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Our first guest has written plays, TV series, and movies.
He has also won a Daytime Emmy Award.
We are super excited to be joined by Qui Nguyen.
Thank you so much for being here today.
I'm pretty excited to be here.
Thank you.
So you are a co-screenwriter on "Raya and the Last Dragon."
What was your process like in shaping the character of Raya?
A lot of it was trying to imbue the things that we've
always wanted to see in a superhero
that looks like this, right?
Like, it was a great opportunity to create a character that
had the voice and the swagger that I always thought lacking
in a character like that.
Yeah, I knew you couldn't handle rolling solo.
You're nothing without your band.
QUI NGUYEN: And of course, Kelly and her amazing voice
and her amazing talent--
lent, you know, all her comedic timing and her ideas.
They're really crafting a very special, unique character
in Raya.
I'm so glad you used the word swagger,
because that's kind of what I felt with that character.
She's a strong warrior, but she also got a sense
of humor and a style to her.
Oh yeah.
It was a fun tug of war in trying to figure out
how much swagger was too much, how little was too little,
and just being able to make sure that she was a cool character.
Because I think that it was so important for us
that it was a character that my kids would
want to emulate and admire.
And it's so easy, when making a Southeast Asian warrior,
be kind of quiet and stoic.
You know, that's what you've kind of seen
in a lot of movies like that.
And so I was like, yeah, but when I was a kid,
I never wanted to be a quiet kid.
I wanted to be the kid. [LAUGHTER]
Well, I wanted to be Spider-Man.
I wanted to be Tony Stark.
I wanted to be someone who could--
Yeah.
--say cool things, and be quippy, and fun, and funny,
as well as, you know, be
the one that like, beat up bad guys.
And so that was something that was really important for me,
that, you know, Raya got to be that person
who was as tough with her quips as she was with her fists.
In addition to co-screenwriter,
you were also the martial arts supervisor on the movie.
So what does that role look like, especially in animation?
And what did you bring into the project
from a cultural standpoint?
It meant that I could give some authenticity
to the martial arts that we were going to be depicting.
Since it was a movie that was set in Southeast Asia,
I wanted a film that celebrated the martial arts
from that region--
specifically, Muay Thai, Vovinam,
Pencak Silat, and Arnis.
Like, those four specifically were the ones
that we were spending a lot of time trying to make sure
that the characters could do.
For me, it was the martial arts that I kind of grew up doing.
So it was a good chance to be able to show off
some of the stuff that I loved growing up.
Now, do you have any common themes
that you have in your writings?
Because there's something-- there's
a specific scene in "Raya" that I want to ask you about.
[LAUGHS]
Oh-- oh, OK.
That I kind of noticed. As a collector and a pop culture
junkie, there was a scene when Raya was young
where they were like, showing off their different dragon
collectibles.
And I was like, OK, [LAUGHS] I get a little pop
culture vibe from that.
So is that-- is that a thing that you like to play in there?
I'm very--
I'm very pro-geek.
I'm very like--
[LAUGHTER]
--whether it's for Dis-nerds, or for like, pop culture,
you know, like Comic-Con nerds, it's definitely a reaction
going-- you know, when growing up
in the '80s and the '90s, of kind of feeling ostracized
by the fact that I loved certain things, or I loved movies,
or I loved animation, or I loved comic books, to be able to go,
hey, you're allowed to be passionate about something,
you're allowed to want to collect something,
you're allowed to want to--
to just be a fan.
What's so great about characters that are like,
Raya, or Spider-Man, or Captain America,
you're kind of saying like, I like these characters,
and that's kind of emblematic of kind
of the person I want to be.
Like, you're not saying, I am these people,
you're just kind of going, oh, it's OK
that you can love those things.
And I think I'm always writing a love letter
to the little eight-year-old in me that kind of felt like, oh,
am I allowed to bring comic books to school?
Is people going to judge me that I have like, way too
many Star Wars action figures?
Like, I want to be able to tell that--
I'm always writing to him,
going, hey, it's OK.
It's going to turn out well.
You get a career from it, so--
You have achieved so much.
So what were some of the obstacles along the way,
and how did you overcome them?
The biggest obstacles was like, just-- you know,
just moments of self-doubt.
You know, those moments as you're climbing,
and you're writing as hard as you are,
and you're not getting the responses to your material
as you would have hoped.
But I think what made it a lot easier was,
I think about the people that I surrounded myself
with, especially like, my wife, my friends, the people I
started a theater company with, the people that would come see
my shows that would like, basically
celebrate me, kind of prop me up and go, hey, we believe in you.
And I think that, in a lot of ways--
I always make a joke that the reason why I have a career
isn't because of like--
you know, I wasn't handpicked by anyone.
And I don't think that I immediately had like--
I don't think anyone can identify
like, oh, that kid's got it.
I think a lot of the credit goes to the geeks of New York--
the people that came to see my shows, who sold out
my shows, that would write me on my social media to go,
hey, we can't wait to see the next play that you're making.
You know, what would you tell your past self,
and what would you tell future aspiring storytellers,
especially when it comes to what you were just talking
about, which is very much about that imposter syndrome,
and believing in yourself?
You're going to fail.
And that is part of the process.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
I think that failure allows you to find
new paths to happiness that you didn't know existed before.
I became a writer because I failed at being an actor.
You know, I started a theater company
because I failed in getting other people to do my plays.
I ended up becoming a TV writer because I failed at not being
able to provide enough money for myself to take care of myself
as a theater artist.
And I continued to fail until the point
where I was given the opportunity to write
"Raya and the Last Dragon."
