Daniel Wu on cars, cinema, and creativity
Editorial Director
Bryan Kong
Creative Director
Melvin Chan
Photographer
Lenne Chai / B&A
Fashion Stylist
Jungle Lin
Daniel Wu’s autobiography, should he decide to write one in the future, would be a best-seller. That is the main takeaway after an hour-long conversation with the American-born actor, producer, and director. In this interview, Wu recounts his illustrious career, which began when he moved to Hong Kong in 1997. A natural storyteller, he shares his experience of making a name for himself as an action star during the golden age of Hong Kong cinema and his transition to English-speaking roles in Hollywood, including his latest part in Jonathan Eusebio’s action romantic comedy, Love Hurts. He makes compelling, astute observations on how the global film industry has changed over the last three decades. No topic is off limits; Wu readily comments on current issues, such as Asian representation or the viability of the streaming business model, drawing from his wealth of experience and encyclopedic film knowledge.
He is also able to turn that level of scrutiny back on himself. Wu articulates the motivation behind recent entrepreneurial endeavors, such as brand innovation design lab, Zuhaus, and lifestyle brand celebrating car and racing culture, Student Driver. “Being in the entertainment world for too long is not healthy for you. I don’t want to be launching a production company or writing scripts when I’m not shooting films. I need different creative outlets,” he states.
Below is Daniel Wu’s refreshingly candid conversation about his journey to the top.
Daniel Wu on the February 2025 Digital Cover of The Laterals. Photographed by Lenne Chai.
ZUE WEI — Daniel Wu is a household name in Asia but specifically, in my household! I grew up watching your movies because my dad enjoyed watching Hong Kong action movies and my sister had the biggest crush on you—so your movies were always the perfect compromise.
DANIEL WU — Incredible. Where did you grow up?
ZUE WEI — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Benny Chan’s New Police Story was a favorite in our house; I don’t know why dad thought it was appropriate viewing for me as a child. It came out in 2004 when I was around eight. That scene, where your character tied up the cops and started dropping them to the ground, gave me nightmares for years.
DANIEL — Well, I’m glad I made an impact! It’s interesting that this film, in particular, has taken on a life of its own. Even now, people will be wearing the mask that I wear in the movie or quoting the lines to me when I’m walking into an event. It’s kind of cool that it’s gone way beyond what we ever thought it would do.
ZUE WEI — I remember reading in an interview that you were surprised that you went on to get nominations and even won Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Horse Awards for this role.
DANIEL — At the time, I thought awards only went to dramatic roles, things like that. I didn’t envisage that I would ever win an award for playing this ‘bad guy’ in a movie. But now that I think about it, that character had a crazy emotional arc and it was probably right…
ZUE WEI — Your career very much began in Hong Kong. You spent a considerable amount of time in the Hong Kong film industry. It was around 2011 when you stepped into more English-speaking roles in Hollywood. Was that always part of the plan?
DANIEL — I mean, first of all, I never had a plan. I got into the business in Hong Kong in 1997 when I fell into my first movie, Bishonen, then had this amazing career. I didn’t plan on becoming a movie star; I was an architect! As an American working in Hong Kong, I will say that there was always this calling to come back home. But there was nothing for me, as an Asian American actor, in the nineties and early 2000s. I never thought there would be a place for me. For context, Joy Luck Club (1993) came out when I was in college and everyone really thought it would open up the world to Asian Americans. But nothing came after that. It didn’t change anything! Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) made its way over, but again, it didn’t really change the situation in Hollywood. Over the years, I saw my Asian American friends and counterparts struggling to get parts, all fighting over the same role. I didn’t want to do that! I had a huge career in Asia; why would I cross over?
ZUE WEI — What changed?
DANIEL — It was a slow evolution, a slow turning of the tides. There were more co-productions between Chinese and American companies and I started becoming a viable choice because I was an actor who could speak both languages and understood both cultures. I worked on a few films, including Europa Report (2013), Geostorm (2017) and Tomb Raider (2018). But it wasn’t until Crazy Rich Asians (2018) came out when things really started to shift in the industry. I started seeing people, like Jimmy O Yang, Ronny Chieng, and Ken Jeong, coming to the forefront. I thought, maybe there was room for me to come back.
