Fresh off her Oscar-nominated turn inA24’sThe Whale,Hong Chaucontinues to take Hollywood by storm with a new Netflix series that premieres March 23. Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk,The Night Agentis a gritty action-thriller centering on a low-level FBI Agent who works in the basement of the White House, manning a phone that never rings — until the night that it does. This propels him into a fast-moving and dangerous conspiracy that ultimately leads all the way to the Oval Office.
And that’s where Chau’s character comes into play as the female U.S. President’s Chief of Staff — with secrets of her own. Chau has starred innumerous awards-caliber projectsover the years, includingThe Menu,Watchmen,andHomecoming. On April 7, we’ll see her co-star with Michelle Williams in yetanother A24 filmtitledShowing Up. But for now, it’s a treat seeing her in action inThe Night Agent, donning silver hair and a handful of tricks up her sleeve.
Tackling a ‘Multifaceted’ Character
MW: You play such a cool character inThe Night Agent. There’s definitely more to her than what meets the eye. What was it aboutThe Night Agentthat first drew you to the project?
Related:A24’s Problemista: Plot, Cast, Release Date and Everything Else We Know
In our show, we have a female president. And that hasn’t happened in real life yet. But it was really fun to get to imagine that and sort of to prepare ourselves for when that does happen. And [my character] Diane Farr is the President’s Chief of Staff. And that means that she’s the person who’s out there doing the wheeling and dealing in order to get her agenda done. So there was a lot of different players in our story, and I really relied on our writers to sort of remind us what the stakes were, in any given scene… All of that stuff is really interesting for the audience to sort of attempt to figure out and keep track of. But it’s really difficult for the actors because you’re shooting out of sequence. You really have to know, “OK, at this point, does my character know this?” And you ask those types of questions on set. And so thankfully, they were there. I really enjoyed that, that piecing together of the puzzle.
And the character, you’re right, she is very multifaceted. She’s not an easy-to-nail-down woman. I think that’s because it’s difficult to say that anybody is good or bad on the show, you know? It’s just a lot of people with a lot of different interests, and they’re just trying to survive and trying to get things done. I think everybody on the show has a different shade of gray, you know?
Getting Opportunities Is a ‘Group Effort’
MW: My wife and I loved seeing you recognized at this year’s Oscars and now doing a big genre project likeThe Night Agent. What does it mean to you to be helping to represent the AAPI community in Hollywood?
Chau:I think it has to be a group effort. I can want and wish as much as I want to, you know? But it really takes people to hire me and to think creatively. I’m excited to get the invitation from Shawn Ryan to come and join his show. I think that he also did that in terms of people below the line as well — a lot of our writers, it was their first time stepping into that writer-producer position and to be staffed on a show like this. I think that sort of experience is absolutely necessary, but you need somebody to give you that experience and that opportunity. So I really appreciated that Shawn Ryan was really walking the walk and sort of being magnanimous, and as somebody who has had a lot of success and experience, to extend that goodwill to others who are really looking for bigger opportunities. Also, our two leads [Gabriel Basso and Luciane Buchanan], they’re really young. This show is like their first big show, and headlining it is really meaningful to them and their careers. So it was just a good group of people and a good situation for me to be a part of.
