Exclusive Interview: Kenny Leu Chats A Shot Through the Wall, Asian Representation, and Creating Conversations Through Art

From Silicon Valley to Hollywood, Kenny Leu is a leading man who is creating a lasting impact through his craft.

His latest project, A Shot Through the Wall, tells the timely tale of a Chinese-American police officer whose life unravels after he accidentally shoots an innocent Black man. Facing trial, he wades through his guilt as he navigates the complicated worlds of media, justice, racial politics, and his own morality.

Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of speaking with Kenny about A Shot Through the Wall, bringing Asian stories to the forefront, and creating conversations through art.

PC: Tell us about A Shot Through the Wall and your character in the film.
Kenny: A Shot Through the Wall is about a young Chinese-American police officer in New York City who is responsible for accidentally shooting and killing an innocent Black man through a wall and everything that follows.

PC: This is your first lead role. Did anything surprise you about the experience? What was the biggest takeaway for you?
Kenny: Oh my gosh. There are so many, so it’s really hard to choose one. The biggest takeaway for me actually was realizing that while I’m still an up-and-coming actor and don’t have the luxury of choosing my projects, it seems certain projects choose me. Projects that are very relevant to our times. I’ve been chosen to play a lot of real-life Chinese Americans. It’s such an honor but also a huge responsibility to be able to tell their stories authentically.

PC: As Asian Americans, we’re often left out of the country’s narrative. What has it meant to you to be a part of a project that brings the Asian culture and perspective into this conversation? Is there an added weight to that?
Kenny: Absolutely. It’s the whole reason I started acting. I had a whole life before this. I was an engineer in Silicon Valley. The reason why I always wanted to go into acting was so I could do something meaningful. I feel like doing something like this is very meaningful.

When I first started, there was no Crazy Rich Asians. There was no Shang-Chi. So at the time, there was a big fight for positive representation of Asian Americans. That was a huge thing we were trying to bring about. We were always seen as foreigners and we’ve got all these negative stereotypes.

Representation has always been so important to me. Now I’m realizing that we have that, but the next step past that is inclusion. It’s these really gritty, honest conversations like A Shot Through the Wall that will push us from the glossy images of Crazy Rich Asians and Shang-Chi into less comfortable territory. We belong here and we fit in here. We can’t just present our positive side. We need to show how difficult it’s been for us to even try to fit into the fabric of America. That conversation of inclusion is where we need to go next. I’m really happy to be part of that.

PC: You’ve also talked in the past about how when you were starting out there weren’t a lot of roles for Asians. During those more challenging times, how were you able to persevere? When did you start noticing that shift?
Kenny: That’s a great question. I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I was lucky to have made a career separate from acting so that I was able to support myself already. The shift happened very dramatically with Crazy Rich Asians. When that first came out, nobody anticipated that it would be a success because there had been a huge track record of Asian stories not being bankable. Crazy Rich Asians really bust down those doors. That’s a big part of how we’ve been able to continue this momentum of telling Asian stories: the studios and the people in charge believing that people want to see this. With Crazy Rich Asians, suddenly there was this belief that, “Okay, people are interested.” I’m really happy that we’ve broken that barrier because that makes room for these grittier, more honest conversations.

PC: Something that I think the film does brilliantly is it depicts the generational nuances within the family, which brings a lot of authenticity to the project. How did you and the rest of the cast approach that dynamic? What was it like collaborating with writer-director Aimee Long?
Kenny: It was so natural. I’m Chinese American. I grew up in America in California in the Bay Area. There are nuances in your culture. You have one face when you’re at home. You have one when you go to work. You have a whole other one when you’re at school. As Asian Americans, we’re constantly battling these titanic cultures that are so different from each other. You have to constantly learn the social cues that are a part of each of them. For us, it was so natural for those pieces to fit in. It honestly didn’t take too much work for us to find that dynamic.

On working with Aimee Long, there’s a little anecdote from when I first got the script. This was before Crazy Rich Asians. Her name is Aimee Long. It could be a Caucasian name. It could be a White name or an Asian name. I was like, “Oh no, it’s another story written by someone who isn’t Asian.” Then within the first ten pages, I was like, “Oh, this woman isn’t just Asian American. She’s specifically Chinese. She’s specifically from Beijing.” That’s how well written the dynamics of these characters were. After working with her, I felt so lucky to have been able to meet and work with somebody that’s so talented and yet still hasn’t become popular. It’s so joyous to me because she’s able to tell such a timely, powerful, and relevant story but with a lot of nuance and empathy. She really has something to say. That takes a lot of balls as an artist. I’m so honored to be able to work with her.

