In this week’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo gets stuck in the background while discussing “Interior Chinatown.” The Hulu series follows a waiter stuck in the background of a crime procedural show who dreams of being in the spotlight. The series stars Jimmy O. Yang, Ronny Chieng, Chloe Bennett, Lisa Gilroy, Sullivan Jones, Diana Lin, Tzi Ma and more.
Joining Bingeworthy to discuss the “Interior Chinatown” is producer/director Taika Waititi, author of the book the show is based on, and producer and showrunner Charles Yu. While it’s become more common to see Authors come on to adapt their own stories for television, it’s not so common to have an Oscar winner offer to direct. During the interview, Waititi discussed being instantly taken by the story and the unique world Wu created.
“I read the pilot and the book, and I fell in love with the world and the characters and just also the ideas behind the whole thing,” Waititi said. “And coming from New Zealand, coming from quite a marginalized culture there, and never really being part of any of the big conversations, and, definitely in the entertainment industry, not really being part of anything or being relegated to bit parts and walk-on roles. My first role was a waiter, and I think I did that maybe for the next two consecutive roles. And I also actually was a waiter.”
But just because Yu literally wrote the “Interior Chinatown” book on this story doesn’t mean it was easy to adapt. The show exists within a crime TV show, but it became tricky to decide how much to explain to the audience versus just letting them figure it out over the course of the series.
“I think the book can get away with ambiguity and get away with even contradictions,” Yu shared. “But in TV, it was like, ‘How do we focus on the elements of the story that draw people in and keep the thing moving?’ And that was really tricky. We had to, like, figure out the line between – you don’t want to explain the whole world. Explaining it too much is going to start to destroy the mystery of what’s going on. But you need to explain enough to get people hooked.”
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The experience of adapting a “Law and Order” or “CSI” type crime procedural was so enjoyable that it might have almost acted like a gateway drug to Waititi, as he’s already looking into getting involved in the real shows themselves.
“I actually asked my agent to get in touch with [‘Law and Order’] because I wanted to play a criminal who gets beaten up. It’s always like they muscle some guy on the street. I was like, ‘I would just love to go in.’ And they were like, ‘Sure, yeah, easy.’ So I’m planning on doing that at some point because that would just be a fun, nice thing for me to do. Just to be a little skeezy drug dealer on the street, he’s, like, held against the wall by a cop. Or being in the interrogation room. I mean, that would be an absolute dream.”
The novel and the series have quite a few differences in characters and plot focus, but the story itself is relatively self-contained in the book. Does that mean this is a one-and-done mini-series? Yu was quick to say that wasn’t certain.
“That’s a mystery,” Yu said. “I think I would [do more] – we’ll see how people receive it. I think there’s a chance to tell more of the story. But for now, I think the season works as a story itself as well.”
Waititi has been one of the busiest people working in the industry for years, especially after the back-to-back success of “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Jojo Rabbit.” After that, Waititi was attached to several projects in development like his own “Star Wars” film that he was also connected to write, a “Flash Gordon” reboot, and an adaptation of “Akira” – all of which have not seen any movement for quite some time. When asked about the status of these projects, Waititi was predictably cagey. Are they alive? Are they dead? Who knows.
“What was ever alive? What is death? You know, death is just a new opportunity. More life to grow and flourish,” Waititi joked. “Everything’s always in development. My advice for any filmmaker is, ‘Just say yes to everything.’ Because, you know, things come and go. And you never know what stage things are. And I’ve been attached to things that have disappeared for three years and then bubbled back up. I’m like, ‘Oh, I thought that thing was dead. Now I’ve got to go do that again.”
The Playlist Presents – Lauren LeFranc’s Film/TV Recommendation Playlist:
1.) “What We Do in the Shadows” (2014) – Directed By Taika Waititi (Charles Yu’s Pick)
2.) “Shrinking” (2023-Present) – Created By Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence, and Jason Segel (Charles Yu’s Pick)
3.) “Worst Ex Ever” (2024) – Directed By Cynthia Childs
4.) “Disclaimer” (2024) – Created & Directed By Alfonso Cuaron
You can stream all “Interior Chinatown” episodes now, only on Hulu. Listen to the full interview below:
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