That astonishing realism is basically the results of Wang pouring a lot of his personal life straight into Dìdi. Chris’s home is Wang’s precise childhood dwelling within the Bay Space, full with a period-accurate Jack’s Model sticker nonetheless seen in his bed room. (The band’s frontman Andrew McMahon DM’d Wang to thank him for the inclusion after a good friend noticed Dìdi at Sundance, the place it gained the coveted Viewers Award. “That was so sick,” Wang stated. “I used to be like, ‘Dude, All the things In Transit was my favourite album of all time.’”) Chris’s grandmother, in the meantime, is performed by Wang’s real-life grandmother, Chang Li Hua, a first-time actress who additionally starred in his Oscar-nominated documentary brief Năi Nai & Wài Pó.
“There is a scene within the brief that at all times strikes me,” Wang stated, “and it is simply Wài Pó sitting there rocking backwards and forwards. There’s a lot ache in her eyes, however she’s so youthful and charming. And that basically planted the seeds of: Ought to we simply solid certainly one of them for the function? It simply began this joke with Wài Pó of, ‘Hey, would you think about enjoying the grandma in Dìdi?’ And he or she was like, ‘No, no, no, no.’ After which finally it bought nearer to it and he or she stated, ‘Properly, if you happen to’re that assured in me, I am going to do it.’ It actually felt like a swing that might have been a miss, but when it labored, it will be a house run.” (Spoiler alert: Wài Pó threatens to stroll away with your complete film.)
With a view to nail the mechanics and vernacular of the film’s era-specific social media, Wang was pressured to enterprise into the primordial depths of his Fb profile. “The identical means you may play me a music by The Academy Is… 20 years from now and I’ll nonetheless know all of the lyrics, that’s form of how I’m with AIM and MySpace and early Fb—it’s all simply form of locked again right here,” Wang stated, tapping his temple. “If I see it and one thing does not look proper, I’ll comprehend it’s not fairly the factor I bear in mind. The great factor at the very least about Fb is you could actually simply search—I’d go on individuals’s partitions and ship my pals screenshots of their cringey statuses from 2007. They have been like, Sean, are you able to cease?”
From there, Wang was capable of paint a particular portrait of every character’s texting type: “How does Chris discuss? Does he do a ‘U’ or ‘Y-O-U’? And for [Chris’s crush] Madi, the way in which that women kind was this huge factor—that they had a persona to it. Is she a backwards smiley face particular person? Does she misspell issues or is she a grammar freak?”
And given the significance of music to the film, Wang additionally compiled playlists to flesh out each character’s tastes. “Madi’s most likely this Fueled By Ramen scene lady,” he stated. “Her favourite bands are Panic! At The Disco, Paramore, All Time Low, We The Kings, Dashboard. [Chris’s older sister] Vivian was somewhat bit extra deep within the emo world, the place she most likely listens to Underoath, but additionally listens to Paramore, and possibly additionally listens to Chiodos.” (Vivian, Wang instructed me, was named after an in depth household good friend who launched him to chill music as a child and helped supply posters for Dìdi’s manufacturing design. “She was like, ‘You bought to have an Underoath poster in there.’ And I bear in mind we put it up and folks on set have been like, ‘That is somewhat scary trying. What is that?’ I used to be like, ‘Don’t fret about it. Individuals who know will know.’”)
