ProfileFast & Furious actor Sung Kang on opportunities for Asians in Hollywood and why his directorial debut, a horror comedy, is more funny than scary

Name: Shaky Shivers | Official Trailer - Exclusively in Theaters September 21
Uploaded: 2023-09-20T09:15:10.000Z
Description: Shaky Shivers | Official Trailer - Exclusively in Theaters September 21

Sung Kang is best known for playing Han Lue in Fast & Furious films. Discrimination in Hollywood left him unfulfilled and wanting to ‘get behind the camera’

The director talks about making his Evil Dead-inspired debut Shaky Shivers accessible, even to children, and learning from Robert Rodriguez and Denzel Washington

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Sung Kang is best known for his role in the Fast & Furious series. The Korean-American actor opens up about discrimination in Hollywood, and making his directorial debut, a horror comedy inspired by Evil Dead. Photo: Getty Images

Daniel Eagan

Published: 5:15pm, 20 Sep 2023Updated: 7:05am, 21 Sep 2023

What is it like transitioning from a billion-dollar franchise to a microbudget indie film? Sung Kang knows the answer.

“Lunch on a Fast & Furious movie costs more than the whole budget for Shaky Shivers,” he says, laughing. “But at its core, filmmaking is still the same. You have a three-act structure. Actors have to hit their marks. Lights have to go up. You have to call ‘Action’ and ‘Cut’.”

A horror comedy set in northern California, Shaky Shivers marks Kang’s feature debut as a director. He took on the project while waiting for his next acting job.

“It was time to get behind the camera and start creating,” he says. “As a director, I can give opportunities to people who face the same struggles I face in Hollywood. It’s about paying forward and passing on knowledge.”

Shaky Shivers | Official Trailer - Exclusively in Theaters September 21

The son of South Korean immigrants, Kang became an international star as Han Lue in the 2006 film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Although the character died in the climax of that film, Lue was such a fan favourite that he was resurrected in later films in the Fast & Furious series.

Since then, Kang has worked steadily in film and television. Each new project gave him the opportunity to learn more about directing – filling his “toolbox”, as he put it.