Ji-young Yoo, the star of “Smoking Tigers,” claims that it was a true labor of love. “We had a dream, a million dollars, 20 days, and we made it happen.”
Before its debut, the Shelly Yo-written and -directed feature film enjoyed the backing of the Tribeca Festival. Through the festival’s “Untold Stories” program, Yo received a $1 million grant in 2022 to stage “Smoking Tigers.” Yo received the festival’s best script award on Thursday, and Yoo received the prize for best performance for her major role as Hayoung in the movie.
Before Yo’s “Soft Sounds of Peeling Fruit” proof-of-concept short, the young actress and the director first met. Yoo was scheduled to play alongside Nicole Kidman in the upcoming Amazon series “Expats,” but she couldn’t work on that original production because of her travel plans to Hong Kong.
But we continued in touch, and Yo saw me in ‘Man of God’ last year, which ran at the Geffen [Playhouse] and Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yoo continues. And I believe that after observing it, Yo believed that I may be a good match for Hayoung.
Yoo plays a Korean-American kid in “Smoking Tigers” who must deal with her parent’s recent divorce while attempting to blend in with a bunch of affluent classmates at her new high school.
Yoo describes the story’s relevance as “the thing that stuck with me is how simple Hayoung’s dreams are.” “The main characters in Hollywood movies, or American movies in general, frequently want to be the biggest, greatest, and brightest at whatever they’re pursuing. Hayoung, meanwhile, just wants the most basic things. In her home, she desires air conditioning. She desires the unity of her family. A two-car garage is what she wants. Simple things like a large bathtub where she can have a protracted, hot bath. She isn’t interested in the enormous, extravagant fantasies that occasionally, I believe, we tend to emphasize. And I found it to be incredibly lovely and easy to relate to. The tiny things, in my opinion, are typically what brings us happiness.
Yoo says that despite the rushed nature of the “Smoking Tigers” production, she put a lot of effort into the part and consulted Jason Segel, who was one of her co-stars in the Josephine Decker-directed movie “The Sky Is Everywhere,” for help.
“He told me that the best thing I can do for myself is to be so prepared that acting is the easiest part of my day,” she recalls. “When I’m facing down a job that is an intimidating character or a tough scene, that’s the best thing I can do for myself.” “I brought that to ‘Expats,’ and I think because of the experience shooting a limited series, I knew exactly the kinds of things I needed to prepare for [‘Smoking Tigers,’] where I’m really in every scene of the movie,” the actor said.
Yoo calls the experience of seeing “Expats,” which is based on a novel by Janice Y.K. Lee, a “once-in-a-lifetime” one. It’s not often you have the chance to work with Nicole Kidman in a production that takes place over a six-month period in Hong Kong, the actress claims. Although the job was quite challenging and the performance is not a comedy, I found the experience to be tremendously rewarding.
Yoo came to Oakland the day after wrapping up production for “Smoking Tigers” at the close of the previous year to begin work on “Freaky Tales,” which was helmed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Ben Mendelsohn and Pedro Pascal co-star in the movie, which is set in the late 1980s.
Yoo, who is in her early 20s and began acting as a teenager after deciding to change her focus from dancing, is having success thus far in the business. Yo was there at Chanel’s luncheon for the “Through Her Lens” program promoting women in the cinema last week, the day before “Smoking Tigers” debuted.
Since I began my professional career, I’ve had the privilege of working with almost exclusively female directors, says Yoo. In order to provide space for women, nonbinary persons, and those who have historically been marginalized in our profession, she continues, “I do think projects like ‘Through her Lens’ are incredibly necessary. “That event was incredible. I got to talk to Greta Lee and Stephanie Hsu. Additionally, Misty Copeland’s presence was so exciting for me as a dancer that I couldn’t stop internally fangirling.
She planned to attend a few screenings for the rest of the festival (including the world premiere of Randall Park’s film “Shortcomings”) and keep forging new relationships. “Meeting so many talented people has been a really lovely experience,” adds Yoo. I’m eager to see what a number of extremely young, bright filmmakers will produce next.
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