Roger Fan

You may remember Roger Fan as Deric Loo of Better Luck Tomorrow fame, and yes, he's charming in person and knows his Greek mythology better than our APA editor. Next up, Roger will team up again with Justin Lin in the upcoming Annapolis, a boxing movie co-starring James Franco and Donnie Wahlberg.  His filmography includes D.E.B.S, Stuck on You, and television roles on ER, Frasier, Party of Five, and News Radio. His racy short comedy "The Quest for Length" -- in which he juggled star, co-producer, and co-director duties -- earned raves at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.  -- Ada Tseng 

Interview with Roger Fan

April 3, 2005
Interviewed by Chi Tung and Ada Tseng
Transcribed by Ada Tseng

APA: Can you start by introducing yourself?

Roger Fan: My name is Roger Fan, and I play the role of Henry in Solve for X. He is the son of Theo, the stepson of Hannah, and also Hannah's lover.

APA: Some of the cast members have mentioned how the play is built upon different Greek myths. Now if Theo represents Theseus, who would you represent?

RF: That's a good question. I would represent the Minotaur: the half-bull, half-man. It's really about the forbidden love and what we imagine can't be produced. Technically, I have a love affair with my stepmother. So, are you able to tolerate going past that line of what's socially acceptable or not. And if you do go over, society imagines, well that's very taboo, and if you do do that, something really bad is going to happen. I think that's represented via the Minotaur. So for me, I think that's kind of what it is I represent, or what could potentially be represented -- which is something unsightly, ungodly, if you were to hook up with someone who is technically your mother.

Chi Tung: Couldn't you also be, who's the one who kills the minotaur, is it... [confused]

RF: I think Theseus is the one that kills the Minotaur. I certainly can be as well, from that perspective. Theseus kills the Minotaur and technically saves the day, which I think is sort of a representation of really going for true love. Coming in and letting go of all social confines and expectations and saying I'm just going to go for what I want. And I'm just going to kill the representation of what is forbidden and do what I want to do. But, ultimately there's consequences as well, and that's later explored in the play.

APA: How did you go about preparing for the role? Do you relate to your character?

RF: Do I relate to my character...a boy who humps his mother. Um....you know it's interesting, the rehearsal process...Judy wrote a beautiful script, and we had a six-week rehearsal process. We read through the script a couple of times in the beginning, but we took a lot of time just walking through relationships. And you never see this stuff onstage, but we went through the first time you meet your new mother. And the first time Dad tells you he's going to marry a woman just three years your senior.

So what we were doing is we were trying to take the text and merge it into what is deep-seated and genuine -- What is Roger Fan? What is Roger Fan as Henry? How would Roger Fan as Henry react to seeing his mother for the first time -- who is actually his stepmother, who resembles his real biological mom, who was killed tragically when he was 12 years old? So we spent a lot of time just delving deep into that tragic psyche, because Henry is sort of severely, arrestedly developed. Everything looks ok out in front, but if you were really going to explore back there, there's some serious issues that he has. And one is his love for Hannah. Is it true, genuine love, or is just this missing attachment that he has for a mother that he lost so tragically, so long ago?

APA: Since you've worked in both mediums, what do you find is the main difference between plays and films?

RF: You know, it's interesting. I'll take it more from an Asian-American perspective. I think it's absolutely critical that Lodestone exists. Like, Phil Chung and Chil Kong, who are the artistic directors. These are guys that straddle those lines. They write for mainstream Hollywood, but they also have this theater community which they have shepherded for five, going on six, years. I think what's important is: in mainstream Hollywood, there aren't really that many deep roles, significant roles, for Asian-Americans. You'll be there as an Asian-American as the tenth lead, so that the NAACP doesn't come in and sue the studios because they don't have any sort of minority representation.

But in terms of really significant roles that are out there, unfortunately for Asian-Americans, there aren't really any true archetypes out there that genuinely exist right now. The only semi-archetypes that exist are like, for Asian-American females, they're seen as very sexual, very alluring, the long black hair, sandlewood, that kind of stuff...beautiful. And for Asian-American guys, the stereotype runs either martial arts-based or somewhat nerdy-based and somewhat emasculated. 

