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RadioFree.com: Was the idea for a short based on the legend of the nian something that had been with you for a while, or did it come up only after you were afforded this opportunity?
MICHELLE: It started out with my son in kindergarten, which is three years ago now, where he came home talking about the story of the nian. And I was really interested because I had never heard the "official" story--I know the word nian in Chinese vocabulary, but I didn't know the origin story of it. And so that had kind of been sitting in the back of my mind of, "Oh, how interesting that I was introduced to a new cultural figure that I grew up not knowing." And when this opportunity came up to pitch, I pitched what I thought was a very simple idea: this girl brings these bully kids to her house to give her hongbao, the red envelope money that we're given, and instead of getting those hongbao for the bullies, she ends up feeding them to the monster nian, which comes every Lunar New Year. That's kind of where it started. And I would say, had I not been given this opportunity, I don't think I would have made this film. I think it would have [just] existed as a really interesting idea. But because it was horror and the envelope needed to be pushed a little bit more in terms of stakes, that's where I was very excited to accept the challenge of "Can I make a horror out of this?"
Did you have to cut much from the original script to get the short down to a very lean 6 minutes?
We had a pretty solid 6 1/2 pages, and we only cut two shots, which were transitional scenes. I was under the impression we were supposed to be 3-5 minutes, so when I saw other shorts beyond the 7-minute mark, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I didn't realize!" [laughs] But either way, it forced me to be very concise as a writer, and each scene was meant to be a card reveal.
In retrospect, knowing that you could have gone a little longer, was there anything you wish you had included?
No regrets in terms of that. I think the reality is I only had enough of a budget for the days I was given. So I think we packed every minute of the day into shooting--it was not humanly possible to do more within two days. [laughs]
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The blunt attitude and profanity from the grandmother immediately establishes a certain tone. At what point did you realize you wanted to blend some comedy into your horror?
That's such a great question, because when I first wrote it, I was really struggling. When I've had racist exchanges, in those moments, I never know exactly [what to say]...In my brain, I am wondering, "What's the response, what's the response?" And I kept trying to formulate a smart, intellectual response. And finally, I just thought, "Well, what would my mom say?" And my mom would say, "F*** you." [laughs] And I felt like somebody who's really been through it in this country, they've gone past that place of order and being respectful. I think at a certain point, you have to meet somebody with a racist illness at their level, which is to not really treat them as intellectual equals. And I think it has to be a visceral experience. And that's not to say that... [pauses] I mean, honestly, look, [even] as I'm talking, I'm thinking to myself, "Should I not call a racist an intellectual equal?" Because I'm so acclimated to being on the right side of the rules. And being a racist, you're on the other side--you're not playing fairly. So for me, that's what it was about: showing how someone deals with that, and really getting out of the game and saying, "That's not fair to me, and I'm not going to play by rules now."
Your protagonist endures some pretty old school racism: the bully ridicules her eyes and taunts her in a mock Chinese accent. Even though there are no overt clues that necessarily set the short film in the present (such as the use of cell phones), do you think this story still applies to the type of bullying that kids face today?
I really don't think racism has changed. Maybe the manner in which bullying is communicated with our technology might have evolved. My wonderful actress Ava, who had to play the bully, honestly did not know how to [do] some of the actions and some of the sounds, so I had to give her some research. And if you look everywhere in our culture, everything that's in the film is pretty current. I even asked myself, "Do I want to introduce this into the world?" But when you look online, it's so prevalent. It's really, really upsetting. So I felt like the racism itself is kind of timeless. But in terms of your question of the way we shot it, I felt like that was just basic craftwork.
You were in front of the camera for another recent horror project that dealt with cultural issues, They Live in the Grey. As a storyteller, what do you think the genre of horror allows you to do that, perhaps, other genres do not?
I was realizing that with They Live in the Grey, it's really about trauma, and how trauma affects the family, and how this particular woman, even though it's not really talked about, deals with the trauma in a cultural way--which is to not deal with it, and to kind of run away from it, but it keeps coming at her. And you know, I love sci-fi. It's one of my favorite genres. I've always felt like science fiction allows you to deal with humanity in these thematic ways. And my discovery of horror is the same. You can deal with huge, universal themes--very human themes--and visually break the rules. And you get to live in a dreamscape that is not afforded us in regular genres that adhere to reality. So in a way, it's completely liberating. You get to go as far as your imagination allows and deal with socially relevant issues. And that's where I felt was the real power of this opportunity I was given.
Would you like to stick with horror and science fiction in your future endeavors in writing and directing?
Well, if given the opportunity, I'd like to develop this. I have a little bit of a sci-fi horror idea to extend with this myth in mind, so I would definitely re-tackle it and see if there's a world there. Aliens, Predator, Total Recall...For me, there's this world where, as a kid, I grew up really just enjoying those experiences as an audience. And I would kind of stay in this world of horror/sci-fi, definitely. I would say the answer is yes. [laughs]
Always great to meet another genre junkie. Thanks for your time today, Michelle, I appreciate it!
Thank you so much, Michael. It was nice to meet you!
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