Talking Taiwan: Love in Taipei: Our Interview with Award Winning Film Director Arvin Chen
My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is the film director Arvin Chen. He just directed Love in Taipei, the film adaptation of Abigail Hing Wen’s bestselling YA novel Loveboat, Taipei.
[LISTEN to the Complete Episode HERE on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY]
If you’re a long-time listener of Talking Taiwan you may remember when I interviewed Abigail about her bestselling YA novel. That success was preceded by 12 years of writing and over 20 drafts of the novel. It was also in that episode that she announced that Loveboat, Taipei was going to be made into a film.
I remember watching her journey afterward on social media as the film was being shot in Taiwan during COVID. Arvin directed the film version of the book Love in Taipei and I had a chance to speak to him recently about the film.
Some of you may be familiar with some of Arvin’s other films, Au Revoir Taipei, Will You Love Me Tomorrow? and Mama Boy.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
The iconic scenes of Taipei that are captured in the film, Love in Taipei
What it was like shooting at the Grand Hotel because Arvin got married there
Some of Arvin’s favorite scenes from Love in Taipei
The challenges of shooting huge crowd scenes
Arvin’s favorite types of scenes to shoot
What it was like shooting in Taiwan during COVID
How the casting was an open call and what that process was like
How Arvin usually writes and directs his films, but Love in Taipei was adapted from the YA novel Loveboat Taipei and Arvin was not involved with the screen adaptation
Arvin’s directing approach to Love in Taipei
How to capture the essence of the Loveboat experience
The Loveboat program and what it is
Parallels between Arvin’s experience of going back to Taiwan in his 20s and that of the characters of the film Love in Taipei
What has changed and stayed the same about Taipei since Arvin went there to live and work in 2001
How Taiwanese food has been softly exported around the world
The music that was selected for Love in Taipei
The Mandarin Chinese language version of the Whitney Houston song, How Will I Know
The role of or choreography in Love in Taipei
How Ashley Liao had to learn modern dance moves in a matter of weeks for her role as Ever Wong
If anything unexpected happened during the filming of Love in Taipei
What Arvin likes about the romantic comedy genre
What it was like to co-write the script for Arvin’s latest film Mama Boy
Changes in the Taiwanese film industry over the last 20 years
How Taiwan has a thriving film industry because of commercial filmmaking and local film crews with technical know how to work on an American movie
How Arvin’s films could be someone’s introduction to Taiwan or a Taiwanese movie
Films that introduced Taiwan to Arvin and that Arvin would recommend people watch
A more recent Taiwanese film that Arvin would recommend
How working with film director Edward Yang influenced Arvin
How Arvin’s directing style differs from Edward Yang’s
What it is about Taipei that inspires Arvin
What Arvin has been working on and what we can expect from him in the future
What Arvin hopes that audiences come away with after watching Love in Taipei
Related Links:
Arvin Chen: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1789897/
https://www.instagram.com/arvinchen
Love in Taipei on Paramount Plus: https://www.paramountplus.com/movies/video/jhkW_3fk_ZuXHQo7OQ5Go01pOwR74PFA/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11947100/
Love in Taipei Official Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3nmAxyXXI2Tnp8nXfKWxgX?si=0e2a59129c3942ac
Loveboat, Taipei: https://a.co/d/58BbYEj
Shih Lin night market: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shilin_Night_Market
The Grand Hotel: https://www.grand-hotel.org/EN/official/main.aspx
Dadocheng: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadaocheng
Edward Yang (film director): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0945981/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Yang
Yi Yi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_Yi
Ang Lee (film director): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000487/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_Lee
Eat Drink Man Woman (film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_Drink_Man_Woman
The Falls (film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15119668/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Falls_(2021_film)
Pachinko (TV series): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachinko_(TV_series)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8888462/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm
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Love Boat Taipei: An Interview with Best Selling Author Abigail Hing Wen (Episode 67): https://talkingtaiwan.com/love-boat-taipei-interview-best-selling-author-abigail-hing-wen/
Love Boat Taiwan: Interview with Asian American Studies Professor and Filmmaker Valerie Soe (Episode 66): https://talkingtaiwan.com/love-boat-taiwan-interview-asian-american-studies-professor-film-maker-valerie-soe-ep-66/
Kristin McCoy-Ward: Everything About Bubble Tea from the “Boba Queen” (Episode 238): https://talkingtaiwan.com/kristin-mccoy-ward-everything-about-bubble-tea-from-the-bobba-queen-ep-238/
Bubble Tea Sam: From Quickly to Coco, Running Bubble Tea Shops for 20 Years in NYC (Episode 245): https://talkingtaiwan.com/bubble-tea-sam-from-quickly-to-coco-running-bubble-tea-shops-for-20-years-in-nyc-ep-245/
LISTEN to Episode 252: Love in Taipei: Our Interview with Award Winning Film Director Arvin Chen HERE
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