Asian A.V. Club newsletter #13
We celebrate lucky number #13 with director Nahnatchka Khan on her horror comedy 'Totally Killer' and the power she gained when she started to write about things she wanted to see on her screen.
Nahnatchka Khan’s name first hit our radar back in 2012 when a her comedy Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 debuted on ABC network. Filled with wicked humor and James Van Der Beek playing a self centered actor named ‘James Van Der Beek’, the bigger surprise for us was seeing an Asian name at the top of the mast head on a weekly basis.
Soon afterwards, Khan cemented her status as a power showrunner by loosely adapting the life and times of chef Eddie Huang and his family in Fresh Off the Boat. Marking the first time in twenty years where an Asian family were the main characters on screen, FOTB ran for 6 seasons paving the way for a generation to feel represented weekly on a mainstream level.
During their runs, Khan took the director reigns on a few episodes but it wasn’t until 2019 when she officially jumped over the line as a feature director with the wildly popular romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe starring her FOTB lead Randall Park and comedian Ali Wong.
Though Khan is still developing projects for film and TV under her own production deals, she found an opportunity to direct the slasher time-travel comedy Totally Killer through mega producer Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions.
We caught up with the multi-hyphenate creative a few weeks back and couldn’t resist fan-girling on so many quadrants.
Asian A.V. Club: When I saw that you were directing Totally Killer, I was quite excited for you. But then watching the film and I realized there were elements of action too, which made me even more excited! What was it about this film made you go; THIS is the movie I want to make?
Nahnatchka Khan: Firstly, thank you, I appreciate that. (laughs) I think it was because of my last movie, Always Be My Maybe, which was a rom com. In Hollywood, once you do one thing, that's what people send you. So, I got sent all these rom coms and I was like, I just did this. I had a GREAT time, and it was so satisfying, but I just wanted a challenge. I knew it had to have comedy because whatever I do will have a streak of comedy in it no matter what. But when Jason Blum and Blumhouse sent me the script for Totally Killer, I was just like, this will be so much fun to do. I mean, the time travel slasher movie has a lot of opportunity for comedy. I think it just made a lot of sense.
Asian A.V. Club: Because your film rides the fine line between comedy and proper horror, how difficult was it to find your two leads Kiernan Shipka and Olivia Holt to basically toe the line for this film?
Nahnatchka Khan: I think Kiernan was the first piece of the puzzle. We sent her the script and when she wanted to meet, I was so thrilled because the lead character of Jamie not only drives the action, but she also holds all the emotion in the movie. Somebody like Kiernan is such a pro. Even though she's so young, she's been doing this for so long that she knows how to play multiple levels in every single scene. And so, I knew we were in great hands with her at the core of our movie.
The second piece of the puzzle was Olivia. We needed to capture that dynamic between daughter and future mother, who are peers in the 80s. Olivia just sent this audition in which she was just able to embody this John Hughes mean alpha girl, but in a funny way. One of the first scenes we shot was in the basement, where they're watching Robocop, and they're sort of just going back and forth. It was like magic to see them together on screen, and I was so so happy.
Asian A.V. Club: We have been fans of your work as a writer / showrunner for years (Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23, Fresh Off the Boat), at which point did you realize that you wanted to expand your repertoire by trying your hand at directing? Â
Nahnatchka Khan: It was very organic. I started directing episodes of my TV shows early on.  When you’re a showrunner in television, it is kind of being the director of a features equivalent. You're responsible for worlds building and setting the tone, making sure everything makes sense, creating the characters and the rhythm and the pace. And so, I just got this opportunity presented to me like, do you want to direct a movie? And I was like, ‘No, I'm good’. (laughs) But then I got the chance to do the Ali (Wong), Randall (Park) movie, and it was just like a no brainer, because I love them. And we're all family.
Asian A.V. Club: At what point did you realize that you had the superpower to amplify voices specifically in AAPI stories? I mean, a lot of people who go into this industry early on, put their head down and are just glad that they have a job. When did you have the confidence to talk up and say I’d like to see people who look like me on my screen?
Nahnatchka Khan: I think it was more about the idea of not chasing the hot thing in the moment. I think a lot of times you can get pulled into this trajectory of, they're looking for this kind of show, starring this kind of lead. But once you take yourself out of that rat race or chasing that dream, you just write what you want to see. And you have to have the faith of conviction. Whether or not other people want to take a chance on making something like that is out of your control, but at least you can work on things that you want to watch and are meaningful to you in different ways.
So, when ABC at the time was like, let's take a chance and make the pilot for Fresh Off the Boat, and then let's greenlight the series, that was Samie Falvey and Paul Lee, who were in charge. It was out of my control, but I was just so fortunate. Sometimes to the people who make the decisions and control the money, you just present to them that undeniable thing they can't say no to. (laughs)
Asian A.V. Club: Is it true that when you were a kid, your dad basically created a movie club for you and your brother?
Nahnatchka Khan: Yeah, it was just because my dad was a movie fan. When we were living in Hawaii, he would just watch old movies at night, and he would wake up my brother and I to watch all kinds of movies with him. But then, after watching something like, Guys and Dolls, he’d be like, what did you like about it? As an eight-year-old, he made me think critically in a way about story and character. It wasn’t enough to be like, I liked it, I didn’t like it. It was more like, but why? It was really really wild. (laughs)
Asian A.V. Club: He sounds like the best dad ever! Now you’ve done, the rom com, you’ve done the horror film, what’s next for you?
Nahnatchka Khan: I really would like to remake The English Patient. No, I'm just kidding.
Asian A.V. Club: As a comedy, it'd be amazing!
Nahnatchka Khan: It would be more like ‘The English Patient - Question Mark?’ (laughs) I really don't know. Whatever is exciting and feels like a new challenge, really.
Asian A.V. Club: Whatever you decide next, we’ll be there for it! Thanks again!