 SUNG KANG Photos courtesy of BLT Sung Kang plays Han, the tough guy in Better Luck Tomorrow. At the film festivals, he's swarmed with male and female fans, in real life, he's a down to Earth guy, who's struggling to get the mainstream acting jobs. Whether it's a small part in Pearl Harbor or Antwone Fisher, he's learning and welcomes any acting challenge. You won't see him selling Tide, since he was told by a casting director, "would you buy Tide from Sung?" But you will see him act in BLT. If you're a fan, you might see him eating lunch at the Hare Krishna temple once a week. |
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Sung Kang plays Han, the tough guy in Better Luck Tomorrow. At the film festivals, he's swarmed with male and female fans, in real life, he's a down to Earth guy, who's struggling to get the mainstream acting jobs. Whether it's a small part in Pearl Harbor or Antoine Fisher, he's learning and welcomes any acting challenge. You won't see him selling Tide, since he was told by a casting director, "would you buy Tide from Sung?" But you will see him act in BLT. If you're a fan, you might see him eating lunch at the Hare Krishna temple once a week. GR: How's life been after BLT? SK: Very interesting, a lot of excitement, it's really scary, because everyone has done everything we can do as actors and filmmakers, it's now out of our control. GR: How's working? SK: Work has been the same, nothing front page news, people still have to see the film, then the decision makers will decide if it's okay to put Asian Americans in roles. GR: Do you think they should put Asians in every other show? SK: Speaking for myself that would be great. But it's one step at a time. If it was up to me, sure. GR: Let's say you watching TV, all of a sudden you see Asian Americans in every show SK: It's weird if they are there for an Asian reason. Now it's taking it to the next level and taking a risk with casting. The romantic lead would never be Asian, but MTV says it's cool, because they picked up the film and they're really pushing it. They're allowing change. The demographic is hard to target, and MTV has so much power, so they're taking a chance. They're thinking progressively. If people say it's cool, it'll open more doors for us in the industry. The industry might think there's a possibility in making money off of us. GR: Do you think you have the most angst? SK: I dunno, my character does... I think we all have the same frustrations, we're all doing things the same amount of time. GR: Have you ever wanted to stop? SK: Especially right before we started shooting this thing. I was definitely thinking about moving on, I didn't know where. Even after Sundance, I realize there's a lot of hype, and you come back and it's really quiet in LA. So I thought what's the point of continuing? As we get older we have adult needs. To this day I still question it. To tell you the truth after the opening, then what? GR: Do you have an ounce of expectation? SK: My expectations were higher, but I think it's lucky to get work. You have to ground yourself. What do I expect? What are the realistic possibilities out there? The conclusion I have is that I don't care about the hype. Wouldn't it be nice to do consistently good work, something that I would be proud of? Doing good work, to be taken seriously as an actor, that's it. GR: I know you do documentaries. SK: My passion projects, it has nothing to do with money, or people watching it. I'm curious about the subject matter, there's a story to tell, hopefully one day, if things work out and the stars align correctly, and I get respected as an actor, I can get this out there. If it goes to film festivals or gets anything, that's great. GR: What's your next role? SK: Working on a film with Chris Chan Lee, Undoing. It's the lead, flawed character, coming back to a tie up loose ends. Because he's flawed, he ruined a lot of people's lives. It's film noir. It's all drama. I'm excited to work again, but we'll have the same problems as BLT. But this will be easier if BLT does better, we'll have hope that there's an Asian American film that crossed over. This has to match the standard of BLT, and it has to be better than BLT. That's exciting. If BLT doesn't do well, and it proves that there's no market for this film, then what's the point for us? There has to be a demand. |