An Oscar nominee already, Sean Wang talks about his Sundance debut hit ‘Didi’

Set in 2008, the film focuses on Chris, a skateboarding-obsessed, first-generation Taiwanese kid in Fremont, California struggling to fit in.

Back in 2008, Sean Wang was just another skateboarding-obsessed kid, a first-generation Taiwanese boy in Fremont struggling to fit in and impress his friends and girls. He started filming skateboarding exploits and then, after seeing low-budget indies with emotional pop like “Fruitvale Station” and “Short Term 12” he believed there was a a path for him in filmmaking.

After studying at USC, he earned an Oscar nomination for his short documentary “Nai Nai & Wai Po,” about his two grandmothers. This year, he broke out at Sundance with “Didi,” which won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award. 

“Didi” is set in 2008 and focuses on Chris, who is called Wang Wang by his friends and Didi by his family. He is just another skateboarding-obsessed kid, a first-generation Taiwanese boy in Fremont struggling to fit in and impress his friends and girls. The film brims with humor and pathos, capturing both the specific and universal tribulations of adolescence, especially for a child of immigrants.

Wang spoke recently by video about the movie. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q. Chris just cannot open up and pays the price with sadness, anger and loneliness. Is that a perpetual problem for teenage boys?

The cultural standard was different then for teenagers but especially for boys. They were conditioned to not be emotional, sensitive, vulnerable or feminine. Chris does not have the vocabulary for himself to express himself in ways that are healthy, and he doesn’t have people around him to cultivate a healthy way of expressing himself. 

When you bottle things up, the emotions come out in insecurity, loneliness and sometimes anger. The movie is showing what it was like and what we have to learn and unlearn for ourselves. 

Today, kids are more encouraged to express themselves freely, to talk about their feelings.

Q. The movie shifts from comedic to dramatic and back frequently. Was it hard to find the right balance?

I wanted to show the most irreverent and stupid version of adolescent boyhood but balance it with the sadness and the pain, the trying to connect. I needed to straddle both without it feeling like whiplash and to make sure both worlds and both tones were informing one another. I remember seeing a quote, I think it was Steven Spielberg, that said something like, “If you can make them laugh, they’ll trust you to make them cry.” That was at the forefront of my brain while we were shooting and editing. Pull people into the world of the movie and make sure they have a fun ride, but hopefully give them something to walk away with that’s emotional and tangible.

Q. There’s a moment where the girl Chris has a crush on tells him he’s “pretty cute for an Asian.” Was that a personal experience and how did you figure out his reaction for that scene?

When I was a kid, people would say to me, “You’re cute for an Asian” or “You’re the coolest Asian I know.” At that time it was a net positive – the person meant it as a compliment so I took it as a compliment. There was nothing insidious about it. It’s only in retrospect that you realize that’s a loaded statement. 

And Chris wants a compliment from Maddie so badly. In 2024, we can unpack that comment but all Chris can do in that moment back then is kind of swallow it.

Q. Were you excited or nervous about the idea of using a lot of first-time actors?

It fit the movie’s ethos. I really wanted to capture the feeling of adolescent boyhood that felt true. Child actors today are very proper, but I wanted kids that were rough around the edges, who feel like real kids. 

Q. You’ve talked about having felt like an outsider. Does that shape the way you tell your stories?

The more I lean into that perspective and the more that I lean into the things that are a little thorny about it or that I’m a little bit embarrassed about, means I’ll have a story that feels more honest.

Q. Like most coming-of-age movies, “Didi” mostly stays tightly focused on Chris. Yet you also pull back to show us his mom’s world and her struggles as an immigrant dealing with an absent husband, a bossy mother-in-law and two teens. What made you break away from his story for her?

Early drafts had no family element. It was a lot more “Stand By Me or “Superbad,’ a romp of adolescents. But then I had that experience filmmakers talk about where the story tells you what it wants to be, and you have to follow that. I felt this urge to write about my family and especially my relationship with my mom. 

The relationship I have with my mom is the most of every emotion that I’ve ever felt – the most joy and the most love, but the most regret and the most pain. There is so much there to pull from.

So I said, “Let’s dive in and see what happens.” I broke perspective a couple of times to be in her POV. And suddenly, the movie felt alive and electric for the first time. 

All this other stuff is fun and funny, but the thing you’re going to walk away with is the emotional relationship with his mom. The friendships you have at that age are conditional and often temporary. But what sticks with you is the relationship that you have with your family.

By the end, every relationship has changed, broken or frayed because he acts like a version of himself that he thinks he has to be but is not. The one person who is still fully accepting is his mom. And I realized that’s the heartbeat of the movie.