once played 鈥淐hinese Teenager #1.鈥� He's now No. 1 on the call sheet in 鈥淚nterior Chinatown鈥� 鈥� despite playing downtrodden background actor Willis Wu in the new Hulu series.
There鈥檚 no escaping the layers of meta around 鈥淚nterior Chinatown,鈥� an adaptation of that jabs at how Asian American men have been treated by Hollywood 鈥� and in life 鈥� one trope at a time.
鈥淚 feel like I have gone through every single number on the call sheet now,鈥� Yang told The Associated Press. 鈥淎nd I鈥檝e learned from a lot of other great No. 1s, you know? To carry yourself a certain way. It鈥檚 not just about showing up when you work, but it鈥檚 also about leading by example.鈥�
The is told from the view of Willis, a Chinatown restaurant server stuck in a police procedural show whose perspective starts to shift as he looks into the yearslong disappearance of his older brother. The 10-episode season has a mostly Asian cast including Ronny Chieng, Chloe Bennet, Archie Kao and Tzi Ma. There is also plenty of Asian talent behind the scenes, led by Yu, who serves as creator and executive producer.
The episodes are full of nods to cop dramas such as They also evoke scenes from '80s and '90s U.S. action-comedies structured around one of the co-leads being Asian and knowing martial arts 鈥� think 鈥淩ush Hour鈥� and 鈥淢artial Law.鈥� But it wasn't a youth spent watching these movies and shows that inspired Yu's book, which is structured like a screenplay.
鈥淢ore what informed the book was the experiences of my parents, who are immigrants, and of their community and seeing how they and their friends had built lives here, were trying to be Americans, were succeeding at it in a lot of ways, but still were feeling like outsiders 鈥� and wanting to just tell their story,鈥� Yu said.
Taika Waititi, the and two and the first person of M膩ori descent to win an Academy Award, also produces. He's no stranger to promoting underrepresented voices on television, co-creating the Emmy-nominated the first series where every role on and off-screen was held by someone Indigenous. Growing up in New Zealand, he saw similarities in 鈥淚nterior Chinatown鈥� with how Indigenous M膩ori like him were treated even in daily interactions.
鈥淚 remember working in a convenience store and I was always out the back of the convenience store. There were people who got to come in 鈥� and I鈥檇 been working there for six months 鈥� and they went straight to work on the till,鈥� Waititi told The Associated Press. 鈥淥ne of the big draws to me was to be able to be involved in something that highlights those issues.鈥�
The series' episode titles reference different archetypes that have shadowed Asian American actors for decades. These include 鈥渄elivery guy,鈥� 鈥渢ech guy,鈥� 鈥渒ung fu guy鈥� and 鈥淐hinatown expert.鈥� There has been Marvel鈥檚 鈥淪hang-Chi,鈥� the CW鈥檚 鈥淜ung Fu,鈥� and 鈥淲arrior鈥� on Max all have protagonists with martial arts prowess who also deal with personal baggage. All three stories happen to take place in
The show's commentary on stereotyping seems more relevant in a post-coronavirus pandemic era, Ma said.
鈥淚n every major city, you know, the Chinatowns are going through hard times particularly after the pandemic,鈥� Ma said. 鈥淚 hope that people who come to Chinatown realize that Chinatown isn't just a place for you to eat food. It鈥檚 a community.鈥�
Chieng, who plays curmudgeonly restaurant server Fatty Choi, memorably stuck up for Chinatowns everywhere in 2016 when he used his 鈥淒aily Show鈥� gig to put Fox 撸奶社区鈥� Jesse Watters on blast for a racist segment about Manhattan鈥檚 Chinatown. (The Malaysian-born comedian says that takedown helped get him his part in alongside Yang. Unlike the characters in 鈥淚nterior Chinatown,鈥� he says, he has since been very fortunate. In fact, he didn鈥檛 even have to read for Yu and other producers.)
A third of 鈥淚nterior Chinatown's鈥� main cast has been in projects set in a Chinatown, which Yu says affirms the story's examination of how Hollywood limits the range of roles available to Asian Americans.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to look too far down the IMDb listings of some of our cast who are really successful actors, but a few years ago could have easily been 鈥� you know, Jimmy likes to still tell the story of how he was 鈥楥hinese Teenager (#1)鈥� on Chloe鈥檚 show, 鈥楢gents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,鈥� which is 10 years ago,鈥� Yu said.
has spoken out before about struggling to be considered for roles when she used her actual surname, Wang. For so long, Bennet felt like her whiteness was what people saw at work and her 鈥溾�楢sian-ness鈥� was always reserved for home,鈥� the former star told the AP. So, just walking onto the 鈥淚nterior Chinatown鈥� set was emotional.
鈥淚鈥檓 viewed as white and so I鈥檝e never really been a part of something where being Asian was so much at the forefront on and off-screen,鈥� Bennet said. 鈥淎nd so being surrounded by our incredible crew, who was also very diverse, was something I didn鈥檛 realize I鈥檇 seen and that it was the immediate power of representation. I felt so much more comfortable.鈥�
Yang, though, was too embarrassed to tell his frequent scene partner about his nameless part on her show.
鈥淭he journey that Willis was going through was the journey that I went through. I just have to zoom back 10 years,鈥� said 鈥淚 had a phase where I was fighting for the same kind of roles. ... Even I had to fight to get Chinese Teenager #1.鈥�
Terry Tang, The Associated Press
