Comedian and actor Jimmy O. Yang takes the lead in Hulu’s new adaptation of Charles Yu‘s bestselling book Interior Chinatown, which is now streaming.
Yang plays Willis Wu, a waiter in a Chinese restaurant whose everyday life is as a background character trapped in a police procedural called Impossible Crimes Unit, who longs to find his way into the larger story.
“Taking the lead for the first time in a TV show, that’s metaphorically and ironically almost part of the journey that Willis is trying to go through,” Yang tells ABC Audio. “I’ve been in bit parts. I’ve been in guest star supporting parts. And this is finally the first time that I … get to take the lead.”
Helping him along is mysterious Detective Lana Lee, played by Chloe Bennet. “One of my first parts ever, I played Chinese teenager number one on Marvel’s Agents of Shield, where Chloe was the star,” Yang says with a laugh. “And I didn’t get to meet Chloe because she … wasn’t even on set that day.”
Bennet’s Lee walks into Willis’ restaurant — and life — in a glamorous, slow-motion shot set to “What a Difference a Day Made” by Dinah Washington.
She saw the shot differently. “Having that dramatic entrance, are you kidding? We also played the music and the wind. Actually, I actually hate shooting those things,” Bennet revealed, as her co-star Ronny Chieng protested.
She insists, “It was embarrassing. I trip on things. I’m awkward … I don’t like having that moment, because there’s so much pressure,” Bennet insisted.
“And I had to do that a lot on Shield with like big superhero stuff, and those were the days I [was] the most nervous … because it’s embarrassing because you’re supposed to look cool.”
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