Part of getting here was seeing the new paths that open up
because I thought, you know, when you're 20,
when you're 18, when you're dreaming of climbing
that mountain, all you see is that one single peak,
not realizing that there's a whole--
like, there's so many different avenues,
so many different paths, so many different peaks to climb.
My fondest memories are the memories
I have in the struggle, with my best friends,
when we had no money, when we were putting
shows together with like, things we
found literally on the street.
Those are my fondest memories-- those moments of struggle,
those moments of working together
to pull off the impossible.
Definitely work for the victories,
but appreciate the journey.
Because if you miss out on it, I mean,
you're missing out on the majority of the ride.
So we are celebrating Asian Pacific
American Heritage Month.
What does it mean to you personally
to tell a Southeast Asian story like "Raya
and the Last Dragon"?
This is the movie I always wanted to write, you know?
It was a thing that, even when I was a kid,
I wanted to write a hero that looked,
and behaved, and was seen and was celebrated the way Raya is.
Like, I wanted a character that made people that look like me,
and my parents, and my relatives as heroes,
not as like, side characters to someone else's adventure,
but they got to be the hero.
And that was something that was so important to me
because it's something that I felt was important
that my kids were able to see.
It's one thing for me to say, hey,
you know, Sam, Felix, you know, be proud that you
have Southeast Asian roots.
It's another thing to have them watch a movie
and have their friends, who aren't Southeast Asian,
sit there and go, she's cool, I want
to be like her, which subconsciously tells them,
we want to be like you too, and just gives them
that opportunity, that feeling of pride that I, as a parent,
can't tell them to feel.
It's just-- organically has to happen.
And this is one of those things that allows that to happen.
And then ultimately, I love the reach
that a Disney movie can have.
Like, I have relatives in Vietnam
that I honestly haven't even had a chance to meet
see this movie, and be able to write my parents and go,
oh my gosh, we saw Qui's movie.
That's incredible.
What has it been like to see audiences react to the movie,
and has anything surprised you?
I think I expected the reaction of the kids
to a big Disney character.
What I wasn't expecting was the amount
of adults that were moved by Raya,
and the amount of like, emails, and letters, and tweets,
and reaction from grown-ups on how much Raya meant to them.
I expected my kids to be dressing up as Raya and sword
fighting in the backyard.
But then to see grown-ups already cosplaying
the character, already sending different things to me of how
much this meant to them-- like, seeing these amazing reaction
videos of people crying, just the idea that Raya exists,
that blows me away.
I remember Carlos and myself and Donald just watching these,
and we were just wrecked.
I mean, I think I was just wrung out
with tears of just like-- just taking in like, how much all
these adults, like, people in their 70s, like,
just being amazed by it.
I didn't expect that.
That, that was a surprise.
It's because those people were once
those kids who were hungry for that representation
and never got it.
So you brought that to their inner child.
So that is why people of all ages
are so grateful for this film.
Oh, thank you.
It's one of those things that, in the middle of making it,
I think in the back of my head, I knew it would
mean a lot to a lot of people.
I didn't expect the reaction to be so immediate.
In what ways have you seen diversity behind the scenes
enrich the stories that you've been a part of?
Coming into Disney Animation, I remember, you know,
stepping into that elevator that comes up from the parking
garage and looking around going, wait just a minute,
there's a whole bunch of people of color
in this elevator with me.
A lot of Asians, a lot of people that aren't just, you know,
the quote, unquote, "majority."
Wait, is there a special event happening here?
[LAUGHTER]
And then realizing, no, these are my actual co-workers.
These are the story artists that I work with every day.
These are the people behind the scenes.
And I hope that it spreads, and that more and more
studios embrace that, you know?
Because I think it just tells better stories, right?
Like, I think you need people behind the camera
as well as in front of the camera
to tell authentic stories.
What are your hopes for storytelling in the future,
particularly with the AAPI community?
You know, I would just like to see more diversity in stories,
and more stories out there that celebrate, you know, Asian--
Southeast Asian cultures and characters that look like me.
You know, it's great to be the first Southeast Asian princess.
It's great to have written a movie that celebrated,
you know, Southeast Asian and being the first to do that.
But you want to be the first of many.
You don't want to be the first of the only one.
And so I think it's something that you want to be able to see
more creators, more people that have opportunities to tell
their stories, and also just telling
different angles of the Asian-American experience.
You know, like, Hollywood, I think-- you know,
for good and bad, when they do like to tell our stories,
it often likes-- they like to tell the story
of where we came from, right?
It's often the story of, you know, Asians in Asia, you know?
So it's-- they like to celebrate that part of our story.
But often, they don't get to tell-- we don't get to tell
the story of where we're at.
I would love to be able to see, you know, a big Hollywood film
where the lead actor is Asian, and they didn't do kung fu
or karate, or they're not giving some deep, you know,
Eastern wisdom.
They're just-- if they're going to be a hero,
maybe they have a superpower, but you know,
to be able to have those heroes, and the diversity
to the stories--
you know, romantic comedies, action movies,
to be able to see all those things that just make you feel
seen, and you feel like you're part of the fabric of America,
because we are.
Thank you again so much, Qui, for doing this
wonderful interview with us.
And I'm sure you have touched many people
with your incredible advice and sharing your story.
And I know that you are certainly
paving the way for so many others in the AAPI community
who want to follow in your footsteps.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's really an honor to be here.
So thank you so much.
NARRATOR: Walt Disney Animation Studios' "Raya and the Last
Dragon" will be available to stream for all Disney+
subscribers on June 4th.
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