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Greg Pak talks about putting Robots in front of the camera

November 8, 2002
by Jonathan W. Hickman

Greg Pak on the set with Sab Shimono

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An Interview with Greg Pak

by Jonathan W. Hickman

Greg Pak’s Robot Stories is modern science fiction, which recognizes that special effects alone do not a great film make. Focusing on four very personal human stories, his film is small drama in a high tech environment. Pak’s futuristic visions are expertly crafted on a limited budget.

Greg and I exchanged emails.
EI: Why Robots? Are you a fan of science fiction?
GREG PAK: I'm a sucker for genre pictures in general - I'll watch all kinds of awful science fiction, just as I'm always happy to watch a Western or gangster movies. I even had fun at "The Postman." But the kind of science fiction I most love uses fantastic settings as a venue for exploring utterly human stories. My childhood hero was Ray Bradbury. I remember how excited I was when I learned he was born on August 22 - I was born on the 23rd.

And why robots? 'Cause robots are cool. On a deeper level, robots are enormously compelling to me as a writer because the questions which surround the idea of artificial intelligence and digital consciousness are the same fundamental questions which have always dogged us: "Who am I? What is my purpose here? Who are you? What is this thing you humans call love? Why am I crying?" Thinking about robots gives us a fresh and compelling way to think about the human condition, which is what "Robot Stories" is all about.
EI:It's hard to make a science fiction drama, isn't it? Was that a problem in getting investment in the film?

GP: One of the enduring legacies of "Star Wars" is that when people think science fiction, they tend to think lasers and dogfights in outerspace. When we were working on "Robot Stories," we coined the phrase "domestic science fiction." We're telling stories set in the future about couples and families struggling with intimate relationships. A few nifty robots, but not an X-wing in sight.

But we're a low budget movie - no one ever expected us to be a space opera. Everyone involved in the film, from cast to crew to investors, got the film immediately, on its own terms. The investors never asked where the Wookies were - they just read the screenplay, loved the stories, and put up the cash.

EI: I noticed that the surroundings in the short episode My Robot Baby were contemporary and not really futuristic. Were you concerned that the contemporary setting might damage the futuristic narrative?

GP: I never envisioned wildly futuristic looking sets. I wrote a screenplay we could produce on a reasonable budget in which each story would have one loopy element that stood out - the robot baby in My Robot Baby, the toys in The Robot Fixer, the androids in Machine Love, and the digital projections in Clay. I figured that if the production design was otherwise fairly straightforward, the fantastic elements would have that much more impact. Also, the film is set in the near future, but it's about normal people. And normal people in the year 2010 or 2020 will still be sleeping in beds, cooking with stoves, sitting on couches, and, despite what some gurus say, using home computers.

My production designer Shane Klein and I thought about redesigning the things that will change - for example, trying to envision what a home computer would look like ten years from now. But we frankly didn't have the budget. Our solution at times was to go aggressively retro - in the Machine Love segment, the android Archie uses a personal computer circa 1990 with a green-on-black display. It gives the picture a bit of stylized timelessness which I hope will keep it from becoming dated as the years go by.

EI:Obviously, your budget was limited here and you were forced to work with readily available set pieces, instead of creating a futuristic world like what was done with, say, Minority Report. Was this intentional or just a financial necessity? Would you have done it differently with more money?

GP: I'm very happy with the look of the film - I think it serves the emotional stories we're telling. But if we'd had millions, I would have played with a few elements... The personal computers in My Robot Baby would just be a keyboard with a paper-thin floating screen above it. We'd

actually get to look inside the robots in the repair scenes in My Robot Baby and Machine Love. The x-ray which the doctor shows John in Clay would be an animated digital blueprint floating in space. And in the exterior shots, sleek electric cars would hum down the streets and airships would whir through the sky. Wheee! Maybe twenty years from now for the special edition re-release...

EI:I guess if you had it your way, you would put all your money in the acting, right?

GP: Nothing's more important than the actors - if the performances don't work, the film dies, no matter how gloriously it's shot and designed. Kim Ima, producer and casting director, pulled together a fantastic cast for Robot Stories even given our low budget - I was thrilled to be working with people like Sab Shimono, Tamlyn Tomita, and Wai Ching Ho, all of whom jumped on the opportunity to sink their teeth into meatier roles than Asian American actors typically get offered. And we had a slew of enormously talented young New York theater actors who were amazing to work with. But it would have been nice to have more money for casting - not necessarily to attract better actors, but to pay our actors better.

EI:Did you have to hit the gym to play the robot "Archie?" I think that was you, right?

