Vietnam from a different vantage point

Vietnamese-American author Viet Thanh Nguyen’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer has been adapted into a seven-part series produced by A24, Rhombus Media and Team Downey — the production company of Oscar-winner Robert Downey Jr and his wife, Susan — for HBO.

Directed by legendary Korean auteur Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden, Thirst, Decision to Leave) and starring Downey Jr in a Peter Sellers-style, four-character performance, the series also features a predominantly Vietnamese cast including Australian/Vietnamese star Hoa Xuande and veteran Canadian-American actor Sandra Oh. Co-written and created by Chan-wook and writer Don McKellar, the series tells the blackly comic, twisty story of Xuande’s “The Captain”, a North Vietnam spy in the South Vietnam army who, after the fall of Saigon, continues his mission as part of a community of South Vietnamese refugees living in 1970s Los Angeles.

Tymon Smith spoke to the cast and crew.

What was it about the book that attracted you to the idea of turning it into a series?

Don McKellar (co-creator and writer): I responded to the book personally. It felt fresh — it had intelligence but wasn’t didactic. It’s savvy in terms of pop culture and cultural knowledge. I thought it would make surprising and unique television that I’d like to watch.

I also responded to the coming-of-age story. I had strong associations with that early 1970s period in memories of my childhood — Watergate, Vietnam and the cultural shift of the time. I remembered my political development as a teenager and how I flirted with communism and was captivated by it for a while. It shows the story from the Vietnamese side, flipping it around for US viewers. That was important to me — a reminder of how to approach wars even now, when we see them on television. There’s another side, and the primary victims of any war are always the people on whose land it’s fought. That’s often forgotten.

Niv Fichman (producer): I’m an immigrant, having been born in Israel. My family moved to Canada when I was eight years old, so I related to the immigrant experience. That’s so universal when one looks at it from the inside — not the politicised experience, but the lived one. Going to a new school, learning to speak English, and just the day-to-day experience of finding a new life are fascinating in the book. I became more mature and aware of the world in the 1970s. The Vietnam War was so dominant, and I was following it incessantly — Kissinger and the peace process. It blew my mind to read this book that was written in a US style but was from such a different perspective.

What were the challenges of the decision to turn four different characters in the book into four roles for Robert Downey Jr in the series?

McKellar: Park Chan-wook and I were discussing the repeated characters in the book — older, patriarchal American establishment figures representing the entertainment industry, academia, intelligence and politics — the pillars of the American establishment. We were talking about their similar relationships with The Captain: they’re mentors, but unreliable ones, and they’re patronising and slightly absurd. It was important dramatically to show they were interdependent. He said, “What if we cast one actor, like Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or Lolita?” It took away the exposition and literary positioning in the script. That worked psychologically for The Captain because it reminded us it’s all from his perspective.

Park Chan-wook (director): The concept of Robert playing four roles was important because it represented different faces sharing one body, which represents America as a whole. We had to portray the characters realistically so the audience would feel that they’re people who lived in 1975, but we also wanted them to be symbolic. They’re exaggerated or heightened, but not caricatures. It was a complex process.

Susan Downey (producer): Robert had fun bringing these toxic symbols of American patriarchy to life. It was a unique opportunity for an important conversation. The series is set during a period that Robert is familiar with — he’s a history buff. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with the roles.

Sandra Oh in 'The Sympathizer' (Supplied)

Was being a South Korean director an obstacle or challenge?

Park Chan-wook: Just because the novel was written by a Vietnamese writer doesn’t mean it must be directed by a Vietnamese director. Where you come from is irrelevant. This story is about Vietnam and America, but it’s also about how similar and different East and West are in terms of their culture. As a director from Asia, I was in a great position to handle this topic. Korea and Vietnam share many similarities: we both went through a tragic history that’s still ongoing. I had the right amount of distance from the subject when I was dealing with it. I could see Vietnam and America objectively, but still elevate and bring more richness to the topic.

What does this Vietnam-related story offer audiences?

Sandra Oh: It questions the history of what we’ve been presented with for the past 50 years. I did this project because it explores the trauma of war through a missing perspective that questions the American system and the white-patriarchal telling of the Vietnam story. I hope people will ask themselves, “Why do I think what I think?”

McKellar: The lessons of that war, in a way, created a model for what has happened in the 50 years since, including the idea of resettlement. As a kid, I remember lots of Vietnamese refugees [in Canada]. In every war since, we’ve had waves of refugees. In America, that’s a contentious topic. The series shows that these wars don’t die with withdrawal or a treaty. They live on in the refugees. The Vietnamese writers and cast shared with us that many of the issues they face today are from the past — lives were ruptured, and their homeland was fractured.