In the 2008 world of DÌDI 弟弟, 13-year-old Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) watches how-to tutorials on YouTube, gets into screaming matches with his sister at the dinner table, makes goofy videos with his friends, scours Myspace, rolls his eyes at his mom, texts his crush on AIM for the first time. The new film, whose title comes from the affectionate term in Mandarin for “little brother,” captures the nostalgia of the late aughts alongside the timeless essence of growing up as a teenager.
16-year-old Izaac Wang stars in his first headline role as Chris, an impressionable Taiwanese-American teen skating through his last summer before high school, learning things his mom can’t teach him. The 13-year-old searches for an identity, code-switching to fit into each social circle. He is known as “Wang-Wang” to his multicultural childhood friends, “Half-Asian Chris” to his older non-Asian skater buddies, and “Dìdi” to his family. However, Chris is too preoccupied with impressing his crush Madi (Mahaela Park) by wearing Paramore t-shirt that belongs to his sister and referencing A Walk to Remember (which he’s never seen) to appreciate his loving immigrant mother Chungsing (Joan Chen). The film, written and directed by Academy Award nominee Sean Wang, is a heartfelt tribute to the complex, cringy nature of adolescence and what it means to grow up Asian American.
Hailing from Minnesota and now a Los Angeles local, Chinese-Laotian American actor Izaac Wang has previously appeared in Clifford the Big Red Dog, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Good Boys. Teen Vogue sat down with Wang to chat about identity, growing up, and Spotify character playlists.
Izaac Wang: Sean's [Instagram] story of this BTS photo that's pretty funny was my reaction to being accepted into Sundance. Winning was completely different. Winning was kind of crazy. When we won, I was super excited. I saw people messaging me like, “Holy crap we won at Sundance!” Sean was super excited, all my cast members were super excited, I was super excited. It was just a huge thing. Everyone was super proud of each other. And then we finally started to figure out, Holy crap, this movie's probably gonna be insane. That was probably the best moment of knowing that we won Sundance.
IW: I was born in Minnesota, I was only raised there for three years. I moved [to LA] when I was three years old, so I've basically grown up in LA. [In] my childhood, [I] was a relatively imaginative person. I used to love playing with stuffed animals. I still do play with stuffed animals. That helped me to make creative worlds in my head.
Me being an actor was completely coincidental. It wasn't something I put myself into, but it was actually my parents. It was only because my dad [who owns a pharmacy] had this [customer] who was always running in and out of his workplace. He was like, “Oh, what do you do for a living?” And she was like, “Oh, I'm a kid's talent manager.” And he was like, “Oh, can I just like give my kid to you?” And she's like, “Yeah sure.” And that's how it all started and now I'm an actor. My first role was for this My Little Pony commercial. I was like eight or nine years old. It being my first time and me being eight through nine years old, I was pretty immature. Definitely not the most mature actor of all time. I’m still pretty immature now, but definitely not as immature as I used to be.
IW: It's pretty difficult. I’d say probably it’s easier at, like, a normal public school. The school I’m attending is LACHSA (Los Angeles County High School for the Arts). So it’s a weirder mix of arts and normal academics. There’s been times where my school has been strict with me being away from school, specifically with DÌDI. And especially if you're away from school for a long time for shooting, your grades tend to go down because you're not attending classes every day, so that’s also more difficult. But it’s not the worst thing ever. If you're not working and just doing self-tapes and auditions, there's a little bit more [time] in your schedule. But besides that, it's not too terrible.
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IW: The number one thing is talking with your director. Me and him were very close on set and we're [still] close now. He would give all of his actors Spotify playlists to listen to fit in with their character and he would give them character breakdowns. It was incredible. He would basically talk over with you every scene and like what's going on and what he wants and what the main idea of the scene is. Something that was super beneficial was improv-ing throughout the scenes, letting us put in our ideas and throw them out there and see if he likes them. I'd say that's like the number one thing that helped me make Chris alive and listen to what he wants and how he wants this story to progress.
