Pasadena Magazine

Justin Lin The go-to director propels Hollywood toward the future, breathing new life into tired movie franchises and pushing for more racially diverse casting PHOTO BY // GILES KEYTE ˜ AS 2013 CAME TO A CLOSE, LIFE WAS GOOD FOR DIRECTOR JUSTIN LIN. HIS LATEST FILM, FAST & FURIOUS 6, WAS AN INTERNATIONAL HIT, GROSSING MORE THAN $750 MILLION. HE HAD JUST BEEN TAPPED TO REBOOT THE MASSIVE BOURNE IDENTITY FRANCHISE. HIS INCREASED HOLLYWOOD CLOUT ALSO GAVE HIM A PLATFORM TO LOBBY FOR ONE OF HIS PASSIONS: BETTER INCLUSION OF ASIAN Americans in popular media. Then came the untimely death of Fast & Furious leading man Paul Walker. Silver Lake resident Lin spoke to Matthew Fleischer about his work, his Hollywood trailblazing, and trying to recover from the loss of his colleague and good friend. Where were you when you heard the news of Paul Walker's death? I was on my way to London. It was an incred- ibly tough loss, and I'm still dealing with it. He was such a big part of my life. It's hard for me to talk about. When you go through eight years of a journey in this business—he really is like a brother. Everything I've heard praising Paul in the aftermath of his death is warranted. He was always trying to better himself. When we started working together, we sat down for lunch, and I told him about how I was coming from the indie world—where there's no money. Passion is the currency. That's what I wanted us to have for Fast & Furious. And he did too. The thing we always talked about was effi ciency and simplifying things. For him, it was always about being in that moment. That's a great partner to have: making every moment as real as possible. That's the thing I take away from him. You successfully rebooted a franchise with Fast & Furious, and now you've been asked to do it again with the Bourne franchise. How did you fi nd your way into this niche, and is there more pressure in taking over an established vehicle? In 2002, I made a movie on credit cards. Never did I think I'd be making tent-pole movies. I have to say, there is defi nitely pressure in doing a tent pole. If that thing fails, people lose their jobs. But, honestly, it's nothing compared to making a credit-card movie. As far as taking over franchises, it's not anything that was strategic on my end. I'm more interested in the process and the journey. When you're in the fi lm industry, people judge you by two hours. But that's two years of my life. Every fi lm I've done, my approach is always the same: It should always be an adventure. Sequels happen for a reason. It's where com- merce and art collide. When sequels happen, they often get conservative—and that's the big mistake. My job is to push the envelope and evolve the narrative, out of respect to the fans. In order to justify bringing these characters back, all the fi lms have to be completely different. I actually turned Fast & Furious down when it was fi rst offered to me. The studio asked me why, and I said because it needed real dialogue. They came back and said, "OK, you have two months to start shooting. All the problems you see, go ahead and fi x them." Because of that, I could bring my indie sensibility to the project. Diversity is still so rare in Hollywood. Do you think the racially diverse cast of Fast & Furious helped contribute to its success? Is there a lesson for Hollywood to learn there? It's an interesting and complex issue. With diversity, the issue is not talent. The issue is opportunity. I always have color-blind casting. It sounds simple, but it's a battle. It's creating spaces for talented actors to come in. That said, to be diverse is very easy, in terms of the actual casting. To respect the process is the hard part. All people want to see themselves onscreen. But it has to be organically approached. As an Asian American growing up, I can still relate to Rocky Balboa because he was such a great character. So the real goal is to try to bring these characters on the screen as three-dimensional human beings. What are your favorite spots in Pasadena? Well, that stretch along Lake with Roscoe's Chicken and Waffl es is dangerous! It's right down the street from my son's preschool and I love it, but I can't eat there too often. I've lived all around the world. Here in L.A., I went to UCLA—so I started west and have been slowly heading east over the years. The thing about Pasadena is that it feels like home. It's been a great fi nd. With my crazy work sched- ule, I can come to Pasadena and just relax. 128 MARCH/APRIL 2014 TALK the talk_MA14.indd 128 2/20/14 3:57 PM

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