“Butterfly” is actor and producer Daniel Dae Kim’s love letter to Korea and America.
Launching Wednesday, Prime Video’s South Korea-set spy thriller follows David Jung (Kim), a former U.S. intelligence operative who comes out of hiding to reunite together with his daughter Rebecca (Reina Hardesty), a lethal agent who grew up believing he was useless.
“It’s been my dream because it represents the two major parts of who I am,” says Kim throughout a video name in late July. “I’m a Korean who was raised in America, and these are the two countries that I love. Why not try and bridge the two cultures? I’m uniquely suited to do that.”
Primarily based on the graphic novel sequence created by Arash Amel, Kim describes the present as “a relationship drama” the place “the action and the conflicts come out of an emotional place.”
“One of the things that was really important to me about the conception of David is that I didn’t want him to be someone that was not without flaws,” says Kim, who additionally serves as an government producer on the sequence. “A lot of his actions come from a place of pain. A lot of Rebecca’s character arc emanates from a place of pain.”
“Butterfly” consists of loads of motion — together with hand-to-hand fights and shootouts — nevertheless it’s the central household drama, in addition to how it’s mirrored within the motion scenes, that the present’s co-creators Ken Woodruff and Steph Cha additionally tout. Rebecca’s story particularly was one of many components Woodruff instantly responded to when he first learn the unique comedian e book sequence.
“My parents got divorced when I was young … and my dad moved across the country and started a whole new family within a year or two,” Woodruff says. “There was just this really palpable connection that I felt with Rebecca’s relationship with her father because there’s love there, but there’s also animosity and resentment and jealousy. That really hooked me in.”
Daniel Dae Kim performs David Jung in “Butterfly.”
(Juhan Noh / Prime)
Although the graphic novel takes place in Europe and America, Kim noticed shifting the story to South Korea and centering a Korean and Korean American household as a chance to bridge Hollywood and Korean leisure. This meant advocating for prime Korean actors to be solid — like Park Hae-soo, Kim Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-hee — and hiring a Korean director for a block of the episodes.
“Daniel really cared about bridging these two cultures and doing it in a very respectful way and really making sure that we got it right,” Woodruff says. “At times, [in] different circumstances, his feet were really held to the fire and he did not blink. He’d really advocate for the Korean characters, making sure that those actors and their roles were as fleshed out and as interesting as every other character.”
One of many issues that stood out for Cha was simply how a lot care Kim took to take care of everybody engaged on the present.
“He is always very good about making sure that people feel included and valuable,” Cha says. “He took it upon himself to make sure that the Korean cast felt welcome and well-integrated, and that the American cast was comfortable in Korea.”
“He has a lot of nunchi,” provides Woodruff about Kim’s take care of others, displaying a few of the Korean language abilities he picked up due to the Korean crew, whom the creators additionally credited for making certain Korean tradition was represented authentically on the present.
Kim is simply grateful for the shifts within the business and mainstream tradition that made a present like “Butterfly,” which was shot in Korea and encompasses a vital quantity of Korean dialogue, doable.
“I don’t think ‘Butterfly’ could have been made even 10 years ago,” says Kim. “The change in philosophy, I think, is so significant in the kinds of stories that we get to tell now. [And] if we do our jobs right, there’ll be many more just like us.”
In a dialog edited for size and readability, Kim discusses his new sequence, his strategy to producing and the significance of utilizing his platform.
“I’m a Korean who was raised in America and these are the two countries that I love. Why not try and bridge the two cultures?” says Daniel Dae Kim.
(Ariana Drehsler / For The Instances)
What was your means of discovering David? How did you come to grasp him?
It wasn’t exhausting as a result of I’m a father myself. I understood how troublesome it may be to boost youngsters and the way our work usually will get in the best way of being dad. Typically we discover ourselves in conditions due to our work the place we’ve got to make troublesome decisions about our households. David made a selection that he felt was proper nevertheless it ended up being absolutely the improper selection for his daughter — whether or not he’s robust sufficient to face the implications of that call is basically what the primary season is about. How a lot ache can he tolerate due to the ache he inflicted on his daughter? And, to be sincere, how egocentric is he that he nonetheless desires his imaginative and prescient of a household, although a selection that he made destroyed it?
That looks as if a special form of father from the one you play in “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
They’re totally different. However for me, the core of it’s the similar: What does it imply to be a father guiding a younger life and a younger psyche? Ozai makes the selection the place he wants his youngster to comply with in his footsteps by way of management and magnificence. And if his youngster can not do this, then his youngster fails. His precedence is on the mission. I feel for David, it may need been that to a lesser diploma, however now he’s realized that that’s not the selection he desires.
Can somebody have a second probability at being dad? That, to me, is one thing that may be very human. It’s very common. Individuals say in regards to the present, “Well, it’s shot in Korea. It’s got an Asian lead and it’s about an Asian family. I don’t know if I can relate.” In case you have youngsters, otherwise you’ve had mother and father, you’ll be able to most likely relate to what’s occurring on this present.
