“I feel that there are narratives of the Filipino experience that tend to get told a lot. I think those are important, but I think especially for this season, we are really trying to dive a little bit deeper. It’s not just about being a Filipino person, it’s really about being a person and finding your place in the world.”
Sean talks about how he landed the role as Kazuda, his thoughts about being the first Asian American lead in “Star Wars,” and on working with actor Tzi Ma.
“The group of us that came up together from Daniel Dae Kim, Brian Tee, Ian Anthony Dale to Ron Yuan did our damndest to make these “stereotypical” characters come to life.” – Will Yun Lee
“I make these films so that people like us are visible. People who are generally on the margins of the frame or in the background or the side characters – I try to put them in the center of the frame, and then build the story around them to be as mainstream as possible and as universal as possible.” – Gurinder Chadha
“Ethnicity or race is not a genre. Being Asian American is no different from having a story about a white family or any other family, and I think that it shows that as a community, we can tell all kinds of stories of in all different genres.” – Lulu Wang
Braly talks about how the works of Nick Park and Hayao Miyazaki have inspired him, how childhood trips to Bangkok served as the inspiration for the show, the importance of having a Thai American as the lead character, and how Song played a big role in developing her character.
“It’s not so much a message I want people to live with, it’s a feeling,” Wong said. “A feeling of joy and a feeling of, ‘I want to watch this again.’” – Ali Wong
In a time where a shift in who and what stories appear onscreen is happening, Bloom feels optimistic in that the industry is getting there.
Melton talks about what it was like to be the male romantic lead, what it was like to portray an interracial relationship for a mainstream film, and also his thoughts about humanizing the stories of immigrants in this country.
“When it was first published I thought [that] hardly anybody is going to read this book by an unknown Chinese American author about mothers and daughters who have misunderstandings. Who’s going to want to read that? And the answer, after 30 years, is a lot of people.” – Amy Tan
“Making my work at a time where there is just more opportunities for Asian American actors really does help my work because when I’m looking for actors, they’re continuing to work before and after they have worked with me, which contributes to the health of the field.” – Lauren Yee
Francis Jue (M. Butterfly) and Conrad Ricamora (How to Get Away with Murder) talk about the timely show and Asian American storytelling.