Dìdi Star Izaac Wang Schools Us on Youth

Mixed Asian Media - August 20, 2024

By Jalen Jones

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After premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival to immediate acclaim, Oscar-nominated director Sean Wang’s directorial debut Dìdi is well deserving of all the buzz. Set in Fremont, California, the film follows 13-year-old Taiwanese American Chris Wang — played by Izaac Wang — as he learns to skate, foster relationships, and love his mother. 

Following the film’s recent theatrical release on July 26, Izaac Wang joins us to discuss some of youth’s most important hallmarks: social media, trying to be yourself, and learning to love your mom better.

*THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED FOR CLARITY AND LENGTH.

I know some actors don’t like watching themselves, but have you seen the movie yourself? 

Yes. The official premiere was the second or third time that I’ve seen it. It was better, but it was still bad [watching myself], and I still cringe at myself pretty hard. I think the reason why actors don’t like watching themselves is because either the scenes are really embarrassing, they can’t get into the movie because they’re watching themselves, or you tend to be self-critical. Like, “Oh, I could have done this better, or that better.” Overall, the movie is so great, and I still enjoyed watching it.

Has your mom seen the film? And did you talk about it after, since the film is about a mother-son relationship?

Yes, she’s seen it every time that I’ve seen it. She loves it so far. Me and my mom bonded and got super close. Our relationship now is way better than it’s ever been, solely because of this movie. 

Did you find yourself relating to Chris and his relationship with his mom? 

I’d say that my relationship with my mom wasn’t as bad as Chris, where I was still grateful for what my mom does for me. I think that Chris’ situation was a little bit more difficult, because he was missing his dad. That’s why he was more critical of his mother. But I could relate to Chris and other aspects. I think any teenager could relate to Chris really, with the insecurities and, you know, the feeling of not fitting in with anyone else. I think that’s the most relatable part about Chris, and I tried to bring that out through his character.

Did you have things in common with Chris hobbies-wise? Skating, maybe? 

The funniest thing is that the difference between me and Chris is that we’re polar opposites when it comes to things that we’re good at. He’s supposed to speak Mandarin and he’s supposed to be good at skating. I’m not good at skating. I did learn a little bit, like, I can roll around a skate park just fine. But I still can't speak Mandarin at all. No.

I do like cinematography, like Chris — I’d say that’s one thing that we have in common. 

Do you think you’ll ever get into behind-the-camera work? 

It’d be fun. I do like camera work. I shoot like, stupid short films with my friends, like these improv short films. They’re really dumb, but they’re fun. 

So just like Chris.

This film felt really true to the Asian American, Northern Californian experience. I know it took inspiration from Sean Wang’s life — did you two have conversations about how his adolescence went, before or during production?

Obviously the movie and Chris’ character was inspired by Sean’s life, but what [Sean] wanted was for Chris to be more Chris and less Sean. He wanted the basic groundings to be some of Sean’s life experiences, but he wanted Chris to be this different character that had different emotions, and experienced things a little bit differently than Sean. That’s what me and him talked about: Who is Chris? rather than Why does Sean relate with Chris? In the end, that’s how it played out — we figured out Chris’ character and how I relate to him. Sean relates to him, but not in a way that Sean is him. That’s a bit of a difference that’s important to note.

It was really cool seeing the beginnings of social media crop up in the movie, and how it impacted the teenagers’ interactions with each other. Did you find any of that relatable, or was it too before your time?

I’d say it was pretty relatable, although it was a little bit before my time. Like, we don’t have AIM now, and we don’t have Myspace anymore, so those things I can’t relate with. But DMing my friends online is, you know, I think something anyone can relate with. Like, having stupid conversations with my homies, and sending them dumb links and trying to make them click on it is still something we do today. Even though social media has changed a lot, there’s not really too much of a difference in how it’s consumed. Although, it is pretty major. Back then you weren’t scrolling on your FYP all the time, right? But now you really are. There is some relatability between now and then for technology and media, though — like Facebook.

