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‘Falling Water’s’ Will Yun Lee & Jodi Long on that OMG! development
In the game-changing Dec. 8 episode of Falling Water, “The Well,” cop Taka (Will Yun Lee) and artist mom Kumiko (Jodi Long) are finally able to have a conversation — seven years after Kumiko went into a catatonic state. The scene is riveting and emotional, with Kumiko telling Taka, “I left you because I love you.”
We spoke with actors Will Yun Lee and Jodi Long about that scene, their characters, and representations of Asian families on TV. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
First: The scene in ‘The Well’ where you’re finally speaking to each other? Oh my God.
“Well it was pretty freaky, right?” Jodi Long says: It was hard to pull off, as she and Alice (Lizzy DeClement) were speaking simultaneously: As a display of their power, the show’s central cult The Green has pulled Kumiko out of her coma long enough to speak to her devoted son.
When Will Yun Lee read the script, “I think the first person I called was my wife [saying], This is crazy. This show is insane!” When they shot the episode, nobody in the makeup trailer could stop talking about it: “People couldn’t believe Kumiko starts talking!”
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Jodi, you’ve said the producers didn’t tell you much about your character when you signed on — did you have any hesitation, given that she’s catatonic?
“I auditioned with this monologue about The Boy, and was so excited about the monologue,” Long said. All season, she waited for the chance to deliver it, because showrunner Blake Masters had said it was from “later.” Then, she found out a few other characters delivered the same monologue in auditions: “Nobody ever got any of these lines!” Long laughed.
Will, how big a change is Taka from your past work? There were some macho roles in there, and while Taka is a cop, he’s also sensitive.
“‘This is the first role where I get to be closer to me,’” Lee recalls telling Masters. As he puts it, one of the challenges of being an Asian-American actor is taking roles that lean toward the villainous: “For most of my career, I was trying to kill people.” But with “Falling Water,” Lee is grateful to be able to show human vulnerability on camera, calling the experience “therapeutic.”
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One thing both actors say they’re glad of: That neither character speaks English with an accent. In fact, “getting to speak the way I speak” is one of the things Lee likes best about being on the show.
Jodi, how does making ‘Long Story Short,’ the documentary about your parents, inform what you’re doing now — playing somebody’s parent?
The documentary helped her understand storytelling, Long says, which has led to some interesting conversations with showrunner Blake Masters — including when he told her Kumiko was inspired by a character in a Murakami novel, which still makes her laugh: “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”
“This is one of those arts where you always try to draw outside the line,” Lee adds. “The messier your life, the more beautiful the canvas.”
Will, last week we asked Masters why Tess and Taka’s roles weren’t flipped. Do you ever find yourself identifying more with other characters?
“Tess would have been an incredible role,” Lee said: As a parent to a three-year-old, Lee identifies with Tess’s search for her son. On the other hand, he’s grateful to have ended up “connected to the Boy, in some ways.”
BONUS FACTS!
Over the course of our conversation, Lee and Long both told us some pretty fascinating stuff about their preparation: Jodi Long uses her yoga training to meditate whenever Kumiko is supposed to be catatonic, and Will Yun Lee, who practices taekwondo, promised showrunner Blake Masters he wouldn’t go to the gym — and agreed to the plan to “eat until you can’t eat anymore.”
“I was in heaven for the first week,” Lee said. Fattening himself up for the role of Taka meant eating “Food I’d dreamed about for probably 15 years.” But two months in, he started to feel sick — he’s back to his old habits, for now.
“Falling Water” airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on USA.