Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Snakehead’s Jade Wu

Despite a career that spans over five decades, Jade Wu shares something she’s only just experienced in her professional life: she finally feels seen. That’s largely due to authentic stories and opportunities like Snakehead.

Written and directed by Evan Jackson Leong, Snakehead follows Sister Tse (Shuya Chang), a Chinese immigrant, who gets caught up in an international crime ring of human smuggling while attempting to make a better life for her family.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Jade Wu about her leading role in Snakehead, how she spent years crafting this character, and her upcoming series, DMZ.

PC: Tell us about Snakehead and your character in the film.
Jade: Snakehead is a story about survival, protection, family, and community. I’m not going to say the whole film is about Chinatown’s underbelly, but it does take place in the underbelly of Chinatown in New York. It’s a world that we’ve not seen much of apart from its more stereotypical depictions. This is not that. This is about human flaws. It’s about the consequences and decisions made. Is there betrayal amongst family? Outside family? What do we do to protect our family and ourselves?

My character in the film is someone whom I had to create: Dai Mah. I’ve played these iron-fisted characters before, but she was a very challenging one because her persona has subtext behind it. She appears brutal, but she also has a soft heart inside. How do you create a character that has both of those qualities without saying too much in words and without overacting?

PC: You’ve done it all throughout your career. What was it about this particular project and character that stood out to you?
Jade: It was a lead for one. How often do older Asian American women get to play leads in films? I’m not an A-lister. I’ve been around and I’ve done a lot of character acting, but I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to play the lead, especially as such a rich character as Dai Mah. That was a dream come true, so I was definitely going to say yes to this one.

PC: You shared on social media that your character could have easily been spun into a stereotypical character and you spent years developing her. Can you walk us through the process of bringing her to life on the screen?
Jade: Research. I’ve always done a lot of research for any character I play, even if I only have five lines. They say that there are no small parts, and I believe that. Dai Mah was a huge part. She is a gigantic presence, even when she’s not on screen. There’s a presence to Dai Mah. How do you create that? First of all, I needed to know where she came from. I needed to know what her world was like before she came to the United States. I had to know what she had to go through. What was Dai Mah’s backstory that led her to be the kind of character she is? Why did she do what she did—even if it appears evil or dark?

As it turned out, she has to do it because no one else will do it. She assumed that role, and with that role comes a responsibility not only to herself but to her family, her sons, and her community. There’s a fine line there. How do you depict a character like that in such a way she doesn’t become a caricature?

PC: At the heart of the film are there these two incredibly powerful women who have a really interesting dynamic. How did you and Shuya approach the relationship between your two characters?
Jade: We became fast friends and then we socialized on a personal level. That always helps. I believe in that. I don’t believe in going to set and leaving and not getting to know the other person that you’re going to be acting off of. Because you have to have a personal relationship with the cast and crew. When you’re working on a scene together, you’re working together. I don’t take credit for anything that comes off of the screen. It has to be a dynamic between two people. It has to be. Even if it’s just a close-up on me alone in a room. That dynamic still has to be there. There are always two characters at play in any scene that you’re doing.

PC: You’ve both shared that growing up, you didn’t see characters like this on screen. What has it meant to you to be a part of a project that ensures that future generations won’t have to experience the same thing?
experience the same thing?
Jade: I hope that’s the case. I’ve been working towards that for fifty years. We need more stories like this because they’re real stories. We are not invisible. I don’t want to be invisible anymore. I was invisible for fifty years. Hopefully, we’ll see more and more of these stories. It’s because we have stories like Snakehead—and there are going to be other stories like Snakehead. It may not be in Chinatown. It may take place in Mississippi. It may take place in Maine. It may take place in the North Pole. Who knows?

But it’s the human element and the human dynamic—that’s good storytelling. It’s not the location. It’s not the culture. It’s not the ethnic specificity. A good story is not ethnic-specific. Once a story can cross those lines and show the humanism behind the characters and the storytelling, that’s what makes a good film or TV show.

PC: You’ve worked on projects of all sizes. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative?
Jade: I love it. I love it because it’s family. Every indie film that I’ve done has always been family. It’s a divorce from the studio and all the craziness where there are three hundred people working on it. You go and get your own food. You go and get take-out yourself. There is no craft services. We don’t have the luxuries of all of that because we’re all working together for the same goal: the passion for the film and good storytelling.

PC: The film has made its way around the festival circuit and it’s been incredibly well received. What do you think has resonated most with audiences?
Jade: The dynamic between two Asian American women. One is younger and one is older. How often do you see that? You don’t see that. It’s not even a mentor relationship but a rivalry between these two different generations that are of the same ethnicity. What is the struggle? What do you need to go through? That’s what’s resonating. Nobody’s seen that before. At least I haven’t. Even in the whole martial arts genre, you don’t see that. This is contemporary. This is today and it happens today, so why shouldn’t it happen in a film today? It doesn’t have to be set four hundred years ago.

PC: In addition to Snakehead, you’re also starting the upcoming DMZ. Is there anything that you can tease about that project?
Jade: I wish I could. My lips are sealed. Ava [DuVernay] would kill me and Roberto [Patino] would kill me if I said anything. It’s going to be fantastic though. I can say that. It was exciting working on the film because I was star-struck by so many of the stars. Working with these great people was amazing—Rosario Dawson, Benjamin Bratt, and Nora Dunn. We became really good friends and that’s what it’s all about. It was almost like indie filmmaking in a way, which is the environment that Ava creates. She creates this family-oriented environment for people. That’s what makes it beautiful.

It’s going to be a big hit I hope. I’m excited about it. I’m excited about the story. The story is so relevant and timely. It takes place in a little bit of the distant future and it’s so relevant in the political arena and what we’re going through today in the United States. Snakehead is timely because of illegal immigration, and DMZ is so timely because it’s sort of the upcoming civil war. It’s all very critical in terms of relevancy. I’m excited about it.

To keep up with Jade, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Snakehead is available in theaters, On Demand, and digitally.

Photo Credit: Luke Fontana