Do you prefer social media back then, or how it is now?

I really do enjoy how in AIM you can type in different fonts. I think that was a cool feature. I wish they would have that, or at least make it easier to access, for computer messaging systems like Discord, or… I guess I don’t really use anything besides Discord. I guess if you’re more business-like you use, uhm… [clicks tongue]. Ugh, what’s the other one? It’s like the professional version of Discord. I forgot what it’s called.

You mean Slack?

Yeah yeah yeah, Slack Slack Slack. 

I feel like that’s the type of modern technology that we take for granted, considering how everything back then was more like, rudimentary and felt unpolished. Or maybe that’s just me, but that’s how it looked [to me]. Now, the technology we have is kind of insane. We have super high-resolution 4K monitors that are better than your eyeballs. We have cameras that literally can zoom all the way out thousands of miles into space. Advancements in technology are just kind of ridiculous. 

Yeah, but we still can’t change the font easily on Discord. 

Font changing is still not accessible. 

There are a lot of cool lessons to take away from Dìdi. Did you find yourself learning anything new while working on it? 

Yeah. Acting-wise, there’s definitely a lot I learned when it comes to being a better actor, and how to be a better person. I think that learning everyone’s names on set is something important. Unless it’s like a gigantic crew with like, 300 people — that’s a little bit more difficult. But if you’re just a tiny crew, which is what we were, with like, 15-30 people on set every day, that’s easy. By learning everyone’s names, you can have a friendship with everybody, which is really nice. It’s a lot easier to make a movie if you’re chill with everyone. 

A core lesson I took away from this movie is about the relationship with my own mother. It’s kind of become a core thing of mine. It’s just, you know, “Love your mom.” Yep. Just as simple as that. 

What do you think audiences will be most surprised by when they watch this film?

There’s some funny things depending on who you are as an audience member. If you’re that stereotypical mom who’s like, [protective] of their children, and then you go to watch this movie because you hear it’s a funny, family-friendly coming-of-age film, and then realize there’s a bunch of swearing and profanity and these kids are talking about penises, you obviously are not gonna be that excited. But I think this movie hits home with a lot of other people, specifically people in their 20s. Or, as the movie says, anyone who has been a teenager. 

The most surprising thing is how relatable this movie is. It really does feel like this kid named Chris is really just like you or me, or like anyone else who watches this movie who’s literally ever been a teenager. Those insecurities, those needs and wants to fit in, and just the urge to be cool — that’s something that I feel like every teenager at some point in their life has gone through. Or maybe the most surprising factor is that I kiss an apple passionately.

What’s next for Izaac Wang?

Ah, I don’t even know. Hopefully a lot more things. I really do like acting now. And I feel like I want to do more roles as leads. I’ve come to like working as a dramatic actor. I do have some other projects coming up, but they’ve been things that I’ve been working on — Season 2 of Gremlins. And I’m actually going to go to Comic Con. So, exciting stuff. But yeah, hopefully I get more auditions, get more jobs, book more gigs, and talk about more… Sean. And how much he sucks.

[laughs] What do you mean?

Me and Sean have a love-hate relationship. Mostly hate, less love.

Do you have any advice for young actors who might be looking up to you?

I really don’t listen to any advice other people give, so don’t quote me on this at all. But I feel like overcomplicating who you are as a person is the most difficult thing that you can do [for yourself]. And maybe other people say this too; I don’t know if this is a super huge thing. But the number one most important thing to being an actor is that it’s like 70% being yourself, and 30% being the character. You want to take the character that you want, and you have to put yourself in that character — not take the character and try to be them, you know? It’s less trying to be someone else, and more trying to be more of you but in this other person’s shoes. That’s how I see it. So just always be yourself.

Be sure to catch Izaac Wang starring as Chris in Dìdi, now in select theaters, and everywhere August 16! You can also stay updated with Izaac Wang by following him on Instagram.