Pop-Culturalist.com

Ludi Lin has quickly emerged as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors. His growing list of credits include Power Rangers, Aquaman, Black Mirror, and Mortal Kombat. In each new role, Ludi has shown off his versatility and depth as an artist, bringing diverse stories to the forefront.

His latest two projects, In a New York Minute and Kung Fu, are no different.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Ludi about In a New York Minute, Kung Fu Season 2, and his mission to bring authentic representation to mainstream media.

In a New York Minute

PC: Tell us about In a New York Minute and your character.
Ludi: It’s a new and old project. It was actually filmed in 2017. It’s been through a lot. It’s been through a whole bunch of posts. It’s been through a good part of the pandemic, and now it’s finally seeing the light of day! In a New York Minute is a film about wanting others to see you as you see yourself. All the characters revolve around that theme from different angles. I play a character named David. He is a struggling screenwriter whose dreams are bigger than his skills can actualize, and he’s a fatal romantic.

PC: What was it about this project that attracted you to the role?
Ludi: Well, I love New York. I spent the last year of my university in New York. I love the city. New York is a great character in itself. There’s a Netflix documentary called Pretend It’s a City. It’s about New York City and how it’s not just a city. New York is one of the places where I get the strongest sense of a personality when I fly into a city.

PC: New York is a melting pot, and we’ve seen other projects that are based and set in this city but never depicted in this way, which has been one of your missions as an artist: to bring more authentic and diverse storytelling to the forefront. Why do you think the industry has taken so long to get here? Is there an added sense of responsibility being that representation?
Ludi: Thanks for recognizing that. This is a large part of what I’m about because I find meaning in this. A huge benefit of storytelling and film is that it allows people to see what’s being portrayed on the screen in a way that they may not have felt or thought about before.

This project had a deep impression on me to be more empathetic towards the struggles of Asian Americans and Asian women specifically. The character whom I play isn’t great to women. But at the heart of it, I think how David sees himself and what he feels should be able to attain is different from how society sees him. Sometimes that can turn toxic. Then we explore how the other characters in the film can actually help him become a better person.

PC: One of the central themes of the film is overcoming struggles like you just said. Your character is grappling between his sense of freedom and the woman he loves. How did you create the space for yourself to dive into his story arc?
Ludi: Having filmed this a few years back, I was a younger version of myself. That helped a lot. I’ve explored a lot of different types of relationships and tried to crack the code. It’s a lifelong game to see how we can actually make it work. I could very much see myself going down that road at some point in my life. Hopefully, I’m a better person now. I still take myself to school every single day and I have to, but David’s story is a cautionary tale.

PC: I’ve seen a couple of interviews that your castmates have done. There was this initial misconception as it was making its way through the festival circuit that this film will only appeal to the Asian community—which it definitely does, but it’s also a universal story. How do we change that perspective? What do you hope audiences take away after they see it?
Ludi: That’s a great point. That’s precisely what I hope audiences take away from it because the stories aren’t the typically Asian stories that immediately come to mind because of the stereotypes and caricatures that have portrayed Asian Americans in media.

It’s a compilation of three different stories that intertwine. You can feel the complexity of the characters and what they’re struggling with, which is very, very different. But the central theme of the story (whether you’re an Asian American, an Asian Canadian, Asian whatever, or someone who has tried to cross that cultural barrier) is something that we can all relate to. That theme is that we aren’t seen. The leading women that are our protagonists feel precisely that way. They always feel unseen. This is a great time for this movie to come out.

PC: You’ve worked on projects of all sizes. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative?
Ludi: It’s great. One thing I’ll say about independent filmmaking is that when you watch the film afterward, it’s filled with Easter eggs for yourself. I wish we had more B-roll because independent filmmaking is sometimes dangerous, but it’s also exciting. It’s surprising. I’ve met some of my best friends working on this movie. When I’m in LA, I always stay with the line producer from this film. Her name is Rachel Liu. She’s a powerhouse. She basically came in and saved the movie. She got the call to do this movie because we were in trouble, all while on her flight to her honeymoon. She was like, “Okay, but I’m going to enjoy my honeymoon for a few days and then I’ll come to New York and work with you guys.” The day she finished her honeymoon, she took a red eye to New York. Straight from the airport, she showed up on set and was like, “I’m your new line producer.” Everyone hugged her because she was like the Messiah appearing in person.

