“My concern was, would anyone fund this movie if it’s not in English?… I was in a position where no one knows who I am. No one knows what this story is,” he said.
“You know, it’s about a bunch of farmers who are chicken sex. It doesn’t jump off the page like a commercial venture. ‘
So Chung also wrote a version of the script with more English in it, just in case.
Fortunately, says Chung, producer Christina Oh, who is also a Korean American, supported his vision.
“She was very adamant from the start that we should do this in Korean, the way we grew up. … She said as a producer that she was going to defend that cause and take that fight. Just trusted her,” he said.
Because the family was at the heart of the story, she spoke Korean at home, adding nuance and complexity to films, he said.
“That adds, I feel, a layer of what this family is really going through and that kind of insular feeling that you have when the reality at home is different from the one out there,” he said, “and that you’re really trying to save some. of that reality within your own family, as you feel it slipping away. ”
Why the Golden Globes nomination sparked controversy
In recent months, controversy has arisen over the rules of the Golden Globes, which made “Minari” eligible for the best film in a foreign language, but not the best film, as more than 50% of the film did not is in English.
That raises serious questions about racism in Hollywood and prompts the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to re-examine its language requirements.
‘It feels personal … It feels like’ where are you from? “Question Asian Americans always get,” says Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociologist and author of “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism,” told CNN. “The assumption is that if you have an Asian face, you shouldn’t come from here.”
“Today, more than 350 languages are spoken in American homes. What does ‘foreign’ language mean?” said Charlene Jimenez, director of entertainment partnerships and advocacy for the nonprofit Define American.
“It’s a really important time for us as an American society to explore our own prejudices about movies like this, about stories like this, about immigrant stories – what does and doesn’t resonate as ‘American’ to people.”
Minari’s director says language in ‘Minari’ goes beyond any ‘American’ or foreign ‘label
Chung thanked the association for the honor in his acceptance speech on Sunday evening, while also alluding to the broader conversation.
“I just want to say that ‘Minari’ is about a family,” Chung said, taking the award with his daughter’s arms around his neck. “It’s a family trying to learn its own language. It goes deeper than any American language and any foreign language. It’s a language of the heart. And I’m trying to learn it myself and pass it on. I hope we will all learn how to speak this language of love together, especially this year. ”
Chung recently told CNN that he doesn’t want to compete in the category of best foreign language films that dishonors his work, but he understands the frustration that many have expressed.
“I understand in the context of being Asian American and have at times felt that there are situations where you feel like you are being treated as a foreigner, and that includes if you speak Korean or any other language and you know, you hear comments, ”he said.
But Chung also sees a different side.
“My grandmother, if she was alive, she would be very proud that I persisted and did a movie in Korean and made no compromises and then started using that foreign language English,” he said.