If only “After Yang” were made after Donald Trump‘s presidency.
The Kogonada film, which was critically ranked as one of the best movies of 2022, debuted at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival before playing in the Spotlight section at Sundance. The film centers on family’s android Yang (Justin H. Min), whose malfunctions lead to a philosophical debate as the parents, played by Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith, reconnect with their own humanity.
Iranian-French “Extraction” actress Golshifteh Farahani revealed during a TikTok video for Elle that she was originally cast in the female lead role, but due to President Trump’s travel ban, Turner-Smith replaced her.
When asked by Elle if she had ever been “disappointed” to lose a role, Farahani responded, “Yes, I have lost two roles that both of them, they hurt me really badly. One of them was ‘Prince of Persia.’ It was when the government of Iran took my passport and they didn’t let me leave and that led to my exile. It was the most traumatic time of my life. And then the second one, again, it was another movie with Colin Farrell that I was supposed to do.”
She added, “I was so looking forward to working with him and because of President Trump. I have a French passport but my visa took much longer than it used to take because I am born in Iran and I also couldn’t make it to that shooting. So two times for political reasons, I lost two roles. Maybe I’m not attached to those stories but the fact that I couldn’t go because of politics hurt me very badly.”
“After Yang” director Kogonada told IndieWire that the subject of race was key to the portrayal of AI Yang.
“This robot was a construct of Asian-ness. I could deeply relate to this idea that he wasn’t really Asian, but he existed as an Asian and wanted that as well,” Kogonada said. “And maybe he was too, you know, maybe he was like just getting to the essence of what that even means. It was such a short, lovely, well-told story, but I could see the promise of it being the kind of film that I would want to watch. It had that sort of seed and promise of something that felt like it could be cinematic. And I also loved a sci-fi world that was domestic. The stakes weren’t about saving the world, but it was about getting through a day, and getting through weeks and months.”