With independent filmmaking, you have these really nuanced stories that occur while making the film. Then the other thing about independent films is that a lot of the time the crew gets a chance to act. For example, in the story about Angel (one of our main characters), the fictional director who was directing her in the scene with the bridge (I won’t go further than that because I don’t want to give any spoilers), that was actually our producer. He’s a character himself. What you see on screen, that’s about 80% of him.

PC: There’s great chemistry that comes off the screen between you and the entire cast. How were you all able to build that bond?
Ludi: On a film like this where we are trying to tell our own stories (stories of Asian Americans, Asian Canadians, oversea Asians), it’s easy to bond. No matter what our life experiences are, we struggle with the challenge of overcoming the cultural gap. There’s this dehumanization that happens. By that, I mean people seeing us as less complex than we are.

To be able to get a script like this and tell a complex story, especially from a vantage point that we don’t often see, it’s really easy for us to get behind that. Plus, the food! The constant Asian food that we have for lunch really helped. It’s a bridge for strangers to get together.

Kung Fu

PC: Speaking of complex stories, you’re one of the stars of Kung Fu. One of the central themes within that series is creating your own path. How did you discover your passion for acting and storytelling?
Ludi: I always say that I don’t think I discovered my passion for acting or storytelling. I think people lose their passion as we get more into culture and into society. We’re told that we have to follow the rules of society. I think every single kid has role-played where they’ve put a towel on and pretended to be Superman or played house or became a doctor. Even to this day, people do cosplay at different conventions. They’re acting in different forms. It might not be their day job, but storytelling and acting are fundamental to exploring different aspects of ourselves.

PC: Mentorship is a big theme in Kung Fu. Who were the people in your life that shaped the artist that you are today?
Ludi: I think about this question a lot because I felt like I didn’t have too many mentors. I didn’t have a father figure in my life to guide me through certain things. My mom could only do so much to make ends meet. A lot of people I speak to these days have faced the same problem when I ask whether they had a role model or mentor. But when I delve more into it, I can think of the people in my life who have affected my past. For example, one of my best friends in high school. He was two years older than me. He took me under his wing and showed me how to exercise properly for the simple reason that he thought I looked like him. But I looked nothing like him. [laughs] Back then, I was a chubby high school kid.

I loved playing video games. My excuse for not doing sports is why would I do it outside when I could just do it all on my TV screen? He was the captain of the basketball team. His name was Marco. He was a Japanese Canadian, a great dude. One day after school he said, “Hey, you look like me. Come to the gym with me.” From then on, he showed me how to exercise and really took me under his wing. Then, of course, there have been people who have passed on that I’ve read about like Bruce Lee as well as people that I’ve worked with that are my peers. I learn a lot from them too. I learn from their successes, my successes, our failures, and our disappointments. We can learn from all sorts of people in all sorts of places.

PC: Well said. Kung Fu is your first studio TV show, and you’ve been learning more and more about this character as the series has gone on. How much of an adjustment has that been for you as a creative and the way that you approach this character?
Ludi: It’s super interesting because it is such a long process. I’ve had so much time with this character, and I never know where his story is going. For anyone who saw the first season, you know it left off on a major cliffhanger. I didn’t know whether I would be back after that. That’s always an ongoing discussion that involves the studio, myself, and how much the fans like him as a character. The mere fact that I keep coming back means there’s something more to be told. As it goes on, things will become more and more interesting. I’ll leave it at that. But also TV has taught me a lot about how to work and what working on a film set really means. I also got a chance to shadow a director. Writing and directing are at the core of storytelling. If we want to tell our stories in the way that we want them to be told, it starts there.

PC: That’s the perfect segue to this next question. Like you were saying, this season you had an opportunity to shadow one of the directors. Could we possibly see you directing and writing in the future? What did you learn from that experience that you’ve now been able to apply to your career on screen?
Ludi: Whether or not I can see directing in my future, I really think it’s inevitable. A few things in life are inevitable, and I think this is one of them. In terms of what I did learn from that shadow experience, I learned a lot. I learned probably more than I have in my entire acting career up to this point. I love my job, and I want more jobs. An actor is a very important job because your face is on the screen. Your face represents everything in terms of how the audience empathizes with the character. It’s their doorway into the story. But having said that, shadowing the director, you see the things behind the scenes and you start realizing how sometimes, not every time (I can only speak for myself because I see myself in that situation), how much of a clown actors can be. [laughs] We’re in the trailers. Everyone’s busy, hustling, working, doing their work, and concentrating 100%. We never see that because we’re always prepping for the scene, whether it’s lines or whether it’s something emotional. Then you get invited onto set. There’s a bit of an ego involved in being an actor. Usually, there’s this flamboyant, boisterous air that comes with coming onto the scene. As an actor, I think that I’m the focus of everything, but I didn’t realize that there’s a universe of preparation that’s built around what you’re about to do.

