Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Dìdi’ Star Joan Chen On Embracing Vulnerability Through Acting And Motherhood: “This Was A Part Of My Own Life Now Finding Its Expression”
For Joan Chen playing a doting but slightly disregarded Taiwanese immigrant mother in Sean Wang’s Dìdi was a healing experience. Not only could she connect with the struggles that her character Chungsing goes through while raising her college-aged daughter and rebellious teenage son, the onscreen rift also helped her make amends with her daughters offscreen. “It was so cathartic to play Chungsing in this film and redemptive in a way because I think it gave me another chance almost to be a better mother,” Chen says. “And to do it better this time with my own younger daughter on set watching me, I felt like, ‘OK, Audrey. I’m talking to you. I’m trying to say, I’m sorry, and I love you.'”
Throughout her nearly five-decade career, Chen has embodied more than the all-encompassing role of a supportive mommy dearest. From garnering China’s most prestigious award before she was 18 years old in pre-Maoist political drama Little Flower (1979), playing a femme fatale on Twin Peaks (1990) to garnering U.S. moviegoers attention for her harrowing performance as an ill-fated empress trapped in a loveless marriage in the Oscar award-winning The Last Emperor (1987). Her long-spanning career also led her to make moves behind the camera in films such as Autumn in New York and her critically acclaimed debut film, Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl.
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“Never for a moment throughout my teens and early twenties did I believe this could be a real career,” Chen says. “Looking back, I slowly fell in love with this profession because I did find self-expression in it. I have been a relatively shy person, not demonstrative of my feelings in front of people, so this became a venue for me. I was so lucky I was assigned to star in movies.”
Here, with Deadline, Chen reflects on her career and the complexities of motherhood in her latest role in Dìdi.
DEADLINE: First, I’d like to ask if there is a creative link anywhere in your parents’ or grandparents’ background. Were they creatives in any way? I know you fell into acting in an untraditional way, but have you traced back your origins?
JOAN CHEN: There certainly is. My mother is very artistic, and I think her aspiration as a young child was to be an artist. She was a great singer. She played the grand piano, and she loved literature. Eventually, she followed in her own father’s footsteps and went into neuropharmacology. But all her life, I think what kept her happy was music. And then from my mother’s side and her mother’s side, there were great painters, and my brother is a great painter, and my mother also paints, so my brother and my mother are both a lot more talented than I am [laughs]. I fell into acting completely by accident, but they were my teachers.
My brother taught me how to look at the world and how to actually see it. I remember he was painting cows. I only see black and white and maybe green grass. But he would see a myriad of colors in the green grass, and he would see the reflection from different things onto the hide of the cow. So, when I became a director, the way he taught me how to see was very important.
DEADLINE: You were discovered in your hometown in China during rifle training. Can you take me back to when you decided that you were going to stick to being an actress instead of going back to school?
CHEN: I was 14 years old. I don’t think any 14-year-olds wanted to go back to school [laughs]. When they picked me out of the rifle team, I was overjoyed. One reason is that I would now get to go to work instead of going to school. And there were little things that, for instance, once you get a job, you can now wear a watch, students could never wear a watch, and so I was like, “Oh my god, now I could have a watch. I can wear a watch.” It was just little things that really had nothing to do with acting at first. Then, when I started practicing my lines, there was one line that I would speak. I didn’t have many lines in there, but there was one line I had to speak, the script described: with tears beaming out of my eyes and my lips quivering, and I’m like, “How do I do that?” So that was the line I practiced. I remember it being in the hallway or in the office before we were shooting. I think it’s these things that intrigued me. It’s like how you do that, how you conjure true emotion from a written page to your heart, and these types of challenges made me interested, and then later on, love acting.
DEADLINE: Was there any other path for you? Would you have perfected being a rifleist or perhaps being a musician or painter with your family background?
CHEN: It was such a different era and culture. During the Cultural Revolution, our piano was taken. People would come and raid your house. My parents were considered the intellectual class as well as the bourgeoisie, so I didn’t have a choice. And most people, my brother’s age, as he’s older than me, and our friends were slightly older, were all being sent down to remote areas, so they left the city. One good thing about being an actress was that I didn’t have to graduate from high school and be assigned to a remote region, so my parents were happy about that. But never for a moment throughout my teens and early twenties did I believe this could be a real career. Looking back, I slowly fell in love with this profession because I did find self-expression in it. I have been a relatively shy person, not demonstrative of my feelings in front of people, so this became a venue for me. I was so lucky I was assigned to star in movies.
DEADLINE: Getting into your role as Chungsing in Dìdi, she’s nuanced. She’s silently keeping everything together. She’s protecting her children from the brunt of the verbal sparring from the grandmother. She’s also a supportive mother. Are there things that you agree with regarding her parenting style? As well as things you necessarily don’t?
CHEN: I think most kids see their parents as just somebody who provides what they need. It’ll take many years and maturity for them to reflect and understand that their parents are human beings with their own desires, needs, and emotional ups and downs. In the film, Chungsing’s children are teens, and I don’t think they would see things that way. It is, in a way, my own personal experience. So, when I read the script, I felt instantly empathy toward the character’s sympathy and empathy. I felt like this was a part of my own life, now finding its expression. My children and I weathered many storms, some much worse than what’s in the film, and I take it as my responsibility. They’ve been trying to teach me to be a better mother.