ZUE WEI — When you did make your way over there, was it different?
DANIEL — Not really. The only difference in Asia is that the directors control everything. All decisions are up to them. In the States, it’s not just up to the director. There are a whole bunch of people giving notes and opinions on how the film should be made. That was hard to get used to because when I had a question, I didn’t know who to ask. But I get it, you know, when there’s a hundred million dollars on the line, they’ve got to make sure it doesn’t get washed down the toilet.
“I have always wanted to be a bridge between the east and west.”
ZUE WEI — You also took on a new format, playing Sunny in the TV series, Into the Badlands (2015).
DANIEL — Yes, I always avoided TV series in Asia. My idea of television was from growing up in the eighties, where there were many episodes but every episode was pretty much the same. We were only at the beginning of the second golden era of TV, where series are essentially long films, more like what we know now.
ZUE WEI — It must’ve taken some convincing!
DANIEL — It took me a long time to agree to be Sunny on Into the Badlands. I was brought on as an executive producer. I was going to handle the martial arts element of the show; I didn’t even have myself in mind for the role. It was a physically demanding role, I had just turned 40, and I wasn’t sure if my body could handle four, five, six seasons of constant fighting. But when we were casting, it was hard to find someone who had acting ability, martial arts training and could speak English well. It finally came down to the fact that there weren’t many other choices. The other producers were like, “Come on, Daniel!” I agreed on the basis that they wouldn’t make it boring for me. It turned out to be a great decision. I started falling in love with the idea of playing a character with multiple story arcs over a long period of time. More importantly, it felt like a real meeting of east and west. Our showrunners, Miles (Millar) and Alfred (Gough), worked on Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights; they knew how to approach a project like this. I was able to bring in Stephen Fung as a producer and a strong martial arts team led by Dee Dee Ku. Into the Badlands is probably one of the projects I’m proudest to have done.
ZUE WEI — It’s a shame that Into the Badlands didn’t get another season.
DANIEL — It was ahead of its time. To this day, I’m still very sad that it never kept going. The cast and crew never got to say goodbye to each other; we thought there was going to be another season. It was a truly, truly global production; I’ve never seen anything like it since. It was a really awesome environment to be in because I was inspired by the level of international collaboration going on around us. It was a melting pot of people from America, Italy, Ireland, and the UK. The Irish film crew, in particular, loved working with the stunt team from China and Hong Kong because we worked really fast. They embraced the opportunity to learn our style, where we know exactly what we want to see on screen. That really spoke to me because I have always wanted to be a bridge between the east and west.
ZUE WEI — Another TV series you worked on was Disney+’s American Born Chinese. I wanted to ask if you feel a difference when working with people from the Asian diaspora.
DANIEL — We knew that it was a rare and special moment to have the writers, cast and crew to all be Asian-American. American Born Chinese was the first time in my life that I didn’t feel like an outsider on set. When I was in Hong Kong, they would call me gwai zai, which means ‘white boy’. And on most western productions, I would often be the only Asian person on set. It didn’t bother me because I was always an outsider growing up; I was into punk rock music and I was a skateboarder. I just got used to it. But American Born Chinese felt like a real family. We all had different experiences but collectively, it was kind of the same. We were excited to go to work everyday. It was more than just a job for us.
ZUE WEI — What do you think led to cancellation of the show? Do you think the appetite for these stories, especially with Chinese mythical elements, is just not there yet?
DANIEL — No, no. It was a result of business. Streaming blew up during the Covid-19 pandemic. There was so much money behind it and it failed after two years, right? Now, all the companies are rethinking everything they’re doing. It had nothing to do with the creativity of the show; people loved the show! It was rough because I was excited to introduce the Monkey King to a western audience. We all grew up knowing about these stories in Asia, didn’t we? The Monkey King was Sun Wukong in China, Son Goku in Japan, and Hanuman in India. I was excited to bring this iconic character to a new audience; again, the idea of being a bridge is so important to me. Even in my new movie Love Hurts, I’m excited to bring Hong Kong action to American audiences.