GP: That was indeed me, marching shirtless through the streets of Manhattan. I think I did a few days of sit ups beforehand, but mostly I just got into shape through panic and stress. I've always been pretty wiry, but I'm skinnier in Robot Stories than I've been at any other time in my adult life, which says something about the demands of making my first feature. And here's a little secret - the proper lighting can do wonders for a person's abs.

EI:Is it easier to make a collection of short films or just one continuous film? I'm a fan of Altman's Short Cuts that really plays like a collection of shorts.

GP: It sounds like it should be easier to make an anthology film, but it's probably harder. Since we were telling four stories, we had four times the cast and locations of many low budget feature films. And as we bring the film out to festivals and look for distribution, we face greater challenges - since we're telling four stories, we're giving people four chances not to love the film. Although we're also giving folks four chances to fall in love, too, right?

EI:Why a completely Asian cast? I guess your emphasis is on promotion of Asian-American projects.

GP: On the surface, the stories in Robot Stories could star people of any ethnicity. And people of all ethnicities are enjoying the film. But when I wrote the stories, I always saw the lead characters as Asian American.

The film never mentions race. But the characters come from a specific cultural space - for example, I think there's something very Asian American about the fierce silences of the mother in The Robot Fixer and John in Clay. And I always wanted to cast half Asian actors as the robots in Machine Love - I think when multinational conglomerates actually succeed in making androids, they'll give them racially ambiguous features in hopes of having them superficially blend into as many environments as possible.

So casting the film with actors of Asian descent made total sense to me dramatically. But yes, there's also principal involved. My producer/casting director Kim Ima and I are both mixed race Asian actors, and we were thrilled to be able to give meaty roles to twenty other Asian American actors. Even the best known Asian American actors have a tough time finding roles outside of the geisha/delivery boy/dragonlady/scientist/martial artist/evil Japanese businessman sterotypes. These are great actors, and they deserve the chance to play leading roles which don't have anything to do with ethnic stereotypes.

Finally, it's worth noting that Kim and I made a very conscious effort to cast the film with a wide variety of ethnicities. America is a thoroughly multiethnic nation, becoming more so every year, and films set in the future should reflect that reality. Not only people of different ethnicities, but people of mixed ethnicity. Interesting factoid -- Robot Stories has five mixed race cast members.

EI:What are some other examples of Asian American films our readers should see?

GP: Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow is shaping up to be the highest profile Asian American feature film of the last few years. It was picked up by MTV Films at the last Sundance Film Festival and is scheduled for theatrical release in January. It's a slick, fun, and controversial movie about amoral suburban teens in California. Folks should definitely get out and see it -- if Better Luck Tomorrow does well, distributors will be more likely to pick up other Asian American features.

Another strong Asian American film on the festival circuit right now is Eric Byler's Charlotte Sometimes, which will screen at the end of the year on the Sundance Channel. And Grace Lee's short film Barrier Device has been winning every award in sight - I predict it'll be nominated for an Oscar next year.

What all of these films (and Robot Stories) have in common is that they star Asian American actors, but the stories aren't limited to so-called Asian American issues. They're compelling stories which can be appreciated by all audiences. So go see 'em!

EI: What was the camera you used in filming Robot Stories? Was it the Sony DSR or what? How many were used and what problems did you experience? Would you like to move to shooting on film?

GP: We shot single camera with a PAL Sony DSR-500, then blew up to 35mm film. The final print looks amazing, better than I ever dreamed. But yes, I'm very much looking forward to shooting on film - particularly for Rio Chino, which is a Western, with big outdoor locations... I want that glorious, organic film feel for that picture.
EI:Any plans for more Robot Stories. What is next on the horizon?

GP: My next project is Rio Chino, a feature about a Chinese gunslinger and a Mexican heroine in the American Old West. The screenplay just won the IFP Market's Pipedream Screenwriting Award. We're raising money, looking for cast, praying for rain...

I haven't written any more robot stories, but I do have outlines for several short horror scripts, more Creepshow than Bradbury. Working title: The Multi Cult Monster Show." What do you think?

EI:Sounds like you have a title that would find its way to Mystery Science 3000. I think that another Creepshow type film would be fun. What are some of the story-lines?

GP: Well, I shouldn't say too much - haven't finished writing them all. But there's one story involving a Chupacabras - remember those? The Goat Sucker winged vampires which people were sighting in Mexico and Puerto Rico and Texas? And there's another story called The Shadowman in which a little boy communicates with the ghost of his father through the shadows in his house. And a story about a woman whose life crises lead her to start playing in the subway -- where she begins to bond with the rats... Eerie, huh?

EI:WOAH! I can dig it.
For more about Greg's shooting strategies and tape-to-film transfer, check out his article on the subject by clicking here.

Jonathan W. Hickman

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