AsiaOne speaks to Archie Kao, Tzi Ma and Diana Lin on their new show Interior Chinatown. They tell us how the show personally connects to them, the fun experiences they had on set and what viewers can look forward to.
The series, which is streaming on Disney+, follows the story of Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang), a background character trapped in a police procedural, trying to find his way into the larger story.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
The series, which is streaming on Disney+, follows the story of Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang), a background character trapped in a police procedural, trying to find his way into the larger story.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00As much as I appreciated my job and my time there,
00:03I kind of always, you know, wished that they would expand
00:07beyond just having me be tech guy.
00:14In Chinatown, nothing ever changes.
00:18Nothing exciting ever happens to me or you or anyone we know.
00:21I feel like I'm a background character in someone else's story.
00:24I'm R.T.K.O.
00:26I play Uncle Wong.
00:27He's the operator of Golden Palace,
00:30which is the central restaurant, I guess, in Chinatown.
00:33And also the boss for Jimmy's character, Willis, and Fatty's character.
00:38And I'm very protective of the community.
00:40Hi, Ma.
00:42And I'm Joe Wu, and Sifu.
00:45And I am the father of Johnny and Willis.
00:49And husband to Lily.
00:52My name's Diane Alin.
00:54And I play Lily Wu.
01:01I spent a great deal of my U.S. career on police procedurals.
01:06I felt a real kinship to Willis's character in that regard.
01:10As much as I appreciated my job and my time there,
01:14I kind of always, you know, wished that they would expand
01:17beyond just having me be tech guy.
01:20I felt personally connected to the character
01:22just because, you know, I kind of wished that I had the opportunity
01:27to play the hero of the narrative, at least at some point.
01:31What connects to me is how diverse it is.
01:36You know, how that show is a show within a show.
01:40I thought that was brilliant.
01:42I thought it crossed genres.
01:45It's visually exciting.
01:47It changes aspect ratios.
01:49All of those things are unique in a show that I have never been involved in.
01:56So I like the fact that it is something that is not exactly reality.
02:02And you need to figure out what is and what isn't.
02:04All of those things are very exciting to be a part of.
02:08I guess for me, probably I do have a similar journey as Lily Wu.
02:14First of all, I was a new migrant.
02:16So I did come to the Western world and speak no English at all
02:23and try to learn the language,
02:27try to find a place in this completely new world
02:32and try to be accepted, try to be successful and hardworking.
02:38And then I start asking, what do I really want?
02:41Is that really something I've done?
02:43It's a right for my community, a right for my family, a right for me.
02:54Something spicy.
02:55I like spicy food.
02:57Ngon nam bin.
02:59Ba chu je.
03:03It's a couple of spicy ones here.
03:09Funny because in the first episode one morning,
03:13we're getting ready to shoot the fight scene.
03:16And Taika Waititi comes out and he's like,
03:18Archie, you have to do the Power Rangers sequence.
03:21Because I was, which really surprised me.
03:23I didn't even know Taika knew who I was or, you know.
03:26And so we filmed some stuff for that.
03:29That would have been a kind of a nice little homage to Power Rangers.
03:33But sadly, it didn't make the final cut.
03:35But that was fun.
03:37It was funny.
03:37But it had been so long since I'd done it that I forgot what the sequence was.
03:41So I'm standing there with one of the stunt guys looking it up on YouTube.
03:46So we and we were both like practicing the sequence.
03:50Yeah, I keep on running into the wall.
03:52That's funny.
03:54I'm kind of funny.
03:56I don't know if I'm going up or down.
03:58I'm always looking for the door.
03:59I said, OK, how do we get out of here?
04:03So it's very, I don't know, it's hard, man.
04:05And a soundstage because it's a pretty complex set, you know.
04:10And it has, you know, all these multi-labeled layers.
04:14And it's, you know, like it was a little hard for me to navigate.
04:19I had this fun memory of like when we shoot the first episode of Taika.
04:26I thought this scene's been cut.
04:28So when I asked Jimmy to bring food to Tai, it was my first scene.
04:34And then my leg supposed to be, you know, had a problem.
04:38That's why you can't see my first scene.
04:40I went upstairs.
04:42Seems like I couldn't walk properly.
04:44And then I was shown, look at my leg.
04:46Look at my leg.
04:47I just suddenly have an idea.
04:49How about you kick your leg?
04:50Like, look at my leg.
04:53And that was fun.
04:54And then you got the camera just walking around you.
04:58And then you just have ideas that let you to play, let you just go for it.
05:02Even for myself, I'm being in the show, like, I still feel like it's layers of an onion.
05:12And I'm still like, oh, I realized I missed that the first time I saw it.
05:16So I would say to the viewership, like, yeah, if you come prepared to invest some attention
05:24energy, you know, it will, I believe, be rewarding.
05:29Because it becomes more poignant.
05:33Oh, expect the unexpected.
05:35Don't take anything for granted.
05:38And if there's a close up of anything, pay attention that there may be something in there
05:42that you might want to know.
05:43I only had the time to watch the one time, but I think I do need to go back to see more
05:49clear what was it.
05:51As audience, it's just so looking forward to see what's happening next after the 10th
05:58episode.
05:59Really, you know, really curious to see how the story goes.