ZUE WEI — I’m glad you brought up Love Hurts. But quickly before we talk about that, I just want to get your opinion as someone who has a unique experience of Hollywood and the film industry. Beyond representation, what is the next step when it comes to Asians in Hollywood?
DANIEL — I do agree with you that we need a step beyond representation now. We need a 2.0 version of representation where we are not always boxed into the story of the immigrant struggle. Are those stories really moving the bar for us? Farewell (2019) was an incredible movie but when I went to see it in the theatre, there was not a single Asian person there; it was all old white people over 50 who listen to NPR. It’s a very specific audience. It has to be bigger than that. For example, I’m working on Evermind (a graphic novel co-created with Marvel and DC comic book artist Sean Chen). It’s a sci-fi dystopian comic where the characters just happen to be Chinese. The real driver of the story is the father-daughter relationship. The father has created this technology without the foresight of knowing it could be used for nefarious purposes, while his daughter has seen how technology can ruin the environment. It’s a universal story and a reflection of modern day society, where the characters happen to be diverse. I think that’s what we really need right now.
ZUE WEI — Love Hurts fits into that category! Tell us how you got involved in this movie alongside Ke Huy Quan and Ariana Debose.
DANIEL — I worked on American Born Chinese with Ke. He just called me up one day and said, “I want you to play my brother.” Of course, I did it for Ke. I grew up watching him. When I went to Korea in 1988, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) had come out a few years before. I used to wear a hat and had a hyper personality so people thought that I was him! I remember rooting for him as a kid; I watched The Goonies (1985) and Together We Stand (1986), where his character was adopted by a white family. Then he disappeared. To see him come back with Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), win the Oscar, and now play a leading man, it’s awesome! I’m so happy to be a part of that.
ZUE WEI — It was an action packed film shot over two months. What was it like filming these scenes in such a tight time frame?
DANIEL — We had a great stunt crew. They came from Germany, Vietnam and America; but they all grew up watching eighties Hong Kong action films. They cut their teeth shooting YouTube videos mirroring that style. They’ve been dying to do this type of action for a long time. The western way of shooting action is really frustrating. I mean, I hate it. It’s inefficient; they do the full action sequence all the way through as a wide shot, then a medium shot, then a close shot. It’s all shot separately then you give it to the editor to make something of it. It’s terrible! On Love Hurts, we shot it Hong Kong style, where it is all done visually in the choreographers’ head. So they have all the shots already laid out. You don’t have to worry about doing the scene too many times and getting injured. You get what you want right on the spot. You’re not overworking yourself. As soon as I saw that we were shooting Hong Kong style, I just relaxed and jumped into it. Ke and I are adept in action so we almost did no rehearsals. I did maybe two days of rehearsals and walked through the scenes. But it really came to life on set. It was really like making jazz music!
ZUE WEI — And you play a bad guy yet again. Why are you drawn to playing villains, as opposed to heroes?
DANIEL — The hero follows a very narrow character arc. He’s most likely going to win. There’s not much you can do. In Love Hurts, Ke has to play his character straight! There’s more room to move around when you’re the villain. I enjoyed adding quirkiness to my character. I don’t want to spoil anything but he is addicted to boba and it even becomes an important part of an action sequence. And he is also the boss to Marshawn (Lynch) and André (Eriksen)’s characters, who make a really funny odd couple. These characters sprinkle in all the color to the film, to make it really interesting.
“I have to be honest with you. I know that I got my start as a romantic lead but it’s not my favorite genre! I was always into the darker stuff. It wasn’t until I started doing movies like One Night in Mongkok that I felt like I was doing what I wanted to do.”
ZUE WEI — Love Hurts is bringing back the romcom. Could this be Daniel Wu’s return to romance?
DANIEL — I have to be honest with you. No! I know that I got my start as a romantic lead but it’s not my favourite genre! I was always into the darker stuff. It wasn’t until I started doing movies like One Night in Mongkok (2004) that I felt like I was doing what I wanted to do. But you’re right, we haven’t seen that many romcoms recently and Love Hurts puts a great twist on the genre because it’s pretty heavy on the action. I mean, it’s an R-rated film! It’s great that it’s coming out on Valentine’s Day too because it has something for the girls and the guys; it has something for everyone.
