Olivia Cheng Unveils Her Journey as Ah Toy in 'WARRIOR'

[00:00:00] Thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged. You're so welcome.

[00:00:14] Thank you. I got a lot of your cute up in the back. That's right, perfect opportunity for

[00:00:20] you to come out. We'll talk about Warrior Annett Flicks. How does it feel for finally

[00:00:24] for a wider audience to get you and experience this show? It feels great. It feels both exciting

[00:00:32] and it also feels like a little anxiety inducing because I don't know if you've been following

[00:00:37] the cast efforts to really kickstart the conversation, but our cast we have held our own publicity

[00:00:45] junkets. We are organizing amongst ourselves to try to encourage people to binge and double

[00:00:51] thumbs up and let people know. It's kind of funny. There's also a petition out there

[00:01:02] people want to see season four so you might want to look for it on Google. I didn't know that.

[00:01:10] That's the question. As the series is on Netflix now, what are you most excited about for

[00:01:17] audience to discover or re-discover when they're rewatching it again? I think I'm most excited

[00:01:23] for a new audience to discover us because one thing we all noticed when we were first at

[00:01:29] Cinemax and then we moved over to HBO Max, which then became Max is it really felt like

[00:01:37] a two to three step process for people in certain territories to get it. They'd have

[00:01:41] to hop on ExpressVPN and pretend they were in the States and then they'd have to go through

[00:01:46] iTunes or Amazon Prime and buy like a Cinemax subscription and then see our show. The fact

[00:01:53] that it's on Netflix now and we're not sure how many territories it's not fully in every

[00:01:58] territory so sorry UK, Canada, Australia, Germany. We've been hearing from fans out there but

[00:02:05] for the most part it's so much more widely available to folks and I think I'm just looking

[00:02:10] forward to people who might not even know about all the challenges we've had as a show

[00:02:16] to get to air and just discovering our world and hopefully following in love with what

[00:02:21] we've so painstakingly put together for everyone. As I mentioned earlier, it did about the

[00:02:28] whole thing out there to sign. The show has got a huge fan base when it first started

[00:02:34] airing and people heard about it later on and they started to watch it. What do you think

[00:02:38] has been like for the show to gain such a passion of following?

[00:02:43] It blows my mind. And it shouldn't because at the end of the day, it's Bruce Lee. He comes

[00:02:54] with such a legacy and he comes with such an iconic status that I think was the selling

[00:03:06] point of the show that this is something that Bruce Lee conceptualized what maybe over

[00:03:11] 50 years ago and it's 50 years after his death, that his daughter managed to push it uphill

[00:03:19] and claim a spot for it in Hollywood. So yeah, we're all really stoked.

[00:03:29] How closely do you think Bruce Lee's notes were making this show like? Was there anything

[00:03:34] changed or was it pretty much to the point of what he had written?

[00:03:38] You know, when we first showed up for the pilot back in 2017, Shannon Lee couldn't be there

[00:03:44] in person. She had some family things to care about home here in America but she sent

[00:03:49] ahead these folders and inside the folders were Bruce Lee's and drawings of his concept

[00:03:56] for this show and it was like they're amazing drawings. I actually want to frame them

[00:04:01] and put them in my home. And of course, he can draw too. She had photocopied his handwritten

[00:04:11] notes like how he came up with the name Assam which it's actually the number three in

[00:04:16] Cantonese. Assam is number three and his idea was he's kind of like meant to be like the

[00:04:21] third child in this family. Anyway, point is I've never seen the full

[00:04:31] eight page concept but I know it was from that eight page concept where he wrote down ideas

[00:04:36] and you can see him crossing, you know, crossing some sentences out, crossing some names

[00:04:42] out and re-naming them something else. He talks about the big bill character played by

[00:04:45] Karen B. It was so beautifully and Jonathan Tropper used that eight page treatment and

[00:04:51] really tried to stay true to what he felt the spirit on the page was. And the big spirit

[00:04:58] was that Bruce Lee was fascinated and specifically one of the shows set just before the Chinese

[00:05:04] exclusion act in the Wild West if you will because he's like when else would it be necessary

[00:05:11] to have had to hand combat. You know, he wanted it in an era where guns weren't as readily

[00:05:15] available and you know when we have that joke in our show right where they have this big

[00:05:20] scrap in the family young Jim pulls out a gun and Assam Andrew Kodye actually ad libbed

[00:05:25] this line he said you had that the whole time. You know, that was that was Andrew's idea for a

[00:05:31] button but you know so we kind of play off of that and that's a nod to Bruce Lee's concepts.

