“Casting was a challenging experience. Since my lead characters, Walter Benjamin and Frau May Wong are based on actual and historical figures. They should have certain visual resemblance to the actual persons at the same time they should have the acting ability to recreate the personas. As many actors auditioned for the parts, we had a difficult time narrowing down to the final two actors. We did hair and make-up test for the actors during the pre-production which turned out to be very helpful.
We did several rehearsals for the two lead actors before the shoot. Michael Leigh Cook who is a German native and works in both Berlin and New York City now, plays Walter Benjamin. H. Lynn Pai who grew up in both China and America, plays Anna May Wong. I worked closely with them to bring out their chemistry in the film.
During the days of the shoot, I focused on bringing out the best performance from all six actors to capture the essence of each character.”.
