When hearing the phrase “weekend in Taipei,” most people would think of a nice relaxing vacation, enjoying bubble tea and stinky tofu along the streets of Ximending or snorkeling and cooling down in the clear waters of Tamsui. This weekend couldn’t be more different for four people: DEA agent John Lawlor (Luke Evans), drug cartel leader Kwang (Sung Kang), his wife Joey (Gwei Lun-Mei), and her son Raymond (Wyatt Yang). In director George Huang’s WEEKEND IN TAIPEI, these four characters find themselves rushing through the streets of Taipei in a unique cat-and-mouse chase with a slight romantic twist.
From the start, viewers are thrown straight into the action as Lawlor engages in a fight scene inside of a seafood restaurant with little context. He’s seen saving a fish in a cup after destroying the restaurant’s fish tank. Soon after, it cuts to Kwang and his family. Kwang loves his wife Joey, but it’s clear that Joey doesn’t feel the same. As for Joey’s son – who is not Kwang’s – he finds Kwang to be similar to a supervillain. With an overzealous passion for saving marine wildlife, Joey’s son Raymond has a strong dislike for his stepfather due to his role in harming dolphins in the ocean. All Raymond wants is to save the marine life, and find out who his biological father is. While everything thus far has been fairly lighthearted, the movie quickly shifts gears.
DEA agents and the FBI are investigating Kwang for suspicion of smuggling drugs and other illegal misconduct, and they stumble upon a valuable piece of evidence, his ledger, courtesy of an anonymous tip. When Lawlor is sent on a weekend-long vacation after the agency rejected his offer to pursue this ledger by visiting Taipei, he goes rogue anyway and heads to the Taiwanese city to retrieve the evidence himself. While there, he runs into Joey, his long lost love from his previous mission in Taiwan. As the two of them team up to take Kwang down, sparks fly as their unresolved feelings for one another resurface. WEEKEND IN TAIPEI is just the right balance of comedy, action, and cheesy romance. Ahead of the premiere, Asia Blooming spoke with director George Huang and actor Sung Kang about making the film, visiting Taiwan, and more.
On the project’s origins, Huang credits his relationship with Virginie Besson-Silla and Luc Besson, and their desire to create something with a spontaneous plot. “Luc had an initial concept of doing a female transporter movie concept, and he invited me to collaborate with them to write it. So, we sat down and started asking questions. If she’s a female transporter, what is she transporting? What is she driving or running away from?” he began. “We started asking these questions back and forth, and the story kind of evolved out of that.”
Although Taipei turned out to be the perfect setting for the film, it wasn’t the original location. Huang explained that the team planned to shoot the movie in Hong Kong but due to high costs, they had to come up with another plan. “Luc had shot [2014 film] Lucy in Taiwan and had a really good time, and I’m from Taiwan, so we wanted to see if we could move the film over there. Last February, he sent me over to Taiwan, and I spent a month there touring the whole island,” he shared. “I told them we could easily move the story there. From there, we began to try to find locations again, casting, financing, and putting together the crew. It helped to have someone like Luc on the team, who did all the action and the car chases. He brought over his stunt team, his car driving team, some of his camera crew, and we sort of put them together with a local Taiwanese group. Luc also met Sung on the set of Fast 10, so he convinced him to come and play with us.”
Meanwhile, Kang revealed that Huang is the person who drew him to this project. “[Huang] had directed this film, Swimming with Sharks, when I first started out. It was one of the films that I studied, and it was something on my actor bucket list to work with George Huang. At the time, I was making my acting debut and had discovered that an Asian director had made that film. It’s a film that meant a lot to me,” he started. “With George also being an Asian American man, I felt like we would have a shorthand, and I wouldn’t have to explain myself on how we can make my character more three dimensional rather than just a one dimensional character you see in all the other films.”
This movie was also Kang’s first extended stay in Taiwan, and his first time working with Gwei Lun Mei and Wyatt Yang. He shared, “I had been to Taiwan about ten years prior for a couple days only, so this was the first time I was there for an extended stay. Taipei is really like an Asian Hawaii with their island culture. The people are super chill and mellow, the food is great, it’s just a wonderful city, and it’s a great place to visit. I have a very soft spot for Taiwan.”
Although Kwang is the villain of the film, Kang doesn’t think he’s necessarily evil. “I think each of us can relate to the idea of that first and only love. I have that person in my life; I’m married to her,” he began with a smile. “So, what happens when that person is not reciprocating that love towards me, or when that person is taken away from you? Fortunately, my wife does love me and she doesn’t have another man in her life, but I think I really tapped into and explored the idea of my one and only love not being present with me. What would I do? What would I do to this other man? I’d probably go out and try to kill him, too.” Rather than finding the mindset of playing a villain difficult, Kang actually thought the hardest part of making WEEKEND IN TAIPEI was all the action. “As I get older, the action stuff is a lot harder. I was prepping a couple of months in advance, before I even left LA, just because I knew there were going to be some fight scenes. Every day, if I wasn’t shooting, I would work out with the stunt team and rehearse the final scene because it was already choreographed by the time I landed in Taiwan.”
Despite any difficulties Kang faced while working on the stunts or Huang faced while working with an international team, everyone was ultimately satisfied with the project they created, thanks to everyone’s hard work. Sung Kang shared, “George is one of those people who doesn’t take a negative view of things. Even in a difficult situation, he maintains a positive outlook. When you have a conductor like him, it sets the tone. George, even in the most difficult situations, can only see the positive.”
WEEKEND IN TAIPEI opens in U.S. theaters on November 8.
