GR: Why robots?
GP: Gotta love robots. I grew up playing with robot toys, reading robot fiction, and watching robot movies. It's in my blood. And when it came time for me to figure out what I'd try to do as my first feature film, robots just became enormously attractive. First, when you talk seriously about robots, you end up talking about the questions that drive great human drama: Who am I? What am I doing here? What is this thing you humans call love? Second, as an independent filmmaker, I wanted to do something different and fun. I've seen so many low-budget romantic comedies, coming-of-age stories, and immigrant generational conflict stories. But how many of 'em have robots?
GR: Coming from Yale and going to Oxford before studying film production at NYU, do you think your outlook is much different than, say, someone who goes straight to USC film school?
GP: There are many great filmmakers who never studied anything but filmmaking. But studying political science at Yale and history at Oxford was good for me. I think it helped me begin to form a worldview--a way of thinking about the giant macro issues and influences that control our world. So when I'm making narrative films which, at the core, deal with micro issues, personal relationships, and conflicts, my education has helped me add levels of meaning and context, relating those micro issues to the wider political and historical world in which we live.
The other advantage is that the secret cabal of Yalies and Oxonians which controls every aspect of the modern world has ensured my success through their devious and unrelenting behind-the-scenes machinations.
GR: Do you ever hang out with other Rhodes Scholars like Bill Clinton or Bill Bradley?
GP: I wish. Seriously, I've had almost no luck at all milking the Yale and Oxford thing for career advantages. In terms of industry contacts and perks, I've benefited more from going to Alex W. Spence Middle School in Dallas, Texas, where one of my classmates ended up becoming a film critic. He tossed me some props this year.
GR: You made a couple of porn-related shorts prior to Robot Stories. What was your attraction to the subject matter?
GP: I should have a clever quip ready for this kind of question, but here's a serious answer. I want to make movies that people want to see rather than movies people feel that they should see. And sex, like science fiction, is a hook. I made this short called "Asian Pride Porn," an infomercial spoof in which David Henry Hwang sells progressive pornography featuring smart Asian women and sexually empowered Asian men. At its core, "Asian Pride Porn" is about the emasculation of the Asian male in American media. But if I'd made a purely didactic screed or dry documentary about the issue, no one (including me) would really want to see it. But thousands and thousands of people have watched and enjoyed "Asian Pride Porn." It's a kind of Trojan (sorry) horse strategy. The sex gets us in the fortress, where we can then infiltrate 'em with the deeper meanings or issues.
GR: Having made two pieces on Asian sexuality, one short about your ancestors from Korea, and now a full-length film with Asian Americans in primary roles, do you worry at all about being pigeonholed as an Asian-American filmmaker? Or is that such a bad thing?
GP: I've never worried about being pigeonholed. Mainly, I guess, because the films have been strong enough to get recognition on their own terms. They've played all around the world, for all kinds of audiences. People recognize good storytelling ability, regardless of the race of the characters. I've recently gotten work as a screenwriter, writing stuff for other people. So far no one's seemed to care that I'm Asian when they hire me to write about African-American or Caucasian people.
The worrisome thing is that it's still wildly difficult to get funding to produce the scripts I've written with Asian-American protagonists. The problem isn't that I'm getting pigeonholed as someone who can only do Asian American stuff; the problem is that Asian-American stuff is pigeonholed as something no one can get money to do.