ZUE WEI — Are there any genres you’d love to tackle?
DANIEL — An action comedy! I’d love to do a two-hander and bring back the Rush Hour style of comedy! Maybe I’ll even try horror because my daughter is really into horror. As a person who makes movies, I know all the mechanisms to make you scared so it doesn’t have any effect on me but I love watching my daughter watch horror and get an adrenaline rush from it. I’d also like to try mixing genres like martial arts and zombies. It’s important to find new ways to entertain people. Kids are so smart these days. They’ve seen everything, they know everything. We need to adapt. I love what Blumhouse is doing; Get Out (2017) blends social commentary with horror. Horror is a genre that is bringing people back to the theatres. We’re losing children and teenagers to their devices. They’re only watching 75 per cent of the effort and passion that people have put into making a film because they’re busy texting or making something to eat. It’s super sad to think that a hundred years of a cultural phenomenon—going to the movies—might be ending. My dad used to tell me stories about watching Gone with the Wind (1939) in Shanghai. I used to watch movies in a cool Art Deco theatre that was built in 1929, complete with velvet curtains that open up. It’s a whole different world that this generation is not experiencing.
ZUE WEI — Speaking of a pivot, you launched a lifestyle and clothing brand, Student Driver. Have you always been interested in cars?
DANIEL — I’ve always had a passion for cars since I was a young kid. Hong Kong is obviously not the best place to deal with cars because there’s no space. I would sit at home and watch these shows about people building cars on the Discovery channel. I had all this FOMO! I got back into it as soon as I moved back to the States. I started driving at these open track days where you could bring your own cars. It was a dream of mine to build my own car. So, I built a 1972 Datsun 510. I went to SEMA, one of the biggest car shows in the US, and I got a bunch of accolades for it. Two years later, my best friend from high school and I spent eight months building another car, a Honda S800. We brought it back to SEMA and it ended up being a big talk of the show again. I was so proud of it; it’s a different kind of pride than working on a movie as an actor or producer because I only play one part of its success. When you’re working on a car, every decision from start to finish is mine. And there’s an immediate recognition of the creative input.
ZUE WEI — When did you start getting into racing?
DANIEL — There was nothing to do when everything stopped during the pandemic. One of my car-building friends, who also raced on the side, invited me to test in a race car for the first time. These race cars were easier to drive because they were built for the track. I fell in love with racing the more I did it.
ZUE WEI — Do you enjoy the adrenaline of racing?
DANIEL — That’s part of it. What I tell people about racing is that you have to learn a lot of skills. There’s a lot to think about but when you’re on the track, all that thinking goes away and it just becomes instinct. I do endurance racing, so I’m in that car for two hours—you can’t be nervous for two straight hours, so eventually it all just falls away and you become one with your car. And I’m not thinking about anything; not paying my mortgage or my next job or whatever! If I do that, I could die. I have to be completely in it. Whatever’s happening on the track, I have to react to it. If I make a mistake, I just have to keep going. I’m not a musician but I think racing is the closest thing I’ve experienced to performing live music. I find that martial arts is the same way, in that you practise, practise, practise, but when you’re fighting somebody, it just flows. You’re not thinking about technique. Same again with acting—you do all this research, you study your lines, then it all fades away when you’re on set because you’re playing that character in that moment. I enjoy being in that state of mind. Calm in the chaos. I love finding that flow state.
ZUE WEI — Cars brought you and Sung Kang (actor and co-founder of Student Driver) together.
DANIEL — Sung Kang and I first met when I was writing for a magazine called Giant Robot (a bimonthly magazine focusing on Asian and Asian-American popular culture). It was around the time Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) came out. Later, he was cast in Fast and Furious, and I remember thinking how lucky he was to be able to be around cars as part of his work. He had also built his own car and gave me a lot of advice when I was building mine; we became closer because we had a shared passion for cars. When he came to me with the idea of Student Driver as a lifestyle company that celebrates car culture, I was immediately on board.
ZUE WEI — How did you come up with the brand name?