So what's critical about theater -- Phil Chung said this to me, several years back, he said to me, "Don't underestimate the power of theater." And with something like Lodestone, what's important is it actually provides an arena for really talented writers, really talented actors, and producers and the whole community, to come together and have a place to grow as artists and to really explore how good you can be. And I feel very fortunate to be here, because in reality, where am I going to get that experience? Because I don't fit the mold of a Matt Damon or a Ben Affleck right now, right, so I won't necessarily be able to walk onto a TV show of a film which will allow me to lead an entire film and get that under my belt, so that the next film I get to, I get better and better. Much like Keanu Reeves: when he started out, he was young, but if you notice in his body of work, he's just gotten better and better. Unfortunately, as an Asian-Ameican guy, and for most women, you don't have that luxury. So where do you get that?

What's great about our company is that, for someone like Judy...she won't tell you, but she's an award-winning writer. Her material is as good or better than most of the mainstream stuff that's out there. And to be able to have the privilege of going in and exploring these deep characters is great. Every one of these characters in Solve for X is incredibly deep, and exceeds most Hollywood stuff. So I just think it's important to go back and forth and back and forth, and ultimately, it'll be nice to see writers, directors, and actors in a community that has the chops and the ability to kick some serious butt -- has the opportunity to really do well in the mainstream film. And ultimately, down the line, hopefully both worlds will merge and then it won't be really an issue. I think that's ultimately the long term goal.

APA: Since you've done stuff with Justin Lin, and you're in his upcoming movie Annapolis, do you think he's paving the road -- slowly but surely?

RF: Yea, people like Justin Lin, Phil Chung, we're all heading in the same direction, which is ultimately to carve a place in America working in the media. Not to be such outsiders, but to be able to create a product that's so interesting, so deep that it transcends just being Asian-American. It becomes just human, the human condition, because you watch movies like Bend It Like Beckham. It's not an Indian film, because it's universal, sort of like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Justin Lin's an interesting example. Here's a guy who went to bat, and what he did specifically, which was different than a lot of people, was that he actually embraced what it was to be Asian-American. But he did it at a very high level. Here was a guy who, and I remember, four years ago, he had no money, and literally, he took ten credit cards out, and sold his only car. And what was interesting about that, was that on several occasions, the studios in Hollywood said, "We will give you several million dollars for you to make Better Luck Tomorrow, but we would like you to cast it as anything but Asian-Americans. We'll put an African-American cast in there, or even a Latino cast, or Caucasian." Because there was what you call "bill-able names," people you can attach on and so forth. What's pioneering about that is that Justin sat there, and I remember this conversation. He just sat there, and he said, "You know, Rog...well, if I go down in flames, and this movie sucks, at the very least, I want to be able to make the film that I really want to make." So he walked away from multiple seven figure-type deals and said: "I'm going to make it on my own. And that act in it of itself, that's the thing that continually needs to happen. That people embrace who they are and they do it at a high level.

And the same thing with Lodestone -- we're embracing who we are but we're creating plays that pretty much any audience can come and really relate to, because we're not talking about what it's like to be Asian-American. What we're talking about is being human and having the human experience, and there might be a slight twist of an Asian-American perspective.

And with Justin, after BLT, the doors just blew open for him, so he's had the great fortune -- and he's worked for it -- but he directed his first studio feature. He went from a $250,000 credit card movie to a $35 million studio feature, and I have the good fortune of working with him on that, with a pretty good role. It's like fifth billing. And I got to work with James Franco, Tyrese Gibson, Donnie Wahlberg, Jordana Brewster. And it was very interesting, because here I am on the set, working with people that you see in Hollywood movies all the time, and it just works. The world works. But the question is, Will Hollywood let that happen? Chances are, no. Because there are a lot of people out there that are trying to create the next Matt Damon or Ben Affleck and the money is so enticing, that...well, do you go with Roger Fan or do you go with Matt Damon? Gotta go with Matt Damon, cause everyone knows who he is. But the great courage comes from someone saying, this is my vision, this is what it is, let's set the bar high, and go for it.