By Nick Dang
Following a successful career in music videos, Korean-American director, Joseph Kahn, is finally taking on the multiplexes.
See here for the full transcript (http: //www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=8631)
By any standard, Joseph Kahn is a successful director. But as a Korean-American, Kahn is part of a small but growing minority of hugely successful Asian-Americans in Hollywood. At 31, his filmography already includes videos for such musical heavyweights as Britney Spears, DMX, and Eminem, among a plethora of others. He has won a Grammy in addition to numerous MTV Music Video Awards.
This month, Kahn celebrates yet another career milestone with the release of his feature-length, directorial debut, Torque. Kahn adamantly denies accusations that his movie is another The Fast and the Furious knock-off. “I'm not a big fan of The Fast and the Furious…or any of those types of movies. The only reason that I even took Torque was because I started thinking ‘what if I deliberately made a Roger Corman/Russ Meyer flick…what if I did a movie that kind of celebrated the B movie appeal of these things?'”
Indeed, this self-awareness has contributed greatly to his reputation as a dynamic and consummate pro. He adds, “When you look at Torque, this is me specifically saying that I'm going to make a comic book biker movie that is tongue and cheek, ironic, and kind of winks at you with a lot of visual gags.” In a business where pretentiousness is a virtue, Kahn's up-front self-awareness can be refreshing - perhaps something to do with his humble beginnings in Houston, Texas. Having graduated from Jersey Village High School in 1990, Kahn began his directorial career shooting videos for local hip-hop acts. In a few short years he had amassed a videography of over 200 music videos, transforming him into a highly sought-after commodity.
He describes his foray into directing as a fortuitous accident, “I have sweaty hands and I use to draw a lot…it kind of ruined my career as a comic book artist because I just couldn't draw anymore, so I picked up a camera and started taking pictures because then I didn't have to touch anything.” The Asian community is ever grateful for Kahn's failure to discover baby powder. As he notes himself, “When I first started I was like the only (Asian) person I knew. And now I know plenty of people that are Asian and otherwise that are sort of breaking through the industry. A lot of film executives are Asian. A lot of reporters are Asian. We've made a lot of progress over the last 13 years. For me, even the certain dynamic of Asians being accepted as cool has changed.”
While Asians as “cool” is somewhat of a novel concept in American pop-culture, Kahn along with the likes of Chad Hugo, Margaret Cho, and Justin Lin are changing the way America views Asians. But perhaps more importantly, they're changing the way Asians view themselves. Onward Asian-Am soldier...
Joseph Khan has directed music videos for:
Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Eminem, U2, Moby, Ice Cube, DMX, Backstreet Boys, Brandy, Enrique Iglesias, Monica, and Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sisqo and Foxxy Brown.
www2.warnerbros.com/torque/ (http: //www2.warnerbros.com/torque/)
Published: Friday, February 20, 2004
