'Interior Chinatown': Jimmy O. Yang breaks out of the background and into the spotlight

LOS ANGELES -- Based on the novel of the same name by Charles Yu comes Hulu's newest action-packed series, "Interior Chinatown."

"Interior Chinatown" tells the story of Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang), a background character trapped in a police procedural. When Willis is enlisted for help by a mysterious detective (Chloe Bennet), suddenly the world around him begins to reveal itself in a new light, and family secrets come to the surface. As Willis dives deeper into his world, he finds himself breaking out of his role and into the spotlight.

On The Red Carpet sat down with the cast, creator Charles Wu and executive producer Taika Waititi to discuss the exciting new series.

Yang plays Willis Wu, a background character who spends his days working at a restaurant in Chinatown. Yang believes Willis "has that fire in his belly that he wants to do more and be more, and it's something that I related to a lot," he said. "He's a bit of a maverick, in a way. Although, he's still scared of the world,"

Bennet, who plays Detective Lana Lee, said Lana forces Willis out of his background character role. "She seems very assured and very confident, and she takes Willis on this journey."

Ronny Chieng, who plays Willis' best friend, Fatty Choi, described Lana as "the inciting incident" of the story.

At the premiere of the series, an On The Red Carpet producer spoke to Bennet about AAPI representation in the media, citing that they "grew up" watching her in Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Bennet joked that she was "so old," but went on to say, "If you don't see someone that looks like you (on the screen), you don't think that you're able to do that, and that's just the bottom line." She hopes for fans, "It'll be exciting to just like watch this show and identify with these characters even though they might not look like them."

As for the format of the show (a show within a show), Bennet described it as "a Taylor Swift album," full of Easter eggs and details throughout the entire season.

We asked Charles Yu about his appreciation for both Chinatown and the television industry, and why he decided to use these elements for his story.

He told us it was a metaphor for the Asian-American experience, and by subverting the genre, he could get his point across. He asked himself, "How can we take a TV show, take a well-understood form like a cop show, and break it into pieces and then reassemble it?"

Taika Waititi ("Thor: Ragnarok," "What We Do in the Shadows") executive produced the series and directed the first episode, and was able to wrap his mind around the format by applying his skills as a Marvel director.

He explained, "Some of those things are like, so confusing, and if you were to try and explain it to someone who wasn't from Earth what the story is, it's like 'What is this guy trying to do? He's trying to get all these jewels and stick them in a glove?' ...That's one thing I learned. Just inform people. Just tell them what's happening and they're like 'Got it. Let's go with the cop show within a show!'"

All 10 episodes of "Interior Chinatown" premiere tomorrow, November 19 on Hulu.

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