Being an immigrant, having been raised very differently and coming from a different culture… that uncertainty that both the character and I felt about what’s best for my children is relatable. I don’t know how to raise them. Is their behavior the norm in the society, or is it my own children that are difficult? There are so many uncertainties. I’m sure motherhood for anyone in any culture is really not for the faint of heart, especially when you are a stranger to this land and trying to raise American children. It’s awfully difficult. Chungsing’s art and paintings are so important to her. She had the aspiration of becoming an artist and then having to be a single mother, not only raising two kids but also taking care of her mother-in-law. That’s a very difficult job. Sean [Wang] ‘s mom really did a marvelous job. She’s had the patience, the resilience, and the forbearance to carry out this job, even though she wasn’t sure. It was so cathartic to play Chungsing in this film and redemptive in a way because I think it gave me another chance almost to be a better mother, to do it better this time with my own younger daughter on set watching me, and I felt like, “OK, Audrey. I’m talking to you. I’m trying to say, ‘I’m sorry, and I love you.'”
DEADLINE: So, one of your daughters is in the film industry? Or are they trying to break in? Have you had the talk with them in terms of what the industry entails? Whatever you’d like to share about them, I’m sure you don’t want to dox your children.
CHEN: My younger daughter does want to be an actress. Right now, her strongest passion is for social justice. She’s still a student at NYU, so that’s her strongest passion right now. But she does love acting also. My older daughter is a writer. Playing Sean’s mom taught me something: to have a little patience so that they will fall into their destinies where they need to be, and I don’t have to worry too much about it. I think they are two great children, and oftentimes, we fear for them, like, “Oh my God. Is she ever going to be like this or that?” Having played this character helped that. Now I know that I have faith and they’re decent people and they will find their own destiny, and so it’s a learning process for me.
DEADLINE: Sean gave you reference material to play this loosely biographical version of his mother. How did those tools help inform your performance?
CHEN: It was interesting to learn about her mannerisms, tone of voice, beliefs, and faith. What I admire most about Sean’s mom is that she has very deep faith within her. I have learned that in trying to incorporate this into a character who is insecure, Her relationship with her children is fraught with so much misunderstanding, not only by the generational gap but also by the cultural chasm, yet she held faith and hope. So, I learned a great deal from that part. Throughout my interviews with her, I saw she had such a gentle touch and spoke gently. I had her record all my lines, just to get another point of view on the delivery, as I was curious about how someone that the character is based on would say these. And a lot of the dialogue came from her in real life. She was part of the scriptwriting. She was very helpful in creating the character of the mother.
DEADLINE: We must get into your directorial work and your work as an actor between the U.S. and China. What has been your takeaway from the constant transition between nations these last three or so decades you’ve been in the business?
CHEN: It’s very interesting. For one thing, even though the Chinese and U.S. culture is very different, the filmmaking process nowadays in China and in the U.S. is very similar. The filmmaking departments, from art, the DP, directors, and costuming, all do their work similarly. So, it’s not really hard to jump from one Chinese movie to a U.S. movie and vice versa. But the audience’s appetite is culturally different. I think the Chinese audience likes sentimental things more. And so, some films are not so well reviewed in the U.S. or are too sappy or sentimental and poorly reviewed. However, they are reviewed very well in China. People actually love these films, so tastes are different.. Not good or bad. It’s just different.
If I direct a film, I’m not thinking about who the audience is or who do I [impress]. It’s just as I see it. There is only one subjective view, and you can’t consider this and that. I think filmmaking is a circus life, a production, and all the crews; we are all together. We build our tents and start performing. That type of lifestyle is very similar. It’s the same in China or the U.S.. I feel very fortunate to be able to constantly work in both or other countries. I just finished a Canadian film in Quebec, where half of my lines are in French. It’s a wonderful thing to make films with different cultures. It feels great.
DEADLINE: How much of you is director Chen vs. actor Chen at this stage in your career? Are you still finding an eye for writing and creating films versus taking roles? Or are you just leaning back into acting?
CHEN: I love acting, writing and directing. I think acting, if I see some merit in a character, if I could identify with one scene, like, “OK, this is one scene that I could sink my teeth into, and maybe the entire project is not ideal, it’s not the best, I could still go do it,” but I think for directing, I’d be like, “I really need to love it.” I need to feel 100% passion for it to go for it. There is this little difference. If I’m acting and don’t get a good part, I can’t wait for a whole year for a good part. You need to be constantly acting because that’s how you practice. And so when the good part does show up, you’re good at it. For directing, it’s not just a craft thing. The story has to drive me insane. I would have to tell it, or else I couldn’t live. That’s the difference, but I do love both.
DEADLINE: I can’t stop thinking about Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, your directorial debut film. Do you ever sit down and reflect on making that film and think about how relevant the themes of body autonomy and treating women as second-class citizens still resonate today nearly three decades later?
CHEN: It’s very interesting. When it first came out, I think one critic mentioned it. I thought maybe that Hollywood experience may have driven me [to portray] the women being exploited in that way. Maybe it was subconsciously. Consciously, I was making a film about my generation’s loss of innocence. An entire generation for ten years were being sent down [writer’s note: Chinese youths were coerced to leave their hometowns to work in rural areas for labor].
DEADLINE: It’s so surprising to me that it’s not available on streaming. How do we help you with that? Who do we, as an audience, get it in the hands of one of these services?
CHEN: As a matter of fact, I was once approached by Criterion, and now a couple of other people are approaching me to bring it to a platform. The funny thing is I couldn’t find my cut negative. [The company] has since folded, so I’m like, where would that be? How do I restore it now? Back then, it was like, OK, I made the film, and it was shown and that’s done [laugh]. And I didn’t keep a good record of all the material because I was wearing so many hats on the film. I was producing, directing, and writing it, and I was the one who actually carried the prints around. And so now, good question. I do want to bring it to a good platform. But first, I need to find where my negative is. If worse comes to worse, and I don’t find my cut negative, then it’s expensive to restore the print itself. We’re going to try, though. I appreciate your question.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]
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