[00:05:36] All the characters on the show are they all in the notes or was there anybody added extra? Do

[00:05:42] you know anything about this? I think it was only Assam and Big Bill who were outlined in the notes.

[00:05:51] I believe Ahtoai my character was because she's based on the real Ahtoai in San Francisco history

[00:05:57] she would have come a little earlier in the 1850s but she captured the imagination of Jonathan

[00:06:03] Tropper and the other executive producers so they made her a fictionalized version of the real Ahtoai

[00:06:12] and they made her the seafood figure for the Assam character. Speaking of Ahtoai like I liked

[00:06:19] her she's that very complex character or tweaking like what drew you to this character and

[00:06:24] how did you approach Plainer for so many seasons? To be honest I was a little hesitant about taking

[00:06:35] Ahtoai on it came at a you know in some ways where it came I like the perfect time because I was like

[00:06:45] I felt like there was no place in Hollywood for me you know like Marco Polo had come out and

[00:06:51] as I say it got me to Hollywood it got me the LA agents it felt like now I was on the playing field

[00:07:00] you know in the stadium whereas maybe before I was in like a parking lot five blocks away trying

[00:07:06] to listen to the game on you know some old transistor radio but even though once I was now in the field

[00:07:13] I still couldn't I didn't feel like there was a way to get on the field and into the game like it

[00:07:19] was still so I warrior came at a time when you know I just wasn't sure you know I was like do I take

[00:07:29] on another period piece do I take on you know a woman who is you know you know has lives in sort

[00:07:43] of a stoic space a calculating space and ultimately I looked at who was behind it right Jonathan

[00:07:52] Tropper Shannon Lee Daniel Woodrow Justin Lynn and I just trusted the caliber of folks behind it

[00:08:02] because you got to remember as actors we don't know where our characters are going we don't know

[00:08:06] what they've got in store for us we don't really know what we're signing our lives for seven years

[00:08:11] away for so it's a real gamble for us to sign on but I'm glad I did what do you do was like the

[00:08:17] biggest challenge with this character like did it take like any toll physically like any toll on

[00:08:22] you emotionally when you're playing this character I think a little bit of both you know at different

[00:08:27] points in each season and different points in the process um you know season one I think

[00:08:34] I think just finding who she where she lives in me and you know I know that sounds really like

[00:08:41] you know actory but you know it is and um you know because I think if you know me Olivia in life

[00:08:50] on you know pretty easy-going I don't live in the energetic space that a toy does and

[00:08:56] yeah I think that would be like you know pretty intense to walk around in that energy um all the

[00:09:01] times it was finding that energy in me that served her and you know trusting the other players

[00:09:12] on the team to help me become that character trusting that when they put that wardrobe on when

[00:09:18] they do that hair when they do that makeup you don't have to do a lot more heavy lifting

[00:09:22] you know you just you just have to let all of that inform the performance and I really think it

[00:09:29] was my first scene with um big bill that I found something in my character that became one of like

[00:09:37] the pillars in uh where a toy lives which is you know it was really fun messing with

[00:09:43] Kirin Buu that day you know um our first scene together and I was like there's a toy right she's so

[00:09:49] smart that she knows that even when she's being underestimated she's gonna have fun with it and use

[00:09:53] it to her advantage and that's really fun to play um let's feel like the fan reaction with like you

[00:09:59] and like talking to them like about this character because they love this character

[00:10:04] I'm really uh it means a lot to me you know I I this is one of the first shows I've ever

[00:10:11] I've ever done where the community support is undeniable undeniable like I'm here in LA right now making

[00:10:19] appearances um on behalf of our team and on behalf of our show we were honored for the first time

[00:10:25] ever at the Asia Society of Southern California Galilee other night and you know it meant a lot