“Butterfly” captures quite a lot of nuance that tends to get misplaced in media the place identities get flattened as an alternative of conveying the totally different shades of experiences that encompasses being Korean, being Korean American, additionally whereas being in Korea.
That’s why it was vital to me that Rebecca be half Asian as a result of that’s one other a part of the expertise that we haven’t explored totally but. I look ahead to that a part of it as a result of Rebecca is somebody who’s not solely half American, half Asian — she’s additionally somebody and not using a mom and misplaced her father, or so she thought. For lots of my childhood, being Asian American meant that I felt like I used to be between two worlds and a member of neither. However now I’m in a spot in my profession and as an artist the place I can embrace each of these issues and say I really can converse authentically to each experiences, and never many individuals can do this. To me, that’s very novel in the best way we strategy this present. I attempted to do it with the quantity of respect and love that I’ve for each cultures.
You point out Rebecca, and that relationship is central to the present. What was it like establishing that dynamic with Reina Hardesty?
We had been so fortunate to seek out Reina within the casting course of. It’s not simple to ask somebody to go to Korea for six months, begin coaching, do quite a lot of heavy motion and discover the emotional depths which might be required for this character. It’s a really difficult position. When she got here aboard the entire producers simply breathed an enormous sigh of aid and had been so excited as a result of we felt, to your level, that now we’ve got a present.
You’re usually acknowledged as one of many individuals who have been paving the best way for different Asian American artists within the business.
I stand on the shoulders of lots of people who got here earlier than, they usually could not have been as profitable as I’ve been lucky sufficient to be, however that’s the best way this works. Individuals blaze a path in order that different folks can stroll down it with out getting pricked by thorns. So for me, it’s a parallel to my journey as a dad. My aim is to create a life for my youngsters in order that they do higher than I’ve carried out. That they’d be higher folks, that they’d be extra profitable, they’d be higher to others. I would like that for us as Asian American artists.
Even after we had been struggling, there was a era of us, like Joel de la Fuente and Will Yun Lee and Ron Yuan, who would name one another on a regular basis when there have been auditions. There have been so few on the time that our philosophy was, if it’s not me, I would like it to be you. Fairly frankly, given the best way our society is as we speak, I feel we may all use a little bit bit extra of that feeling — that we’re all looking for each other a little bit bit greater than we’ve got within the latest previous.
Rebecca (Reina Hardesty) and David (Daniel Dae Kim) are reunited in “Butterfly.”
(Juhan Noh / Prime)
What has it been prefer to navigate these instances, the place the business is contracting and other people exterior of it are more and more vocal in talking out towards variety and inclusion?
It jogs my memory of that quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Or, for those who’re extra financially minded, you’re going to have up days and down days out there, however what you’re on the lookout for is the pattern line. I’m hopeful that what we’re experiencing proper now’s only a down day, and that we are going to proceed to pattern in the best route.
I actually am assured that much more folks perceive what it’s to consider our neighborhood as inclusive and never only a method the place it’s a foul phrase. However simply to hunt understanding of experiences apart from your personal. And that goes for everybody, not simply the minority and majority politics. There’s so many issues I study day by day from people who find themselves not like me and I simply really feel like that’s a extra fascinating technique to reside, personally.
In case you assume thematically about our present, it’s actually about bringing folks collectively, bringing a household collectively, as a metaphor for our bigger neighborhood. We will all have made errors. We will all have carried out issues that we remorse. However it doesn’t imply that we are able to’t attempt to rectify them and be higher folks.
One of many largest films out proper now’s “KPop Demon Hunters,” on which you had a voice position, Healer Han. What goes into your choice on becoming a member of a mission like this? Have you ever been shocked on the reception?
I all the time take into consideration what the semiotics of a mission are once I take it. What’s the illustration like? What’s the character like? Who’re the folks doing it? What’s the story? All these items go into the matrix of how I make these selections. And “KPop Demon Hunters” was a mission in the identical spirit as “Butterfly.” It was taking a type of leisure that’s Korean however placing it into English to make it for People and the world exterior of Korea. There have been Korean People behind it, similar to “Butterfly.” I noticed that after they requested me to do it, and it was a straightforward sure.
However nobody can ever inform what the influence of a mission goes to be whenever you’re making it. I didn’t count on this from “KPop Demon Hunters,” however I positive had fun voicing the position, and that was one of many causes I did it too. I get pleasure from comedy, and once I do voice roles I get to do extra of it so I leaned into it and thought this was a enjoyable character.
The 4-year-old in my life is obsessive about “KPop Demon Hunters.”
