Alan Yang Embraced His Identity And Directed Tigertail In Three Languages

Alan Yang's Tigertail starts with a young boy running by way of the rice fields of occupied Taiwan. He sees a chimerical vision of his parents in the distance — his father, who died any time as soon as he was an infant, and his mother, who abandoned him with his grandparents to find work — while the voice of his older self (narrated by Yang's actual father) explains, some days, I saw things because I wanted to be able to see them."


This image of young Pin-Jui, as a fanciful boy chasing visions in rice fields, is where Tigertail began for writer-director-producer Yang, also. Very much inspired by his own father's immigrant story — the name itself is a homage to his Taiwanese village — the Netflix drama is a tale that spans generations: beginning with Pin-Jui as a child, then picking back up with him as an enthusiastic young man with dreams of beginning anew In America, and detailing his life as a Taiwanese immigrant in the Bronx, all while weaving in vignettes of Pin-Jui as an older man in the present (played by Tzi Ma). Although Tigertail is more than a story of one man; it's about a family member. Even more broadly, it's "about how you feel split in between worlds" as an immigrant and as a child of immigrants, Yang tells MTV News.


In this conversation about the film, the Emmy-winning writer talks about bringing the personalized story to life, embracing his own identity, and the challenges of filming a movie in three languages (Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English language) — two of which he doesn't speak. Plus, Yang reflects on what he's learned from his parents and the ways in which he's just like them.


MTV News: I'd like to begin at the end, actually.


Alan Yang: It's like Memento, you're going to begin backwards.


MTV News: Exactly. I was so captivated by the ending sequence between Pin-Jui and his daughter Angela (Christine Ko) because I know that it was directly inspired by your own trip to Taiwan with your father. It got me thinking a lot about why right now was the correct time for you to tell this very personalized story?


Yang: I'm glad you responded to the ending because it may be my preferred piece of the movie. It's the part that gets me the most every time I watch it. That's probably because it was inspired by something that happened to me. As far as why right now, I think I was just ready. For me, whichever I pick to work on is basically a very instinctive decision. It's just: Once I wake up in the morning, what am I thinking about? If I take a shower, what's group kind of rolling around in my mind? In this case it was this story, it was these characters, it was this family member and their dynamics that really just took hold.


MTV News: And the trip you took with your dad was the first inspiration for the film?


Yang: This trip I took with my dad was certainly a big inspiration. I hadn't been back to Taiwan since I was 7 years old — that's over 20 years. It's just incredible how distant I was from my heritage. By that same token, any time once you are that distant from your heritage, there's a distance between you and your parents because that's a big piece of who they are. It just was a confluence of so several factors. Me getting to know my parents better, getting to know my family member better, and becoming more comfortable with my own background.


MTV News: Where did the film begin for you in terms of the opening scene you envisioned? Was it this ending sequence? Was it something else? Was it something that didn't even make the final cut?


Yang: I had some of the storyline of young Pin-Jui in Taiwan fairly early on, the scene of him dancing and the scene of him being this young, charismatic, enthusiastic young man. I had some of these scenes pretty early on. I actually noticed that song that plays in the bar any time they're first dancing, any time while you first visualize him as an adult, I noticed that song really early on. That song ["Tou Xin De Ren"] was a real group kind of guide post because, to me, that encapsulated that whole section of the movie. It was this very specific mixture of East and West. It's Yao Su Yong & The Telstars Combo, so you had the Western backing musical group — this Brit rock or American rock background with the jangly guitars. At the same time, you have this female singer singing in Mandarin over it. It's really unlike anything I'd ever heard before. It just seemed brilliant for that scene. It's not on Spotify or Apple Music or any of that stuff. I had it bookmarked on YouTube and I put the YouTube address into the script so that people could listen to it as they read that scene.


MTV News: I love that scene so much. There really are so several colors and textures. I know you've mentioned this story is loosely inspired by your father, who immigrated to the U.S. From Taiwan as a young adult, and also you can mention it's a love letter to your family members and to your heritage. Maybe this is also philosophical, yet who's story is this?


Yang: I feel like it's the story of the full family member. In some ways, it's the story of anybody who's left their residence and gone and moved somewhere else and uprooted their lives, and it's about how you feel split in-between worlds. Certainly, it's Pin-Jui who undergoes the most dramatic emotional change, yet it's very much Angela's story as well. She has an awakening, she has an arc. I also love that in a unexpected twist you begin following Zhenzhen in the Bronx two-thirds by means of the movie. I'm curious about her as well. I think it began out as very much an ensemble family member movie.


MTV News: The decades-long story of Zhenzhen's liberation is really wonderful.


Yang: Yes, it's really gratifying because you're so used to seeing a version of the "oppressed immigrant spouse Although she really comes into her own. I love her scenes with Peijing. Those are really funny scenes. I just love the idea that she's happy at the end.


MTV News: You've mentioned that in your twenties you didn't aspire to be the Asian guy who wrote the Asian stuff. What was the turning point for you? Any time did you know notice that, no, I do desire to tell my story? 


