By George & Josh Bate
“If you can’t beat them, be them.” That’s the slogan for the mysterious cosmetic surgery clinic in Slanted that offers people of color the chance to become white. On the surface, this feels like a heightened, even absurd premise to initiate a movie from, but filmmaker Amy Wang’s fusion of Mean Girls, The Substance, and Imitation of Life couples its uncomfortable humor with a hefty serving of horror.
Slanted, Wang’s feature directorial debut, follows Joan Huang (Shirley Chen), a Chinese-American adolescent who moved to the United States when she was young with her parents. Joan idolizes conventionally attractive blonde white women and dreams of soon becoming her high school’s prom queen, while fearing that her Chinese roots will prevent her from doing so. Enter Enthos, the aforementioned cosmetic surgery clinic that gives Joan the opportunity to become white. Joan undergoes the procedure and transforms into a beautiful blonde (Mckenna Grace), only to realize that her decision comes at a steep cost.
The HoloFiles recently had the opportunity to speak with Slanted writer/director Amy Wang about her new film, its collage of different genres, ensuring continuity of performance when having two actors play the same character, and ideas for a sequel.
Blending coming-of-age high school drama with absurdist comedy, sci-fi, David Cronenberg-esque body horror, Slanted oscillates between genres as it chronicles Joan’s identity crisis. “When I came up with the core concept,” explained Wang, “the idea of a Chinese girl turning white was so absurd that automatically I was like, ‘It can’t be a drama. It has to be a crazy Yorgos Lanthimos or Ruben Östlund kind of world. The satire definitely came first just because of the core concept.”
As Wang developed the story, however, she realized that it would have to couple its absurdist humor with darker material. “Then I knew I wanted the character to regret her choice and kind of see this nightmare unfold,” Wang said. “A lot of stuff that I’ve made before this feature in my short films are quite dark – in subject matter and also in tone. So, I knew I wanted to end there. To have this very dark second half. And I thought that was really interesting.”
Slanted will likely draw comparisons with the Academy Award nominated body horror smash hit The Substance, namely in its focus on a woman who succumbs to societal pressures on appearance. But Wang’s film offers something different than Coralie Fargeat’s in detailing the extent to which internalized racism can drive a person to make drastic decisions. “The Substance hadn’t been made yet when I came up with the idea,” Wang acknowledged. “So, to me, it just felt really fresh and something that hadn’t been done.”
The film tasks Shirley Chen and Mckenna Grace to play two versions of the same character. When Joan undergoes the surgery, Grace takes over the role from Chen and together they achieve an incredible continuity of performance. Despite their obvious aesthetic dissimilarities, Grace and Chen deliver performances that are so in sync that you never lose sight of the fact that they are playing the same characters. From the annunciation of certain words to little mannerisms and expressions, the two deftly mirror one another and collectively create a vulnerable and emotionally complex character out of Joan.
Wang discussed the preparation that went into ensuring that audiences believe Shirley Chen and Mckenna Grace were both playing Joan. “We did a lot of rehearsals beforehand,” explained Wang. “I had them imitate each other a lot. We played a lot of games, did a lot of exercises. We created backstories together where they could talk through memories that they both could share that could relate to Joan, the character. I had them dance and pretend to dance on their own at a prom and all sorts of exercises to get them both used to each other. And then also to see what are some little tics and quirks that they could imitate from each other. Then on set, I had them watch each other. So whenever we’d shoot Mckenna, Shirley would be there and she’d be able to watch and vice versa. So that they could also just see what they were doing on camera and try and imitate.”
While the story of Chen and Grace’s character finds a fitting resolution in the film, the existence of the surgery clinic Ethnos opens the door to possible follow-ups. “It’s kind of scary how, as I was coming up with the concept and even filming it in post, I think Ethnos, just as a concept, if it did exist in our current world, I honestly think a lot of people would go and get it done, which is kind of sad and fucked up,” Wang stated. “And so I tried to have that happen in the movie. I think realistically speaking, it could be something that could expand and exist in multiple cities now. And so, if the film kept going, I think it would be a bigger business and more and more people would go and get it done. But then it’s like, ‘What are the side effects?’ And I’m sure there would be protests and, yeah, all sorts of things.”
Watch the full interview with Slanted writer/director Amy Wang below….
