Even as the first Hong Kong born director to be nominated for an Oscar, Derek Tsang describes his main influence as arthouse cinema. So when he was asked to direct the first two episodes of Netflix’s upcoming sci-fi series, 3 Body Problem, his surprise was only outmatched by his joy.
The series is based on Liu Cixin’s beloved book trilogy, The Three Body Problem, which was blogged about by George R.R. Martin and lauded by then President Barack Obama as “just wildly imaginative.” The book was translated into 26 languages and won the 2015 Hugo Award, making it the first novel in translation to win and making Cixin the first Asian author to win the prize for best sci-fi novel.
The Netflix series is set to be released on March 21 and boasts a stacked lineup of showrunners: David Benioff and DB Weiss from Game of Thrones and Alexander Woo from True Blood. Add in a staggering budget of $160 million and the series has easily become one of the most anticipated of the year.
Tsang’s solo directorial debut was 2016’s Soulmate, which received critical acclaim and introduced the world to his directorial finesse. His follow-up, Better Days, came out in 2019 and was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards.
Eastern Standard Times sat down with Tsang in his hometown of Hong Kong, minutes from the iconic neighborhood of Mei Foo where directors lived during Hong Kong’s golden days of cinema. He tells us how his journey continues, and how the combination of his directorial vision, his showrunners’ experiences, and Liu Cixin's imaginative universe promises something never seen before.
KESHIA:
What was it like growing up in Mei Foo? What shaped your perspective on the world?
DEREK:
I think I was very fortunate to be living in Hong Kong during that time because Hong Kong cinema’s golden age was the eighties and nineties. A lot of filmmakers lived in Mei Foo during the late 70s and 80s, and so there's a rich history of filmmakers coming from Mei Foo.
KESHIA:
You went to Canada at age 11. Why'd you come back to Hong Kong?
DEREK:
I feel like I really wanted to start in the Hong Kong film industry, because those were the films that influenced me growing up.
KESHIA:
Did you feel like a Canadian, or did you feel more like a Hong Konger?
DEREK:
That's kind of the story of my life. I've always felt like I'm like an in-betweener. When I immigrated to Canada, I was seen as an immigrant from Hong Kong. When I came back to Hong Kong, people perceived me as a CBC [Canadian-born Chinese]. Then I started making my own films in Hong Kong and eventually China. And in China, I am a Hong Kong film director. And now I'm making series or films in the States, in Hollywood, they look at me as a Chinese director.
But I think this really provided perspectives for me. It gives me the opportunity to look at things from the outside instead of always being the center. I think that gives you more empathy, especially for those more on the edge.
KESHIA:
Yeah, and not assume you're the majority. It can be hard though, right? Do you have any memories of feeling alone or not belonging?
DEREK:
I let that loneliness fuel creativity.
When I was living in Canada, my family were all either back in Hong Kong or in Taiwan. There are times where I really missed speaking to someone from home, but where's home? Is it Vancouver? Is it Hong Kong? I think it really fuels your creativity. You really want to do something that, you know, records that, that state of mind.
KESHIA:
When you first got approached for the role as director of the first two episodes of 3 Body Problem, how did that feel? Were you familiar with Liu Cixin's work before then?
DEREK:
I first read the novel in 2015 or 2016. It was really becoming a huge thing. Everybody was telling me, “Oh, you've got to read this novel. It's a monumental novel.”
I don't think people understand how big, how monumental this novel is for China. It's the first breakthrough sci-fi in China. They even have a term for Three Body. They call it “the zero year of science fiction in China,” because that's when people really started to realize that science fiction is an important genre.
I think it was Cixin and Sān Tǐ (Three Body) that really helped Chinese readers understand science fiction is not just fantastical and space aliens and whatnot, but it's something that can be very thought provoking. It's very relevant to the times that we live in.
At that time, everybody was talking about the novel, so I read it, and I was completely blown away. But never in my mind did I think I would be involved in making the Hollywood version of it.
Fast forward to the beginning of 2020. I got a call from my agent saying, “You know David and Dan from Game of Thrones? They're adapting this.” I was like, “Yeah, I know. I saw it in a magazine.” I was really excited because I felt like the book is in really good hands. I was a huge fan of Game of Thrones. But never did it cross my mind that I would be involved.
When I got that phone call, I was just over the moon. I was just like, “Oh my God, yes! I really want to do it.” They wanted to have a Chinese director on board to help them tackle the Chinese elements in the story.
KESHIA:
I think it was such a cool and unexpected move for them to come to you as an arthouse director for this sci-fi blockbuster. Were you nervous? How did you prepare yourself to take on such a big project?
