By Ada Tseng
Born in Detroit, Jacqueline Kim worked with the Guthrie Theater Company in Minneapolis before moving to Los Angeles, where she has been known both for her theater work (2004 Garland and LA Drama Critics' Circle award for best female lead performance in East West Player's production of Passion), as well as her her television and film roles -- most notably her performance in Eric Byler's Charlotte Sometimes, which she also helped develop and write in the four years that she was attached to the film. Byler is the one who recommended Kim to Georgia Lee when they were looking for strong female lead actors.
In Red Doors, Jacqueline Kim plays Samantha, the oldest out of three sisters. In real life, Kim is the youngest of three sisters. Samantha is the character that is loosely inspired by writer-director Georgia Lee's own experiences. Lee had studied bio-chemistry, worked at McKinsey & Company, was making six figures at 23, enrolled in Business school at Harvard, only to realize she was unhappy, drop out, and make a film. "We were just thinking about someone who was just about to get everything she wanted," say Kim. "Someone succeeding to the degree that her family wanted her to succeed, but then taking a huge left hand turn."
In the film, Samantha is nearing her thirtieth birthday, which makes her not only evaluate her career choice and what she's doing with her life, but also the choice of man that she is engaged to. The pressures of conforming have led her down one path, while her heart might be tempted to follow an old musician flame who might not make much money. But he plays guitar. Enough said. Therefore, Samantha has to wrestle with some consequential head vs. heart decisions, all whilst dealing with two younger sisters, her emotionally overworked mother, and a father who has run off to a monastery as a means of dealing with his panic over retirement.
"I liked that the story was about a family," says Kim. "It's really rare when you're Asian American to be able to do a story about a family."
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Freda Foh Shen (Mrs. Wong) and Jacqueline Kim (Samantha Wong). Photo credit: Larry Kao. |
APA: So what was it like working with Georgia Lee, Mia Riverton and Jane Chen on this project?
Jacqueline Kim: To be honest, it was challenging because we had to get so much work done over a 21 day period. We could usually only do one or two takes, so it was challenging for me. You can't fault the filmmakers for that; that's just what the budget required. But I'm used to more of a meandering research period and taking more time on the set. But what was really great about working with the three of them was that they felt really strongly about their vision, they were completely unified as a team, there was relatively no ego, so they were all wearing different hats. So it was inspiring to see this type of story made for a low budget and knowing that your work and your energy was helping to make it happen.
APA: It's been a long process. The film was shot over two years ago, and now as the film opens, Georgia and Mia seem to be running around promoting Red Doors like crazy. How much are the actors involved in the promotional part of the process?
JK: The actors actually have been involved in a great degree, even to the point of taking posters and putting them up all over town. Calling all our friends. In New York recently, I did 10 Q&As over the weekend. So we're all there with them when we're together.
APA: It must have been validating in New York when you heard about the box office success. Can you tell me about that?
JK: We were all together. It was Sunday night, and we had worked nonstop since Thursday. The box office manager came up to us, and he had written the figure on his hand. And he said something like $20,000 over the weekend. And it didn't mean much to some of us because we didn't understand the number figures or what the expectations were. But Jane, who's usually incredibly quiet - she's the quiet, powerful producer -- she let us know that the prediction, or our hope, was to be at 10-12,000. And that 20,000 was off the charts!
So we were screaming. Mia started dancing. First in the lobby, then outside on the street. And we're Asian, so we took a big picture [laughs]. It was a great, joyous moment, particularly because we didn't have the big bucks behind us, and we didn't have the support of our original distributor. It was great to see so many Asian American people come out. Everybody is relating to it. One man was like, are you sure this isn't a Jewish family? So it's good to know that the story transcends race. I actually think that's one of the most amazing things about our film -- Georgia made it as though an Asian American family is already part of mainstream Hollywood conversation. There's not the normal ghetto-izing thing that says it's only about Asian Americans. To me, it's more about the suburban family in Connecticut.
APA: Do you think it's a struggle to get someone who's not Asian American to want to see a film about Asians?
JK: I don't think so. For example, like City of God. There're these films that have come out in the last few years from countries where we don't even know the culture nor the language nor the people , and if it's made well enough, people will be interested. I'm becoming a filmmaker -- I just made my first short this year and I'm developing a feature -- and I found that the more specific you are, the more people will be connected to the film. I just want to see more films being made by artists of every color. I just want them to be out there.
And I think the assumption sometimes of an Asian American artist is that you make Asian American films, and I think that's been a little bit of a weight for Georgia's project. People talking about the race of the boys and them not being Asian and being angry about that.
APA: Were you surprised by the intense reactions about how there were no Asian guys?
JK: You know it's something we saw that would probably come, but the three guys who were playing the boyfriends are such lovely and varied actors. I think two of them were originally supposed to be Asian American, and we lost them within 24-36 hours of shooting, both for visa issues. But, I personally think -- Georgia's experience was growing up in Connecticut, where I think they were one of three Chinese American families. I grew up in Detroit, where we were one of three Korean American families, so I mean, white boys were just... who you date.
APA: Well, in a way, it's kind of a testament to the characters Georgia wrote, that it didn't matter which race the boys were.
JK: Right. I think anger motivates people to do stuff, so in a way, I think it's cool that people are getting angry about it. But if people are going to get angry about it, the next thing I'd say is, Make it. Make it on your own dime. Make something you want to see yourself. These angry people should be angry at every single mainstream film and television show that exists, you know what I mean? I understand the anger and I think I understand the sentiment behind it, that there isn't much Asian male representation in the media. But that's changing with John Cho and Daniel Dae Kim. And Bobby Lee, who rules. He makes me rethink man completely. He is outrageously crazy and funny. Regardless, the only way you're going to get out there and be known is to make something and you work on your talent. And I think Georgia should get support for what she's done.
As a filmmaker, I know. It's so hard to get a film make. And more than race issues, Georgia's written a piece that has emotional resonance. And it's her first film. Every filmmaker needs to get a few out before they hit their stride. And all this attacking is so negative. And counter-productive.
APA: Can you tell us a bit about the short and the feature you're working on?
JK: I have a short that's premiering in the Hampton's International Film Festival and in Hawaii this month. It's called Present. It's about 11 minutes long. It about slowing down. It's set in the future, and it's about being truly present to somebody. The feature is based on a Shakespeare heroine, and Keisha Castle-Hughes from Whale Rider is attached to star.
Official Red Doors site: http://www.reddoorsthemovie.com
APA interview with the rest of the cast and crew of Red Doors
APA review of Red Doors at 2004 VC Film Festival
APA SFIAAF interview with Georgia Lee