you make any other tweaks to the film after Sundance?
No. Nothing creative, at least. Maybe a couple of minor clearance things that we tweaked and the credits. But the cut that we screened at Sundance is the cut of the movie. Minus Spike.
You’ve hinted elsewhere that there are a lot of similarities between you and the character of Chris, but also that this is a fictional film. Where does your story end and Chris’s story begin? How much daylight is there between you two?
You know, it’s a little bit nebulous. I don’t even really know. I just know that somewhere along the line, I disappear, and it really is Chris. That’s what I love about movies that are inspired by the filmmaker’s life in some capacity, when you, as the audience member, know that this is coming from a personal, true place. “Lady Bird,” “Beginners,“ movies like that. I like that feeling of, oh yeah, when does Greta [Gerwig] end and Lady Bird begin? And to me, those movies don’t feel self-aggrandizing. They feel like great movies, character-driven and story-driven.
So, that doesn’t necessarily answer your question, but I do think that was the hope. Chris, to me, is a character. Obviously, I’m pulling from very lived and real things. But what he goes through – the emotions are similar to the things I felt, but they’re kind of their own version.
It helps that you have an incredible cast. Izaac (Wang) is amazing. He’s got plenty of credits to his name, but this is his first leading role. Tell me about finding Izaac and how you found your stride in directing him here.
I wish I had a better story. He, out of everybody, has had acting experience. So, we posted the casting call, and he submitted an audition tape. And from the very beginning, we were kind of like, “Okay, he’s definitely like a top contender.“ He was like one of the first kids we saw, and it’s a pretty perfect match. But we did our due diligence, and wewanted to flip every stone. And in a way, throughout the entire process, Izaac was sort of like, I don’t want to say the kid to beat, but it was kind of like, “Are we really going to find the kid who’s perfect for this role on day one?“ That seems too good to be true.
But with that being said, Izaac wasn’t just perfect for the character when he walked in. We really did a lot of crafting and shaping and working together to find the version of Chris that he ultimately puts onscreen. It is a performance. It’s not just “Izaac is Chris,“ and I could just go roll cameras. There was a really deep craft there for him. So, when I see the movie, I’m just so proud of Izaac because I know he put in the work.
Tell me more about that work. I’m curious about that shaping and how you were able to help him discover this character and find his performance.
I think it was just really, really, really long, deep conversations about the character. Where Izaac and Chris really differ, to me at least – Izaac might feel differently – but Izaac is much more charismatic and confident. He’s like the coolest dude in his friend group. He bikes. He has this swagger and charisma.
He is a really good actor. Like, he has comedic improv chops that are so, so good. I would always improv with the actors. And I think that was sort of Izaac’s go-to state. When we first met, he was too cool, you know? And the thing with Chris is that he’s not not cool, but he comes from this place of deep insecurity and everything has to build on top of that.
And it was really about Izaac knowing that he could get there, to have the acting chops to improv and make it funny; make it angsty. But to shed all of that machismo confidence into something that was more of a fake confidence that Chris has. Whereas Izaac, in the beginning, was this kid who knew how to navigate social situations. He walks into a room, and he’s cool. We had to just kind of get him to a place of building on top of this deep vulnerability and this deep insecurity and this deep need to belong, then we’re good.
That was months of just chipping away and sending him a backstory and sending him shorts. Then we did the Sundance Director’s Lab and talked really, really, really in-depth about the character and experiences that I went through, and experiences that he could find to relate to the character. And ultimately, I think we got there.
He’s incredible in the movie. I can’t wait to see more from him. And then, of course, you also have Joan Chen. What a get that is. What was it like bringing her on board?
I’m the luckiest director in the world to have Joan Chen in my first movie, and she helped also set the environment that I really wanted and I think I needed for this movie. It needed to be a set that could feel carefree, fun, and like summer camp. Sometimes, you can have an A-lister on set, and it changes the vibe, right? It could have been that, with whoever we cast in that role, but Joan brought such warmth, generosity, and selflessness to not just the role but the set.