IW: It was pretty difficult. One main, major problem I had with the character of Chris was [that] I struggled with playing a character who was more vulnerable and more immature and [had] more of a need to fit in and be someone who they’re really not. That was difficult as an actor. In simpler terms, I had to make myself less cool because [jokingly] I'm really cool. [For] the creative process, I went through it with Sean. I went through it with my parents. I also talked with my fellow cast members. That really helped me build in and lock in the character. I’d say what most helped was Sean’s directing where he made us improv in the scenes.
IW: Well, the first thing that popped into my head [that] I'm just gonna say is that we're both Asian. That’s for sure. But, besides that, I'd say there's times where I sometimes have an urge to fit in and be cool. For example, when I first started [as a] freshman high school, I was like a nerd. I would wear the weirdest things. My fashion was not it. And I was just like, “Damn, I gotta fit in, right?” So, in sophomore year, I completely flipped things around to stand out less and just be that guy who wears a hoodie and jeans everyday. And then that didn't work. So I was like, “Damn I gotta lock in again.” So then I started dressing well. I'd say that's something where we [Chris and I] are alike. I wanted to fit in with other people and I didn't want to stand out and not be cool.
IW: Probably the same thing that I related to as well: The urge to fit in. Maybe it's like subconscious and you don't really realize that you're trying to fit in but, in reality, you are. I think fitting in and finding who you want to be and finding a place for you in this weird society is something that we all try to relate to.
IW: I think all four of these shames are seen after his scene with Madi. That's when he feels the most shame, right? He's running away from his parents, he's running away from the girl, he's running away from all of his friends. He's basically just hit the absolute rock bottom, just like hit the core. And I think that's when he realizes, all the shame really just hits him and he's just like, “Damn it.”
IW: It was very strange playing a character who people were being racist to. It was like a different experience. I've never played a character like that [and] I think that was maybe the hardest thing. I love being myself. I love being Asian. Being Asian is awesome and playing a character who doesn't really want to be Asian was just so strange to me. It's like, Wow, why do you not want to be Asian? We have food, we have culture. It was strange to me. That was the number one thing I struggled with, I didn't fit in with the character at that moment who also didn't fit in with everyone else. It was this out-of-place thing.
IW: Hey man, that was such a good shot too. Of the shoes, like, that was so genius. I think the reason why he didn't tell them specifically is because he was afraid that they would be like, “I don't want to take off my shoes. Why do I have to do that?” And then he has to explain himself, “Because, you know, Asian custom, whatever, blah blah blah.” He wants to be one with these skater boys, [so] by doing that, he'll follow other customs and he won't stay true to himself.
IW: Man, there are so many. I think one of the best scenes that showcases like, “Oh wow she's Asian!” is when Joan (Chen, Chris’ Mother) splits the burger and eats it separately. I have a grandma who does that. That's so Asian. Eating at the dinner table and having a conversation [in the film] reminded me of when I went to countryside China. That's how it was with 20-30 more people. People were silent and then, all of a sudden, people were arguing with each other and laughing. I'd say every scene showcasing Asian culture was really spot on.
IW: I think I tried to relate to the story a little bit with my own mom. Me and my mom butt heads a lot. It's actually not because we're opposites, but it's because we're so similar and stubborn that we fight. It’s because I’m literally exactly like her. We're a lot better than what we used to be. I took from our past history of basically fighting all the time and I put that into my relationship with Joan Chen's character for the story. I think that helped a lot [was] seeing how I progressed through this story with Joan and how there was a relationship slowly building between the two of us. It was basically like IRL with my own mother and how over time, we slowly put back the pieces of our relationship. And eventually, now, we don't butt heads everyday over the weirdest, tiniest things.
IW: Be yourself, damn it. [He hits the table.] Be yourself. Don't listen to other weird trends and don't fall into peer pressure. Don't be weird. Don't make things that would make your parents unhappy. Mostly think to make your parents happy [is] by not fitting in, then you know what? Screw it. Go for it. Send it. That’s what I think.
DÌDI will be released in LA and NYC theaters on July 26th and nationwide on August 16th.
