In-depth with the Director - Derek Nguyen

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background in filmmaking.

I have been working in the independent film space for over 20 years as a screenwriter, director, and producer. I have a NYC-based production company called The Population which produced feature films such as Swallow, I Carry You With Me, Catch the Fair One, and upcoming Somewhere Quiet. As a director, I wrote and directed a feature film called The Housemaid in Vietnam and directed two shorts, The Potential Wives of Norman Mao and The Resemblance—all of which have screened at many festivals across the globe. I have also worked in theater for a great many years.

How did your film first come together as a project?

I have been tinkering with the concept of rental famiiies for a great many years and I received funding from Netflix, Tribeca Studios, and Gold House through their Future Gold Film Fellowship to make a short film. So I wrote the script and it's been a labor of love ever since!

Grief and closure are delicate themes that can be hard to translate on film. What drew you to tackling these concepts in The Resemblance?

Back in 2018, I came across a New Yorker article entitled Japan's Rent-A-Family Industry and became immediately fascinated by the concept of rental families. It's a uniquely Asian phenomenon where people hire actors to role play and/or pose as relatives to either save face, heal, or rehearse troublesome situations to prepare themselves for the real-life incidents. I immediately thought it would make an interesting film and started jotting down ideas that might make a good script. The Resemblance was the result of years of sifting through many stories. But the story of an elderly couple wanting closure with their dead son held the most emotional resonance to me. I ended up writing the script as an examination of grief, longing, acceptance, and closure.

There are some truly breathtaking performances in the film, particularly from Sumalee Montano and Francois Chau. What direction did you give them during filming to draw these out?

Francois and Sumalee were both incredible to work with. We talked a lot about how different people process grief. Some internalize it and keep it at arms distance. And others actively address it. These were the two approaches we took for each of the characters. We also talked about their own individual experiences with loss in their own families and ruminated on the question: if you had one last moment to connect with someone you've lost, what would that interaction be?

You mention that inclusion was big priority for the cast and crew, and certainly Asian actors and talent have been more and more in the spotlight recently in terms of awards and plaudits. How do those cultural sensibilities lend themselves to the story you wanted to tell?

I believe that the more specific you are, the more universal the story becomes. Inclusion has always been a part of my life because these artists are the people whom I've gravitated throughout my career. Being in the margins myself, I was natural for me to work with other people in which I had a shared experience. And when we tallied up our cast and crew at the end of the day, we found that 81% of us identified as people of color, women, and LGBTQIA+.

What was the biggest challenge in making this film?

Making ANY film is a challenge! But I think that shooting during a pandemic was very difficult. Not only was it costly to ensure safety and precautions, I was constantly worried whether someone from our cast and crew were going to get sick. We got lucky!

What projects are coming next for you in the future?

I am writing a feature film that I'm developing with a production company in Los Angeles, working on an episodic adaptation of a bestselling novel, expanding The Resemblance into a feature script, and producing three feature films. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

Any message to our Melbourne audience?

I love Melbourne! It's my favorite city in Australia. I haven't visited in many years though. I'm actually working on a feature film that I co-wrote and am producing that's set in Melbourne so I hope to be going into production there soon!