![]() ![]() And it felt like there was always more to learn and more to know before going in. I feel like it's like having a kid or getting married, those big life changes that you're never quite ready for. It all felt like, I don't know - kind of serendipity in a lot of ways. I had been thinking about this thing as a movie for that long because the book resonated with me so much. Because the graphic novel has meant so much to me since it came out. But the fact that this story was available, that they were looking for directors at the time when I just so happened to inquire about this particular book and whether or not we might be able to make it into a movie, and then to find out that there was already a script written by Adrian and they were meeting with directors, it just felt like a sign that, at the very least, I needed to throw my hat into the ring. I think in part because I had dabbled in directing TV, and I directed a lot of shorts and web stuff, and I felt like I was almost ready. "It's very much a dream come true in a lot of ways," Park says of the experience.Ī.frame: Why was now the right time to direct your first feature? Shortcomings debuted earlier this year at Sundance - following in the footsteps of the films that inspired it - and also screened at Tribeca Fest, ahead of its release in theaters. It's a very intimate performance, and there's so much depth to him as a person, but also to his approach to the character." I think what Justin brought was a real depth to the character and a real vulnerability that makes you lean into the character," explains the director (who appears in the movie in a small cameo role), "which is important because so much about the character will make you want to lean out. "Thankfully I've aged out of that, because it wouldn't have been good. "He played it better than I would've," Park laughs. By the time Park got around to making Shortcomings, it no longer made sense for him to play Ben, and so he cast Justin H. ![]() Like the graphic novel, the movie follows a trio of Asian-American millennials - Ben, his estranged girlfriend Miko (played by Ally Maki), and his womanizing best friend Alice ( Sherry Cola) - as they navigate modern relationships, identity and belatedly coming of age. More than 15 years later, Park would have the chance to direct Shortcomings as his first feature film. It's the sort of complicated and flawed character that has become a staple of a certain type of independent filmmaking, though rarely if ever have they been Asian-American. Back in 2007, before Randall Park booked his breakout role in the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, before he earned his leading man bona fides with Always Be My Maybe (which he also co-wrote), before the actor joined both DC and Marvel's cinematic universes, he found his dream role in the pages of Adrian Tomine's graphic novel, Shortcomings: Ben, a self-sabotaging filmmaker who manages an arthouse movie theater, who is snobby, self-absorbed, and often unlikable - not at all like the roles Park would come to be known for. ![]()
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