Two strangers come together to make the personal feel universal with ‘Minari’

It was a momentous Oscar nominations day for the filmmakers behind “Minari”: Lee Isaac Chung was recognized for writing and directing his gentle, semiautobiographical tale about an immigrant father (lead actor-nominated Steven Yeun) moving his Korean American family to Arkansas to start a farm, and producer Christina Oh became the first Asian American woman to contend for the best picture prize. A celebratory production reunion Zoom held that day was, Chung recalls, “really special.” Recently, also over Zoom, first-time collaborators Oh and Chung reflected on how “Minari” went from long-shot idea to labor of love to new American classic.

How did “Minari” come your way, Christina?

Christina Oh: Steven Yeun and I became friends through “Okja,” and we were hanging out one day, and he asked me if I’d read this script. Isaac’s agent Christina Chou sent me the script that same day. I was going through a point in my life where I didn’t want to be pigeonholed as an Asian producer, so I was very careful about how I wanted to explore that, and Isaac’s script was undeniable. I was like, “I’ve got to do this.”

Lee Isaac Chung: We had a Skype call, and I remember she was standing up at her computer. I thought, “Oh, she’s one of those, very on top of things.” [Laughs] Sorry, Christina, I just remember that I was intimidated by Plan B, because I love so many of the films they’ve made, and I was concerned with whether or not I would say all the things I was supposed to say to get them on board.

Oh: He crushed it!

Chung: I remember I felt that she understood the story in a personal and particular way, that I knew it had to be her who could do this.

Christina, was A24 in as financier from the beginning?

Oh: We have a preexisting relationship with A24 through “Moonlight,” and I produced “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” for them. They’re such great partners, and we were like, “What’s the next thing we want to do with our A24 fam?” and this one felt right. From a producing standpoint, if you can find somebody to finance and also have a distribution guarantee in place prior to filming, that frees up so much for creative to just focus on the creative.

Lee Isaac Chung and Christina Oh attend the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

(Rich Fury / Getty Images)

Isaac, how was Christina instrumental early on as a filmmaking partner?

Chung: We never had to catch each other up on what this story means. For instance, it was her suggestion early on that we make sure that it’s in the Korean language, what they speak at home, because I was hemming and hawing, not sure what’s going to get financed. But Christina said, “That’s a fight we have to do. We have to keep it in Korean.” It immediately felt like somebody had my back.

Oh: For me, it’s just life. It’s how I grew up in America. The whole experience has been interesting. It’s brought up a lot of discussions about what makes something American. If we can progress that narrative and implore people to think a little bit differently, I’m proud that the film is part of that discussion, as uncomfortable as it can be sometimes.

“Minari” seems to have come together very fast.

Oh: We knew we had to get it off the ground quickly. There were a bunch of environmental constraints. We knew we wanted to shoot [before the] tornado period that hits the corridor where we were shooting in Tulsa. We also wanted to shoot in summer for the crops, and also because any minors we worked with would also be out of school.

Chung: We had to find those kids in three weeks, I think. It was a crazy turnaround. It was a lot of teamwork.

Oh: I received [the script] in February [of 2019], and by the time we premiered [at Sundance] it was January, so not even a year had passed since I had first gotten the script and met Isaac. This production really felt, like, touched by divinity. It felt very kismet at times, even though it was a lot of work.

Do you have favorite reactions to the film?

Oh: I’ve heard from a couple of people, kids of immigrants, who were like, “I’ve never been able to connect with my parents,” so to hear that watching the film made them reach out to their parents or call their grandma, those moments are like, “Ah, this is why we do what we do.”

Chung: I love when people tell me about their family members. Those have been the most moving reactions to me.

On reflection, what did making “Minari” teach you about making movies?

Chung: With this film, I submitted more than I did in the past. I used to try to control things a lot more, and with this, I wanted to dig into collaboration in a much stronger way. That to me was the joy of this film.

Oh: It was a lesson in that conviction is scary to pursue. But when you really believe in something, there’s nothing that feels better than fighting for it and seeing it soar.