“‘American Born Chinese’: Daniel Wu Talks Michelle Yeoh, Season 2 Hopes”

TVLINE | Before we get to the important stuff, I have to ask about the hair and makeup. Worst case scenario, how long did it take? How short did it take at best?
So there are about three looks, right? The full ape look with the armor, golden hair and all that stuff is in the opening scene of the first episode and lasts about three hours. And about 45 minutes to an hour until departure. And the least impressive work is the Monkey King in human form, where all he really has is long hair and a beard. This takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

TVLINE | How are you passing the three hours? podcast? Music?
Fall asleep. [Laughs] Normally. Over the years I’ve learned to fall asleep anywhere, anytime, given the opportunity. So, yes, my happiness is simply closing my eyes, falling asleep, and then waking up transformed.

TVLINE | I can’t be the first to tell you that the golden-haired monkey king, Dr. Zaius-of-planet of monkeys mood, right?
Oh yeah. Especially with the angles they shot me from in the first episode.

TVLINE | What did you find most interesting about your character’s journey?
Well I think it has an interesting narrative because it deals with something mythological, which is this war in heaven caused by the bull demon who now wants revenge. He lost power to Monkey King, who didn’t even try to take on that role, but then, over the years, Monkey King has taken that responsibility very seriously and has become the protector of the heavens. But on If you have to handle the responsibility and weight of it all, then he has to be a father too, right? He has to raise his son. But then his son gets the crazy idea that there is this Fourth Scroll and that it will save Heaven, but in order to do that he will steal his father’s staff. So the father is dealing with a son who behaves very much like he did when he was little, and when he realizes that—or when Guanyin points it out to him—he’s like, “Okay, let him be ?” And that’s a very real decision.

TVLINE | You have to allow children to make mistakes from time to time.
Yes / Yes. I think there is a tendency these days to protect the kids too much by attacking them with the helicopter. And as a result, they don’t really know how to deal with any adversity because they suffer from airbags all their lives. You have to drop them and get them back up, let them fall and get them up again, and finally learn to navigate through life. Monkey King is dealing with such a situation with his son, but it’s at stake much higher.

WARNING: Spoilers for the American-born Chinese Season finale follows…

WARNING: Spoilers for the American-born Chinese Season finale to follow.

TVLINE | Your character looks quite perky in the finale, as he emerges onto the soccer field after being nearly dead following his clash with Bull Demon. I guess Ms. Wang’s magical herbal healing powder did the trick?
It was worth it, yes! The green powder paid off.

TVLINE | I, and apparently several others, have sometimes wondered if that green powder – which seemed to appear in every episode! – would be the fourth scroll somehow.
Yes / Yes. But it was surprising what the Fourth Scroll actually was in the end. That was a cool reveal I think.

TVLINE | Oh the reveal was great, the way your character could hint at it and get his son to say it out loud to Jin. I think we need to ask ourselves more in the future Why Jin is the fourth scroll and what led to it?
Yes, and it could be related to the heritage of these jade pendants. Maybe there’s some family heritage there that we can explore in season 2 if we’re lucky enough to do it.

TVLINE | What are you hearing about Season 2? Any buzz? Any talk about numbers or streaming performance?
I think it’s early days at the moment, but I know there are certain tendencies. But with the writers’ strike everything is on hold, so there is no clarity on that yet.

TVLINE | Do you think the actor character of Ke Huy Quan would play a bigger role in a possible second season?
Oh that would be cool if he did because I thought it would be an incredibly powerful tool to use him for the role of this character. In a way it’s very meta because it reflects its own personality [own] Life and his career, but also the character. I think that’s why it seemed so heartfelt and serious.

TVLINE | And I know the subplot changed a lot compared to the book.
Yes, the book is a completely different version of that – and it’s almost balanced more gruesome. But the adaptation Kelvin Yu made was amazing as it updated the storyline to the modern day while keeping the essence of what this character is about.

TVLINE | It seemed like a more important point in Jamie’s story was saying this, as well as seeing and enjoying this American-born Chinese In this series, you need to be aware that Western media’s portrayal of Asian characters has often been horrible in the past. And that we have come a long way, but still have a long way to go.
It’s also interesting because it shows you the psyche of what it’s like May be one of those actors, because nobody really knows what that feeling is like. There are a few actors from that period, and one we keep referring to as Asian-American is Long Duk Dong Sixteen candles, played by Gedde Watanabe. It’s like we hate this character, but at the same time you can’t hate the actor. It’s not his fault, he was trying to find work at the time and that’s what was available. It’s the double-edged sword: “If I do this job, what does it mean for a generation of Asian American men to be so emasculated on screen?”

I know it affected me a lot as an adult, and I know it affected a lot of people in my company as well as people outside of it. He’s playing a character, he’s playing a role, and he’s trying to make a living doing it, but again, in a way, he’s damaging the image of our culture and our people. So it’s interesting to see what it’s like for the actor to play a role like this with this Freddy Wong character.

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