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But when he read the story again later, he shelved it.
I just said, This isnt it, man.
This is a B.
Its because I dont have a personal enough connection to it, remembers Yang.
So he started writing again.
The young Pin-Jui lives and romances in Taiwan, before eventually moving to New York City.
It is what Yang calls his fever dream of how he imagines his own fathers immigration story.
The movie is kind of my dream of my fathers dream of his past, says Yang.
Its emphatically not his story in some ways.
Weve been cooking some decent stuff.
Im not a very good cook, but Im learning.
I do feel relatively healthy-ish because maybe Im not eating so many restaurant meals.
You know I love going out to eat.
Its obviously a shame whats happened to all the restaurants and the whole industry.
Are you practicing social distancing right now in Los Angeles?Yeah, 100 percent.
Its basically only leaving to go to the grocery store or go on a walk.
Actually, I take that back.
My dad lives in Pasadena.
To me, thats the person Im most worried about.
Hes obviously a little older and has a preexisting condition.
Yesterday my girlfriend and I went and gave him some hand sanitizer and gloves.
Its so crazy thats what you have to do now.
It was an impediment to fitting in.
It was an impediment to seeming normal.
It just sets you apart.
When youre a little kid, being set apart is not necessarily the thing you want.
Its not necessarily a strength.
That makes you unique.
Its the place my parents grew up.
My sister had gone back many times; in fact, she lived there for a summer.
She took Mandarin in college and could speak it, whereas I couldnt at all.
I just had no interest.
I happened to be in China at the time working on something else.
This must have been about four years ago.
He showed me around.
That was the first time Id been back since I was a kid.
I heard him speak Taiwanese to cab drivers.
I just didnt have any idea about his life.
It was very evocative of my own trip there.
What was it like working with your father on the film?
I told my editor, I was like, Lets just see what happens.
This could be a disaster.
It might not work at all.
But I knew my dad has a deeper sort of timbre.
He has a gravitas to his voice.
He also had a Taiwanese accent.
He was born in Taiwan; he has the real-deal accent.
He really did a good job.
It was really meaningful for me, obviously.
I think its very effective, but it was a meaningful moment for both of us.
Afterward, we were texting at some point.
I was like, Oh, thank you so much.
You didnt have to come in and do that.
Hes like, Oh, no, no.
That was the best moment of my year.
I got to go into a recording booth and read these lines.
My son is the director, and hes directing me how to read stuff.
I couldnt be more proud.
My understanding was thatJohn Cho was supposed to be in the film.
What happened?He definitely shot some stuff with us.
He delivered an amazing performance in the movie.
As happens sometimes in the course of editing, the movie tells you what it wants to be.
I called John basically as soon as I was thinking about making that decision.
He was in Australia filmingCowboy Bebop.
We had a fairly long, meaningful conversation.
He was so supportive and understanding.
Ill always remember that conversation.
He told me that he had a great time working on the movie.
Hes an executive producer in the movie.
I guess thats what killing your darlings means.Yeah.
Its like I said, it happened in the writing process as well.
I did not have a very clear picture.
I did ask him some questions, but I didnt really want it to be word for word.
Its emphatically not his story in some ways.
Its idealized, right?
Obviously, a lot of that is also metaphor.
Ill be totally honest, I dont have a word-for-word history of either my dads or my moms experience.
