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Roadtripped over the weekend to the annual San Diego Asian Film
Festival, a jampacked event that boasts a slate of both Asian
and Asian American features, animated shorts, documentaries and short
films. I managed to catch a few words with Jimmy Tsai, co-writer, co-producer
and star of this year's highlighted feature, "Ping Pong Playa," a comedy about a glib b-ball-playing slacker who suddenly has to defend his brother's (Roger Fan) table tennis championship after a wrist-breaking car crash.
When asked how similar his views are to his character's, the often aggressive advocate of Asian American identity Christopher "C-Dub" Wang, Jimmy replies laughingly, "C-Dub's definitely a little more militant than I am, but you know, he's just informed on his issues, and he uses his ethnicity as both a shield and a bludgeon." The character, a hypercompetitive could've-been-but-never-was basketball star who peaked in grade school, laments the lack of Asian Americans in the NBA and is quick to give his opinion on Asian American women who date white men.
October 13, 2008
Jimmy Tsai at the San Diego Asian Film Festival
Roadtripped over the weekend to the annual San Diego Asian Film
Festival, a jampacked event that boasts a slate of both Asian
and Asian American features, animated shorts, documentaries and short
films. I managed to catch a few words with Jimmy Tsai, co-writer, co-producer
and star of this year's highlighted feature, "Ping Pong Playa," a comedy about a glib b-ball-playing slacker who suddenly has to defend his brother's (Roger Fan) table tennis championship after a wrist-breaking car crash. When asked how similar his views are to his character's, the often aggressive advocate of Asian American identity Christopher "C-Dub" Wang, Jimmy replies laughingly, "C-Dub's definitely a little more militant than I am, but you know, he's just informed on his issues, and he uses his ethnicity as both a shield and a bludgeon." The character, a hypercompetitive could've-been-but-never-was basketball star who peaked in grade school, laments the lack of Asian Americans in the NBA and is quick to give his opinion on Asian American women who date white men.
Asian American identity politics plays a recurring role in the
film, and it's easy to see where C-dub's worldview overlaps with Tsai's. At a celebrity panel on Saturday, he engages in mild
disagreement with fellow actor Aaron Yoo, co-star of the controversial
blackjack heist film "21." The film came under fire for mostly
whitewashing the cast of a true story based on a group of Asian
American MIT students, and while Yoo defends the choice of Jim Sturgess as the lead, citing Hollywood norms and colorblind casting, Tsai doesn't mince words about the way he feels.
"My big disappointment with the film — when you have names like Kevin Spacey and Lawrence Fishburne — this would have been the perfect place to stick in Asian Americans [as leads]," he says.
Gesturing at Yoo and panelist Leonardo Nam ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"), he adds, "There are two right here."
"My big disappointment with the film — when you have names like Kevin Spacey and Lawrence Fishburne — this would have been the perfect place to stick in Asian Americans [as leads]," he says.
Gesturing at Yoo and panelist Leonardo Nam ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"), he adds, "There are two right here."
L-R:Aaron Yoo ("21"), Smith Cho ("Ping Pong Playa," "Knight Rider,"), and Leonardo Nam ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" 1 & 2) at the SDAFF celebrity panel on Oct. 11.
This blog entry is graciously sponsored by Toyota Matrix. Check out their website dedicated to the best in Asian American film.
Posted by Elaine at October 13, 2008 9:28 PM
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