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

MICHAEL KANG INTERVIEWED Part Three I wanted to reference an article youíd written for the website, asianamericanfilm.com, reviewing BETTER LUCK TOMORROW. I donít know if Iím quoting you accurately, but you wrote that you were exhilarated the first time you saw BLT because it was such a great film. But at the same time you were infuriated by it because in terms of what you had wanted to see, as far as what kinds of works you wanted to see produced as part of the current canon of ëAsian American cinemaí, that Justin Lin had figuratively beaten you to the punch. (laughs) Thatís just jealousy. That's cattiness between filmmakers. Michael (center) at VC FILMFEST 2006 with actors Sung Kang (left) and John Cho (Photo: Ernie Peña) I bring that up because I wanted to get your take on how you see a film such as THE MOTEL located within this continuum of development. We are talking about over four decades of development in terms of an Asian American cinema ìmovement,î however you want to call it or categorize it. Obviously, this whole thing didnít start off with the THE JOY LUCK CLUB. Weíre talking about decades and decades of critical mass thatís been building up. In this context, where do you see THE MOTEL, and for that matter, the other five Asian American feature makers here at Sundance this year? You know, I was thinking about that because someone else had asked that to Alice Wu in one of the Q & Aís when I went to see her film SAVING FACE, and I realized that thatís not my question to really answer. I can only speculate, only hopeÖI hope Iím the Asian American Martin Scorsese. I hope Iím the Asian American Spike Lee. Whatever that is. But thatís not for me to decide or even claim to. Ultimately, I hope the people like the film and connect with it. And if that means that it goes somewhere into the canon of films and becomes important in some way, thatís great. But if I have any control over that, then Iím sure I would make myself the guru of Asian American film (laughs). Well, outside of that, how would you want people to see you then, not as an Asian American Spike Lee, or a Martin Scorsese? How do you want people to consider you as Michael Kang, filmmaker? Just that. Iíd like them to just look at the film and decide if they like the story. All I try to do is tell as good a story as I could, and hopefully people connect with it. To me, I always just want to tell stories of stuff that I donít normally see on film, and I think this is that. There was an interview with some unnamed person that I did. I mentioned that Iíve done a lot of work with Wayne Wang the past year, and I wrote a script for him as well, and did some second unit work for him [BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE ñ ed.]. Heís been a great mentor as well. I said in this interview, you should ask me about Wayne Wang, and the person said, ìWhoís Wayne Wang?î So if youíre not taking Asian American film studies, or not taking Asian American studies, or youíre not part of the community, you donít know the history. So the same person who doesnít know who Wayne Wang may not know who Spike Lee is. It doesnít mean anything that Iím the Asian American Oscar Micheaux. Itís ëWho cares. Was the film any good?í Thatís ultimately what I think the question is, and hopefully, what I see with Wayne is just having the longevity of a career. Iíd like to just keep making films. Final question: itís eight hours from now, THE MOTEL has had its premiere screening and youíre at your official afterparty. Will you be able to exhale? I hope so. I really hope so. That would be good. I need to.   PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3