Film Courage: How did you start over in Atlanta?
Jason Park, Filmmaker: I was working an I.T. job as a network engineer. I was sitting there
and this was right before Covid, this was like 2019 that this happened. I was looking at the
landscape, mind you at this point I kind of quit Hollywood for a while. I wasn't auditioning and
wasn't doing anything and I was looking at the landscape and I still did not see what I wanted
to see what my goal was when I went out there. I didn't see it and just for some insight what the
goal was if I break it down further than like the Asian Will Smith it was really seeing a
leading Asian guy in a non-Asian role so. What that means is if you see someone like myself
but there is no kung fu, there is no okay this is about an Asian family in Malaysia,
there's nothing. It's just like hey that guy just so happens to be Asian. There is
no Asian story. We don't own a liquor store, there's no laundromat, there's no Kung Fu,
there's no sidekick, it's just oh he's the love interest and he just so happens to be Asian.
When you create stories like that it becomes powerful because now it's just normal, it's just
normal right? You're not you're not highlighting the fact that this person's Asian, they're just
a human being playing a role. Because I didn't witness that enough and you have your hits, you
have your Shang-Chi Marvel film fantastic but the title is Shang-Chi it's a martial arts film that
takes place where there's a lot of Asians. Then you have something else like Crazy Rich Asians,
the title is Asians dealing with an Asian family so of course you're going to cast Asians now mind
you these films are fantastic films but in order to separate that gap really for all ethnicities
you have to play regular roles right and you can't force right and a lot of times
today we see forced you can't force something that's already established and what I mean by
that is if this franchise has a history and this character and a fan base along with that history
and this character like let's say Iron Man right Robert Downey, Jr that's everyone's Iron Man Iron
Man Has looked like Iron Man since the beginning right if you now put another racist Iron Man
it's not going to work because of the history associated with that character
you have to create new characters you have to create new stories as whatever that race is or
whatever you want to be that's a lot easier to digest from a fan base because it's new
than it is to swap somebody out because it's trending today because now you're alienating
the 50-60 years of fans that have purchased those comic books that have read those
stories that have fallen in love with these characters for instance I'm a big anime guy.
I love Dragon Ball Z if I ever get the opportunity to direct or be a part of any Dragon Ball Z live
action film I swear I would do it justice but we all know as anime fans what these characters look
like right and here is where it's it's that fine line so because we all know we've been with these
characters for people that are my age we've been with these characters for 25 years this
is what we we like love and we are into if you change that or or you gender swap it or anything
for us fans who are Die Hard who will go watch anything related to that you've now alienated us
for for whatever reason now if you want to race swap it gender swap it or anything like that
create a new story create a new comic create new characters create new story lines create
a new world right that's the beauty of film you can create anything and put anybody in any role
so with my films when I write they're just new story lines and a lot of times I put
myself in the leading role because my goal is to break that barrier and the way I do that is
they have like if you think of something like a like Four Amigos or like my a film we just wrapped
it where it's in post now it's called Pizza Boy Rick it has nothing to do with race I just so
happen to be an Asian guy in the film but because it has nothing to do with race you don't see that
it's just like oh he's just playing this character that's how you break the wall
down not by forcing it like oh okay hey guys today we're gonna put an Asian guy in this role
like if you put me as black panther that's not gonna work no one's gonna look at that and say
okay yes yes we want no nobody wants it I don't even want that that doesn't work so I think that's
where creating your own story and originality is extremely powerful and if you want to see
change in the Dynamics of Hollywood in American Cinema then you as the writer as the filmmaker
you have to be that change you have to create that change if you're Indian Asian black like
it doesn't matter you have to write the story from your perspective because you can't expect
somebody that's not your race to write you as that leading guy because they don't know your
perspective they know their perspective so if you want to create change and you want to be a part of
change and you're sitting there and you're like oh why haven't they done that don't make excuses go
create the change because even if I break one layer in my career the next person will come
and break two layers and then before it there's a trail what about everything everywhere all at once
how is that for a beautiful film beautiful storyline in terms of the stereotypes
there's so with something like that there is the exception right people are going to create
what they know and what they love right so the creators of that they made the Low John video
I forget what the music video was but it had like an Asian dude that was dancing crazy
and it was breaking through the floors in the wall and like their style is very very creative
that's fine it's a it's fine to make time skip in martial arts action that's fine because
that's what we've seen as far as what we're used to from let's say someone that's Asian
but if you want to continue to keep pushing that boundary then we have
to be the love interest we have to be the guy that saves the day right we have to do
