We’re back at Sundance in the Vulture Spot, where we’re interviewing the casts and creators of the year’s buzziest films. Check out all our coverage from the film fest here.
This Barbie stays trending. Even before Hillary Clinton’s shoutout, Greta Gerwig was no stranger to social media — remember the summer those Barbie graphics birthed thousands of poster children? Thanks to Sean Wang, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary short Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó, we’ve now got even more proof that Gerwig is an influencer … in the sense that she’s shaping other filmmaker’s processes, anyway. Wang explained that Gerwig’s approach to Lady Bird inspired the way he tackled his first full-length film, Dìdi (弟弟), which partly draws from his own life. “That was an ethos that I kind of took into this, where I wasn’t like, Oh, you can’t do that because I didn’t do that,” he said. “It was, No, what works for the character? The character is not me.” Listen to Wang elaborate in the video above, and stick around to catch:
➼ The shirt pin subtly promoting the movie
➼ Wang’s thoughts on boyhood and his childhood buddies
➼ The role of a playlist of hits from the “Warped Tour music scene”
Dìdi (弟弟) is written, directed, and produced by Sean Wang. Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters, and Valerie Bush also produced the film, which stars Izaac Wang, Shirley Chen, Chang Li Hua, and Joan Chen. It premiered at Sundance on January 19.