Ahead of SXSW, we caught up with writer/director Amy Wang (AFI Class of 2017) who is set to premiere her feature directorial debut, SLANTED, at the festival. Originally from Sydney, Australia, Amy honed her craft at the AFI Conservatory, where her thesis film UNNATURAL earned her the Young Director Award at Cannes Lions in 2018. Since graduating, Amy has built a dynamic career, joining the writing teams on the TV series FROM SCRATCH – based on Tembi Locke’s bestselling memoir – and THE BROTHERS SUN, co-created by fellow AFI Alumni Byron Wu (Class of 2019) and Brad Falchuk (Class of 1994). Now she is making her foray into features with SLANTED, as well as penning the CRAZY RICH ASIANS sequel for Warner Bros. We spoke with Amy about her experience writing for television, the real-life inspiration behind SLANTED and more.
AFI: What films or filmmakers resonated with you growing up and inspired you to work in Hollywood?
Amy: One of my first jobs was at Blockbuster Video, working with people who took me under their wing and introduced me to films by Cronenberg and David Fincher. I remember in my teens I loved SE7EN, FIGHT CLUB and MEMENTO. I also really enjoyed watching films by Alexander Payne and the Coen Brothers. Now my favorite filmmaker is Michael Haneke, but I didn’t watch his work until I was in college. He’s my all-time favorite director and, if I ever do anything that’s even one percent of his greatness, I will die happy.
AFI: What led you to the Conservatory, and what did you learn by making your thesis film UNNATURAL, which boldly explores a young adult who has intrusive thoughts of pedophilia but doesn’t act on them?
Amy: Straight out of college, I was producing, directing, writing and editing promos for a lot of reality shows but feeling stagnant. I applied to film school and chose AFI because it offered the best scholarship. The script that I submitted for my thesis was originally redlit, but I somehow managed convince AFI to let me make it. I did a lot of research when I was writing, speaking with actual pedophiles who hadn’t done anything and struggled to seek help, often being rejected or reported by psychologists. It gave me a deeper understanding and empathy for these people who society likes to hate and judge. Casting was a big challenge to find the right actor to play the lead. It’s such a controversial topic that it was difficult to find actors open to playing a character like that. Overall, I’m really proud of the film, and it played some great festivals as well.
AFI: How did you get first staffed in the writers’ room on FROM SCRATCH, and what was it like also working on THE BROTHERS SUN – co-created by two fellow AFI Conservatory Alumni?
Amy: A lot of TV writers come up as a writer’s assistant or a writer’s PA, but FROM SCRATCH was my first writer’s room ever. The showrunner Attica Locke – Tembi’s sister – found me because I’d written a screenplay called “Wendi,” about Wendi Deng Murdoch, which landed on The Blacklist back in 2018. That script made the rounds and Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s company, that was also producing FROM SCRATCH, read it. They passed it along to Attica who read it, loved it and asked to meet. We really hit it off, and she invited me to join the show. Attica is one of the warmest, kindest people, and it was such a great experience. Not every room is safe or welcoming, so I feel very thankful that it was my first writers’ room.
With THE BROTHERS SUN, that’s all Byron and Brad, especially Byron, who created the show, wrote the pilot and really set the tone, made up of this interesting blend of genres. I was just incredibly lucky to be part of another room full of really interesting people. I also thought it was cool that every single writer in the room was Asian, including all of the support staff. What’s interesting about making TV is you’re just one tiny part, and hopefully my voice and my personality blended with everybody else’s to create the bigger picture.
AFI: What does it mean to have SLANTED premiere at SXSW and how did you conceive of the film?
Amy: It means so much. I was freaking out about whether we’d get into SXSW – it was our dream festival, and I teared up when I got the email. They’ve given us so much support, and I am also excited that we’re the only in-competition film that is premiering at the bigger ZACH Theater because more people will be able to see it, and hopefully it sells. All of the cast and most of the crew is coming, so we’re really looking forward to it.
The idea came to me during a walk in the pandemic, after the 2021 Atlanta Spa Shooting, where eight Asian American women were killed. The rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric due to COVID made me afraid, even in liberal LA, and brought back memories of growing up in Australia, where there was a lot of racism against the Asian Australian population. As a teenager, I often thought, “wouldn’t life be easier if I were white?” I wanted to explore that shame but frame it as a cautionary tale – about a girl so desperate to be white that she transforms herself, but at what cost? A producer friend was looking for independent films to support, so I pitched the idea, and he and his boss helped secure financing. We filmed in Atlanta last summer, which felt especially meaningful given the inspiration behind the story, and we’ve been in post ever since.
AFI: The film showcases rising talent, like your lead Shirley Chen who also co-starred in DÍDI this year. How did you approach directing relatively new actors to bring out the complexities of their characters?
Amy: Even though Shirley is not as much of a household name as Maitreyi Ramakrishnan or Mckenna Grace, I feel like I treated all of them pretty similarly. I held a couple of sessions with Shirley and Mckenna where we did exercises to make sure that they felt like they were the same person. They look nothing alike, so the challenge was how do I pull this off? McKenna is famous for playing the younger version of many characters from Ms. Marvel to Tonya Harding in I, TONYA, so she is really gifted at imitation. I had them do a lot of vocal exercises to match one another, and I’m really happy with the result. They truly feel like the same person in the movie. Mckenna even had to learn Mandarin, which was a challenge, but she absolutely pulled it off.
AFI: What is the status of CRAZY RICH ASIANS 2 and what was the greatest challenge of adapting it?
Amy: It’s still in development and I’m the last writer to have written a draft. The producers want to make sure that the script is as good if not better than the last film, and there’s a lot of actors’ availabilities and moving parts to consider. The biggest challenge for me as a writer was that many characters from the first movie aren’t as present in the second book. I had to ensure they didn’t simply disappear, as they were fan favorites, while still keeping the story focused on the main couple and maintaining its ensemble feel.
AFI: As a writer/director, do you find yourself drawn to one art form over the other?
Amy: Directing has always been my favorite thing to do – it’s why I came to America and why I went to AFI. For me, writing was always a way to get to direct, so I would say directing is my top priority, and, hopefully, I’ll get to keep doing it, whether that’s with my own features or directing other people’s scripts. I have another TV project in the works, and I don’t feel the same need to direct. For features, it’s all about directing for me, but in television, I love being a writer.