She and her daughter would come to set every day, too, and hang out with Shirley (Chen), and they became friends. Joan would do origami with my grandma (Chang Li Hua). It just felt like a real family. It felt really familial and communal. It helped expand that ethos I really wanted to have, which was that everybody could just hang out with one another, and it could feel like a family summer camp.
And that’s just in addition to her being both a grand movie star and a grounded immigrant mom. Those two worlds reallycome together for her in this movie. It was kind of similar to the character in her; the character was already pretty much there. By the time we got to set, she was just so good. But it was a little bit of chiseling away the glamor and swinging the pendulum just a little bit more towards an assimilated immigrant mom because she has both sides of the coin. It was just like, let’s tip it this way a little bit more than this way.
You’ve talked about working on this screenplay for a long time and going through the Sundance Labs. What was the greatest piece of advice you received in the making of this movie?
Oh, so many. This movie was really shaped by dozens and hundreds of people who gave me such good advice over the course of years. You know, I’ve said a lot over other interviews, but one thing I haven’t said was that one of the screenwriting lab mentors I had was Eliza Hittman. The naturalism in her movies is unparalleled.
She and I talked a lot about the difference between embarrassment and shame, and knowing that the theme of our movie is really shame. But we just kind of drilled in on that sort of slight difference. There are so many scenes in the movie where Chris feels embarrassed, and then there are moments where he feels shame, which is really the thing that sticks with you that then manifests into anger or sadness or loneliness.
In the version of the movie that we shot before meeting with her, there weren’t as many scenes of Chris just by himself.Normally, I think you end up lifting scenes between scenes. But she was like, “I feel like there’s always a scene inbetween some scenes. I want to know what he’s like and what he’s thinking when he’s by himself.“
And that really opened up a lot of the scenes in the movie. There’s a scene where he’s just lying in bed when he comes home, and his sister yells at him that he’s not doing anything. He’s just lying there thinking, and that was an Eliza Hittman result. The How To Kiss scene was a result of an Eliza Hittman note. So that was good advice that really brought a lot of heart to the script.
Focus Features picked this up out of Sundance, an incredible home for the movie. I don’t know what offers you received coming out of Sundance, but I’m imagining some streamers were also in the mix. Was a theatrical release a sticking point for you in your deal?
It was. There’s a longer story here that we can talk about next time. That is a fun story, but it was always that we had to take the bet on theatrical. Yeah.
And what was it like to watch this movie with a crowd for the first time?
Exhilarating and the most nerve-wracking thing of my life.
That’s awesome. Well, Sean, again, I love the movie so much. I really appreciate you talking with me again. Best of luck!
Awesome. Thanks, Daniel. See you next time.
Izaac Wang may only be 16, but he has a pretty solid resume underneath him. With voice roles in projects like “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” to live-action roles in “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and “Good Boys,” he’s been working consistently for a few years. Now comes his first-ever leading role in “Dìdi,“ which pulled him out of his comfort zone a bit. “This is my first time doing something mostly focused on a dramatic aspect. So, I was originally kind of scared,“ Wang says.
In “Dìdi,“ Wang plays Chris, a 13-year-old kid, during the summer before freshman year. He’s trying to find his place and his people, while more than occasionally taking his anger out on his mother (Joan Chen) and sister (Shirley Chen). “He wants to fit in. He doesn’t feel like he belongs,“ Wang explains, “He’s having a kind of identity crisis, you know? And that’s something that literally everyone else can relate to.“ Relatability is certainly the strength of the film, taking a hyper-specific setting – following the son of Chinese immigrants in the Bay Area in 2008 – and touching on the universal insecurities we’ve all felt in our lives.
