In this exclusive interview, Long Lê, the director, writer, and producer of One Summer Night, opens up about the deeply personal journey behind his film. Drawing from his own experiences and family dynamics, Lê discusses how he ensured his film’s cultural fidelity through his casting and balancing the personal with the cinematic. He also reflects on the challenges of filmmaking and offers insights into his future works.
What steps did you take to ensure the authenticity of the cultural and emotional elements depicted in the film? How did you involve your family or cultural consultants to achieve this authenticity?
As I was going through various drafts of One Summer Night, I knew I had to talk to my brother to get his perspective on everything that occurred the night that our dad passed away. We hopped on a four-hour call going through everything we experienced, as well as talking through the other aspects of the film’s characters, such as Huy’s smoking addiction, the pressure of being the eldest, and Hai’s perfectionism and pressure to succeed.
When it came to the Vietnamese language and culture displayed in the film, it was essential for me to surround myself with Vietnamese cast and crew members who could give insight to their own Vietnamese traditions. While my family has their own way of doing things, I wanted Huy and Hai to feel like their own Vietnamese family, so including different practices that our cast and crew shared helped flesh them out as a unique family.
How did you choose the actors for Hai, Huy, and Ba? What qualities or experiences were you looking for in your cast to convey the depth of these characters?
Due to One Summer Night being such a personal project for me, I needed a cast that I could fully trust with my unfettered thoughts and ideas. I had both Tom Dang and David Hoang in my mind before the final script was even finalized because I knew they were the ones who could carry this story to the next level. We worked together, bonding over many months of meals, drinks, and rehearsals, to really dig into who these characters are and how to differentiate them from their real-life inspirations.
Ba was very difficult to find, as there are very few older Vietnamese actors working on small productions. It was only by chance that I met Joseph Hieu a year before One Summer Night, and I didn’t even know that he acted! It turned out to be the best decision for the film to have Joseph play Ba, as he brings such great depth and profoundness to each of his lines.
The core of the cast starts with their bond as a family. Tom and David were cast over a year before production on One Summer Night started (due to production being delayed from the previous year), so they had that entire time to learn about each other and grow as people together. And again, by chance, Tom and Joseph just spent four to six months on The Sympathizer together, so they came onto production with an ironclad bond.
How did you approach the visual representation of key symbols, such as the garden and the homemade altar? What was the role of the cinematographer in capturing these symbols to enhance their significance?
Thythy Do, our excellent Director of Photography, and Courtney Chapman, our wonderful Production Designer, did fantastic work bringing the garden and altar to life. We knew that their home needed to feel lived in, that it wasn’t just a place that they just popped into. Thythy and I carefully plotted each angle of the film to convey each set in a certain way, depending on the tone of the scene. The garden had to be hot. They’re in the middle of summer in a humid heat, and we tried to convey that through the lighting and coloring of the film as well. With the homemade altar and garden, Thythy and I knew we had to emphasize those with unique shots, so we utilized a Steadicam to get interesting angles and movement.
How did you draw the line between implementing real life anecdotes and experiences as they are and dramatizing them for the sake of an engaging narrative? Did you find it difficult to separate yourself from the creative making the film versus the person whose lived experiences are being represented on screen?
In the beginning of writing, it was extremely difficult to separate myself from the story as the writing came mostly from my need to express my feelings and frustrations and find catharsis. After passing a few drafts around to friends and colleagues, I received great notes that ultimately created a more engaging narrative and better development for the characters. A key aspect that separated it for me was Hai making it too late to the hospice to say goodbye. Once that event was established, it allowed me to open up the narrative to a world of possibilities that were more focused on the characters rather than a retelling of my personal life.
How has working on One Summer Night shaped your future projects or your approach to filmmaking? Are there any particular themes or stories you’re interested in exploring next?
Making One Summer Night was one of my favorite experiences of my life because I got to share and create such personal and meaningful art with some of my closest friends. It’s absolutely taught me that for any future films that I make, I want to make sure that I have my whole heart behind it without any wavering doubts that I won’t love the process of it all. Moving forward, I will always be keeping the characters’ development and journey at the forefront of the film, but I hope to explore different genres like fantasy or sci-fi soon!
How does One Summer Night show the tension between traditional Vietnamese duties and modern personal goals within family dynamics?
In One Summer Night, Huy and Hai each represent the values of traditional Vietnamese duties and modern personal goals, respectively. Huy has surrendered his life and personal advancement to taking care of the family, while Hai is so focused on proving himself that his only goal is to be as successful as possible. But these two personalities come to a head when Ba’s death becomes a possibility, and Huy and Hai have different ideas on how to handle it. Both ways of living place a large stress on the brothers’ minds, causing them to explode on each other when their support is needed the most.
Interviewer: Alena Nguyen
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VIET FILM FEST 2024
October 5 to 20, 2024
Program Schedule and Tickets: https://vietfilmfest2024.eventive.org/schedule
