Eric Zhang, a Richmond film and TV producer, is excited a Seth Rogen Hollywood movie that he was a consultant-producer for is set to hit the big screen in July.
Joy Ride, produced by Rogen and directed by Adele Lim, a writer for Crazy Rich Asians, is a comedy about four Asian-American friends who meet and set off together on a journey of discovery to learn who they really are.
“The story is set in China, but it wasn’t logistically feasible to film it in China at the time, given all the COVID restrictions. So, it was actually filmed in Vancouver,” said Zhang.
The production team reached out to Zhang, a long-time Richmond resident originally from Beijing, to help find an Asian cast and select locations, but also to provide a cultural lens so the film would look like it was set in China.
“I did my best to help them understand the current state of China and its cultural nuances, so that the setting looks authentic to the audience and looks like the story happened in Asia,” he said.
“For example, I told them the Sun Yat Sen Gardens in Chinatown is not how China looks like now,” he laughed.
Despite some similarities, Vancouver and China are still quite different, so the script was updated to turn it into a road trip movie with a lot of the stories taking place on the way from Beijing to Shanghai instead of in urban settings, Zhang explained. YVR airport will also appear in the movie.
This was the first time Zhang was a consultant-producer for a film.
He said he was proud to be part of this production, which was one of the largest productions in Vancouver in 2021.
He even has a cameo appearance as a cameraman in the trailer, which was released last month.
“The camera is very large and expensive and it was hard to find an extra who could operate a camera, so the director asked me act as the cameraman,” said Zhang.
He is glad to see another Hollywood film being released with the majority of the production team Asian, including the stars, the writer and director.
Joy Ride had its world premiere on March 17 and is set to be released in North America on July 7.