While “Dìdi“ is Wang’s first leading role, it’s also the first feature for writer & director Sean Wang, though you wouldn’t know it from the cast’s description. “The whole vibe of the shoot really…it didn’t really feel like it was work, you know? It felt like it was just us having fun while also working at the same time,“ Wang says. The energy on set has paid off. “Dìdi“ received raves after its Sundance premiere last January, even winning the Audience Award. Recalling the first time he watched the film with a crowd, Wang laughs, “That was crazy. It was also mad embarrassing. Like, people staring at my face for two hours straight, basically.“ Embarrassing as it may have been, he’s still taking time to cherish this amazing opportunity. “I feel like that’s an experience that very few people get to feel in this world. So, I’m grateful for that.”
In a recent conversation with Next Best Picture, Wang talked about using body language to communicate the challenging emotions in “Dìdi“ and the pieces of 2008 technology he wishes we still used today.
NEXT BEST PICTURE: Izaac, how are you doing, man?
IZAAC WANG: Doing well. How are you?
I’m doing good. I really appreciate your time. Let’s start at the beginning. Obviously, you are not a newcomer to the industry by any means, but this is your first leading role. What was the audition process like, and what were your first impressions of the script?
The audition was really like any other audition. I just got sent in by my manager. And then when I actually got to read the script and the character breakdown and all that stuff, I kind of had this moment of realization that I was just like, “Man, this is going to be a hard and very difficult character to play.” It’s something that I’ve never done before. It’s out of my area of expertise because most of the time in my acting career, I’ve played comedic characters, mostly. I guess in voiceover…yeah, it’s still mostly comedic.
This is my first time doing something mostly focused on a dramatic aspect. So, I was originally kind of scared. I was nervous. I didn’t really know how to approach this role. But through enough callbacks and testing, and even the Sundance Labs with Sean [Wang], I eventually got this character down, and I came to enjoy it a lot more towards the actual making of the movie.
Are there ways that you saw yourself in Chris?
Yeah, of course. I think the number one thing is that this movie is aiming towards relatability. Chris is a teenager, and most people have been a teenager once in their life. What Sean really tried to snipe with, and what I think is relatable for not just me but for everyone, is that this kid’s insecure.
He wants to fit in. He doesn’t feel like he belongs. He feels like he’s not comfortable. He’s having a kind of identity crisis, you know? And that’s something that literally everyone else can relate to. And that’s the number one most important thing about this movie: It’s relatable – especially Chris’s character.
I just spoke with Sean a little bit ago, and he was talking about the environment that he wanted to create on set. He described it as a summer camp – very familial and carefree. What was your experience with the environment that he created?
Incredible, really. It was just honestly incredible. The whole vibe of the shoot really…it didn’t really feel like it was work, you know? It felt like it was just us having fun while also working at the same time. I think the best thing about working is if you can have fun, right?
If you’re just working to work, I mean, it’s no good. I don’t think that’s an enjoyable experience. But if you’re working and having fun while doing it, which is what Sean accomplished, it helps with the whole vibe of the crew, the cast, and everyone there.
And it just makes the movie better. It makes everyone’s whole mood better, which improves acting as well.
Tell me more about working with Sean. Was there any specific piece of direction that you can remember that really helped unlock the character for you?
I definitely think that throughout the character breakdowns and all the talking that me and Sean went through, the conclusion that we both came to is that we want this character to be organic, to feel real and to feel grounded.
A direction he gave me a lot of the time – I make fun of him for it because he gave it to me all the time – is to act like you’ve just been betrayed in the scene by someone who’s important to you, like your closest friend or someone like that. It was super important, and it helped me a lot.
Yeah, so much of Chris is internal. There are so many sequences where you don’t necessarily have lines and you’re acting without dialogue. How did you prepare for some of those internal scenes, and communicating with just your body?
I think the most important thing in those silent scenes was the eyes. Body language is important as well, but Sean really liked focusing on our eyes. Or the quick glances that we made to the side or little looks that we had. It would mean something, where there was distress or anger or angst or sadness or awkwardness even. Those are the little looks that we gave. And it wasn’t just me either. It was people like Shirley [Chen]. It was Joan [Chen]. It was even Nǎi Nai (Chang Li Hua). Looks like those he included to make it actually feel real. Even though dialogue is very important, body language is also essential.
