‘Joy Ride’: The Asian Squad Raising Hell and Crushing Stereotypes

The new movie Joy Ride, a riotously funny comedy about a group of four Asian-American pals — Audrey (Ashley Park of Emily in Paris), Kat (Stephanie Hsu, Oscar-nominated star of Everything Everywhere All at Once), Lolo (Sherry Cola), and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) — who head to China to try to help Audrey close a business deal (and find her birth mother), was originally titled Joy Fuck Club. It served as a recognition of those that came before them in the Asian cinema canon, but also a reminder of just how gleefully chaotic this road-trip adventure is. After all, Crazy Rich Asians scribe Adele Lim’s feature directorial debut boasts everything from cocaine getting shoved up people’s butts and a three-way sex scene (that the cast has come to refer to as the “double-munch”) to a full-frontal shot at the end of a performance of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” that will have you in hysterics.

“We’re standing on the shoulders of those that came before us,” offers Cola. “We owe them everything.”

They describe themselves as “four pieces of a puzzle”: Audrey is the by-the-book lawyer gunning for a promotion who’s never had sex with an Asian guy; Kat’s a famous soapy actress in China who’s crushing on her chaste co-star, thereby hiding her kinky past (she once had a three-way with two Jonas brothers); Lolo is Audrey’s right-hand woman who talks a big game, sexually and otherwise; and Deadeye is Lolo’s weirdo cousin who loves BTS and is just excited to be there getting some friend time in with these gals.

Ever since its premiere at SXSW, the film, produced by Seth Rogen’s production company Point Grey, has garnered comparisons to The Hangover and Bridesmaids. And Rolling Stone had the pleasure of sitting down with the four leads of Joy Ride over lunch in Manhattan to discuss their trailblazing new movie.

You all come off as such a convincing group of best friends in the film. What sort of bonding experiences did you have before shooting?
Ashley Park: We really only had one chemistry read with the four of us, over Zoom. And we met in person, all four of us, before our first table read. That’s when we figured out how to arrange “WAP.” That was our first creative collaboration. They all just came over to my backyard, and we were like, OK, let’s do this.

[All four begin hitting the table and clapping while singing, “We will… we will… WAP YOU!” in the style of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”]

Sabrina Wu: You had to do that beat because you couldn’t hold any other beat.

Park: And then we realized with Sabrina, like, oh, you really beat box.

Wu: I wouldn’t say that. Out of respect to the beatboxing community, I would say I’m extremely mid.

Out of respect to Rahzel.
Park: Every place we go, if we can get a meal like this in together, Sherry is the queen of ordering like it’s our first and last supper ever. 

Sherry Cola: It’s always very extreme with me. Right when we got to Vancouver, we did a lot of Thai food, a lot of Asian food. For two weeks in Vancouver before we started production, we hung out in each other’s hotel rooms, playing games, and rehearsing voluntarily. We’re all A+ students in that way. We crafted the “WAP” orchestration before the table read.

Wu: We would rehearse scenes sometimes after a full day of shooting if we were nervous about the next day.

Park: We discovered early on, and I wasn’t as familiar with this process, but to get this genuine comedy in this way, Point Grey uses alt-lines. So, you do a scene, you learn it, and as you’re doing it, our amazing writers in the tent would think up different versions of every single line. Then, we’d do different versions of every line.

Cola: After experiencing Point Grey’s method of alts, I think we’ve become sharper comedic actors in that process. Along with the screenwriters Cherry [Chevapravatdumrong] and Teresa [Hsiao], there were these punch-up writers on set who punched up jokes as we filmed it.

Park: Literally, we would do ten different words in a spot. By the end of the first week, most of the stuff in the movie isn’t even those jokes, but the improv that came after those jokes.

Now that you’ve mentioned “WAP,” we’ve gotta talk about it. How long did it take you to nail down “WAP” when you were practicing it in Ashley’s backyard? And did you have any say in your K-pop costumes?
Park: Adele [Lim] wrote this awesome letter to Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B saying, “Listen, you’ve really reclaimed your sexuality and empowered yourselves with this song. We would love to do the same, if you give us your blessing.”

Stephanie Hsu: We would film Monday through Friday and have dance rehearsals on Saturday. And we shot that the last week of filming.

Cola: We went to the recording studio, laid the track, and we were so honored to use the song. Beverly Huynh, our wardrobe head, was so collaborative, and allowed us to fulfill our K-pop fantasies as Brownie Tuesday.

Hsu: I knew I wanted the blonde wig, and then I saw that Ashley had the blonde wig, and I was like, “Well, she’s number one on the call sheet, so…”

Park: And I was like, “This is Stephanie!” Because it completely made sense for Kat.

It’s a very funny counterpoint to conservative troll Ben Shapiro’s rendition of “WAP.”
Park: Oh, no!

Wu: It was so funny, because all the comments were like, “Yo, I don’t think he can… pleasure his wife?” Because he was basically being like, “What kind of pussy is wet?!” And everyone was like, “Wait, what? Don’t you have a wife?!”

