Sam Song Li Talks Take the Night, Golden Age of Representation in Film and Television, and The Brothers Sun

Sam Song Li is a rising young talent who first caught the industry’s attention with his breakout role in Women Is Losers. This year, he leads the cast of the inventive, edgy crime thriller, Take the Night.

The film is a twisted tale of sibling rivalry and family secrets. An elaborate surprise birthday stunt heads into increasingly dark places when career criminals hired to stage a fake kidnapping go rogue. Older brother William (Roy Huang) secures a crew to stage a fake kidnapping of his brother Robert (Sam Song Li). But the crew has plans of their own. The brothers must put aside their sibling rivalry if they want to save the family fortune.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Sam about Take the Night, The Brothers Sun, his transition from content creation to the big screen, and how audiences are craving for more diverse and inclusive storytelling.

PC: Tell us about Take the Night and your character in the film.
Sam: Take the Night is this action-packed, thrilling, suspenseful heist movie. It has great undertones about family, particularly brotherhood. You get to see this sibling relationship through different circumstances and across social classes. It’s interesting the way these two worlds intertwine.

I get to play Robert Chang. He is this really young, naive, inexperienced guy who has to manage some big things. He has some big responsibilities on his shoulders, and then things go crazy.

PC: What was it about this particular script and character that stood out to you?
Sam: I remember seeing the AAPI casting. I was like, “This is crazy!” You don’t see movies like this being made where it’s so diverse. It’s amazing to see a Chinese family at the center of it and done in a way where it’s not just tied to being Chinese or Asian.

There are a lot of films that want to play off the culture or the lineage of these diverse ethnicities that they’re portraying. But some of my favorite films have been ones where they could have been any family. It’s amazing that they wanted to put a Chinese family at the core of it. As a Chinese actor, I thought it was very, very special.

PC: In addition to acting, you’re also a content creator. How’s that facet of your craft made you a stronger actor and vice versa?
Sam: Great question. The interesting thing with content is that you have to do it yourself. You have to put yourself out there. That’s one discipline that’s bled into my acting. It’s that repetition.

For most actors, if you’re not doing a movie or a TV show, you’re at home waiting for auditions to come in. When an audition comes in, you put yourself on tape and that’s it. So when that happens, you have stretches of times where you’re not actually acting—sometimes for days, weeks, or even months.

If you’re not acting, you’re not practicing. You’re not as sharp. You’re not sharpening your tools as an actor. But as a content creator, when you’re making content full time and putting yourself on camera. One of the things that I think really escalates my acting abilities is when I walk in front of a camera and it’s a room of people and they’re recording me. I don’t have that same feeling of camera fright that I first had or that fear or nervousness about being looked at because I’m hitting “record” every single day. The moment that I wake up, I’m hitting “record” on my phone, hitting “record” on my camera, and performing.

PC: You’ve made such a name for yourself in the comedy space. What’s that transition been like going from that genre to action and drama now?
Sam: It’s been amazing. It’s so crazy because I feel like some of my role models when I wanted to pursue this while growing up were people like Donald Glover, King Bach, and Jimmy Tatro. These are guys who started off doing content and found a way to transition into more traditional film and TV. I fell in love with film and TV first and did content as a byproduct. It’s really cool to see that it’s come full circle. It makes me want to double down on the belief that if you set your mind to something and you truly chase after what you want, it’ll happen. If that’s all you’re chasing after, finding those opportunities is going to feel even greater.

PC: You also shared on social media that as an Asian actor, there weren’t many opportunities for you to star on the big screen and this industry’s made really slow progress in terms of visibility and inclusivity. Why do you think it’s taken so long to get here? When did you start noticing that shift?
Sam: Why has it taken so long? It must have been with the people who were in charge. It starts at the very top. I just had dinner with my reps and they were sharing with me that when they first started in 2004, everybody on their roster were White actors. A lot of times, they were blonde hair and blue eyes. My agent said that even when he started, the people who ran the show didn’t look like him.

It’s about normalizing this evolution and making this industry more accessible. I feel like there’s this real hunger for stories that we haven’t seen before. Film looks different from what it’s looked like in the past twenty or thirty years. It’s exciting for people. People are craving something that’s fresh and new.

PC: Something that I’ve appreciated about you and your craft is that you’re creating stories and visibility for communities that want to see themselves represented on screen. What has it meant to you to pave that way for this next generation?
Sam: It means everything. I admire everybody who came before me. I’m a big basketball fan. I love hearing stories about people who grew up watching certain players and now they’re sharing the court with them. In a lot of ways, I feel like I’ve been experiencing that recently as well. It’s everything to me. It made me really want to connect with the people that are watching me now because I know that when I was in their shoes, I wished I had had more of a connection with and more opportunities to talk with these guys. The people who were really open about it and encouraged it really stuck out to me and made a big impression.

PC: Is there a particular scene that you’re really excited for fans to see?
Sam: There are so many great emotional moments. I feel like people who have siblings are going to really, really enjoy this because there’s so much sibling tension. I watched it with my sister and there were so many moments where we looked at each other. It hits home.

PC: In addition to Take the Night, you’re also going to be starring in The Brothers Sun. Is there anything that you can tell us about that project?
Sam: I can’t tease too much. It’s very different from who I played in this role. These two projects could not be more different. I’m really proud of the project. It’s badass and a game changer.

To keep up with Sam, follow him on Instagram. Take the Night is currently in theaters, and available on demand and digital!

Photo Credit: Matt Kallish