CHECKING INTO THE MOTEL
Director Michael Kang Interviewed
PART 3 OF 3

A MICHAEL KANG INTERVIEWED Part Two One of the things I was drawn to straight away is Ernestís role as the man of the house in a fatherless family. Right away the traditional nuclear family setting, whether or not it is from an Asian American viewpoint or any other viewpoint, is missing. To what extent was it your intent to have that dynamic and situate Ernest in a surrogate family of sorts? For me, as I was growing up, I had very few role models. In America, in some ways, this is kind of a folktale where there is noÖwhatís missing in America is that idea of the rights of manhood. What is that? And so he definitely needed to have no father because I feel the absenceÖwhere are our role models? And thatís when Sam Kim, the Korean man, checks into the motel and Ernest is just drawn to this man because he has no other choice. What does the character of Sam Kim (Sung Kang) represent to Ernest? And what does he represent for you? Well, Sam Kim kind of came out of the idea ofÖwell, as I was coming up with the treatment for it, I was thinking, well if was going to try to teach a kid how to be a man, what kind of wisdom would I impart, and basically Sam Kim personified a version of that, where I obviously realized that I had nothing to teach kids. I donít know anything. Iím just as confused as anyone else and itís stemming from the same thing. Sam Kim had no role model to really follow and thereís no model for an Asian American man. What do we see in media? You can be this, or you can be that. He as lost as Ernest. Michael (left) at the 2005 APA Park City Experience with producers Karin Chien and Gina Kwan (Photo: Michael Posner) Does Sam see the need to break some sort of cycle? It seems that the way you set the story up, Ernest is headed towards the same life trajectory as Sam. I find it interesting that Sam recognizes that and endeavors to do something about it in some small way. I donít think itís a conscious thing on Samís part. I think itís that he feels, identifies with the kid and sees himself in the kid, and he wants to give that kid what he didnít have. So in that sense heís trying to break the cycle, but itís almost out of more selfish reasons. Almost like heís trying to relearn it himself. Did you have Sung Kang in mind for this role, or were you looking at other people for the role of Sam? I first saw Sung Kang in BETTER LUCK TOMORROW. I noticed him and thought that guy has some serious presence on screen. But part of me felt, because he played a teenager, he seemed a little young, so I really didnít think of him at the time. But then he got hold of the script when we started doing the casting process. He really convinced me by really fighting for the part. The quality that Sung has, for that character to work for me, was to balance out not only the darker, heavier stuff, which I think Sung, as a leading man, has that ability to do. He also had to deal with a lot of humor, and be able to bring a life to the character of Sam that would lighten up the screen at the same time as having that smoldering, sexy leading man guy quality. Talk a little bit about Jeffrey Chyau, who played Ernest. He was equally amazing in a variety of ways. How did you find him? Jeffrey was a true miracle. He is the most amazing kid, and it was a hellish search to find him. Basically 6 to 8 months of looking. We did all the traditional routes -- put out casting notices, put out casting calls. We got all these musical theater kids, and I wanted to strangle every one of them. I realized that with the essence of realism I was going for in the film, I needed to just find a kid. And so I was down to touring the streets of Chinatown, going to Chinese schools, going to Boy Scout meetings, and just pitching it to these kids. What made it really depressing for me was that, finding some of the female parts was a lot easier ñ for example, Samantha (Futerman, the actress who plays Christine, Ernestís friend). Asian American girls are really encouraged to do the arts, but Asian American boys arenít. So even when we were able to find a kid that might be hopeful, then the next struggle was finding the parent that would buy into the idea that their child should be doing something creative -- which is the exact same struggle that Ernest is going through in the movie. When we found Jeffrey, he was hands-down the best candidate. He was ìthe kidî and much more. Heís so comfortable with himself. Heís got the same thing as Sung. Just a real love of life and a real joy that he brings. You feel like thereís this weight to him. You just want to take care of him. And his mother ended up being super, super cool. One of her best friends, I think, co-wrote THE WEDDING BANQUET, so she knew a little bit about film. And more than that, she understood the importance of that kind of education for Jeffrey. That doing something like thisÖheís not going to have the opportunity again to have this kind of experience. Besides the stellar acting, there are other aspects of the film that I was really drawn to. For instance, I thought the cinematography was amazing. It exhibited great attention to details, and had a very painterly quality. Yeah, I had a great relationship with my DP, Lisa Lione, the moment I met her. I felt that when she walked through the door and we talked about the script, she got it immediately. She understood exactly what I was going for, just from the words on the page. And she would describe the way that she would frame each scene the way she saw them, in the ways that were in my head already. So it was a really easy shoot in that way. On top of that, she brought so much more with her -- ìmove the camera just this much moreÖa little offÖa little bit more so it goes this wayî -- and it would make that punch so much more. Sheís a photographer first. She used to work for Stanley Kubrick for many years. That attention to detail from working on Kubrick sets really brought a lot to it. And for me, as a big Jim Jarmusch fan, I think [his influence] had a lot to do with the way I approached the cinematography. Even finding that motel was a godsend cause it was exactly how I envisioned it. THE MOTEL is right out of that 1950s movie LOLITA in those beautiful, countryside motels and motor lodges. It was one of those, but no one had done any renovations since the ë50s, so it was totally falling apart. That was what I wanted and we ended up getting it. So some of the framing was exactly as I imagined. Another aspect I was drawn to as well was the music, which was understated, but equally as critical and important. I thought that it was such a restrained, but very crucial ingredient for my enjoying the film. Again, that was another leap of total faith. I had coffee with Nathan Larson, who was the composer, and immediately we discovered so many parallels in our lives. He really understood the story, and heís just an amazing, amazing talent. He had done BOYS DONíT CRY and I felt like he really knew how to tell a story through music, without getting too heavy handed. He really wanted to make the music support the material. As for our working relationship, Iíd be able to just say things in such abstract terms and he understood exactly what I was taking about.   PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3