Was there a moment where you felt like this was a vibe and you were all really in sync?
Wu: It was at the table read for me. It was still in the Covid-lockdown period, so there was an executive every ten feet in a mask, and it was outdoors in [the Point Grey] parking lot, and it was an impossible place to kill. And we became a four-person a cappella group, and it was electric. Imagine doing “WAP” a cappella! We were improvising and so in the moment. I was like, no offense, but I think this might be really special.

Cola: As we got deeper into the process of filming, it was clear that this was a forever friendship — on and off screen. We developed this telepathic language of just eye contact, nodding and sound effects, and we knew exactly what the other was talking about.

Park: I was so nervous at the table read that I almost blacked out, but in reading all our parts, I found myself being so proud when someone nailed a moment or really found something. I felt genuine support and like we were all listening to each other. Have you guys thought about this? Because we haven’t really debriefed since doing all that stuff. But people say we have great chemistry, and I never even thought about our chemistry, because it was always such a given. It was immediately easy.

Stephanie, there is a big reveal for your character at the end of the “WAP” number [a shocking vagina tattoo]. How did you pull that off, and were there different tattoo ideas being floated?
Hsu: There was a body double audition process that I was invited to, and it was very important that we chose someone who was comfortable in their skin, because that is a very courageous and exposing act. We chose this woman who was very sex-positive and awesome.

There was an audition process you sat in on?
Hsu: I did sit in, and I was grateful for that. I think they showed me a few different stencils, and that’s the one we chose. And after, when I had first seen the rough cut, I had a really hard time with that scene and felt really vulnerable and nervous for all the memes of my face with the tattoo. I expressed that to Adele [Lim] and Point Grey, and they were really kind. They invited me into the editing suite and we basically built that moment together — the timing, and that it was a quick reveal without lingering on it so long that it started to feel like the butt of the joke, or the pussy of the joke. [Laughs]

It plays really well.
Hsu: It does. I think we figured out the sweet spot of time, duration. I come from a comedy background and hung out with all boys growing up, so I was around a lot of perverted people who were unhinged. When I read it on the page, it didn’t really strike me as something wild. And suddenly, when we were shooting it, it wasn’t abstract. You’re like, “The makeup artist is gonna put this on a body, and they’re gonna shoot that body!”

I recently spoke with your pal Bowen Yang, by the way, who had lovely things to say about you and your time together at NYU.
Hsu: Aw! I love him so much. It’s really wild that we get to be on this journey in tandem, together. It’s really nuts.

With the drug-binge sequence on the train, what were you all snorting?
Cola: It was a B-12 vitamin, and I was actually down to take it for real, but they put this device in my hand that was disguised as a rolled-up fifty-dollar bill and it’s a tube up my sleeve. There was a lot of tube work, actually! The puking scene involved a tube. All of us really found our moments in that train car. We just went in there, played, and let loose. We laughed our asses off.

Park: It was our last day of filming! And Meredith [Hagner] was such a pro. Everyone who came to the set cameo-wise was so excited for us and brought it.

There’s also the hilarious three-way sequence.
Hsu: We call it the double-munch.

Park: Double-munch box!

Wu: The Munchables!

It’s a very busy scene with three people, and it’s hard to make a scene like that so damn funny. But you pulled it off.
Park: Editing is crucial to this, and that montage has changed around a lot. I’d never done an intimacy scene, and then to go from never having done one to that — and we spent an entire day on it — having an intimacy coordinator, and thinking of it as choreography [helped], and Chris Pang was so lovely, because you have to stay in certain positions for a while. You have to feel comfortable enough to go big for the comedy of it. My pasties kept on falling down and unsticking, so at one point I was like, “Chris, just put your hands [on my boobs] so I can act. It’s fine! I’m comfortable with it.” If Adele [Lim], Cherry [Chevapravatdumrong] and Teresa [Hsiao] weren’t the ones who’d written it and were editing it, I would have felt a lot less comfortable. I knew they weren’t going to be using my body as the butt of the joke. There were some things in that sequence that were left on the cutting-room floor that I’m upset about. There was one point where it got all quiet, I’m on the toilet by myself, and they ask me if I’m OK, and I’m like, “I don’t want a UTI!”

Were there any other wild scenes that were left on the cutting-room floor?
Cola: There’s a deleted scene that’s going to be in the bonus DVD extras—

Hsu: —That’s going to be in your eulogy!

Cola: It’s a moment with Lolo and Kat at my character’s grandma’s house, and I’m not going to give away too much because you’ve gotta buy the DVD, but… it leans into that sexual tension. It’s very special, very heartfelt, and I personally think it’s hilarious.

Hsu: The hatred between Lolo and Kat throughout the entire movie is a hatred that is purely based in sexual tension, and there’s a scene where you almost see it bubble… right to the lip. And someone — one of us — is afraid.

Cola: The joke is that I’m all flirt and no squirt! We’re saving it for the sequel.

How do you think the film upends Asian stereotypes? This film is going to garner comparisons to The Hangover, for example, which has a problematic Asian character in it.
Park: What I’ve been thinking about is that, in terms of stereotypes, the four of us have never wanted to be contained to a certain box or label, and I feel like trying to break stereotypes is giving the verbiage and the power to the people who are making the stereotypes. For me, it’s been about finding the truth in the character or a person, and then if it makes people see Asian people a different way. It’s about, how can we expose the different facets of a single person?

