In Conversation: ‘DÌDI (弟弟)’ Star Izaac Wang

by Aayushi A.

Set in 2008, the time of MySpace and AOL, DÌDI (弟弟) follows Chris Wang, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy, during his last summer before high school as he learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom. Chris, played by 16-year-old Izaac Wang, is an everyman—or rather everyboy—awkward and trying to find where he fits in this big and scary world. We talked to Izaac Wang about Chris, the adolescent anxiety of not fitting in, and Asian American cinema.  

Chris Wang is a callback to Sean Wang’s own childhood in Fremont, California, but what does Chris Wang represent to you, Izaac?

To me, he represents my older 13 to 14-year-old self—I guess my younger 13 to 14-year-old self. Chris is also 13, 14 years old. It's kind of funny because at 16, I'm a senior in high school now. So I don't really feel like I relate with Chris at this moment, but back then, the similarities completely lined up. I was way more vulnerable, uncool, unconfident. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life at the time.

It’s been a few years since you were 13, and even more since 2008. Was it tricky getting into this specific mindset? Did you draw inspiration from Sean himself while acting?

Really the only inspiration I drew from Sean is from the script, directions, and advice that he gave me. But relating to Chris is just digging deep and going back to who I was originally as a kid, you know, this not-as-awesome-as-me version of myself.

Were there any specific memories or feelings you would refer back to from when you were younger?

I'd say the feeling of wanting to fit in, especially in my freshman year of high school, was something that was important to me. I was homeschooled all throughout middle school. I didn't know anything, I didn't know any of the trends or what was cool. So I was going into it like my eyes had been closed ever since elementary school. Going from elementary to high school is a big jump.

And middle school is such a tricky time too. 

Exactly. That want to fit in and be like all the other high schoolers is something that Chris feels. He also wants to fit in with everyone else and be cool and popular.

Chris is an aspiring filmmaker, but you are an actor, so you’re in front of the camera, rather than behind. What are the biggest differences in how you handled both perspectives? 

I've always loved filmmaking. I think most people who have tried to be creative have filmed dumb, short films with their friends when they were younger, right? As long as you [were] into cinematography and acting and [wanted] to be a filmmaker? That's also what Chris wants, and I don't think he fully realizes it until towards the end of the movie where it’s like, “Filmmaking is a passion that I have and I want to get better at it.”

And the contrast between filming and acting really isn’t too different. If you're an actor . . . actually, no, I'd say there's a little bit of a difference. If you’re an actor, and if you've watched yourself before, you can also learn camera angles from that as long as you pay close attention. But if you're a filmmaker, and you're watching an actor, it's a little bit more difficult to learn how to act. I know someone who tried to get into acting and then one problem she had was that she couldn't be herself. She was trying to act. But I think it's a hidden secret that acting isn't acting to not be yourself. Acting is just being a different persona of yourself. That's how I see it. 

So, if you don't have that mindset as a filmmaker to try to get into acting, I think that would be a bit more difficult. But also, I can't talk because the short films I make with my friends are so stupid. They're not the best. It’s borderline dumb cinematography, but they’re still fun.

Asian stories in Hollywood often focus on fraught parent-child relationships—for example, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Crazy Rich Asians. But DÌDI takes a different approach: it’s less tiger mom and more comforting mom who wants you to make sure you’re not hungry. Even though Chris and Chungsing don’t always get along, there’s still an undercurrent of sincere love and affection. Do you have any thoughts on how DÌDI portrays the complexity of that mother-son relationship? How did you approach this dynamic on screen?

As you said earlier, with Everything Everywhere All At Once and Crazy Rich Asians, most movies like that portray one side of Asian mothers that you'd see in real life. I feel like that's become the stereotype for Asian mothers . . . to be this controlling type. And little do a lot of people know, there's another type of Asian mother who [is] just like Joan Chen’s character, Chungsing. Immigrant mothers who want to take care of their child, but don't know anything about America. And I think how that's portrayed in DÌDI, especially, is just beautiful. And it really shows a side of Asian mothers that we usually don't see on screen.

