But that was our way of being inspired indirectly when I was a kid.
And now I have that opportunity to provide this inspiration and this opening.
Can you tell me how the movie came about and how it got made?
Comedian Jo Koy’s upcoming movie ‘Easter Sunday’ is the first studio film to center on a Filipino American family.Ed Araquel/Universal Pictures
It’s kind of like a dream thing that happened to me.
I had to actually shoot myLive from Seattlespecial myself.
Because Netflix passed on me.
Ed Araquel/Universal Pictures
And then after I shot it myself, I brought it to them, and they loved it.
And that’s the one Steven Spielberg watched.
Like, what?Steven Spielbergwatched my hour?
You’re kidding me right now.
And I literally pitched this movie idea to another producer namedDan Linwith Rideback Film.
And they were [all] like, “Yeah, we’ll take it.”
Eight months later, we’re in Vancouver, shooting the movie.
What was it about your special that you think Steven responded to?
And it’s not about making fun of Filipinos.
It’s about a family first that just happens to be Filipino.
And you’re going to relate to it.
No matter what ethnicity you are, a mom is a mom.
They all do the same mom stuff.
[It’s about] a family that lives in America just like everybody else.
And you’re going to relate to this family because you know them.
So that’s kind of cool too.
One of theEaster Sundayphotos features you and your character’s mother in front of a table full of food.
Can you tell me a little bit about what’s going on in that picture?
That’s not what we’re doing here.
We’re going to represent my family, and we’re going to represent my culture.
Of course, we had the biglechon.
If I didn’t put that there, [Filipinos] would’ve been mad.
But on the other side, I wanted to showadobo.
I wanted to showpancit.
I wanted to show ouregg rolls.
I wanted to show what a spread looks like on our table and how delicious our food is.
Did you have a hand in any of the food styling?
What was your input?
Because it looked delicious.
Oh, that’s my input all the way.
I mean, there were items on the table.
I was like, “Bye.
Get that off the table right now.”
So I’m going to put the best on that table.
Did you introduce Steven to any Filipino food?
Not yet, but I will.
And that was in 1991.
He let Dante run with it and no accent, no nothing.
He just hired him because of his acting skill and he crushed that movie.
It was Dante up against Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, and Julia Roberts.
That’s pretty bad ass.
I don’t know if he meant to, but he put Filipinos on the map.
Has your mother or your family seen the movie?
They’re going to love it.
And the woman Lydia [Gaston] that plays my mother, she’s phenomenal.
She was a beast.
What do you hope audiences take away from the movie?
We’re all laughing at the same thing.
My story is relatable to you no matter what color you are.
For some reason when we turn the lights on, we like to separate ourselves and not get it.
And I just don’t understand what that is.
You’re going to see a lot of different ethnicities in this movie.
We got an Indian guy, we got a Black woman, we got Filipino people.
We got anIndian directorfor God’s sake.
And you know what?
It’s just a movie about a family.
A mom is a mom, a son is a son, a grandson is a grandson.
And we can all relate to it.
I want this movie to open other doors for other people, other ethnicities to celebrate their culture.
The movie takes place over the course of one day, Easter Sunday.
Well, Easter is just that day when Filipinos all come out.
I mean, it’s more packed than Christmas.
That was the significance of that day.
I felt like it’s like an indirect way of saying this is for Filipinos.
I don’t think that many people celebrate Easter as hard as we do.
They did it in one day.
Let’s do it in one chaotic day.
Want more movie news?