these things and not have it tied to our lineage so if you think of something like
let's say
it wouldn't work but like let's say House of Dragons right if the King was an Asian guy
but it had nothing to do with him protecting an Asian state or or property or land
and the way he got that power was he killed the king that's powerful because it has
nothing to do with him being Asian he just so happens to be the guy that killed the king and
now he's the king and everyone fears him so they're not gonna approach him right
that's where the little minute changes happen and and to your point it really takes creators
of different ethnic groups to create because only you can create from your voice your experience
and your perspective no one else can do that for you
how do you think it is for people to say well yeah there's there's all sorts of whatever there's RRR,
there's the Shahs of Sunset, there's Crazy Rich Asians there's all these these shows out there
but it it's it's only like within one world yes so it kind of just like exists but but it's not
there's no diversity it's just all one of each kind and and here's the thing America is like
the melting pot of the world right seeing every race is normal whether you're at the grocery
store grabbing a bite to eat we all blend we're all a bunch of everything right so in order for
anyone to see anything that represents them on screen they have to create it
you can't expect someone else to create your story your pain
if they're not like you it just it they can't because their lens is different
right so when you mention Triple R fantastic film by the way I loved it yeah
but that's in all encompassing film with its own ethnicity Associated to that film
and that's fine because you're going to always have those but that's not an American film when
you're talking about American Cinema and you hear in the news you hear from all these creatives like
oh this person doesn't like this or this person hates this or why can't this person be this
how about all the noise stop and how about action take over and how about people start
writing start creating start filming start casting start producing instead of talking
talking for someone else to go do that if you're constantly talking for someone else to do it
then it's going to take a lot longer for it to ever get done if it ever gets done
so we've seen strides I would say nowadays it's kind of like a lot of times it's forced that's
why it doesn't work because it's forced nothing forced works even when your parents say hey go do
the dishes right now like you reluctantly go to do them dishes compared to hey get these dishes done
I'm going to make sure that whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish the iPod or iPad or
whatever that you wanted you do these dishes enough time without me having to tell you I'm
going to make sure I get that for you okay cool now not that you have to come to some kind of
agreement with your kid but it's a lot easier than having to force them to go do something because
now they don't want to do it so it sounds like if something is too much within its stereotype
then it's it feels like it's too patronizing maybe yes because now you're only seeing blue
when in fact we live in a rainbow right when you see too much of one color
that's that's what it is right it's it's like okay yeah that makes sense that's that kind of film
but if you're trying to blend everything then it's important for those new stories to flourish those
new filmmakers to direct and create and to cast for those roles because if not then why would
it change if the business has been successful for a hundred years and it's been financially
in the positive then why would they change that why would they go and take a risk if
you think about it right even big actors that are established they have to go screen test
sometimes they have to audition right if they have to do that and they are proven
what makes you think that they're going to go with an unknown different ethnic group for this row and
take a risk on you and invest 50 to 100 million dollars for you to go and hopefully bring a return
that's not going to happen or if it is it's super rare but if you go create your
own story and you go and make that film and it becomes successful now there's a track record
for you to level up and have the opportunity to expand that Vision in that voice
how there's the Bechtel test the test certain things about how women are portrayed or or how
they're seen through the lens do you do that with your films where it's like okay I don't
know if I want to do an ethnic stereotype I know this person checks this box but I don't want them
to fit that role so I don't check any boxes my films are super diverse but it's not on purpose
I get the best people really energy wise and they all are very talented
but I get people that I like and when we collaborate on a project
there is no okay I'm putting this person in this role because they're this that doesn't exist on
any of my projects and when we film I give everyone the creative freedom to do whatever
they want I don't care what they say I don't care how they say it I don't care how they play it just
know that if in this scene it's important to mention a glass of water right because
somewhere else later in the film a glass of water something happens with that glass of water then
okay hey I don't I don't care how you get here just say something about the glass of water
everyone has the freedom to play it however they want so there is no stereotype because you're
playing it however you see it and I think that's important so when I cast outside of great energy
I personally just don't see really anything outside of that's another human being so any
role in any film movie that I make anybody can play it anybody can play any role and
it's finest sometimes on any films you'll Shuffle like hey what last minute like okay
look look you go here you go okay cool okay great and that's kind of what's worked for me.