Snakehead - Original-Cin Q&A: How the Asian Community Stepped Up for a Movie About Real-life Gangster Sister Ping
After helming documentaries and producing for television, Evan Jackson Leong has officially made his debut as a narrative feature filmmaker with the engrossing crime drama Snakehead.
The film screened to positive reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival and explores the criminal underbelly of New York City's Chinatown. Based on real-life New York gangster Sister Ping, it follows local crime lord Dai Mah (Jade Wu), who oversees a human trafficking ring funneling people into the U.S. as she rules her empire with an iron fist.
Snakehead stars newcomer Shuya Chang, Jade Wu and action star Sung Kang.
Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with director Evan Jackson Leong and star Shuya Chang about the film.
Snakehead opens in theaters, on digital and VOD October 29. Read our review of the film here.
Evan Jackson Leong directs Jade Wu on the set of Snakehead.
CLICK HERE To watch Bonnie’s interview with veteran actor Jade Wu.
ORIGINAL-CIN: Evan, talk about a man of patience and determination! It took 14 years to bring Snakehead to the screen. Why were you so determined to tell this story and why did it take so long?
EVAN JACKSON LEONG: I've been a filmmaker for the last 20 years and I realized, my pie-in-the-sky dream was always to make a narrative feature film.
When I started writing this project in 2008, it was a big ambitious project to approach and so I really took my time with it. I moved to New York to get more research done, and learn more about the whole process of it.
Then what happened was, this little documentary I did about basketball player Jeremy Lin on the Knicks (Linsanity) blew up. It gave me momentum, and I was determined to raise money to make my first narrative feature film. I initially got Lucy Liu to be a part of it, but we didn't raise enough money to get going so she was out.
But slowly, the Asian community just chimed in and it helped us and it began to take shape. We were shooting in New York, Los Angeles, Florida, and we shot in Taiwan. And everyone showed up to take part for very little money. I just felt like, “I'm a community.”
When I heard about the story of Sister Ping and Snakehead in New York City, I was like, "If this is one chance I get to tell a story, this is the one I want to tell."
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What I really liked about this story is the presence of a strong, Asian female that was complex, yet, at the same time, had the power and the strength that a lot of Asian women in my life had. They're the foundation of family circles and business and yet we're only seeing them portrayed in a certain way. This was the story I wanted to tell and this is where we are.
O-C: Shuya Chang in the lead was a perfect choice. What was it about her that caught your eye?
LEONG: My immediate reaction when I met her was, “Wow, there's something special in her, that is different than everyone else.”
I think she came from a very different upbringing than most of my colleagues in America. She grew up in Australia and had a different perspective. What I saw was confidence and inner strength. You can act confident, but to gain confidence is a whole other thing.
That was something that was really special because I know a lot of confident Asian women but they're not actresses. And what she brought to the table was this visual strength. I was like, "We can work with this. This is an archetype I haven't really seen before." She doesn't have that many lines in the movie, so a lot of it was how is she going to deal with her presence on-screen.
O-C: Shuya, This is based on a real life person. You want to do it justice. It's an important story and terrifying. What you know about Sister Tse, and what she goes through… what was going through your mind. Emotionally. How did you even prepare?
SHUYA CHANG: Obviously, like you said, you want to do the story justice and at the end of the day, you want people to come out of it by going, “ Wow. This is going on and maybe we need to do something about this.“
Well again, this story is inspired by her, right? So there's just so many angles and it's a very broad story. It's a very International story.
As an actress, I felt like I was in Candyland, because there were so many ways to approach her. She's so strong but at the same time she's very vulnerable, so it was an incredible gift to develop this woman who has so many layers.
O-C: You also managed to secure Jade Wu as the Snakehead boss. So menacing but in a calm way. How was it getting to work with her?
LEONG: Jade Wu is incredible! I'm so lucky to get to work with somebody that's been in this business longer than I've been around. She's been around for so long, and, as busy as she is right now, it's just crazy.
That being said, she brought a foundation to the story where this world should revolve around someone like her. The day she walked on set it was like, “Dai Mah is here so we all better roll and start acting!” [Laughs]
I think she just brings so much to the table in terms of the logic of Asian women. It's not really about pride, money, and power. It's more about community-building.
O-C: Evan, what did you learn working with this cast?
LEONG: I was lucky. I realized pretty quickly that I had some incredible actors working with me on this project. They are just going to give me more than I can ever expect.
Being my first feature film, you think you should know everything, you think you should be able to control all these actors. But you know, the best thing I realized was that it was a true creative collaboration and everyone just stepped up to the plate.
They knew where I was as a director and yet at the same time, they trusted and believed in me and they gave me their all.
O-C: Shuya, as you mentioned this is a very tough role and a very emotional one. Was it a challenge getting through it?
CHANG: Well, it starts with excitement and a bit of trepidation, but then it quickly goes into work mode for me.
So for my character, there were so many emotions at the same time that I have to kind of just deal through it.
We had such a great crew at the same time. I'm a person that can come in and out of character very easily. Every scene was really tough to shoot and we had so many obstacles.
We had such a good crew that just helped us through it, and Evan’s wife is amazing as the inspiration and backbone of this movie. She was the mother of our crew.
LEONG: That's an understatement. Without my wife I would have never gotten this project off the ground. She was incredibly supportive and helpful through the entire process.
CHANG: We got through it together. Even with all this hard work, I have a smile on my face thinking back, because it was really a passion project. Everyone is held together and we just believed in it and you could really feel it.
O-C: Your passion has clearly paid off and most importantly, rubbed off on your cast and crew.
LEONG: When I think of filmmaking and myself as a director, you have to be passionate. I learned that early on that if you can’t get your cast and crew to share in your passion then I might as well throw in the towel.
Everyone believed in this project, we had very little money but they still all stood by and gave everything they had.
Passion is your currency, and that is what allows you to go further and use more resources. People saw that there was something special here and that got me through making the film, both physically and emotionally.
I think this movie is quite a reflection of my life. When I wrote it, I was somebody else. When I shot it, I was somebody else. Now that we're here ready to share it with the world, I'm somebody else. You're constantly reflecting on the world and your journey as an artist.
When you're doing any film, you have no idea what you're going to get because you have to adapt to what the opportunities are for you.
For me, this film couldn't even self-contain but instead became a lot bigger because of the community. The community just opened its doors and gave us so much more than I thought we could ever get in terms of locations, resources, and just overall support. I couldn't be happier with how this all turned out and I can’t wait for audiences to see it.