PC: There are so many intricate relationships within the film. Which was your favorite to explore and why?
Kenny: That’s a great question. I will say maybe the one with Tzi Ma. For a lot of the movie, you don’t see Mike interact with his father. That means there is room for a lot of creativity on the actors’ part to be able to fill in that relationship. There is that momentous scene when there is that confrontation. It gave me such freedom as an actor to be able to create what our relationship was like leading up to that moment where he does finally confront Mike. Why does Mike listen? How does he receive it? I would say that one.

PC: Great answer. Without giving any spoilers, there are so many emotional moments within the film, particularly at the end when your character visits the mother of the man he accidentally kills. As an actor, how do you prepare for those scenes? What is the decompression afterwards?
Kenny: Oh my gosh. That’s a really great question. For this specific film, the emotional journey starts from me accidentally shooting and killing someone. That wasn’t something particularly difficult for me to jump into because right before this I had shot a TV series for National Geographic called The Long Road Home. That’s also inspired by a true story. It’s similar to Black Hawk Down where a bunch of soldiers are pinned down during an ambush. They have to do some horrible things in order to survive. In that TV series, I had to shoot and kill innocent women and children in order to survive that conflict. That experience left a horrifying mark on me. When I auditioned for this and had to imagine what it is like to accidentally shoot and kill somebody, it was so visceral to me that I’m still shaking even talking about it right now.

So having all of that ingrained in my body and then imagining myself trying to apologize to the mother of the person I just killed in cold blood, that’s basically how I got there. It really wasn’t easy obviously, but you have to play yourself there because there’s a lot of responsibility in telling a story like this. You want to tell it as authentically as possible. That to me is the most important thing. I tried to put myself as close to it as I could.

PC: Over the weekend, you shared this powerful post on Instagram about the challenges that indie filmmakers face, especially when they’re tackling timely subject matter and how it’s become increasingly important to experience things on your own. Can you talk a little bit about the effects that has on emerging voices and how we can combat that?
Kenny: Yes. Our film came out and our critical reviews are wonderful. We’re 86% on Rotten Tomatoes right now. But on IMDB where anybody can review things, on our premiere day, somebody organized, planned, or hired bots to bombard us with one-star ratings. After our festival run, we were at 8.4 on IMDB. Suddenly in one night, it dropped down to 5.0. That’s horrifying for an indie filmmaker because we’re already understaffed. We have no budget whatsoever. Now to have to try and combat something like that too, it’s just really disappointing. The only way that we’re able to fight it is by telling people in our network to see it.

There’s this temptation to be like, “Rate it a 10.” But to me that isn’t really a victory. The victory for me isn’t so much the rating. It’s that people see it and that they might change because of it or they might transform themselves because of it. That is the only way to combat it. It’s to fight fire with fire, and you try to get as many people that you know to see it. That’s what we’ve ended up doing, but we’re still in the midst of it now. So who knows if I have the answer to this.

PC: This is such an important film to see. There are so many timely and relevant themes that it tackles throughout. Was there a particular theme that really hit home for you?
Kenny: The primary one is “What is justice?” The primary topic is the one that is sometimes conflated even with the Peter Liang case. First and foremost, Black people are being gunned out on the streets. That is a complete tragedy. That’s a huge issue that we need to solve. At the same time, the other issue is that systemically the police have been able to get away without any form of accountability by saying, “Hey, this one guy did some bad things. It’s his fault. He’s the problem. There’s nothing for us to examine here.”

I think what this film really points out is that it’s the system that needs some fixing. The system is allowing itself to avoid accountability by scapegoating people. To me, those are two very different issues, and both exist right now. I think those are the most important issues that this film is trying to illuminate for people. I know that we’re all angry, but we can’t begin to find a solution until we can start talking to each other.

PC: Well said. Final question for you: Throughout your career, you’ve chased good stories. What’s next for you?
Kenny: That’s a great question. Honestly, for me, it’s about telling stories that are meaningful and that will leave a lasting impression, something that is very relevant to now. I feel like there’s this huge tendency now to tell the hero’s journey in superhero films. Those are cool and universal, but a lot of times, I feel like they’re not talking about things that are happening now.

The sensitivity of it all is something that really makes people shy away from telling stories that are relevant. It’s important for every generation to talk about things that are happening right now. Those are the stories that I always lean into, especially when Asian Americans are at the forefront. There are so many Asian American stories of how we are baked into the fabric of America that have not been told because there was never the opportunity to. Now that Asian American stories are bankable, the world is open. Now we have that change. That’s what I hope to start creating.

To keep up with Kenny, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Check out A Shot Through the Wall wherever you stream movies.

Photo Credit: Diana Ragland