- Share This Post
- submit
- 3
-
Sparkle (0)
[img_assist|fid=1720|thumb=1|alt=A Georgia Lee]
Last weekend in New York City, the number one grossing film on a per-screen basis was a movie with no marketing budget, no formal PR campaign, no major stars, directed by an unknown female director.
That movie was Red Doors, by Georgia Lee.
Red Doors is a narrative about a contemporary, dysfunctional Chinese-American Family. For the Chinese, to paint one’s front doors red is said to bring good luck, fortune, and harmony to the household. The term “Red Doors†is therefore an ironic counterpoint to a family that is emotionally distant and struggles to communicate. The film reflects on how it is often most difficult to connect with those nearest and dearest to your heart.
Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Georgia Lee. We have a lot in common. Both of us were raised in Asian households (I’m half-Asian), both of us grew up with the expectation that we would not only go to college but excel in our chosen careers (careers our parents approved of, of course!), and both of us grew up eating around a dining room table that had a large lazy susan in the middle of it.
After graduating from Harvard with a degree in biochemistry, Lee worked for management consulting firm McKinsey & Compnay. She then dropped out of Harvard Business School to pursue her dream of film making.
When I watched Red Doors (my review will follow in a separate post) I could definitely draw parallels between my own family and the family onscreen, but it wasn’t because I was half-Asian. It’s because the family’s struggles and the issues of the three female leads are universal, and that’s the number one thing the movie gets right.
Red Doors is currently playing in New York and opens in San Francisco and Los Angeles on September 22.
Stefania Pomponi Butler: So what exactly did you parents say when you told them you were leaving Harvard Business School to make movies? I love that you said your mom “stopped taking you to potlucks,†that is just so typical!
Georgia Lee: (laughs) I know. Sometimes when I tell people (this anecdote) and it’s a primarily asian audience, asians laugh.(Potlucks are) the social forum for Asian-Americans. It’s a bit of a show off session. People practice “faux humility†while bragging about their children. It’s a way to boast about your child’s accomplishments. I did something so egregious by quitting Harvard that in my mother’s mind I had fallen off the face of the earth. What would she tell people? The truth is I never liked going to those potlucks so I was glad when she stopped taking me.
To make Red Doors, Lee formed a production company, Blanc de Chine, with her Asian and half-Asian college friends. One of whom, Mia Riverton, stars in the movie.
SPB: You mentioned that when your partners’ parents met your parents for the first time they chalked up your “unconventional career choices to being too spoiled.†What do you think your parents meant by that?
GL: They didn’t mean we were spoiled by material things. They were more than happy to spend money on education and classes, but if I wanted an Esprit shirt...
They meant that they were too lenient, too “open-minded.†Even though my mother was conservative, in her mind she was incredibly progressive. To them spoiling meant “induging their (children’s) passions.†My parents were immigrants. My dad came over (to the US) with $200 in his pocket. He wanted to make sure his children were okay, not “bag ladies.†(My parents) followed the typical American dream. In their mind, they We have food and shelter and we want something more spiritual.
Lee was mentored by Martin Scorsese. She spent five months in Rome apprenticing with him while he shot Gangs of New York.
SPB: You really just sent your film to Scorsese and he contacted you? How did that unfold?
GL: When I was at NYU film school, I made a movie called The Big Dish, an experimental short inspired by one of Martin Scorsese’s films about Vietnam. I actually sent to his fan mail address in Beverly Hills. I had no idea that his office was really three blocks away from where I was working at McKinsey. He watched it, I think, because it was 3 minutes. I’m still amazed that he watched it at all. It was a confluence of luck and karma. I still can’t believe that it happened. (Being on-set with Scorsese) was my defacto film school. I watched all of