Absolutely. And as incredible as those dramatic scenes are, there’s plenty of this movie that’s just hilarious and ridiculous. I loved the skate footage. How much of that skate footage did you actually shoot? Did Sean give you a camera for those moments?
Not a lot, to be honest. Sean filmed most of the skate footage, which is actually really funny, but there is some skate footage that I filmed. There’s the scene where Chiron [Denk], who plays Donovan, dodges the security guard. That’s what I filmed, and I forcefully had to make it look bad. Maybe it’s not a good rep for me as a filmmaker.
There’s other smaller stuff that I filmed, you know. I mean, I can’t really place it specifically, but there were scenes where he was just like, “Alright, Izaac, take the camera and then just go film.“ And I was like, “Alright. What am I doing?“ And he was like, “Just film it.“ But a lot of the stuff where you don’t see me specifically on tape is what actually Sean was filming.
The movie takes place in 2008. You’ve got all the hilarious technology from back then: AOL Instant Messenger, Myspace, flip phones, and all that. You were quite young in 2008. Are there any of those pieces of technology that you wish we still had as you were playing around with them for the movie?
Oh, man. Maybe this is just me, but I feel like there’s really no way to modernize camcorders, you know? There’s just this look, and this aesthetic to camcorders that you just can’t make better. Like, the higher resolution it is on the camcorder, the less like a camcorder it feels.
Myspace is also super sick. Like, having basically your whole personality on there is pretty cool. And I guess you could say it’s the same thing for things like Instagram, but I also would say that it’s not the same because Myspace basicallyforced you to talk more about yourself and share your favorite song, and images about yourself. Now Instagram profiles are private and sometimes all you get is just a profile picture and a little bio. If you click on some random profile, you don’t get to learn about that person, especially if it’s private. But I think the coolest piece of technology that I would like to come back is light-up sneakers because I think they’re pretty cool.
In “Dìdi,“ Chris hasn’t seen very many movies. There are a few times when he’s getting quizzed on movies that he hasn’t seen. I’m curious if Sean gave you a list of movies to watch before production.
No, actually. And I think maybe that was on purpose, just so that I didn’t know anything. And to be completely honest with you, I’m actually not a big movie-watcher myself. I really only watch movies if my family says, “Okay, we’re actually having a movie night tonight.“ I just stay in my room and play games, and they’re like, “No, get out of your room.“
Yeah. I live mostly under a rock. I think I need to fix that because I know nothing about pop culture. But yeah, Sean gave me no list of movies to watch, and that’s probably on purpose.
What was it like watching “Dìdi“ with a crowd for the first time? You were at Sundance, I believe, right?
Yeah, that was crazy. It was also mad embarrassing. Like, people staring at my face for two hours straight. So, that was awkward. I mean, other than that, it’s super, super, super awesome. The fact that people really do love this movie and that it’s becoming this whole huge thing, and it’s literally going to be released nationwide at some point. That’s cool. You know? And like, I feel like that’s an experience that very few people get to feel in this world. So, I’m grateful for that.
Absolutely. I’m very excited for more people to see this in theaters specifically. And with this being your first leading role, what did you learn in making this movie that you’ll take into future roles?
Always learn the names of everyone on set. That’s super important. Get close to everyone. Learn their names. You can’t just call people “Camera Guy One“ and “Camera Guy Two.”
That’s great advice. Well, Izaac, I can’t wait for more people to see this. I love your performance and the movie so much.
Appreciate it. Thanks again.
Sean Wang’s coming-of-age new film “Dìdi” follows Chris (Izaac Wang), a 13-year-old kid in the Bay Area trying to navigate the waters of what’s cool in 2008. Like many teenagers, his insecurities lead him to lash out at his mom, Chungsing, played by Joan Chen. “The script was every bit of my own experience,” Chen says of what drew her to “Dìdi.” “I wanted to express that side that I had never really had a chance to: My experience of being a mother, an immigrant mother who raised two American children.”
