When Andrew Koji walked in to audition for “Warrior” he almost expected to be dismissed without much thought. Being a British actor of mixed-Japanese heritage, he believed the chances of landing the lead role of Ah Sahm – a Chinese immigrant fresh off the boat in 19th century Chinatown – were slim. Producers of the show saw something different.
Executive produced by Jonathan Tropper (“Banshee”) and Justin Lin (“Fast & Furious 6”), “Warrior” is set during the rising tide of San Francisco’s infamous Tong Wars, before the Chinese Exclusion Act, and is based on the writings of martial arts legend, Bruce Lee (and overseen by his daughter, Shannon Lee). What a lot of people may not know, is that icon – nicknamed The Dragon –was not full-blooded; his mother was Eurasian.
Aided by whitewashing controversies and a ‘Crazy Rich’ box office takeover, the industry seemed to break new ground regarding its discussion of Asian representation, last year. Multi-ethnic actors who come from a diverse background are also finally becoming part of the conversation. Capturing a sense of what it’s like to be an assimilated outsider, looking in on a culture that’s less familiar than it is strange, Koji may have turned out to be the perfect actor for the role of Ah Sahm, whose grandfather was American.
I was fortunate enough to briefly chat with the star of Cinemax’s new series. We spoke about its use of language, the show’s period setting, issues of representation, the lack of difference between a dance and a fight scene, and what it feels like to be searching for a family.
I’m very curious about the locations used to recreate the period setting in ‘Warrior.’ The show was shot in Cape Town, South Africa, and it looks just fantastic. What was your experience like on and off set?
They did a lot of work to recreate a slightly heightened and stylistic version of Chinatown at the time. Playing with colors, the directors and DPs, they’ve all come together to try and create a world… kind of mixing what was true at the time but also the style of the piece. When we came into the sets the first time, not knowing what the whole thing was really going to be… When I first got there, seeing the scale of everything, how they recreated the cobblestone. When you’re there, the scale of it… the hugeness kind of helps with your imagination and you don’t have to do as much work.
How was the staging for the fights done? Were you allotted much time to work on the stunts and rehearsals for those scenes?
Yeah, I mean, obviously with TV, things go so quick. I think pretty much on all the fights you wish you had more time. You rehearse it, you go through it, you try everything out, and I think especially, for the first part of the season… basically, I tried to match the choreography to the best of my ability. And, later I started having a voice, so I can input things.
We really see it as a dance and we’re all trying to figure it out. You can pre-vis it and you can rehearse it out, but once you’re in the actual location, with the cameraman and all that stuff, you’ve got to adapt. You can rehearse it as much as you can, but no matter how much preparation goes into it, it could change slightly. There might be an angle there, there might be whatever. So, you’ve just got to adapt, adjust and figure it out, and be conscious of the camera as well. When you’re shooting these compact fight scenes, the cameraperson has to become kind of another person within the fight scene, and you kind of have to dance around them, because it’s such a tight space.
I think we always wish we had more time, basically. Sometimes we had like 6 hours, other times we’d have a full day. But yeah, it was quite intense, and you have to always adapt.
I was really taken by the way the show uses language. You’re shifting between English and Cantonese. Was that already embedded into the scripts when you came on board?
It was. There was a bit of experimentation. I think J.T. (Jonathan Trapper) always had in his mind the switch from Cantonese to English, which wasn’t necessarily that clear to us at the beginning, and then we all kind of started to understand what he meant. Action and stuff like that is a bit different, being an American show, and with the stylized nature of it, we weren’t sure how the actions for each character were going to be. Then it just took some experimenting and trying it out. And then once you are all on the same page you can deal with the format.
I found it fascinating, the way you or Hoon Lee would sway between using it like a survival mechanism or performativity mask, almost as if pretending to speak less English than your characters do.
So with Ah Sahm, we were working out whether he spoke English or spoke, English English, if he should have half an accent or he should sound slightly Chinese… whether he should adapt or choose to mask it. The other characters speak English to varying degrees, but some can’t with the sound of civility. That was always in the script.
Given your background, I’m assuming it was important for you to capture the distinction of at once having a sense of belonging to a specific culture, but at the same time not feeling fully a part of it? Specifically, I thought it was interesting that Ah Sahm’s grandfather was American, which is why he speaks English so well, but it comes as a huge surprise to other Chinese when he reveals this to them. I thought that added a layer of nuance to the character, that sense of belonging, but not belonging…
That’s cool, I like that you picked up on that. Ah Sahm to me, just as an actor, when I was reading him, I couldn’t figure out who he was. I think Ah Sahm tied into the connection with Bruce Lee, being a quarter European, and then me being half-English. There’s definitely a feeling of being different, a lot of the characters are outsiders. And I think when Ah Sahm comes into their world he’s a different sort of an outsider and they’ve made a family. Whether it’s the police, whether it’s the Chinese tong’s, or what have you. But yeah, I always felt very much that he was an outsider looking in, trying to see where he belongs, where he can fit it. He’s searching for family. He’s searching for his sister. And then she denies that and she’s searching for a different kind of family. I felt him not being pure-blood, I think that’s something that would affect you. I think with Ah Sahm that was definitely part of my connection.
I think that it’s interesting because I didn’t think I’d get cast in this. Obviously, my ethnicity is different. It’s different from Ah Sahm’s and all that. So I think that was something that I kind of appreciate the room to explore. And I think that definitely, as an Asian actor in the West, it’s a bit of progression in terms of casting. And I definitely feel I was able to utilize that expression.
On that note, there’s been a lot of overdue conversation about Asian and Asian Pacific American representation in the past year, following the “Isle of Dogs” controversy and success of films such as “Crazy Rich Asians.” Have you noticed any significant changes from your vantage point within the industry so far?
I mean, I guess “Warrior” is a big change. For Ah Sahm, I really didn’t think I’d get the role, cause I thought, ‘Well, I’m not Chinese. I’m not the right guy for it.’ And I thought that would kind of be against me, in terms of the auditions. That’s why, when I went to the audition, I said, ‘I’m just going to be myself. I can’t pretend to be Chinese, I can’t say that I am.’ So I guess, in terms of now, that is a kind of progression. And also, outside of that, I think it’s starting to shift.
In England, for sure. I think we’ve been far behind for a while now. I definitely think that the castings I’ve been at since, is more about what can you do as a person, as an actor, rather than just bringing your ethnicity to the role. For me, I’ve heard lots of things about that – comments about that – of getting cast as Ah Sahm, cause I’m not Chinese. For me, that was a sign that something’s changing. We’re starting to see more of human beings, and what you can bring to the role. So definitely, in terms of that, I feel like things are shifting, for sure.
“Warrior” airs Fridays on Cinemax.