Jim Russell Interviews Timothy Linh Bui
By Jim Russell
June 8, 2002

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JR: Tai's descriptions of America did a lot to remove some of the trepidation his fellow refugees may have felt.

TB: Correct. A lot of the Vietnamese had a lot of fear, because as long as they were around Camp Pendleton they were around familiar faces. To them, they believed they had one foot in America, but also one foot still in Vietnam as this bridge. Once they left, they may never see their friends or families again because at that time people were being separated, large families were being torn apart to different sponsors in different states. So when Tai comes back and tells them what it's like out there, it was really to help the Vietnamese move on and not want to stay in Camp Pendleton, because that's what a lot of people were having problems with: not with finding sponsors, but [with] not wanting to leave because they were afraid.

JR: I understand there were some very moving moments on the set from some in the Vietnamese community who served as extras in the film upon returning to the site of where they first set foot on American soil.

TB: When I was scouting [locations], I knew that to really do this film right I really had to go back to where it all happened...the mess hall, even the soil where we put up the tents is exactly where it all happened 27 years ago. When it really hit me was during break from one of the shots while we were filming and I walked arounf the corner in the tent city and this group of men [was] sitting around, kind of bonding, and reminiscing how, "I stood here on this day when I heard this," and really reliving that moment. And actually, one of the men had a tear in his eye. I didn't come up to talk to him, but just from a distance it really hit me, and it was like, "wow, this is how important this film really is," and it really put that mark on it for me [that] the responsibility I had was greater than [what] I started with.

JR: This may be arguably the highest profile role for Hiep Thi Le since Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth, and perhaps only the second exposure for American audiences to the talented Don Duong, who starred in Three Seasons. Does he ever NOT turn in a heartbreakingly earnest performance? He's got this remarkable quiet dignity that he brings to his roles.

TB: Yeah, he's amazing. I don't know what it is. The camera loves him and he just has this internal sensibility, I don't know. He's just magic. We just always like to work with him. And Hiep is amazing, too.

JR: Is Don residing in the U.S. now?

TB: He was staying here for a while, but he's back in Vietnam now. He went back to do a film, a French and Vietnamese co-production, with a popular Vietnamese director. And he did the Mel Gibson film We Were Soldiers, where he had the lead Vietnamese part.

JR: Your young actors in Green Dragon, Trung Nguyen and Jennifer Tran, are a true treasure, playing young Minh and his sister Anh. How was it to work with them to get them to grasp the experience you were depicting that took place a generation before they were even born?

TB: You know, I don't think they understood that aspect since they were so young. [The actor who plays] Minh, actually, spoke English better than he spoke Vietnamese, so it was trying to get him to memorize the Vietnamese dialogue that was a difficult task. But both kids, I found them in open [casting] call in San Jose out of a couple of hundred kids that we scanned through. He came in and he had this natural quality, the way he smiled, the way he was just curious and asked so many questions, his eyes full of wonder. We just felt he had this natural magic to him...He's very expressive, the way he looks and smiles. He totally pulls you in. I don't know how he does it, but I was lucky to find him.

JR: And your American actors in the film, including Forrest Whitaker (who co-produced the film) and Patrick Swayze, both turn in very heartfelt performances. Patrick does a great job inhabiting the role of Sgt. Jim Lance.

TB: Yeah, Patrick...you know a lot of people tell me when they see the film for the first time, when he first pops up, it takes them a second to realize it's Patrick Swayze.

JR: Timothy, the Bui brothers' name must by now represent a tremendous vision to the Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian communities. Is the response you and your brother have received from your film work almost overwhelming at times?

TB: The Vietnamese community has been extremely supportive of both films. With Three Seasons, we built kind of a name with that one, so when this film came out...it just recently opened in Los Angeles and Orange County, which has a huge Vietnamese population...the community really came out to support the film. Both the Vietnamese and the Asian-American community have been very supportive of our work.

Feedback and correspondence can be addressed to jim@cd1043.com. For more on Green Dragon, go to http://www.greendragonmovie.com/. For more on CD 104.3, Denver's New Home for Smooth Jazz, please visit www.cd1043.com.