Hsu: It’s also the gift of having Adele [Lim], Cherry [Chevapravatdumrong] and Teresa [Hsiao] at the helm of it. They were in control and keeping us safe. They know what it’s like to be the butt of the joke. They allowed us to surrender into making fun of ourselves with full gusto. My press catchphrase has been, “Instead of being the butt of the joke, we’re four butts and four jokes.”

Park, Cola, and Wu: Oh!

Hsu: Or four butts and endless jokes. That was such a key component of why we didn’t even have to work hard in “upending” stereotypes, because that was not the focus of the film. They just allowed us to be ourselves and have at it.

Wu: I am glad that we perpetuated so many wonderful white people stereotypes in our film. The train sequence, Ashley’s boss…

Park: The kid on the playground! What’s funny is to watch white people laugh at it just as hard as Asian people.

Two recent films really seemed to shift the industry’s perspective of what an “Asian movie” could be: Crazy Rich Asians and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Crazy Rich Asians showed that you can make a studio romcom with an all-Asian cast and it could be a global box-office hit, while Everything Everywhere righted a bunch of Oscar wrongs, since Asian actors had constantly been overlooked for Oscars. No one from the casts of Crouching Tiger and Parasite were even nominated.
Park: I wouldn’t even put either of those films in the “Asian film” category. Crazy Rich Asians was a beautiful romantic comedy that everyone went to go watch, and Everything Everywhere All at Once was the little engine that could and contained incredible performances, regardless of if they were Asian. Adele [Lim], Cherry [Chevapravatdumrong] and Teresa [Hsiao] — along with Point Grey — were excited to see Asian faces and people being lifted in that way, but also wanted this to be in the ranks of great comedies.

Hsu: If I were to zoom out, put my professorial hat on and look at the last ten years, there’s been incredible Asian cinema that people know about. But in this moment of us breaking these PC barriers, I feel like Crazy Rich Asians was so significant in its box office success because the “market” needed to know that we were valuable and that we could bring people into the movie theater, which is so unfortunate that people didn’t think that. It all of a sudden made us sexy. It made Asian men feel so sexy. It completely did a very Hollywood box office pop version of an American movie, but it just had Asian faces. I think that with that success, Everything Everywhere got to be centered around an Asian family. There were moments where maybe it wasn’t going to be an Asian family, and then Dan Kwan was like, “This is the story and the one that I want to tell.” Because of the success of Crazy Rich Asians, I think people had something to point to. Every space that opens can open up more for other people. The great thing about Joy Ride after Everything Everywhere, because right after the Oscars we were at SXSW premiering our movie, was that in the spectrum of Asian-American filmmaking, I love that this little indie film solidified its place in the quilt of cinema, and Asians in the fabric of cinema, and what comes next is this raunchy R-rated comedy that completely flips any perception of a “model-minority” expectation. It’s like, yeah, we can win Oscars and we can be disgusting.

Park: And the difference between Parasite, where none of the actors got nominated, and then something like Squid Game, and now Beef, with Steven [Yeun] and Ali [Wong].

Cola: This year, in general, has been so grand for us. Beef, Everything Everywhere, Shortcomings. It’s about Asians in day-to-day relationships. Shortcomings is Asians sitting around and talking. They’re just human beings that happen to be Asian. As debauched and dirty as our film is, it’s still done so intentionally and tastefully.

Wu: I also write for TV as well, and I’ve felt that when you want to talk about people of color and marginalized people, I feel this unspoken pressure that it has to be very smart and auteur. It needs this very specific voice.

You feel the standard is higher.
Wu: Yeah. I think that’s a pressure that people of color feel. Our film isn’t dumb, but it’s not shooting for that feel of proving that we are excellent. We’re going for something that’s raw and funny and dumb, in a smart way. It’s accessible. And I think that’s the new space that we’re carving out with this movie. It’s Superbad. It’s The Hangover. It’s us being insane. Teresa [Hsiao] has said many times as a joke that this movie will “bring dishonor to us all,” but that is something that’s been very hard in this industry — to sell something with people of color where we don’t have to be the smartest, most artistic Asian person you’ve ever met; like, the voice of a generation. We’re just awesome creators that are gonna hit with Middle America and all these other spots.

Park: To play a flawed character is so wonderful because then you get to have growth and an arc.

Cola: I think we’re learning to give ourselves permission to make mistakes.

What are the lasting memories you’ll take away from the Joy Ride experience?
Park: It’s hard to remember the specifics of scenes sometimes for me. Not to be cheesy, but there were moments where someone would say something funny and we’re all laughing, and I’d never felt so at ease. Those kernels of feelings throughout.

Cola: We recently watched some behind-the-scenes footage, and just to watch ourselves on set all hysterically laughing and singing songs. We were all just so happy to be there.

Hsu: I will remember the group FaceTimes, all the meals that we’ve had together, and specifically convincing Sabrina Wu to stick coke up my butt under my dress.

Wu: Literally, that was the peak of my life. It’s been all downhill from there.

From Rolling Stone US.