[00:10:33] that women you know and in particular Asian women were coming up to me and I don't know

[00:10:39] just they're they're they're they could feel their energy coming at me it was it was it was they're

[00:10:44] I just felt their love and I felt their respect and you know it gave me life because I you know we've

[00:10:50] all been so exhausted championing our show the last few weeks but you know actually getting

[00:10:58] to interact with people and hear their thoughts and feel how much the show means to them it just

[00:11:03] mean go yeah this is what this is what we're doing it for you know oh speaker the fans have you

[00:11:09] been approached about doing cons to meet fans for this show because I've seen people that

[00:11:14] asking for war your cast members you know you're it's funny you bring that up you're like the third

[00:11:19] person in the last two days to ask that we would love to do that we've just never been asked to we

[00:11:28] I don't know if that's something that networks are usually supposed to organize

[00:11:33] I don't know if networks are the ones who you know I don't know how it works I do they buy us a

[00:11:39] booth and then they have to travel us down and pay for accommodation like I imagine there's like

[00:11:45] a certain investment that goes into showing up at these cons and I don't think we know how to

[00:11:52] access that as a as a cast because we're on our own right now you know any promotion you see it's

[00:11:58] it's us self-generating right hey it ever so be my watchers if you might get the call in a few weeks

[00:12:04] we would love it like for whoever out there organizes a con or whatever like we are down for

[00:12:10] it we just we just don't know how to access that um going back to the show uh the Tongue Wars

[00:12:17] of the what was the atmosphere like filming like those type of scenes in the series it was amazing

[00:12:23] like the Chinatown set hands down is one of the favorite sets for everybody it was built from scratch

[00:12:32] in a studio lot at Cape Town Film Studios and they built it with cobblestone streets um you know

[00:12:40] historic um I don't know what they call it but where it's just like the front facade and if you

[00:12:44] open the door it's kind of it's obviously not a real building inside right like it's not really

[00:12:49] developed inside it's just meant for exteriors but when the production and design teams and art

[00:12:56] departments dress those sets it's like they bring in dozens of extras put them all in period

[00:13:02] piece clothing they have real food cooking they have real vegetables out so it's it's it's it's

[00:13:09] it's sensory it's sensory it's like you can smell the food you can hear people talking it's so nice

[00:13:17] to be outside and spread out and instead of just being stuffed into these like dark studio

[00:13:22] sets where you're just you know you have no daylight while you're filming it's those are

[00:13:28] incredible sets and then when you see whether it's like the season one long Z and hop way street

[00:13:35] by where they just brush at each other right like it gives us the space to have these really epic

[00:13:39] moments the season three opening with Joe Taz on and Andrew Koz you kind of locked into this

[00:13:45] we meet again friends kind of brawl right where like I don't know I love that one because by now

[00:13:53] we know that their their enemies but their enemies that respect each other and I think it was so

[00:14:00] fitting to have them in Chentang and Jason Tobin all the boys just out there brawling in the streets

[00:14:06] to let people know we are back you bet you Chentang I had them on the show what a great guy

[00:14:12] Chent's awesome he I was asking the other day who is like the best casting or most like their

[00:14:18] character and and I voted for Chent because you know that he's that childlike positivity that

[00:14:25] he brings to Hong where he's like oh hey guys and like eerily smart like you realize he has

[00:14:32] everyone's number and you know like it's one of the favorite things for me is season two when he

[00:14:39] brings his chemistry into the Assam young June friendship and they kind of write him off as being

[00:14:46] this like goofy guy from China and then he is like oh this is what's happening you guys have stolen

[00:14:51] the last as you're trying to find a place to hide it and now you're trying to oh I'll come you know

[00:14:56] yeah like that's Chent he's smart he's positive he's hilarious is there like I know we've had three

[00:15:04] seasons of this is there somebody that you're disappointed he couldn't have more scenes with

[00:15:08] the goody get you to work with yes absolutely Jason Tobin is one of the first to come to mind because

[00:15:16] we thought based on the pilot we thought oh man like we are thickest thieves uh towing young June

[00:15:22] like he's my best customer we have a great rapport um you know so much of that first scene we had