There's a few things that I pulled from my relationship with my own mother. I’d say my mom is also one of those types. Even though she's been in America for a lot longer than Chungsing has, there's still times [when] there's such a difference between us—the generational gap, right? She doesn't understand the trends that I understand. There's a vast difference between Chungsing and my mom, but there's things I can pull from our relationship that help.

DÌDI is a great mix of comedy and family drama. What was your favorite scene to film? Was it on the comedic side or something more emotional?

My favorite comedic scene . . . that was such a fun day. Even though I wasn't really laughing, it was funny watching Aaron Chang and Raul Dial interact. It was the scene where Aaron calls Raul out—Soup calls Fahad out for wearing camo shorts. And he's like, “Yo, camo shorts are gay!” And that's something so stupid, it’s the most stupid thing you can say. It’s so funny because when Aaron truly improvs, his vocabulary level decreases tenfold. So there’s some offtakes that were so funny. 

Raul goes, “Your mom is gay!” And Aaron says, “My mom has cancer! You can’t say that!” But there’s some lines where Aaron's vocabulary just drops, and he says, “You can't have cancer and gay!” It just doesn't work! There's so many things where he just messes up his vocabulary. I wish Sean would make a compilation of how many times Aaron didn’t make any sense whatsoever. It was so fun every time. 

Sudden tone switch, but would you say you learned something from playing Chris Wang and being in this movie? And if so, would you feel comfortable sharing that?

Yeah, of course. I think something I’ve learned is to keep true to myself. Always be yourself, right? And be confident in who you are as a person. I think that's something I improved upon while filming this.

Something else that I learned is that I do want to continue my career as an actor. Because when you're in your teens as an actor, it can be the most difficult, where either you get a bunch of work or you get none at all. So making this movie helped assure that I do want to continue this career path.

If anyone can take something away from this movie, [it’s] the impact that this movie has as a coming-of-age story, featuring a Taiwanese American boy. What I find really important is that this movie can be portrayed from any other perspective, [be it] the perspective of a white kid, an Asian kid, a Mexican kid, a Black kid, an Indian kid or Bangladeshi kid. Any kid can be thrown into this teenage position and it would still be relatable. It's just important that this movie has an Asian perspective because it's something that we haven't seen . . . basically ever. That's why it's important, but it would be awesome to see coming-of-age movies from other ethnicities’ perspectives, this teenage perspective.

Yeah.

And also hashtag love your mom!

[laughs] Of course, always! I like that you talk about that because it goes into my next question. Sean described DÌDI as not being an Asian American story, but rather a story that is simply about an Asian American. How do you think DÌDI places itself in the larger context of cinema about Asian Americans with that thought process?

I think you're exactly right. It is really just a kid who's just Asian and he's a teenager. He just happens to be Asian. So the story is Asian. I feel like most other Asian American films, for example, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Crazy Rich Asians, these more family-based stories really focus on the Asian aspect. This movie kind of focuses more on the aspect of relatability for everyone. It doesn't just have to be Asian people who have to watch this and relate. I hopefully think that movies will change in the future, and can be relatable to everyone, but also more specifically relatable with other certain people as well. That's really where this movie strikes home and that's hopefully what more movies will come to learn in the end is just . . . relatability!

What are some of your favorite Asian/Asian American films? Are there any you draw inspiration from or keep coming back to?

My top favorite Asian American film—there's actually a few. There's this one Chinese action movie . . . Railroad Tigers! It’s 2016. It was really funny, and I watched with my dad. Maybe it’s just because it was 2016 and I was a kid, but I remember, it was just a funny movie.

That’s just a funny action Chinese movie that came to the top of my head, but the most impactful movie as of recent that has been Asian American is Everything Everywhere All At Once. That movie is so freaking good and I cried so much. That movie was the example of organized chaos. There was so much going on but at the end, the point of the story got across, where it was just a mom trying to love her daughter. God, that movie is just so good. All-time favorite for me. It’s up there. 

It’s honestly just a modern classic. That’s what it is. And I’m sure DÌDI will get there too!

Hopefully!

DÌDI (弟弟) is now playing in select theaters and out everywhere August 16.