My complete social media feed is “KPop Demon Hunters” proper now. And I gotta say, watching the Korean Ok-pop stars embrace “KPop Demon Hunters” was as significant to me as watching non-Koreans embrace it. As a result of fairly often in Korea, Korean American tales don’t resonate, however now they’re simply beginning to. Possibly “Butterfly” might be part of that, and Koreans will be aware of Korean People in addition to People paying attention to Korean People. We’ve all the time been that center group, and hopefully we’ll be capable of shine within the highlight.
What has it been like so that you can see the explosive recognition of Korean leisure — like Ok-pop and Ok-dramas — within the mainstream?
To begin with, I’m shocked, as a result of I grew up at a time the place nobody even knew what being Korean was. After I was a child, folks would ask me, “Are you Chinese?” I say no. They usually say, “Are you Japanese?” I say no. And they might say, “Then, what are you?” There was that little consciousness of Korea. After I was a child, my mates would come to my home and they might see my mother making kimchi, and they might say, “What is that stink?” However now, not solely do folks know what it’s, however individuals are consuming it, understanding the probiotic qualities that it has. It’s a part of our tradition. It makes me swell with satisfaction. I’m so blissful for my children that they don’t even know what it feels prefer to be embarrassed since you’re Korean. That’s place to be.
“I choose to acknowledge and appreciate the strides that we’ve made, and also understand that there’s still a ways to go,” says Daniel Dae Kim on AAPI illustration in Hollywood.
(Ariana Drehsler / For The Instances)
We’ve targeted extra in your appearing work, however what does it imply so that you can additionally tackle the position of a producer in one thing like “Butterfly”?
As an actor, you’re solely capable of take part within the initiatives that ask for you. We’re all the time auditioning or hoping {that a} director likes us or a producer likes us or a studio likes us. However as a producer, you change into the job creator, and I like the thought of making alternatives for folks. That’s one of many causes I began to provide within the first place. There was such a dearth that I assumed, properly, let me go upstream and work out why there’s such a scarcity of roles. Effectively, it’s as a result of folks aren’t creating them, so why don’t I attempt to begin creating them.
Individuals prefer to assume that my firm [3AD] is only for Asian People, nevertheless it’s not. It’s actually for all these on the margins. That’s actually the story that I need to inform as a producer. We’ve all heard the story of the highschool get together via the eyes of the jocks and the cheerleaders and the favored children. However I need to hear the story of that very same highschool get together from the individuals who snuck in or weren’t even invited, or those who’re sitting at residence not on the get together. What are these tales, as a result of to me, they’re those that haven’t been instructed earlier than.
What was it like constructing the staff you’re working with on “Butterfly”?
Being a job creator means that you could determine not simply actors that you simply need to work with, but additionally writers. I’m very happy with the truth that a lot of our writing employees was Asian American, or had some intimate data of Asian tradition, particularly the Korean tradition. We had been capable of rent a crew that was 100% Korean and in addition we achieved very shut, if not a 50-50 stability between women and men on our crew. These sorts of issues matter to me. I’ve such a degree of respect for our showrunner, Ken Woodruff, as a result of he’s not Asian American however he highlights the truth that you don’t should be Asian American to be ally and to be accomplice. Ken has been extremely respectful of what he doesn’t know via this complete course of, and has been very deferential in the case of issues just like the tradition of Korea and the best way that being Korean impacts these characters and the storylines. On the similar time, he’s been actually good about main the best way in all the things he’s realized in his a few years as a storyteller guiding the writers room. To me, it’s the epitome of partnership. Individuals speak about allyship; that is allyship in motion. I don’t know that I’ve ever labored with a greater showrunner than Ken Woodruff, and I’ve been on this enterprise for 30 years.
You’ve additionally been vocal on points which might be vital to you. Why are you motivated to talk out in that method?
As a result of I’m a human being and since I’m a citizen. I feel it’s all the time higher when you’ve an knowledgeable citizenry. That’s not meant to say that just one facet is true and the opposite is improper. However I’m a giant believer in schooling. I’m a giant believer in asking questions and it’s one thing I attempt to do in my actual life. Ask, once I see one thing occurring on this planet round me that appears unjust or objectionable, “Why is that? How did it get that way?” I feel all of us are entitled to have our opinion and the extra educated it’s, and the extra properly researched it’s, the stronger that opinion might be. Individuals say, “shut up and act” the best way that they’d inform athletes, “shut up and dribble,” however nobody says to a plumber, “shut up and fix pipes.” Everybody who has a job is also a citizen, is a human being, is affected by the insurance policies round us day by day. A part of being in a democracy means making your voice heard in order that we are able to have an effect on change collectively.
The journey of our present is the right way to reconcile two characters and their variations. Open dialogue, persevering with to need to study and being respectful, I feel, are issues that appear to be briefly provide nowadays and it makes me a little bit unhappy. I’m hopeful that a few of the tales that I get to inform can convey us collectively somewhat than divide us.