DEREK:
I was over the moon with excitement. I think that eclipsed all my anxiousness about it. That really drove the whole project because I was really excited to be working on it and we [David Benioff and Dan Brett Weiss] had a really good working relationship.
I have to give David and Dan and Alex [Alexander Woo] a lot of credit because they are amazing writers, amazing showrunners, but also they gave a lot of room for the filmmakers to carry out the vision. They're very respectful. I really appreciate it because it's not easy, with them being such big names after Game of Thrones. It could be very easy for them to dominate or be very controlling, but they were very collaborative.
KESHIA:
I'm so happy to hear that. I didn’t expect it, and as you say, you’d predict the opposite.
DEREK:
You can feel that they want to be authentic about the Chinese elements they're keeping in the show. That's something I feel is really well reflected right now – at least for my two episodes.
KESHIA:
Knowing that the first book particularly comes from a very Chinese perspective, what I've seen of the trailer portrays a lot more international elements than I would have expected from the story.
In other interviews, you suggested characters from other books are brought in earlier so that it's more global from the outset. How did you approach keeping it authentically Chinese?
DEREK:
I think my job, my biggest responsibility, is to make sure that the Chinese elements that David and Dan and Alex kept in this adaptation, were as authentic as possible. I was not involved in the writing process in terms of how they adapted it, so when they came to me with the script, my role was to really say, “Okay, if this is what we're gonna do, and this is what we're gonna have, I wanna make sure that it comes out as authentic as possible for a Chinese audience.”
I wanted to make sure that they [Chinese people] wouldn't look at this as saying, “Oh, this is made by someone from the States not knowing about our culture.” That's what I felt was one of my biggest responsibilities.
I think to their credit, and to the writing’s credit, 3 Body Problem is – I wouldn't even call it a global story – it's almost a cosmic story.
KESHIA:
It’s the story of existence.
DEREK:
Yeah. It’s a story about our universe. So I think it makes every sense to make it even more international. It's one of those instances where the adaptation into a global story makes it even more relevant, more right in a way.
I never felt like, “Oh you know, it's a bastardized version,” or anything like that. Because you know, it's not like what can happen in Hollywood where, you know, you have Ghost in the Shell where Scarlett Johansson plays a Japanese woman.
KESHIA:
The book is very much about, without giving too much away, a group of people who believe human society is incapable of self improvement and requires the intervention of an outside force. I imagine that could resonate with many people because of the nature of corroding trust in institutions. Do you feel like these themes are particularly resonant at the moment?
DEREK:
I think what's most relevant for most, at least most moving for me and also quite sad, is that it takes a disaster to make us come together.
It’s also something that really moved me when I was reading the text: in crisis we can all come together and work through our differences to try and solve problems.
I think that's really important with what's really going on in the world right now, even if it looks like it's very difficult and almost impossible to really do that.
KESHIA:
Yeah, unity in the face of struggle. What I also find amazing about this story is, as they're describing the Trisolaran civilization and that we humans have a stable environment, it's almost like an environmental activism book. You end up thinking, “Hey guys, we have a really great situation going here.” But ultimately, the issue is we take it for granted and don't protect what we have.
Do you have any hopes for the movie in that way, in terms of what it can inspire in people?
DEREK:
Yes, certainly. Another theme that really blew me away was how, In the grand scheme of things, we're such tiny, irrelevant creatures. We need to be grateful for what we already have in our daily lives, the people that we love. So I think that's something that I hope eventually the series, the show will bring to the audience.
KESHIA:
What have you learned about yourself, or about the craft, or the industry, having gone from the specialization filmmaking you’re known for, and now having worked on sort of the largest possible stage?
What was that jump like?
DEREK:
I think it really made me believe that I'm good at working with people. Coming from a feature film background, a feature film director, and then jumping on an American, huge American show like this, there's so many different people that you have to work with. And on top of that, there's the showrunners, who are basically the boss. They call the shots. In feature films, you're basically your own boss. You make all your decisions. So it's very different in that way.
At the very beginning I struggled for a little bit. But once I got through that, we / I had a really good working relationship with all the crew. It really gave me a lot of confidence to explore making films outside of Hong Kong, outside of China.
KESHIA:
Are you able to talk a little bit more about some of those challenges specifically?
DEREK:
A lot of times it's about letting go of your ego. It’s important to have that humility. American shows have so many different cooks, so many different chefs in the kitchen, and you really have to be humble. You really have to understand, seek the good in others and really try to work together instead of saying, “I'm always right.”
3 Body Problem premieres March 21, 2024 on Netflix.