 "Photo: MCT Campus")
"It's a sausage fest up here!" joked Lee Ann Kim, executive director of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation, as she introduced and became surrounded by three handsome young men. Namely, the young men attending a rather packed Montezuma Hall on Friday were Justin Lin, indie-gone-Hollywood director of "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," along with actors Dustin Nguyen ("21 Jump Street") and Roger Fan ("Annapolis").
The tone of the conversation was relaxed and casual: Kim tossed out questions as the panelists responded and Fan snapped photos of the crowd. After introductions, the panelists presented a short documentary tracing the history of Lin.
After the screening, Kim, Lin, Fan and Nguyen discussed everything from the inner workings of the film industry to the difficulties of being an Asian-American in the entertainment industry.
On the latter point, all three panelists agreed - "(Asian actors) are always on screen for an Asian reason," Nguyen said, observing that Asian-American actors have been relegated to the point of virtual nonexistence outside of martial art movies or bit parts (as Fan put it, "Chinese chef #3").
Lin, speaking from his experiences making "Better Luck Tomorrow," related an anecdote from a meeting with a marketing executive. Lin explained that he has always felt there is a serious lack of representation of Asians in the film industry.
"Your spending patterns are the same as white people so they just don't count you guys," was the matter-of-fact response that Lin recalled receiving. He also related the various arguments he had with executives over his insistence on hiring Asian-Americans for the leads.
Similarly, with "Finishing the Game," Lin explained why he was going back to his roots with making it an independent release. "(The executives) wanted something like another 'Kung Fu Hustle,' and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's just not the movie we're making."
In fact, "Game" is a satire on Hollywood's perceptions of Asian-American males. While the trailer promises laughs, it is a far different sort of comedy from the non-consequential slapstick of the earlier Stephen Chow endeavor.
But even so, if the Q&A after Kim's questioning was any indication, it was clear the Lin is as big of a movie fan as anybody. "I'm not saying, 'Hey watch our movie, there's Asian-Americans in it,' Lin said with a laugh at the activist tone that the panel had acquired.
As a young fan asked about the rumored remake of the South Korean thriller "Oldboy," which Lin was once signed to direct, he clarified what the purpose of buying the rights was.
"I'm protecting it while there are big, big filmmakers fighting over it," Lin said, unable to avoid a certain satisfaction in his handiwork. "I was doing it more as a film fan."
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