Film Courage: How did you start over in Atlanta?
Jason Park, Director, Producer, Writer, Actor, and Cinematographer: I was working an I.T. job as a network engineer. I was sitting there (right before Covid), 2019 this happened. I was looking at the landscape, at this point I kind of quit Hollywood for a while. I wasn’t auditioning and wasn’t doing anything and I was looking at the landscape and I still did not see what I wanted to see. What my goal was when I went out there, I didn’t see it. Just for some insight what the goal was (if I break it down further than like the Asian Will Smith) it was seeing a leading Asian guy in a non-Asian role. What that means is if you see someone like myself but there is no Kung Fu, there is no Okay, this is about an Asian family in Malaysia, there’s nothing. It’s just like Hey, that guy just so happens to be Asian. There is no Asian story. We don’t own a liquor store, there’s no laundromat, there’s no Kung Fu, there’s no sidekick, it’s just Oh, he’s the love interest and he just so happens to be Asian. When you create stories like that it becomes powerful because now it’s just normal, right? You’re not highlighting the fact that this person is Asian, they’re just a human being playing a role because I didn’t witness that enough. You have your hits, you have your Shang-Chi Marvel film. Fantastic, but the title is Shang-Chi, it’s a martial arts film that takes place where there’s a lot of Asians. Then you have something else like Crazy Rich Asians, the title is Asians dealing with an Asian family so of course you’re going to cast Asians. These films are fantastic films but in order to separate that gap really for all ethnicities, you have to play regular roles and you can’t force, a lot of times today we are forced. You can’t force something that’s already established and what I mean by that is if this franchise has a history and this character and a fan base along with that history and this character like let’s say…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Jason Park is an accomplished Director, Producer, Writer, Actor, and Cinematographer. Living in Atlanta, GA with a background in both acting and narrative filmmaking. Jason was raised on the Big Island of Hawai’i. After finishing high school, he moved to Los Angeles California, where he found his passion for videography, acting, and filmmaking. He began booking commercials and print work for companies like Apple, Samsung, McDonald’s, Subway, and the list goes on. He’s been in films with actors such as Brittany Snow (Pitch Perfect), Ross Butler (Shazam) Christian Serratos (Selena), David Oyelowo (Gringo), and Evan Ross (The Hunger Games). After appearing in films, commercials, and print campaigns. The actor decided to passionately work on breaking barriers for Asian-American actors, directors, writers, and creators in American Cinema. Leading him to create films with Asian leads in non Asian stereotypical roles.
WATCH ‘FOUR AMIGOS’
WATCH ‘REX PARK: Curse Of The Golden Buddha’
SUBSCRIBE TO JASON PARK’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL
CONNECT WITH JASON PARK
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