PC: Kerwin shows his most vulnerable self when he’s with Zhilan and vice versa. What has it been like getting to collaborate with Yvonne [Chapman] to bring the different shades of your character to life?
Ludi: It’s really interesting working with Yvonne. I always have a good time. One of the best days I had on Kung Fu was during the fight scene in Episode 3. On screen, you see the tension and the fight choreography, and what you would’ve seen off screen was that we were nonstop laughing and having fun. We always gel really well together with the stunt team. They’re always there looking out for us, showing us the right ways to move, how to portray the scene, and how to portray the fight properly. Yvonne and I are receptive to that.

I will say one thing I felt bad about though is that during the rehearsal for that scene—and this is a testament to how easygoing and nice of a person Yvonne is—during the rehearsal for that scene, she will deny this, but I promise you, I swear this on my grave, that I felt like I fully back-fisted her across the face. I felt so bad. But she’s tough as nails. She just backed off, shook it off, and went right back to rehearsing.

PC: Speaking of Episode 3, it marks a new sense of freedom for your character—freedom from his family, freedom from Zhilan. But I get the sense that this isn’t the last that we’ve seen of Kerwin. Is there anything you can tease about his future? Now with the Season 3 pickup—congratulations by the way—is there an aspect of him that you want to dive further into in the next season?
Ludi: Thanks for saying that. The only reason that we got a Season 3 is because of people like you that are watching. It’s still kind of sad to me that this is the only show on network TV that portrays a full Asian cast and Asian family. It’s really precious to me. In terms of what Kerwin is going to do after this, I can only say that it only gets more twisted from here.

PC: Speaking of the fans, they’ve expressed through social media how Kung Fu has made them feel seen and represented. What has it been like getting to experience that with them, and does that bring a different weight to this project?
Ludi: It’s been great to be able to share this experience with the fans because Kung Fu represents several things. It represents how we are in our lived experiences, but I also think it represents what we dream of. I didn’t grow up in a family like the Shen family. I didn’t have these wonderful family feasts for breakfast. I didn’t have a supportive and funny father and a loving mother who were understanding. But I think it’s a good model for us to aspire towards because it’s wonderful to grow up in a family like that.

That part of escapism is what appeals to us and is what we always know deep in our hearts is what we want. That gives our community a lot of hope. It’s really interesting hearing other people share what’s connecting with them and sharing what connects with me personally.

PC: Throughout your career, you’ve brought these multi-layered characters to life on the screen. As you look ahead to the next five, ten years, is there a story that you would love to bring to life either as an actor or a writer or a director?
Ludi: There are many stories that I would like to explore. We’re all on this journey of exploration. Crazy Rich Asians was a huge step forward in hitting the mainstream audience. We’re discovering a lot of great talent that hasn’t been given the chance to shine. I would love to work with Destin Daniel Cretton one day on whatever project.

On the other side, we have projects that are smaller and more intimate. It’s sad that they won’t get picked up by a big studio. In fact, it’s really important now for people to go on Amazon or whatever video-on-demand platform and watch these projects. Because if it does well there, it will get on streaming and more people can watch it. I always hate that sales pitch. I always hate it when someone goes, “You’ve got to watch this because it’s important for our show to make money.” This show isn’t making any money and you can do with your character whatever you want, but I do hope you watch it.

PC: You have been paving the way for Asian creatives. If you could share a message with up-and-coming creatives, whether it be actors, directors, writers, who are trying to make their way into this industry, what advice would you give them?
Ludi: I would say it’s always going to be a struggle no matter how long we struggle, but the struggle is worth it.

To keep up with Ludi, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch In a New York Minute wherever you stream movies. Watch new episodes of Kung Fu on Wednesdays at 9/8c on the CW.

Photo Credit: Evaan Kheraj