[00:15:30] with Andrew Koji when he first comes in as Assam and I discovered this new onion there was a lot of

[00:15:37] ad living and improv between me and Jason so that part where I think I have a line about like

[00:15:43] his cock has its own beating heart you know and Jason goes boo boo boo boo boo right and then I

[00:15:49] think I thump on his chest to go with it like that wasn't planned that was just us riffing off

[00:15:54] each other and we you know we're such great friends in life that we were like where are scenes like

[00:16:01] we never really got to scene together ever again after that it's just he's always at Aote always

[00:16:07] you know we're always acknowledging each other through Assam we're always acknowledging each

[00:16:11] other's presence through other people mainly Assam you know um but there are so many casts I've

[00:16:18] just never even really had a chance to work with I've never had a scene with Joe I've never really

[00:16:25] I've had a scene with with Tom Western Jones um but you know obviously I'd love more there

[00:16:31] um I've never been into the Irish part of town you we've never seen Aote and the pond we've never

[00:16:38] seen we've never seen Aote and Leary we've never seen um yeah they're absolutely I

[00:16:49] I feel like I could um you know I was a big fan of Happy Jack um I would have it wouldn't have made

[00:16:58] any sense but you know I'm like couldn't Aote somehow be in the barbie coast like

[00:17:04] Happy Jack's formidable you know played by by Nate and he was like wonderful he was like such a

[00:17:12] wonderful get for us so you know even breaking into those bigger worlds would have been so much

[00:17:18] fun and a wish list for me if Netflix decides to do a season four how have you guys talked about

[00:17:25] it with the cast like would you jump on the opportunity right away I think yeah yeah no no no doubt um

[00:17:31] I think if we aren't we weren't here for it you wouldn't see us pushing as hard as we are

[00:17:39] um yeah we're we're all here for it you see I believe you know what lastly like now what do you

[00:17:45] want to tell the fans out there I know you don't we're gonna have warrior fans attuned into this

[00:17:48] would you want it something you want to tell them oh um you know I think I just want to say thank you

[00:17:58] you know um we wouldn't be here without so many of the fans and I want them to know that you know

[00:18:07] we appreciate it like we know that they are watching we know that they are tagging us this is the

[00:18:16] second petition you know I think in our lifespan that people have started we know about the Facebook

[00:18:22] fan group you know um we see the podcast coming out we get the requests we can't we we get more

[00:18:30] requests than we can you know say yes to um between all of us you know um and yes it's a

[00:18:40] Bruce Lee show but if people weren't watching if people weren't telling other people there's only

[00:18:44] so far at the end of the day it could go so I think just a big um thank you especially because

[00:18:52] I know our fans know um how hard we're working and how you know DIY we are as a cast right now

[00:19:02] and that we need help so we appreciate it. Olivia how can the viewers find you on social media keep

[00:19:08] up with you maybe who knows we can have some news in a few weeks few months you never know yeah uh

[00:19:13] I'm mainly just on Instagram um I'm at that Olivia Chang I yeah I think it's connected to like a

[00:19:20] Facebook page that you know um I've long neglected uh but uh yeah I think Instagram is basically

[00:19:29] and I'm pretty I'm obnoxiously active on it right now. Okay so amazing Olivia I want to thank you

[00:19:37] for giving me a few minutes today this was great hopefully we get a season four and we get you

[00:19:40] back on or any other future project you got uh future project yeah right in I'm directing right now

[00:19:48] and actually yeah I'm actually directing I'm not on my first official directing gig I can't talk

[00:19:53] about it uh yet but I'm excited for people to um I'm excited for people to see it's a project that

[00:20:02] really well they they approached me because they thought okay yeah we need a female filmmaker but

[00:20:08] it would also be great to have a female filmmaker who's an actress herself and they knew that I had

[00:20:14] a background in journalism so it was like a perfect melt of you know all these life experiences and um

[00:20:21] you know uh uh career experiences all kind of coming together and um I'm I'm really having a good

[00:20:31] time on it. I'm easy we'll be able to look forward to that too uh Olivia I want to thank you this was

[00:20:35] thank you so much for having me. Thank you