Asian A.V. Club newsletter #22
Director Kim O. Nguyen is trailblazing a career as a go-to comedy director through her work in countless iconic series and now with her debut feature Prom Dates.
Since we’re such nerds for talented folk working behind the camera, getting comedy director Kim O. Nguyen is a nice score for the Asian A.V. Club. Since 2019, her credits have appeared in some of our favorite shows like Fresh Off the Boat, Superstore, The Other Two, Never Have I Ever and most recently Survival of the Thickest. If you’re fans of these shows, you’ll notice a common thread connecting their funny diverse stories through a talented multi-cultural cast, something that Nguyen seems to be able to direct with grace and ease.
Most recently, Nguyen ventured into feature directing with the comedy Prom Dates, allowing her to bring her strong sense of comedy to screen. We sat down with the director to talk about her career and the importance of representation in the work place.
Asian A.V. Club: We’ve talked to many a director here on Asian A.V. Club, but I don’t think we’ve ever chatted with one that has such wonderful roots in the comedy space. How did all of this start for you?
Kim O. Nguyen: When I was younger in high-school, I just really felt a need to express myself and found my way into creative writing clubs. Because I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, though I wasn't conscious of it at the time, I was just trying so hard to assimilate in a lot of parts of my life. But I think this other part of me really wanted to find a way to express myself.
And it wasn't until I could do something creative, that I felt like I could actually tap into all of me versus the presentational part of me. And that just felt really good. It was a little challenging, because I'm not even sure if I knew who I was at that time. But certainly, tapping into the arts really allowed me to be able to make my way towards the discovery of my identity.
Asian A.V. Club: Was there any moment during those years that the feedback made you think, hmmm… I might actually be good at this.
Kim O. Nguyen: It was probably in high school when I was doing the creative writing. I had awesome teachers who were giving me some nice feedback. I always noticed that they would remark on more of the creative parts of it, versus the informational parts of it. Basically, the sections where my mind would kind of wander. (laughs)
If I hadn't gotten that kind of feedback, I probably would have pushed myself anyway to figure it out. Because it was just something I really wanted to do. I just had to figure out how to marry that creative ability and be self-sufficient independently. It all kind of collided at once.
Asian A.V. Club: Was that why you moved to New York? What did the city mean to you?
Kim O. Nguyen: Yeah, definitely. I was born in Vietnam but grew up in Chicago. Even though Chicago is big, to me it’s more like a big city town. But New York always represented to me as a place where artists struggled and lived, and I wanted that experience so badly. I really wanted to feel like I was in the fabric of that city.
One of the greatest things about New York is that dichotomy where it's such a mass experience, because it allows you to kind of move through the city and be able to always observe things. But also at the same time, it's a really, really singular place. You can feel yourself moving through the years and how you experienced it all. I just felt like, that's a city that elicits a real visceral feeling within me, and it totally did. New York represented everything to me and totally lived up to it too. Like the highs were incredible. And the lows were insanely devastating. I am so happy I live there.
Asian A.V. Club: One of your first jobs was working at MTV. From what I’ve heard, it’s a great place to start out because you end up putting on so many hats, whether you are prepared for it or not. (laughs) Was that how you got your first opportunity to direct?
Kim O. Nguyen: Yes, that's absolutely what happened. (laughs) When I was at MTV, I was a writer working in their on-air promos department. Everybody wore a lot of hats. So even if you were labeled as a writer, you were probably also doing some producing, or supervising all of the things and maybe some directing at some point.
There was a short film that we were doing with a musician, and I was the writer on it. Our director, fell out at the last second, and it's exactly as you say, I just stepped in and felt like I could do it. Having been a writer and just being so close to the actual creative, it didn't really feel like taking a massive step to being a director. And I'm actually talking about the practical application of directing. I kind of figured, anything I don't know, I can probably just ask somebody because everybody here is part of the crew and is very supportive.
MTV Movie Awards promo
Asian A.V. Club: What was that first moment on set like?
Kim O. Nguyen: I think once I actually stepped on to that set as a director, something really activated within me, and that activation was more just a natural feeling. It felt really comfortable. I think I was actually surprised at how comfortable I felt because before that I wasn’t really dying to direct. I'm a writer, and I like performances, so this really cracked open a whole world of storytelling that allowed me to engage and grow in all the things that I love.
Randall Park and Kim O. Nguyen
Asian A.V. Club: Your first TV directing job was on Fresh Off the Boat. We’ve talked to showrunner Nahnatchka Khan before about creating a show that represented an Asian family, what was it like for you to work on that set?
Fresh Off the Boat “Lou Wants to Be a Millionaire”
Kim O. Nguyen: Oh, it was amazing. There were so many Asians working in front and behind the camera. Having directed on so many sets prior where I was one of the very few, if not, only female Asian on the set, I was surprised at how much I loved it. And these are now things that I seek out and enjoy doing. I like being able to add to this community and am so thrilled that it exists and continues to grow.
Asian A.V. Club: From FOTB you worked on pretty much all our fave comedy shows like The Other Two, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Survival of the Thickest, to name a few, how did directing those comedies prepare you for your debut feature Prom Dates?
DJ Mausner and Kim O. Nguyen
Kim O. Nguyen: On a technical level, it felt like a pretty natural progression. I’m still storytelling and building the world. But in this case, it was exciting to be able to build the world and take it to the very, very end.
How it initially came about was that I got an actual letter from D.J. Mausner, who's a great writer. And it was really so complimentary and also so heartfelt, which made me want to read the script. Their script was so funny and told the story of these two, wormy grimy childhood, girlfriends who just go on this hell-bent mission. That really resonated with me. (laughs)
Prom Dates trailer
Asian A.V. Club: Not only are your two leads (Julia Lester, Antonia Gentry) really fun to watch, but it feels like everyone had a good time making this film.
Kim O. Nguyen: It was great because everybody was making the same film, which is the film that I wanted to make. It was so nice to be fully aligned every step of the way with everyone, because you develop a great shorthand. And equally as important, you develop a great flow. It was a great process, because I was very fortunate to be surrounded by an amazing cast and also an amazing team.
Asian A.V. Club: As a creative person, there’s always hints of yourself that you leave behind in your projects, for Prom Dates, was there something that’s inherently Kim, that your friends will recognize immediately?
Kim O. Nguyen: I think a lot of the comedy feels very much like me. My friends will be able to walk away from seeing the film and definitely be like, oh, yeah, I can tell Kim did that. It's a little bit hard to kind of granularly break down pieces or scenes, but the overall vibe and the pacing, I felt very close to that.
Honestly, I just hope that when you watch the film, besides the fact that it’s funny, you’ll leave feeling that ultimately, we should always want to value and treasure each other. Because that's what it's all about, the human connection. Everything else is sort of irrelevant.
Asian A.V. Club: Because there just aren’t enough Asian female directors in Hollywood, how do you create your own community with your fellow peers?
Kim O. Nguyen: As an Asian female director, also in the comedy space, I absolutely gravitate towards other female Asian directors as well as our community in general. Because it's a shared experience that we're having, even though we're on these individual projects, we're all connected. I think it's important to continue making sure that we don't just survive but thrive and we can lift each other up whenever we can. And that extends to other ethnicities and our queer community as well. We are all part of a growing community and it's so important that we continue to lift each other up and lift up our voices. I feel really strongly about that.
Asian A.V. Club: We totally agree too! Thank you again for spending some time with us.
Kim O. Nguyen: Thank you!