DANIEL — It’s called Student Driver because in our lives, you have to maintain a student mentality. You have to keep learning. It’s also funny to have serious car guys going around with a sticker that says ‘Student Driver’.
ZUE WEI — Do you have any plans for Student Driver in the next few years?
DANIEL — We’re still really small and we do everything ourselves. We come up with the designs and make a limited amount. We’d love to grow our product line and expand outside of the States, like China, Hong Kong or Southeast Asia. It would be cool to do car meets and events with people from all around the world. But the ultimate goal is to continue building a community of like-minded individuals. When there was Asian hate in the streets, we were able to bring the car community, most of whom were not activists, together to stage two car meets in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Over 500 cars showed up and these drive protests expressed our discontent with what was going on and how the police could do better.
ZUE WEI — There is also a new business endeavor, Zuhaus. It’s described as a brand innovation design lab. What does that mean?
DANIEL — It all began because I was getting asked to be an ambassador for products. I always ended up giving input especially if they are trying to break into a new market. I realized that I could help brands by bringing a global perspective to their brand concepts and product designs. I’m not an architect anymore but I’m still very passionate about design. At Zuhaus, we are a team of designers and marketing experts with a focus on the mainland Chinese market. So far, we’ve worked with a Swedish brand, Baud Audio, to make their headphones more appealing. We worked with a coffee bean distributor in creating their own brand called Whatever Coffee to encourage people to enjoy coffee culture. There’s also a company specializing in carbon fibre bikes, where our big challenge was to make road bikes more affordable for the entry-level rider.
ZUE WEI — You are working on a lot of different things at one time! How do you have the time?
DANIEL — I’m not shooting as many movies as I used to. When my daughter is in school, I actually have a lot of downtime. I’m sitting around doing nothing. My wife tells me to go do something because I’m driving them crazy!
ZUE WEI — I hear that you’re actually on set in Guangzhou, China right now for an upcoming movie.
DANIEL — Yes, you’ve caught me on my day off. I am reuniting with director Andrew Lau for a project called Kashmir Princess. The last time I worked with Andrew was on my second ever film, Young and Dangerous: The Prequel (1998), which was before he made the Infernal Affairs series. The film is based on a real assassination attempt targeting the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1955, which failed because he wasn’t on the plane that blew up. The story revolves around the two spies who are investigating the situation, each with loyalties to different parties.
ZUE WEI — A period film! What else can you tell us?
Groomer
Ayae Yamamoto / Exclusive Artists
Photo Assistant
Bao Le Cheok
“American Born Chinese was the first time in my life that I didn’t feel like an outsider on set. When I was in Hong Kong, they would call me gwai zai, which means white boy. And on most western productions, I would often be the only Asian person on set staff. It didn’t bother me because I was always an outsider growing up; I was into punk rock music and I was a skateboarder.”
DANIEL — It’s a big, large scale project. The last few days have been cool because I got to see how Andrew has evolved as a filmmaker. He has such a deep understanding of film language; no other director works in his way. He’s also so efficient. Hong Kong style! He sets up six to seven different cameras at one time, so we’re done with a scene in 15 minutes. Then we’re off to the next scene! We’re shooting at a crazy pace but it’s great for the actors. We don’t have to break out performances into little pieces.
ZUE WEI — Does the fast pace help you stay in character?
DANIEL — Yes, you can really live in the role between takes. It also gives us more time to talk. Our days end in the late afternoon and after that, we spend some time looking at the film, have dinner then discuss the roles. It’s definitely more collaborative than working 12-hour days then just going home exhausted. And of course, being on set helps because the crew has recreated Hong Kong in the 1950s; the amount of detail that has gone into it is incredible. With the clothes and the hair, it really feels like being in that era. It’s interesting that you can really only do this type of large-scale historical films in China now. It would be rare to get an American company to give you that kind of budget; Oppenheimer (2023) was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing. With Kashmir Princess, I’m excited to see how it’ll turn out. Just like Love Hurts, it has a Hong Kong flavour to it—we want to pay homage to that style and share it with the rest of the world.
ZUE WEI — I look forward to seeing the action scenes in Love Hurts! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me.
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