It’s hard to remember a time when Gemma Chan wasn’t walking red carpets, leading fashion campaigns, or donning CGI supersuits for Marvel. But it wasn’t so long ago that she was a 20-something Oxford graduate, passing up a big law job offer to pursue acting instead.
Early forays into film and television (including a turn on Doctor Who, a must for any emerging British actor in the aughts and 2010s) crackled with nuance and restraint. But it was Crazy Rich Asians—the 2018 rom-com hit directed by Jon M. Chu—that made Chan’s steady energy her signature. Overtures from Marvel, Disney, and Studio Ghibli followed. The actor became an Eternal in Marvel’s post-Avengers take on Earth’s great protectors and the maternal center of Hayao Miyazaki’s sweeping The Boy and the Heron. Never easily satisfied, Chan felt the call of the art-house role.
At the dawn of her 40s, she found hers. In Josephine, a taut drama about the perils of parenting in an increasingly hostile world, Chan and Channing Tatum co-star as parents flailing to support their daughter after she witnesses a violent crime. At Sundance this past January, it snapped up both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize. Ahead of the film’s release on Nov. 20, Chan tells Chu about what happens when one reaches their limit, onscreen and off.
Jon M. Chu: Gemma, tell me about Josephine.
Gemma Chan: I was sent the script back in 2019. I had a meeting with Beth [de Araújo, the film’s writer-director] and loved her. I thought the movie was really bold. It’s a small miracle that it got made at all. Full financing for the film didn’t come in until three days into our shoot.
Chu: Watching you and Channing [Tatum] have those moments with that little girl felt so real and raw and truthful. I was discovering how to be a parent—or how not to be a parent—through watching you.
Chan: When I read the script, I was constantly asking myself, What would I do in this situation? You’ve got two parents who care about their daughter, but they have differing ideas on how to protect her. How do we help our young people come to terms with this world that is sadly so violent?
Chu: That’s what I love about everything you do. There is a quiet presence that says so much. How did you approach that role at first?
Chan: I was playing a character who’s based on Beth’s mom. She’s a dancer, so I had to do quite a bit of training for that role, which I threw myself into. I danced a little bit until I was 12 years old, but I’m seriously rusty. I was very nervous. I was like, “Are you serious? I’m in a film with Magic Mike, and you want me to dance? What are you even talking about?”
“My first acting job was a commercial for Bing, that old search engine! That paid for drama school.” —Gemma Chan
Chu: Did Channing give you any tips?
Chan: He was very sweet and said, “You’re gonna be completely fine.” I want to shout out Channing’s performance in the film. He reaches a level of vulnerability that he doesn’t always get the chance to show.
Chu: I could feel that. I’ve worked with Channing on Step Up 2: The Streets and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. I know him pretty well. I felt a very different energy from him in this and from you two together. I saw myself in both of you guys. What directors tend to bring out the best in you?
Chan: When you and I worked together, I saw you lead with such grace. That was not an easy shoot. We were on a tight budget in a very hot location. You were dealing with so much, but you never put that on your cast or crew. There was this idea in the past that people who are creative geniuses can get away with creating an atmosphere of fear. I don’t subscribe to that. You really showed me that it doesn’t have to be that way.
“There was this idea in the past that people who are creative geniuses can get away with creating an atmosphere of fear. I don’t subscribe to that.”—Gemma Chan
Chu: Is there a role that you haven’t explored yet that you’re really looking forward to one day?
Chan: There’s one person that I really hope to be able to play at some point, and that’s [the late actor] Anna May Wong. We are developing [a biopic]. David Henry Hwang is writing the script. She was ahead of her time, and I feel that she’s never properly gotten her due. Her story is fascinating to me. She was a third-generation Angeleno, but she constantly had to fight to be seen as American, as Asian American. She was outspoken. She was one of many children, very close to her family, but there were some ruptures there that she was constantly trying to mend. It’s really about the American dream. Who gets to call this country home? Who gets to be American? She was a badass.
Chu: People don’t know enough about her. But you’re going to change that. Now, take me back. What was your first acting job?
Chan: I did a commercial for Bing, that old search engine! That commercial paid for drama school. Honestly, I did anything and everything—I did bit parts, one-line parts. I did a lot of British TV. I did Doctor Who.
Chu: When you do a British production and an American production, do you feel a difference?
Chan: The budget. [Laughs]
Chu: Fair.
Chan: I have so much love for British TV. That is what I came up in, as well as theater. They take real risks.
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Photography by The Masons
Styling by Sam Ranger
Hair by Neil Moodie
Makeup by Francesca Brazzo
Nails by Michelle Class
Set Design by Josh Stovell
Lighting Direction by Okus Milsom
Digi Tech by Pawel Herman
Lead Production by Kit Pak-Poy
Production by Adam Wells
Styling Assistance by Emi Papanikola
Set Assistance by Benthe DeVries and Pablo López Bueno
Production Assistance by Amelia Heffernan
Lighting Assistance by Sophie Webster
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