Despite Chris’s tendency to scream at his mother, Chungsing keeps most of her feelings inside, rarely letting her anger or pain bubble to the surface. Thanks to a beautifully balanced performance from Chen, the desire for a relationship with her son is ever-present, even as she reflects on the ways her life could’ve been different. It’s a struggle Chen knows all toowell, as she raised her two daughters born in America. “Being an immigrant raising American kids, the relationship is also fraught with cultural chasm. We don’t feel certain of the ground we’re standing on,“ she reflects. “That is my own experience and feeling. And that’s also what’s in the script.”
“Dìdi“ premiered to critical acclaim and an Audience Award at Sundance, but Chen’s performance also received rave reviews. According to Chen, her daughters have taken note of the acclaim. “They were like, ‘Oh, mother, I think you’re going to have a renaissance or something,‘” Chen laughs. “Never before had they even cared about anything in my career. That was very interesting.” It’s a response that could’ve been taken right from the film itself.
In a recent conversation with Next Best Picture, Chen talked about the making of “Dìdi“ and how director Sean Wang’s “decisiveness“ helped Chen’s performance shine even brighter.
NEXT BEST PICTURE: Hi Joan, this is Daniel from Next Best Picture. It is such a pleasure to talk with you today.
JOAN CHEN: Thank you! Good to talk to you, Daniel.
You have worked with some of the greatest directors of all time – and you’re a phenomenal director yourself. With this being Sean Wang’s first feature as a director, what gave you the confidence in him to sign on to this picture?
I didn’t know Sean before I read the script. I was given the script by my manager, along with his really lovely letter, and also a very visionary lookbook. So, I read his letter, I looked at the lookbook, and then I read the script and it was clear that he knew what he was doing.
So, we had a meeting together. It wasn’t that difficult of a decision because the story between the mother and the son in the script was every bit of my own experience. Even though our family was different and had different personalities, this was shown in the mother dynamic. But the core of the truth of that felt so authentic to me. I wanted to express that side that I had never really had a chance to: My experience of being an immigrant mother who raised two American children.
I’d love to hear more about the ways in which you saw yourself in Chungsing, your character.
You know, when a mother raises children, that’s basically the most intimate and loving relationship. But being an immigrant raising American kids, the relationship is also fraught with cultural chasm. We don’t feel certain of the ground we’re standing on. And at the same time, once I had my children, I could feel American because they are American. So, they are the roots we put down in America. They mean everything to us.
That is my own experience and feeling, and that’s also what’s in the script. I never had the chance to actually explore that creatively. That was such an important life experience for me, if not the most important life experience, and teaching and learning. So many regrets, so fierce a love. Finally, I had a chance to express that.
And so much of your character is internalized. Even as Chris is terrible to her, she doesn’t want to express what she’s feeling. How did you prepare for such an internalized performance?
I think a lot of it came from knowing Sean’s mom. Later on, after we decided to work together, Sean and I, he gave me a lot of the interviews that he did with his mom just to see her, how she explained her life, and her mannerisms, tone of voice, and way of speech.
That gave me a lot of information, I think, as a mother. She really carried a greater forbearance, patience, and resilience than I had with my teens. That more restrained way is a kind of wisdom. So, as an exercise, I had her record all the lines for me just so that I could hear another voice. I’m not imitating her, but it informed me what the character should be like. To me, emotionally, it was cathartic, but also, in being more like Sean’s mom, it was somewhat redemptive, like I could do again. This gave me an opportunity to be a mother of a teen again, and I’m going to do it differently now.
It was also wonderful that my younger daughter was having her summer vacation from university and spent those months helping out on the set and staying in the same Airbnb with me. So, we got closer because we did have a very dramatic, hard experience during her teens, a lot more than in the film.
She was looking at the monitor, seeing my performance, and she also saw the appreciation of others for my acting. That was something she had never seen before. So, she got to see a different side of me that she otherwise would not have known. It’s like that scene where my character told Chris about her life before he was born, her aspirations in life, and unrealized dreams. I think that really was an opportunity for me. It was one of the best summers that I had with my daughter since adolescence. Yeah, that was special.
