THE SPIRIT OF DIVERSITY
Asian faces are part of Australia but are not often seen on Australian screens. Hungry Ghosts could change that.
Crazy Rich Asians, a romantic comedy starring an all-Asian cast released in Australia in 2018, grossed more than US$238 million in the box office, and cost US$30 million to make. Parasite, a Korean film that won the 2019 Palme d’Or at Cannes, grossed US$80.2 million at global box offices, with a reported budget of US$11 million. At the heart of these successful films is authenticity. They are interesting, diverse stories told by diverse voices.
Asian content, in particular, appears to have a growing global market, with networks starting to take notice. For example, Marvel Studios has recently announced Simu Liu and Awkwafina as key cast in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, to be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
In Australia, we’ve seen The Family Law and Better Man on SBS. Now in 2019, Hungry Ghosts will become the latest ‘genre-bending’ offering by Matchbox Pictures, as it champions diversity together with supernatural themes.
Hungry Ghosts is an ambitious production, showcasing some of Australia’s most talented Vietnamese-Asian actors and creatives.
Directed by Shawn Seet, Hungry Ghosts is a character-driven ghost story that explores the lives of three generations of Vietnamese-Australian families, all haunted by the traumatic events of war. The story begins when a powerful amulet is broken on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival in Melbourne and a vengeful spirit is unleashed, bringing the dead with him.
The production is led by a large Vietnamese-Asian cast: Catherine Văn-Davies, Susan Ling Young, Suzy Wrong, Linda Hsia, Ferdinand Hoang, Gabrielle Chan, Gareth Yuen, Lap Phan, Oakley Kwon, Jillian Nguyen, HaiHa Le, Christopher Quyen, Vico Thai, Hoa Xuande, and Trackie Tran. Hazem Shammas, winner of the 2018 Most Outstanding Actor Logie Award, Bryan Brown, Claire Bowen, Ryan Corr, Justine Clarke, and Susie Porter also feature. The casting of Hungry Ghosts celebrates diversity and Vietnamese-Asian representation in television with confidence, and we look forward to more of these types of productions.
The Le family story in Hungry Ghosts is led by Catherine Văn-Davies, who plays May Le, a young woman who’s never taken responsibility for who she could be, and finds she must finally step up and accept her destiny. Catherine graduated from QUT in 2006, and trained at New York’s HB Studio in 2010.
For much of her career Catherine has focused on developing new Australian works. She has worked as a facilitator to develop underrepresented, emerging voices for Playwriting Australia, Contemporary Asian Australian Performance and Milk Crate Theatre. She is currently starring in Titus Andronicus for Bell Shakespeare, playing at the Opera House at the end of August.
In Hungry Ghosts, Catherine’s real life friend Suzy Wrong plays Roxy, a sassy and confident transgender clairvoyant. “I play probably the first trans character you will see on TV who does not have to explain herself, does not tell you her sob story and is living her very best life. Hopefully, she will be a joyful change for queer viewers everywhere,” says Suzy.
After Hungry Ghosts premieres, Suzy hopes there will be more breakthrough roles for trans actors in Australian film and television. Suzy is a well-known theatre critic and blogger for the Sydney main stage, and sits on the selection panel of the Sydney Theatre Award. She was awarded “Best Performance of the Year” Life Theatre Award herself, for the play Purple in 1998.
Susan Ling Young, who plays May Le’s estranged mother, Stella, came to acting after 20 years of night-shift nursing. A graduate of ACTT (in Music Theatre Performance) and the Advanced Actor’s Studio at NIDA, Susan was ACTT’s oldest ever music theatre student. She has since appeared in numerous theatre and screen productions including 24 Hours to Live and Redfern Now. Susan is currently in rehearsals for the Australian premiere of A Deal, an award-winning dark comedy by Chinese American writer Zhu Yi. Directed by Shiya Lu for Flying House Assembly, the production opens at Sydney’s Chippen Street Theatre on 22 August.
The Tran family story in Hungry Ghosts revolves around secrets between a husband and wife that unfold in haunting ways through their children, played by Jillian Nguyen and HaiHa Le. Lap Phan plays the head of the Tran family, Dr Sang Tran. “Growing up I never saw people who were of my ethnicity portrayed on TV in a good light. Asians were always subservient and were always the other, especially Asian men,” he says.
Lap sees Hungry Ghosts as a significant step forward for the portrayal of Vietnamese men on screen. Lap is a graduate of the QUT Acting strand and has starred in major productions including The Quiet American.
Oakley Kwon plays Sang’s wife, Diane Tran, a character tortured by her past. “The story of Diane is very significant for the Vietnamese diaspora, and Hungry Ghosts will resonate with displaced people of war and conflict across the world,” says Oakley.
Oakley escaped Vietnam as a ‘boat person’ at the age of two and is currently co-authoring a book about intergenerational trauma. Diane Tran is a breakthrough role for Oakley, who before becoming an actress was a lawyer, and digital innovator. A graduate of NIDA’s Advanced Actor’s Studio, she studied under Elizabeth Kemp in 2017. Oakley has recently appeared in Danger Close: Battle of Long Tan, Neighbours, Harrow, and the SBS On Demand series Homecoming Queens written by Michelle Law and directed by Corrie Chen.
The Nguyen family story in Hungry Ghosts is about reclaiming lost loves and features Ferdinand Hoang, Gabrielle Chan, Gareth Yuen, Hoa Xuande and Christopher Quyen.
Christopher plays Daniel Nguyen, a third-generation Vietnamese-Australian struggling with his own identity. In real life Christopher is a recent law graduate who balances academia with filmmaking, acting and being a professional photographer. He was featured in GQ Magazine for his street style photography. As an actor, Christopher is passionate about challenging norms for underrepresented performers.
Paul Nguyen, Daniel’s father, is played by Gareth Yuen, a NIDA graduate known for his starring roles on stage and on screen in such shows as Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Knowing and Head Start.
“The privilege of working on Hungry Ghosts among such a talented and multi-dimensional cast that’s predominantly Asian was a pinch-yourself moment, but it didn’t stop there,” says Gareth. “The extraordinary talent of Asian-Australian creators in many other aspects of the production, alongside open and culturally aware creatives from non-Asian backgrounds, brought an innate understanding for the value of representation and telling these Vietnamese Australian stories with great fidelity.”
One of the ghosts who wreaks havoc on the community is played by gifted actor Vico Thai.
Vico began his career after receiving a prestigious scholarship with the Australian Theatre for Young People at the age of 13. He was recognised by the Ten Network as a National Young Achiever in 1997. Vico then landed a lead role in the drama series Dangerous with Joel Edgerton, Brooke Satchwell and Nicole Da Silva. Vico has also starred in director Khoa Do’s critically acclaimed refugee feature Mother Fish, and other high-profile productions.
The four-part miniseries is scheduled to screen on SBS later this year, and is on route to international distribution through NBCUniversal International.
