I dont task myself with changing minds or being understood anymore.
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Youre not really supposed to notice Hong Chau in the first season ofHomecominguntil its too late.
In the second season, she becomes the protagonist scaling the corporate ladderthe anti-hero of her own story.
Casting Chau was always a longer play for the show.
Shes supposed to be overlooked, not just by the characters but by the viewer.
Her arc over the two seasons ofHomecominghas paralleled her rise as a performer.
By Chaus own estimation, her career has been slow and incremental.
you’re able to never tell what shes thinking, adds Lindelof.But you know sheisthinking constantly.
That sense of mystery is present talking to Chau herself.
We recently spoke on the phone for about an hour, during which she answered questions slowly and carefully.
Anything more would need to happen over email.
When I sent a handful of follow-up questions, she responded with a nine-page, single-spaced Word document.
What appeared to be a disinterest in sharing private thoughts was more an exercise in keeping distance from journalists.
It was a bit of Hollywood sleight of hand.
That is not who I am.
It was just feeling people were underwhelmed and disappointed.
I told my manager, Youve got to stop pitching me as that!
The review lingered like a fart in an elevator.
The character now had to answer for deeper issues around representation and stereotypes.
Chau experienced a profound dissonance between the character she had created and this reaction.
I can laugh about it now, how differently the characters were received.
But at the time, peoples inability to embrace both really hurt, says Chau.
Here comes my girl Ngoc Lan Tran hobbling in.
At first glance, she seems like a breathtaking smorgasbord of everything youdontwant an Asian character to be.
It was like watching the newer generation leave their embarrassing elders behind to go off with their new friends.
The fact that the movie tanked didnt help anyone connected with the film, Payne tells me.
She focused on projects that moved her.
Chau fielded offers to be in more mainstream projects, including a big comic-book movie.
She turned it down.
(A few days later, the role went to a white actress.
They move on quickly, she remarks.)
Yeah, a little bit.
But the sting wasnt because I wish I had been in those classy projects.
I just wanted the scrappy ones to take off.
Chau is possessive of her characters and prefers to sit with them alone.
Directors, the good ones, dont want to hold an actors hand, she says.
Theyre looking for an independent artist who can bring a lot to the table.
The more hands off somebody can be with me, the better.
During filming, she releases them from that internal compression, like a diamond made manifest.
OnWatchmen,she advocated for specific choices around the look of Lady Trieu, whose master plan involves omnipotence.
Chau naturally has bellybutton-length hair, perfect for the earthy Lady Trieu the creative team had pictured.
But she imagined her character with a helmetlike cut and frosty makeup.
I wanted her to be a diva, she says.
They were taken aback, she recalls, but acquiesced with some minor adjustments.
To complete the ensemble, Chau requested gloves.
I liked the idea that we never see her hands, she says.
When Lindelof asked why, she responded, Just because.
By the finale, a loose character thread was nagging at Chau.
Lady Trieu notes early in the show that she built a sprawling vivarium for her mother.
I wanted that to mean something, Chau says.
I wanted a symbol to bring everything back to her mother and country.
She decided she should wear akhan dong, a Vietnamese headpiece, as a tribute to her mom.
Most people wouldnt get it, but Vietnamese people would, she adds.
Chau argued for its significance in a three-page letter to Lindelof.
The hat was in.
Still, maybe all her character needed was more screen time.
(There were, for instance, no Vietnamese-American or Asian-American writers in the room.)
Chau hadnt read the piece and dismissed the critique.
I dont know if thats valid criticism, she says.
I felt serviced in that way.
Because I think were just people.
Okay, but … thats notmyproblem.
I grew up in Louisiana.
I guarantee you racists dont need a movie to remind them to be racist.
Why do I have to be concerned about what the dumbest person in the audience thinks?
Should my parents be afraid to go outside?
Should they hide behind their children who speak the good English?
Am I supposed to be afraid someone, somewhere might make fun of me?Christ Almighty…
I often want to shake people and shout,Stop caring so much what white people think!
Besides, Chau has moved past trying to explain herself.
I dont task myself with changing minds or being understood anymore, she says.
She isnt trying to score points online and thinks obsessing over media representation is a pretty bourgeois activity.
she asks, her mind still onDownsizing.
They dont write think pieces about representation.
They dont spend hours on social media talking about how they dont feel seen.
Weve covered it all.