That’s amazing. Was it a coincidence that she was off of school, or did you want her there specifically because of this role?
I did want her there. I wanted so badly to be able to spend time with her. But ordinarily, she would want to see her high school friends or do her own things and not spend so much time with me. This was a very meaningful time we spent together. And since then, we have actually become closer. There was a new understanding.
Parents with young children are more utilitarian. Whatever they need from you, you provide it. Your profession means little to them. So, after Sundance, and because my younger daughter was part of the film and her name was in the credits, they paid attention. They were like, “Oh, mother-“ They don’t call me “mom,“ they call me “mother“ now. “Oh, Mother, I think you’re going to have a renaissance or something.“ What? What are you talking about? Never before had they even cared about anything in my career. That was very interesting.
I just spoke with Sean a little bit ago, and he was telling me about the environment he wanted to create on set. He was saying he really wanted this very familial summer camp environment. What was your experience of the way Sean ran the set?
It was a wonderful set. It was a relatively smaller set, and we were often just in his parents’ house in the backyard. The kids were just playing and joking around, and I was spending a lot of time chatting with Sean’s mom and grandma. It was like a summer camp. Although we were serious about our work, but I think the kids had so much fun. That reallycontributed to the fact that the kids looked like real kids onscreen. They looked like real friends, and they were so genuine. And I think that environment contributed to the authenticity and the flavor of the film.
Being with the kids and Sean’s grandma, the nonprofessional actors, also helped me. I knew that I needed to be just as lived in, authentic, and real, and there should be no “performance“ whatsoever. That environment helped us to feel completely like a big family. It was quite wonderful. It was a very young energy on the set. Everybody who worked on the film was very young, fresh, and devoted, like a real family.
As you said, you had an incredible cast alongside you, especially Izaac (Wang), who is just phenomenal. Tell me about working with him in his first leading role.
We felt right into place right after we met. I mean, we did that first scene, the most dramatic scene between us on screen, on the first day. It felt really natural. It’s due to good casting that they put together this family that really had the chemistry. I felt that Izaac and I really had that chemistry that felt so natural. Certain chemistry, even when you spend time trying to build it, if it’s not there, it’s not there. Fortunately for us, it was there, so it wasn’t hard.
Izaac was really a natural. He is a very good actor. And I also spent a lot of time with his parents on set. His mother was always around; his father was sometimes around. And so it was just everybody getting to know each other intimately. It’s not like other sets where you go back into your trailer, and you wait until the second they call you. This was a very family production.
I love the chemistry that you and Izaac have. And of course, the very final shot of the film is just beautiful, where itreally feels like Chris is seeing your character for the first time, seeing his mom for the first time. What did that final moment mean to you?
I love that scene. When it comes down to it, he’s still a kid, and he still needs his mom. She’s still the mom, and for the first time, she knows that he now understands her just a little bit more. He sees me. He knows that I love him again. It was just, like, looking at my own kid and finally getting that understanding from him.
It was very moving for me. I mean, the whole process was so cathartic. And I remember doing that scene; I was just at the table looking at him, and tears just poured down continuously. I couldn’t even stop myself. Finally, we got what we had on the screen, where the emotion was full, and I was not tearing up. And I’m so grateful that Sean chose this take because it’s so much sweeter, gentler, and so restrained.
I think people do mention that my performance is very subtle, nuanced, and restrained. And I think there are times when the feelings just exploded out of me. Sean had the foresight and decisiveness to choose that fabulous take. When I finally saw it on the screen, I was like, “Yeah, he helped me.”
That’s amazing. The moment works incredibly well, and your performance is wonderful. Joan, that’s my time. Again, thank you so much for the film. I truly love it.
Thank you so much.
“DÌDI (弟弟)” is now playing in theaters from Focus Features
You can follow Daniel and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter @howatdk