Yang: I think maturation. It's becoming comfortable yourself along with so you grow in confidence. I realized: What is the greatest tool we have as people who make films or make shows? It's your point of view, it's your perspective, it's what makes you different from all of the other people making films. For me, piece of that is my heritage. It's not all of it although it's definitely an element. Any time you are a child, what do people visualize? For me, being Asian was a segment of my upbringing. It set me apart in some ways and made me stronger in some ways. You take every piece of who you are. Someone once mentioned something about how film should include basically everything that's going on in your life at a certain time. For me, it was partially inspired by me learning more about being Taiwanese and learning more about my family.


MTV News: Was your point of view challenged at all in the making of this film?


Yang: Oh yeah, for sure. I had to grapple with who I was writer along with a director and what I wanted to mention. Of course, there's the very simple challenge of I've never made a film before, and I've never made a drama before. I've also never shot in Taiwan. I've never made something primarily in a different language, or in this case, two different languages and three total in the movie, only one of which I speak. There were a lot of inherent challenges. The film also changed as we were writing it and shooting it. So that was interesting too.


MTV News: I was going to mention, how's your Taiwanese?


Yang: Terrible! Nonexistent! I wouldn't even mention terrible. Terrible could be a compliment. It's nonexistent. I'm not able to marshal the words in any sense, I can't speak the language. Nevertheless my parents did speak it around the residence As soon as I was growing up, and If I went to Taiwan with my dad, he would sit in the front seat and converse with the cab drivers in Taiwanese and I might understand a shocking amount. I just remember sitting there being floored by how much I may understand. I think I have a very generic understanding of very simple words, however I might hear him talk. I remember very distinctly one conversation where we got into a cab and he mentioned, "Just to let you know, I'm visiting from the States. I would never live in a hotel this nice, I would reside with companions, nevertheless my son bought the room. He insisted we stay here." So he was being humble however also bragging at the same time. He was humble-bragging about the hotel.


MTV News: How did you sort of navigate the struggle of building a film in three languages, only one in which you're very proficient in? Were there people on set translating? 


Yang: For sure. It's very arduous every step of the way because you desire have the ability to correct people's diction and their accents and word choice. Once I'm directing an actor speaking English language I'm very particular, I'm very specific about inflection and tone and word choice. And you have got to have some level of trust. I also, again, realized partway via movie that I knew a little more Mandarin than thought. I could understand it a fair amount. I can understand a lot of what's in the movie right now, although there was certainly a moment partway via production where I had been working with this translator for a while and then I gave a note to the actors in English language. They delivered it in Mandarin, then they began freestyling and just began making up some other stuff. I was like, "No, no, no, you can't just add added notes!" They were surprised that I might understand. I was like, "I'm watching you. You can't just make stuff up." So the actors had a laugh about it.


MTV News: It's incredible to have Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English spoken in one film. 


Yang: I did have a moment of pride because I feel like that's the opening trailer I've ever seen that begins in Taiwanese, segues to Mandarin, and ends in English language. I've never seen that. That's insane.


MTV News: The film is saying something so cute in the sense of, while @we could attempt to deny it, we are the product of our parents. There's this young boy who is told not to cry, and that idea is passed down from generation to generation, from Pin-Jui to Angela. And then it ends with Pin-Jui, as an older man, crying. You've discussed about how your relationship with your parents has changed and matured after awhile. However I'd like to know, how are you most like your parents?


Yang: I'm glad you picked up on that because that was very intentionally seeded while in. I actually think that I'm almost an exact split between my two parents. I didn't realize this up until later on in life. One reason for that is because growing up my mom was a little more harried. She was taking care of my sister and me. I didn't really get a sense of her real personality, although I know who currently. She is a goofball. She's so loud and funny and crazy. She is a high school teacher, and her kids love her. She's very garrulous and social. There's a piece of me that's like that. I'm a pretty talkative guy Once I get going. I work in comedy, so there's an element to me that is also funny, I hope.


My dad is a little more serious, and really cerebral. He is a little more introverted. He likes to read. For a long period of our lives, our relationship was sending each other articles from the New Yorker or The Economist. Texting each other articles to read and then talking about those issues. He's really intellectual. So there's segment of him in me in terms of enjoying reading and learning about the world and being really curious and intellectualizing stuff. I imagine myself a 50/50 introvert-extrovert split, and that's exactly what my parents are. Genetics are wild, you know?


MTV News: We know two different versions of our parents, the parents that we knew as children and the parents that we know as adults.


Yang: That's 100 percent true. By the way, it's not like my dad is serious all of the time. He's sort of goofy also. He loves dogs. There really are just beautiful things about them that you come to appreciate because you or might not have an adversarial relationship with them any time you're younger and so they annoy you. They're sort of a symbol of the boundaries on your life. Later on, it's really advantageous in the event you guys can get to know each other as people.


MTV News: Have they seen the film?


Yang: I got the links, so we might all watch it separately in our homes. My mom and my sister have just seen it. I think my dad is watching pretty much as we speak, so I'll probably be talking to him tonight or tomorrow about it.


MTV News: What did your mom think?


Yang: Oh, my mom loved it. My mom mentioned [reading text message], "We have just finished watching Tigertail. We admired it very much. You have done a good job. I am so overjoyed of you. Congratulations." Then, she was talking about her hubby, [and] she was like "[He] really likes Tigertail. He is really impressed by how you know the history of Taiwan." I was like, "I did statistics! I didn't know any of that stuff!"