Latest / The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen / 541 - Was Grinding As A PA For 20 Years Worth It For This Vietnamese-American Screenwriter? - Nick Huynh

Transcript

541 - Was Grinding As A PA For 20 Years Worth It For This Vietnamese-American Screenwriter? - Nick Huynh · The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

0:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the Vietnamese podcast.
0:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Today I have a wonderful guess.
0:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Nick Quinn.
0:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Nick with co-wrote a movie a small cool movie that I just had the honor watching and the title is really cool.
0:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a Hachan and let me do this again.
0:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry.
0:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me do this again.
0:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I had to look down on my notes and that brings it.
0:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Kabuddi.
0:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
0:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the Vietnamese podcast.
0:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Today I have Nick win on with me.
0:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to watch a movie that Nick co-wrote.
0:34
[SPEAKER_01]: It's called Hachan Shikibuddi.
0:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the podcast.
0:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for having me.
0:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I appreciate you?
0:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're out of Philly and you curled this movie, but before we get into the movie, can you tell me a little bit about you growing up?
0:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a DC area and how you got into the film business.
0:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
0:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So like you said, I grew up in the DC area, specifically, North and Virginia, all search Virginia, and that's where my, yeah,
1:12
[SPEAKER_00]: like up until high school in college.
1:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, actually most of my a lot of my adult life was there also, but yeah, growing up in Virginia did not imagine that I would be working in the film business or things started off.
1:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I
1:31
[SPEAKER_00]: No worries to have done a puzzle at the time.
1:34
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a visitor in the background.
1:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, this is my girlfriend, Larissa.
1:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Killer, sir.
1:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
1:40
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a guy on the street.
1:42
[SPEAKER_01]: No worries.
1:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all the time.
1:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go ahead.
1:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm sorry, where were you talking about?
1:48
[SPEAKER_01]: You grew in false church in high school.
1:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, that's where you left off.
1:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
1:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, being not imagining that I would be working in the full business.
2:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I started off thinking that I would like dip my toes in a theater.
2:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So moving into college, I think was I thinking I tried my hand at acting or the theater realm, because DC had a very vibrant theater scene.
2:21
[SPEAKER_00]: But quickly found out that I did not like acting in front.
2:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I just didn't, I just didn't
2:31
[SPEAKER_00]: under scrutiny and you know and that the crap I had not learned about the crap yet and just being like but really learning that and enjoyed story and like writing and all the be all the behinds and the scenes and nuts and bolts of how the things kind of come together but isn't that interesting because that eventually will help you get some background in
3:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, all of that.
3:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was kind of learning that in university, which is at George Mason University, kind of, and seeing that, I mean, I kind of started my film journey there just being like, well, the theater was fun, but I really loved movies, but I just never knew how would you do have a career in the film business if you didn't live in New York or Los Angeles?
3:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
3:30
[SPEAKER_00]: My fell in love with it when I was able to go to a, at the time it was a summer like workshop intensive in New York with the New York film Academy.
3:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think they had like a, I think it's like something like a six week program.
3:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure who's that long.
3:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe like just a few weeks, but it was in my sophomore year of.
3:54
[SPEAKER_00]: college when we had a summer break where I went up there and was like and they just kind of put you through this intensive program where I was like oh you can do this for a living like you can stay up till like three in the morning trying to edit your shitty like short film that you don't know how to put together
4:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but you get you can make a living doing this and I was just like this is so fun.
4:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Like trying to figure out how to work a camera and run around a city and tell a weird story and at the time, well, you know, I was coming off of, you know, all are like,
4:29
[SPEAKER_00]: like Hong Kong action films and like all the John Wu stuff and just stuff we broke the theme film and everything like that you know you want to make kung fu movies you want to make action movies 80s and 90s action movies and and you're like how do I do that that looks like so much fun and so that was kind of like the spark and then of course you know everybody loves going to the movies and the joy it brings but discovering like
4:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Hong Kong movies, Chaoyeon Fatt, and people that was like new and you wanted to be like Tony Lung or Chaoyeon Fatt or you know all of it those things you meet yet, Jet Lee and everybody it was
5:09
[SPEAKER_00]: that was kind of like the nascent sparks of like wanting to get into the film business and then slowly that journey just stemming from there like out of college what am I going to do how am I going to even do this like how do I move like if I wasn't going to move to Los Angeles or something like how am I going to figure out how to make
5:33
[SPEAKER_00]: This indie films are being the business in some way to hold a career, but the life was it, you know, and fortunately I'm still doing it doing something.
5:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, which is I'm so grateful and lucky.
5:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm also feeling that path.
5:46
[SPEAKER_00]: No, not a lot of, you know, Philly is actually new.
5:50
[SPEAKER_00]: For me, so I've only been until a few years now, as a resident, but came the D.C. Baltimore and then New York for many years and now, now Philly is home.
6:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, our film business, we're so, we're carnies, so traveling all over wherever we work, we'll take you, you know, for you.
6:12
[SPEAKER_00]: But based out of the East Coast, and I tried,
6:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Then many years, yeah, they set out of the DC Baltimore area.
6:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
6:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So what did you spend your most time working?
6:25
[SPEAKER_01]: What department did you spend most time working in?
6:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I started off.
6:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So I started off working in the camera department and production.
6:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So work as a PA for many years in DC area, gone Baltimore area, and then slowly segue into and to cameras as a camera assistant.
6:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And then spent.
6:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the past 20 years, working in the camera department, so crazy.
6:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, great to tell you.
6:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Tell you what the audience, what's crazy right now is that I had to get a pass to get on to the Sony lot to watch your film.
7:05
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
7:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, okay.
7:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
7:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know, Sony pick it up.
7:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not even sure of like what what all is behind all this we'll get to that.
7:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
7:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
7:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying like this is a crazy part, which is, you know, when I imagine some young guys, some young Vietnamese kid from false church.
7:22
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, working as a PA, which is like the lowest position you can in a film set, you know, basically you just run around getting coffee or whatever, whatnot.
7:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you do 20 years in the camera business, a camera department and you make a living.
7:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you team up with somebody and you make a movie and then all of a sudden,
7:40
[SPEAKER_01]: your name is on the credit on the screen at the Sony lot here in LA.
7:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I say that, yeah, I walk people and walk you through it because it's it's a doable thing.
7:55
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just, yeah, I'm doing it.
7:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
7:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It is, um, I remember somebody telling me many years ago and I try to tell, um, you know, colleagues and friends and people that are coming up in the business
8:10
[SPEAKER_00]: All that whole journey, it is a marathon, you know, there's no quick way to I mean, there's a quick way to success of course, but like then there's still the rest of your life.
8:21
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to live out and be present with and keep on going until, you know, building life.
8:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're not enjoying the daily book of it all,
8:33
[SPEAKER_01]: then you're not really in the right business because it shouldn't be like you look at it you go like oh man I took that long to make it xyz it's not about that it's about really do you enjoy what you're doing every single day and all of a sudden you get to a point where your name is on a movie and the Sony lot and it's just another part of the journey and it's okay and it's not it hasn't it's not gonna make you happier it's just part of it's just one thing
9:03
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it, and can you take it all like, you know, the ups and downs of all of it and and be okay with your life, you know, with it.
9:11
[SPEAKER_00]: No, so yeah, that it's been for me.
9:15
[SPEAKER_00]: It's I've been grateful for their journey.
9:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It's taken, I think, you know, I am 47 now all these years to to be okay.
9:25
[SPEAKER_00]: with the way my life has gone and what's needed to happen.
9:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I trust in the universe, you know, a little bit.
9:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like not that I'm going to lead everything up to faith in the hands of the universe, but like.
9:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I trust in this journey of being a human here and like what I'm going to experience, you know, and you know, do the best that I can with it, you know.
9:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's all I've got to take it in.
9:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
9:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Hotchon, shake your booty.
9:52
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a funny name.
9:53
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a quirky name.
9:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, how did this movie get made?
9:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's cool.
9:58
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a cool.
9:59
[SPEAKER_01]: This movie is cool as hell.
10:00
[SPEAKER_01]: It comes out
10:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
10:08
[SPEAKER_01]: In the future, you're listening to Nick when he's worked on his third big-ass feature film, but you heard it here first.
10:15
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a first project, but that is a trippy name and it's a trippy film too.
10:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Hachan Shigaburi opens September 25th.
10:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Tell me how you got onto this project.
10:27
[SPEAKER_01]: as a coordinator.
10:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this was the so my my buddy Joseph Latica, who's the director.
10:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was kind of like either pre-pandemic times, right before the pandemic at some point.
10:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we just were taking, we took a trip out a long island to some lavender fields because I just want to go see these lavender fields.
10:52
[SPEAKER_00]: We're both of them in New York at the time.
10:55
[SPEAKER_00]: he was just like batting around the idea of like oh do you want to try to write something together and I was like yeah why not you know there'd be a lot of fun you know just to see if we could you know find a find a groove and then throwing throwing out he's just kind of pitching ideas as we were just kind of walking around and hanging out um
11:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just random ideas, and he had, he had mentioned something about his mom, like something based on his mom, who's an amateur ballroom dancer, Don and Virginia, and I was like, that is kind of like somewhere dance movie, kind of based on his mom.
11:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, we should do that because it's right up his alley, because it's two previous films,
11:44
[SPEAKER_00]: his first and the second film we're all done with non-actors.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: He just people that he found and kind of worked with to work out a story and develop into these cool little indie movies.
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, this should be your third, you know, and you should try to cast your mom at great.
12:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And cast your mom in this crazy film that we could come up with.
12:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And you could be in like what a beautiful gift.
12:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like,
12:10
[SPEAKER_00]: work with your mom as an actor, you know, as she's getting older and as well, you know, and that this could be your part of your, um, your trafactor of non-actors in your.
12:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a man that will make it up.
12:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Does she ever make it up?
12:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
12:25
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
12:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
12:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
12:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But then we're, and then of course, as we started developing like, oh, man, we can't put.
12:31
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, an 80-year-old woman through the 12-hour rigorous level, you know, especially in the film where it's kind of tough.
12:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, the hours are just horrible and yeah, it would not be fun.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, you know, I would hope.
12:47
[SPEAKER_00]: being around our parents for however long, especially in a very intense boiler, you know, it could be hard.
12:55
[SPEAKER_00]: It could be hard, yeah, yeah, especially of indie filmmaking.
12:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We're just filmmaking in general.
13:01
[SPEAKER_00]: But, but we just kind of started like,
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: working ideas about what could this movie be and the kind of like loosely inspired by his mom and just the dance world and then the dramas or the dance world, you know, how that what things could make things be just like funny and exciting and
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, you know, we love movies like shall we dance, we love dance movies.
13:27
[SPEAKER_00]: We came up as B boys in the, and we're in Virginia, and I, you know, we love Latin bands.
13:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Both you and, and you're like, and Joseph, yeah.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, just like, yeah, just late night.
13:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, all those kids are in the time late 90s, early 2000s.
13:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Joseph, forever.
13:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I've known him for,
13:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So, we were in different circles, but we knew, I think, of each other, and then we were introduced each other when I, when I came back from grad school, which was like 2004 2005, so we know each other since then.
14:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, mutual friend introduced us because he was like, oh, you guys like movies, you guys should meet each other and just talk talk movies.
14:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
14:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
14:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you guys have this idea.
14:17
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys are like, all right, we're going to base in the dance world base it in this dance world.
14:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, so we just kind of started working and working just again from the very beginning, just blank page, trying to like,
14:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and it took, I mean, we started writing a thing in 2021.
14:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Like during the pandemic, where we actually started getting to it.
14:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was kind of a pandemic project.
14:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we're just doing it over Zoom and being like, well, we got the time now.
15:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And then slowly it took my tongue out, you know, 2026 now that it's it's been through so many iterations and different changes, you know, totally, totally different movies and it was when we first started with the first draft.
15:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
15:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
15:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm looking at this movie going, okay, this is there's Japanese, heavy Japanese cultural elements in the dance world.
15:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's also this international element of like, you know, the two of the main love interest of the main character is not Asian Japanese.
15:39
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm watching the whole thing going, where does a Vietnamese kid from the East
15:45
[SPEAKER_01]: play a part in the writing of this whole time I'm watching I'm like I'm here for Nick win.
15:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't see Nick win and I don't even know you right at the time.
15:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, talk to me.
16:13
[SPEAKER_00]: But how did you how did you collaborate?
16:15
[SPEAKER_00]: What was your part?
16:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh man.
16:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean my I mean one was I mean a lot of it is my love for dance and the Latin dance so the Macchanda stuff South stuff.
16:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean I also What else we
16:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean originally it's an international class and I fell in love with it with like a lot of a chatta because of working on Joseph's movie which was shot in Columbia and like kind of learning how to dance but chatta down in this small beach town called I think Pinkree Thess where was this like such a joy
17:02
[SPEAKER_00]: learning theory and it's just kind of like, inhabited my, my kind of world for a long time and just like, um, even though I don't, I don't dance at well, but it's just fun.
17:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, you know, it can get complicated, but the basics steps are very easy.
17:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And um, and I really just kind of enjoyed that.
17:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's just a lot of like character stuff that is me.
17:26
[SPEAKER_00]: There, you know, there's not a lot of, you know, there's
17:30
[SPEAKER_00]: of Vietnamese touch to it, but there's very much a heavy neck wind touch to it.
17:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
17:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I just love the fantasy elements, there's, you know, how we a lot of it was like how can we make things weird or funny or how do we keep things light even though there's a heavy emotional tone to the story and how do we balance the two and yeah, so I think.
18:07
[SPEAKER_00]: If you knew me well, you would see a lot of me in the film or if we hung out and then I think a lot and I think he would start seeing like, oh, I see where parts of this film kind of like when they had a hand in it and got it and things like that.
18:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
18:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not a heavy like cultural Vietnamese influence and a lot of this was um since it was it was inspired by Joseph's
18:38
[SPEAKER_00]: and he has half Japanese that those cultural influences took the forefront, right?
18:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And he could kind of dive into that more, and then maybe I'll let's say a little bit more of the emotional undercurrent.
18:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, you know, was was was was a big push on on my end.
19:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, uh, my my whole deal here is how do I get answers from these guys like you who are putting these movies together without giving away the film, but wanting, getting people don't want to go watch the film, right?
19:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So tricky thing.
19:18
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a tricky thing for me to ask, but I'm going to ask it and I'm going to ask it that doesn't
19:24
[SPEAKER_01]: give away the fucking coolest part of the story.
19:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going to say under the bed scene and you know, people will do that.
19:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that like that happened?
19:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Like who came up with that?
19:37
[SPEAKER_01]: That was like to me the most, uh, oranges like heart racing, uh, part of the film, you know, is so creative.
19:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, that's so cool.
19:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, that's one.
19:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you just for like feeling that way about about that scene.
20:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, you know, it's weird when you write it and just like, is it gonna hit the way it needs to hit or, you know, how are people going to feel that?
20:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's so weird and like, um, and a lot of that is, uh, just being like, what's
20:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I have a posting note on my wall that's where the writing process is like, what's the weird and what's the funny and how do we, how do we keep things just like both?
20:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, where can we go with it?
20:30
[SPEAKER_00]: That's that that is true to the story into the character and
20:42
[SPEAKER_00]: grief.
20:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about thrashing through your grief and trying to find your way and that, you know, it's going to be messy.
20:50
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be hard.
20:51
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to, you know, what he does it, like, well, who, you know, who does shit that happens to you when, when nobody, you know, who does it well?
21:02
[SPEAKER_00]: It just hurts.
21:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard.
21:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It's being human.
21:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It's part of our journey.
21:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And we do
21:12
[SPEAKER_00]: part of our journey as humans to be like, oh god, I did that, you know, we all can look back on like, you know, are you thin be like, oh, man, I did, I did say that thing or do that thing, and I am not so proud of it, but, you know, I hopefully you live and learn and you can do better, but okay, but I have to know like, did it happen or did you guys come up with that?
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Cause, cause I think we came up with it.
21:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Every eight minutes or five minutes should have something like that and you guys watching this will all know what I'm talking about What you go watch this film.
21:49
[SPEAKER_00]: It is pretty fun.
21:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's pretty funny man.
21:52
[SPEAKER_01]: It really is You're just like looking at the character going God you're not a bad person You're not a bad person Yeah, but this is pretty epic and cringy for a human being to go through and you feel for the character, you know
22:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't know, is it a spoiler if we talk about it?
22:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it, I mean, it's not like, I just didn't give it a word, but I mean, it is something that I want to create a surprise element for people to kind of know that that's coming, but, you know, I also am very curious about like, how it came up, you know?
22:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think I mean, I'm kind of remember all the different iterations.
22:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's just, um,
22:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, some of it is like, what would you do if you're like jealous of an export for a girlfriend and then, uh, and like, how do you, you know, and you're in your fields, you're trying to figure out like what you're going to do, you can't like let them go or like your partner or whoever and you just like, you're trying to, we, we were trying to find a balance of what's both like cringy and like,
23:01
[SPEAKER_00]: what's out of character or now it's out of character but what is like oh you just you just want to be like don't don't do it please please don't do that you know like it's your it's your friend who's having a hard time and you're like bro like I know I know you want to go do this thing but don't don't do it man it's a bad look you know and then you know that's
23:28
[SPEAKER_00]: When we are by ourselves, and we're trying to figure out how to move through all these hard feelings, you know, it just doesn't come always come out in the best way.
23:37
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's hard and that's the difference between like a good.
23:44
[SPEAKER_01]: filmmaker and it not so experienced filmmaker because you can pull it off and you feel like oh shit that came off like reality like real life and it came off like very natural and organic, but but it's so stranger than fiction that you're just like whoever put this together is like so creative, but you could see it really being the reality too.
24:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, man.
24:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
24:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if it is a reality for some people, I, um, my heart goes out to them.
24:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just how much it might be.
24:15
[SPEAKER_01]: My brother was caught in a situation like that.
24:17
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you know, yeah.
24:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So it is real.
24:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that it's real.
24:21
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, but no, it's another man in one minute.
24:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Parents were in the room catching him and his girlfriend, but he ended up in the closet.
24:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's a crazy thing.
24:30
[SPEAKER_00]: No, these are things that happen, and these are things that, you know, I have not experienced it, but I can only imagine, you know, these things where you're like, oh my god, like you just hold the anxiety of a situation, right?
24:44
[SPEAKER_00]: What is what can we do to turn it up a notch and like, so those are, I mean, those are the dramatic turns and those are the things that we really tried to
24:54
[SPEAKER_00]: really balanced as writers, me and Joseph as just like dramatists and trying to craft the thing like this is part of the craft which we were like like banging our heads against the wall is something too much is it not enough is it too crunchy with somebody actually do with this character do this and and like how is the audience going to react or are they going to care are they going to be like oh this is fucking bullshit yeah
25:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So some of it sometimes you're just like bucket hell Mary, you know, and let's see how it bangs out, you know.
25:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not intended.
25:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
25:37
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think about once you finish a project like this and it gets made, I think about two things.
25:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Why do
25:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We still need to make little quirky films like this.
25:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and then the great question.
25:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, why do we still need to make these small films?
25:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I think it's a necessary beauty.
26:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, things in the world sometimes, you got to do things because you don't want to do it and it becomes a necessary evil.
26:09
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the exact opposite of a necessary evil.
26:11
[SPEAKER_01]: This is like a necessary goodness.
26:14
[SPEAKER_01]: necessary evo is moved the pieces on the chess board that you do.
26:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to do some evo sometimes.
26:24
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is a necessary good.
26:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Like this little film is such a cute little nugget, slice of life and has to be made, but why?
26:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh man, I mean, one, thank you so much.
26:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It means a lot that you say that.
26:40
[SPEAKER_00]: That's actually a beautiful sentiment, so thank you, Kenneth.
26:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And on our part,
26:48
[SPEAKER_00]: No, we, we picked a really hard business to be a part of.
26:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, um, and what we're pursuing.
26:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, uh, uh, all of it.
27:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, one, to be able to tell a story that will touch somebody or, um,
27:11
[SPEAKER_00]: or give up perspective on life, you know, in some way that might bring joy or just some clarity or yet just just just a little bit of joy to somebody's life is such a gift and an honor to be able to do that.
27:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Not everybody gets to do this right and have the opportunity to do this.
27:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, to be able to just be our weird selves to express ourselves in a way that reaches an audience, it's a beautiful gift.
27:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, if we can do it in our own little weird way, like what a cool perspective, because we always appreciate, you know, the weird different stories from all around the
28:03
[SPEAKER_00]: cool little movies or tell cool stories or be creative and we get to see a way a beautiful way they see the world and the humans and habit it, you know, gives us a better perspective of how we relate to the world to or how we can relate to each other and just to finding our own rhythm in the world.
28:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I think it's so important that small stories like this, like a little indie movie, just a weird, you know, as weird as people can be or like as funky or as straightforward or you know, however, you know, people want to do it like it's valid, right?
28:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And we should be able to experience it and take it for our own and like how do we how do we ingest it and then how
28:54
[SPEAKER_00]: bringing our own perspectives out to the world or to use it to help us see the world.
29:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so it is important.
29:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And also, again, representation, right?
29:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Seeing just seeing different people up on screen, seeing how relationships are.
29:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that's always the beautiful thing with movies that I've seen where I don't know about a thing has always
29:22
[SPEAKER_00]: just the world and the cultural differences and how people live and what I'd be like, it's been a movie for me, I've been so eye-opening as opposed to reading it, right?
29:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Just like, yeah, so being able to see that and tell these stories or be able to have access to them, I think it's so important for us to kind of see see ourselves and how other people kind of move through the world and what the perspectives are, you know?
29:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And how is this movie changed your career path, your career trajectory?
29:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, hasn't yet.
29:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Not yet, no, uh, right now.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm...
30:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I still work camera department, you know, you know, there in for many particular reasons like my life has shifted a little bit, especially in our industry, the film industry is there's big pivot, right?
30:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Like a lot of there's a lot of people not working right now.
30:19
[SPEAKER_00]: It is getting busier the past few years.
30:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been really tough, you know, for many, many people.
30:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I know for me, and a lot of other people trying to figure out what the pivot is, or what the back of plan is, or how we keep on either staying in the business or moving, you know, however we need to move to survive, you know, is a big question mark in here.
30:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I mean, me right now trying to figure out how to pivot,
30:52
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, for my own stability, my own health, and everything like that, yeah, and just like the needs of my life now, you know, just trying, has it changed?
31:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It's changed the way it's needed to change, and what will come, you know, because of this film, you know, I will hopefully take it in stride, and
31:23
[SPEAKER_00]: find something sustainable, you know, with the writing and everything and like continuing for.
31:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so, I mean, yeah, you know, nothing, nothing crazy has happened.
31:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and hopefully nothing crazy will.
31:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm more just kind of like, it's why I'm a slow burn guy, you know.
31:47
[SPEAKER_00]: get, get, get out of, get out of hand or whatever it is, you know.
31:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you've been to Vietnam, yes, the last time I was in Vietnam, it's been a long time though.
31:58
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been, it's like, I think, 2005, 2006.
32:01
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a while.
32:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's been a long time.
32:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
32:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's a lot going on in, in, in filmmaking in Vietnam, there's a, yeah, much more action happening on the ground in Vietnam than here.
32:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I can imagine, I mean, that city, I mean, that country has, I can only imagine how much has changed in the past 20 something years.
32:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and we have a mutual friend or I mean, I'm not a friend, but I somebody that we worked, I work with.
32:31
[SPEAKER_00]: many, many years ago, Jenny is a friend of yours I believe.
32:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Shout out to Jenny Trangley.
32:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Jenny is a religious supporter of this podcast.
32:45
[SPEAKER_01]: She listens to this podcast quite a bit.
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably, yeah, so Jenny, if you're listening shout out to Jenny and yeah, Jenny's
32:55
[SPEAKER_01]: She's actually a partner mine in film and you know that's amazing and a few guys We we have a company called East Films and okay.
33:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah Jenny and I are partners in some projects that we Oh, man.
33:10
[SPEAKER_01]: That's beautiful.
33:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll look at all up where if you can film me in on it.
33:14
[SPEAKER_00]: That'd be awesome Yeah, all the time you said hello.
33:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, please do please do.
33:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I just remember that was the connection of how we all kind of
33:23
[SPEAKER_00]: like we're kind of through this spider web.
33:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we do, it's crazy as I live this life longer and I go through these sort of like moments right now like you know in Jenny and then just like you're saying, you know, hey, do you happen to know this woman in Jenny?
33:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I think about this.
33:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I think about like all the corners of the Vietnamese world things are happening and brewing.
33:48
[SPEAKER_01]: whether it's in fashion, film, food, all of these sectors, technology, AI, humans in the Vietnamese space are doing so many things.
34:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, it could be right next door to you, because yeah, engineer, you know, you guys know each other and, you know, the amount of people that
34:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But I didn't even know that you existed, right?
34:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, we don't know.
34:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And you didn't know I existed.
34:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, like, it's, but we're all, like, in this world doing things.
34:21
[SPEAKER_01]: The beauty of all this is up.
34:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We at the Vietnamese community are now linking up.
34:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We're getting together, we're getting each other's podcasts, and we're amplifying, trying to get the word out there about what you do in film, what other people do in music and fashion, it's happening.
34:39
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a global phenomenon that's reaching the world.
34:43
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's a beautiful thing.
34:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I was so happy to discover your podcast.
34:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know it was there.
34:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, there's a few episodes I listened to that.
34:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, oh, this is amazing.
34:53
[SPEAKER_00]: This person is on there.
34:54
[SPEAKER_00]: This person, you've talked to this person.
34:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, I can't wait to like get through it.
34:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, this has been like, you've been doing it for a long time.
35:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you have how many episodes you have to 4,500 episodes?
35:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I've probably recorded close to 600 along with something.
35:08
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, things are in the supply.
35:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I've kept things up and we'll be releasing soon.
35:14
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, because it's 600 now.
35:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, thank you for doing it, man.
35:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a man.
35:21
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so awesome to be able to see somebody just wanting to collect the stories of the Vietnamese community.
35:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And also, it's for me being an American and my Vietnamese is unfortunately very, it's poor, like being able to kind of access where you're like, oh, like,
35:44
[SPEAKER_00]: okay I can understand what's going on you know and I can understand the conversation and follow it and like see what people are doing around the world or what their experiences are or what other reason we spoke about are doing you know all over the world and then just being able to access to the stories man it's a it's a special thing for again representation and being able to like see what your community you know is doing
36:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So I really appreciate it.
36:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, thank you, Kenneth.
36:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, thank you for doing this.
36:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You're very welcome.
36:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I am one to know where we can watch the film, Hachi and Shikabudu.
36:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And then how did that end come up?
36:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
36:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so.
36:30
[SPEAKER_00]: original uh, you know, that was, that's all Joseph Cabot of Latica, Hachan Sheikh your booty.
36:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We had so many different titles before.
36:40
[SPEAKER_00]: His mother is named Haru and then the
36:51
[SPEAKER_00]: to the nation.
36:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.
36:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So Hachan, and then since our movie was a dance movie, he was just like, how about shake your booty?
37:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And originally our other title was a name and a longer phrase.
37:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of just like that thing.
37:07
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's kind of like, and um,
37:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, what would stick out and he was like shake your booty.
37:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And I first that was I was kind of weirded out by the title, the name like Hatchan Shake your booty.
37:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it's slowly just started growing on me, at least.
37:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's all Joseph the director.
37:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I've been watching you get it.
37:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of quirky like that and it's nothing to do with what you think it's gonna be But yeah, what a tender film.
37:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate that.
37:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, thank you very much.
37:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you very much.
37:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Where can we watch it?
37:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it gonna be in limited release or why do this wrong?
37:42
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's just to be the north.
37:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so at least 500 theaters on September 25th.
37:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So when he pictures plastics, I know it's certain to line up at like regal and AMC theaters, all your art house theaters all over the country, it should start popping up it's
38:01
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the poster, it's Rinko Kukuchi, just her face big, you know, big portrait of Rinko Kukuchi, but so with a little Afro, I'm going to get into the big gorgeous, you know, yeah, she's, uh, she's awesome in this movie and like it's just very happy that our little babies get
38:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, there's September 25th that some theater near you, hopefully.
38:35
[SPEAKER_00]: it's amazing.
38:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Nick, thank you so much.
38:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And I look forward to your next project.
38:40
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, hopefully you're writing now and you're going to work in right some, you know, I look forward to the next thing you do appreciate it.
38:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Kenneth and thank you so much.
38:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm keeping tabs on your on your podcast too.
38:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for doing this, man.
38:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you very much, Nick.
38:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Have a good evening.
38:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You also.
38:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
38:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
38:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for listening to the Vietnamese with Kenneth Wynne.
39:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Special thanks to Brittany Tran, to Jane Wynne, Catherine Wynne, Tina Fam, Sydney Jamie and Crystal Tran.
39:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Please find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at the Vietnamese Podcast.