The Movie Couple had the pleasure of sitting down with writer/director Sean Wang and actor Izaac Wang (Raya and the Last Dragon) of Focus Features’ “Dìdi (弟弟), to talk about what it was to bring a very personal story to life.
Set in 2008, the movie follows Chris Wang (Izaac Wang), a 13-year-old Taiwanese American teenager, during his last summer before high school while learning about friendship, his first crush, and his relationship with his family. The film also stars Joan Chen as Chris’ mom Chungsing Wang, Shirley Chen and Chris’ sister Vivian, Chung Li Hua as Nai Nai, Mahaela Park as Madi, Raul Dial as Fahad, Aaron Chang as Soup, and Chiron Cillia Denk as Donovan.
The Inspiration Behind The Movie
Direct Sean Wang drew inspiration from the films like Stand By Me, The 400 Blows, and Ratcatcher, “I’ve always been, for whatever reason, really affected by movies about youth and adolescence,” says Wang. “As I got older and became a filmmaker myself and had the confidence to tell more personal stories, I realized all the movies like Stand By Me or Sandlot, they never starred people who looked or talked, or felt like like me and my friends.” Wang felt there was a gap in the movie literacy in not just the demographic of actors starring in the films, but the 2000s era of early MySpace, Facebook, and AIM, that it felt ripe to mine and contribute to.
Izaac Wang Didn’t Initally Like The Script
“It’s true, I actually didn’t like the script,” says Izaac Wang. It wasn’t due to Sean’s writing, but rather beacause Izaac didn’t like the character itself. “In my own selfish opinion, this character isn’t really like me.” Over time, as he studied the script, the actor realized the character was good and well-written, and eventually enjoying the character than more he initally did. “I didn’t know how to be this character becuase I wasn’t forcing myself to be vulernable enough and put myself in their position.”
Izaac Wang also got to work with Joan Chen, who plays Chris’ mom Chungsing. Sean Wang perfectly captured the difficult position she is in within the family dynamic – having to be the perfect daughter-in-law, facing the constant pressure of her son being measures up to her friends’ kids, while being an understanding mom to a teenager.
Sean also took care to not model Chen’s character after a sterotypical “tiger mom” or Chris being a incredible model child with perfect grades. Instead, the conflict lays in the inability the pair has to understand each other due to the immagration, cultural, and generational gap.
