AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Every week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. The latest guest on the podcast, director Celine Song, appreciates a good love triangle. Her debut film "Past Lives" and her latest movie "Materialists" both feature a woman trying to choose between two potential romantic partners. Song says there's a reason she's always focused on love as a subject.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
CELINE SONG: I believe that love is something that always troubles me, you know? And I think that that's really the reason why I get so interested in it, because I feel like I always have to make something that makes me feel like I can learn something from it.
CHANG: Celine Song spoke to Rachel Martin on NPR's Wild Card podcast, and she told Martin that the signs that she would become a filmmaker were there from childhood.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
RACHEL MARTIN: What's a story your family always tells about you?
SONG: There's a home video of me, where I'm at a family event, and I'm very young. I think I'm, like, 6, 7, something very young.
MARTIN: Yeah.
SONG: And I think that I was, like, so aware of where the camera is. I think that I literally am trying to get the adults to pay attention to this camcorder. And I think I'm literally...
MARTIN: Oh, interesting.
SONG: ...Going, like, everybody look at the camcorder. Everybody look at the camera. Insistently. I think that would be really the right one. It's like...
MARTIN: Isn't that weird?
SONG: It's so funny. I mean, I...
MARTIN: And I...
SONG: ...Think about it all the time (laughter).
MARTIN: It's like you didn't - you were directing, even then?
SONG: Yeah, I was kind of like, guys camera's on set. Let's roll. You know?
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: Stop messing around, people.
SONG: Stop messing around. And I'm so young in it. And I just feel like I'm already, like, trying to, like, boss these adults around, you know?
MARTIN: Was that sort of your MO in your family? Were you bossy?
SONG: I think I'm - I've been bossy all my life.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
SONG: You know? I'm the eldest daughter. I think that, you know, I'm very in charge. Like, you know, like, I, like, learned English. I was ESL, and I learned English. And a part of that is that, like, I learned very fast because I wanted to survive and boss people around, I think.
MARTIN: Yeah.
SONG: You know?
MARTIN: What - how old were you when your family emigrated to Canada?
SONG: Oh, when I was like, 12, 13, something like that?
MARTIN: OK.
SONG: Yeah.
MARTIN: I wonder if being in observer mode...
SONG: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...Was a safe place for you, too - like, landing in a new culture. And directors and filmmakers are always observing things, and maybe you got that from that experience, too. Like, if you didn't feel a part of something, maybe it felt safer to just sit and look at.
SONG: Well, I wonder because, I mean, I'm not necessarily sure if it was I got to observe because a part of being different than other people and then, like, not being great at English is that you're actually center of attention in some ways, right?
MARTIN: Yeah.
SONG: Because it's, like, everybody's looking at you. But I do think that it helped me figure out, like, how to read a situation. Like, I feel like...
MARTIN: Yeah.
SONG: ...It forces you to be a very good listener 'cause you're just...
MARTIN: Yeah.
SONG: ...Trying to read the room...
MARTIN: Yeah.
SONG: ...And understand the power dynamic in the room.
MARTIN: Yeah.
SONG: Right? Which I think is - of course, helps me so much in directing.
MARTIN: Do you guys get that video out? Like, when you get together with your family, does everyone play the video of...
SONG: (Laughter) No.
MARTIN: ...Celine directing when she was, like, 4?
SONG: No. I mean, I...
MARTIN: No?
SONG: ...Feel like I saw it once recently.
MARTIN: It was enough.
SONG: Yeah.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
SONG: It's very embarrassing.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
CHANG: And you can watch that full conversation with Celine Song by following Wild Card with Rachel Martin on YouTube. Celine Song's movie "Materialists" is out now.
(SOUNDBITE OF ADRIAN YOUNGE SONG, "STEP BEYOND (FEAT. BILAL & LAETITIA SADIER)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
