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We've had some amazing ones and we've got a great one here. My friend Amy Singh is on the show. She is in the acolyte. She's in a couple episodes of the acolyte and I'm watching the acolyte. And I'll tell you what, if you're a hater on the internet, too bad, I'm enjoying the acolyte. This has been the most, every time a Star Wars thing comes out, everybody is like, "Oh my God, it's the one that's so divisive with the fans. Oh my God, this is the one that really tears it. Oh my God, Disney did this, Disney did that, listen. Let people enjoy things. It's got light silver dolls. It's got martial arts in the Star Wars universe. And it's got this little rodent tracker dude who I think is amazing. And it's got witches, which Amy plays one of them. We're going to talk to her all about that on this Geekscape. Real quick, speaking in Kung Fu, the wonderful people at Film Masters sent me this Blu-ray of the crippled masters. A movie I hadn't seen since undergrad. I'm not going to tell you when that was. That was a while ago. But this is a classic Kung Fu movie. It's out on Blu-ray. And I actually got Heidi to watch the entire thing. And it's awesome. I mean, this is a classic. There's a sequel to the crippled masters, but this one has bonus features, full commentary track from the folks over at the important Film Cinema Club. It's got a documentary. Kings of Kung Fu releasing the legends. And if you guys are in a classic shop, brothers type Kung Fu era films, then this is a movie for you, the crippled masters. And it got back on my radar because they were playing it at the new Beverly. And some friends went and I was like, "Ah, crippled masters was playing." I wish I'd known. I would have gone to see it. And then just a few days later, the Blu-ray showed up. And I loved it. Speaking of stuff from the East, last night I watched Ultraman Rise, the brand new Ultraman animated movie on Netflix. It's so heartwarming. This is one of my favorite movies of the year. Ultraman Rise. If you know about Ultraman, don't know about Ultraman. This is a great movie that'll either intro it to you or reaffirm your love for Ultraman. He's a superhero that he's a normal guy, grows into in large size in order to relocate Kaiju, fight Kaiju, you know. And in this one, Ultraman actually fights a Kaiju and then is left with the Kaiju's baby and has to raise a baby Kaiju. And so going into one last few weeks before fatherhood, a movie where Ultraman adopts a little crying Kaiju baby and has to raise it, that was like spot on for me and what I wanted to watch as an Ultraman fan. And as an expecting father, that was beautiful. And it was so good that as Heidi was watching it with me, she couldn't deal with the baby Kaiju crying anymore. I mean, she's just not going to see the hormones or all this stuff. I think I just did. But it was a lot for her. It was really well done. So she got too emotional and had to leave the room. But it was hitting all the right spots for me. If you guys have Netflix, Ultraman Rise is on there. And I know it's animated. It's not like your Toho type man in suit type stuff that you usually see with old school Ultraman stuff. But if you're a fan of the Spider-Verse, the most recent TMNT mutant mayhem, it's that kind of cool animation style that has a bit of a street-like edge to it. And that's what they did with this. And it's a wonderful movie. It's really sweet. But it's also a tons of cool action and amazing visuals. So those are the two things that I've been all about right here. The Crippled Masters and Ultraman Rise. I've also been about the Acolyte. And we're lucky enough to have Amy saying on to talk about it. So let's get Geekscapes started. Let's come back and let's talk Star Wars with Amy saying. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] All right, Geekscapes. Let's get right to it. I'm Jonathan. It's time to start the show. And if you're watching on YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, anywhere live, thank you. It's Sunday morning here in Los Angeles. It's kind of a weird time for a Geekscape, but that's what Amy could do. And I definitely wanted her on the show to talk to her about the Acolyte and her roles in Kung Fu and everything else. Like she's working early actress. Like this stuff fascinates me because it is a blood sport out here, especially after the strikes, but she's a survivor and a thriver. And she is also an Acolyte witch. So Amy, tell us your secrets. How are you? Hi. Thanks, Jonathan. That was such a great intro. [Laughs] Thriver and a survivor. And it has been a year here in Los Angeles. As a writer, filmmaker, myself, you definitely felt it as an actress. It's got to feel good, though, to have one of the biggest properties in film and history and be, like, in it. Yeah, it's pretty incredible. Pretty incredible. Yeah, no. The strike was very difficult for all, obviously. But I was lucky enough to get this role and be shooting a few months prior to the writer's strike. So, yeah, I was extremely lucky. Tell me about it. Like, tell me, like, the process of auditioning, because they ain't putting me in a Star Wars movie unless the aliens start looking really weird. [Laughs] Like, 'cause you've done some TV here and there. Then suddenly, this thing is, hey, they want you to audition. I'm guessing you don't know what you're auditioning for, 'cause there's pretty hush-hush over there in the house, a mouse with the property this big. But you show up and you're like, "Ahh." And this isn't traditional Star Wars, either. Because the acolyte takes place a hundred years before we've been introduced to stuff like the prequels. And the controversy here, especially the characters that you're running with, is this idea of the witches and this and that. It's just stuff that hasn't been explored in Star Wars. So, how far into the audition process were you, and suddenly you're like, "I think this might be Star Wars." Well, I was actually lucky enough to know it was Star Wars from the start. Yeah. It did have a code name, but because I knew one of the executive producers, and at the time, you know, he had just got on board as an EP, and then he was reading the script, and then he had just seen an indie film that I did, and he immediately thought of me for this role, and he asked me if I wanted to audition for it. So, I was like, "Of course, it's Star Wars." So then I was lucky enough to get an audition come in and self-take for it. It was, I had dummy sides, and I didn't have, you know, kind of a full scene, but I worked with what I got, and didn't, you know, gave my best shot, sent it in, and I didn't hear back until three months later that I got it. So, a party was, there's a couple places where you had to put faith in yourself. The first one is an indie film. Like, when you make these indie films, and speaking from experience, so let me know if this is your experience or not, but those are such leaps of faith because, you know, it's so hard to pull off. They're such a small margin of error, right, because these are films that are fighting for their survival through pre-production all the way through distribution to exhibition. So when you're on this indie film, you're like, "Is anybody going to see this? Is this going to be one that is celebrated, this one that just disappears like a lot of indie films?" Not only did somebody see it, but somebody saw it and was like, "You will ever heard of the Star Wars thing?" I'm telling you, it's crazy. I never thought I would get on Star Wars. I never, it never even crossed my mind. So to even audition was crazy for me. I was really, really... I didn't know much about the world. I've only heard about it through my friends who are changing. And it's such a huge part of our culture. It's Star Wars brand. So I would just know about it based on that, but I didn't really dive in until after I got the role. And when you say that you were like, Star Wars, not a verse, but just you were like, "Okay, cool. Star Wars is over there. It may not be for me." How do you even begin to play catch up with somebody like ourselves who... I'm not as big of a Star Wars fan as I was, but when I was younger, there was just so much of it. I can't read the books anymore. I can't read the comics anymore. I can't play the video games anymore. There's just so much of it. So like you, unless I'm watching the shows or movies, I'm probably getting it through conversations. Once you have the opportunity to be a part of Star Wars, where do you even begin? That's true, right? I guess the internet wasn't my friend. Oh, the darkest part of Star Wars, right? Yeah. You know, I watched, you know, the first three on Disney Plus and Andor, and I thought Andor was amazing. Yeah. And I felt that not being a prior, like huge Star Wars fan, Andor was very easy to understand. And, you know, the storytelling was great. So I kind of got the sense of what the world would be like for this series. And, you know, it was kind of a blessing in disguise. I didn't know that much because they were very secretive. They didn't give us much. I got only my scenes. Didn't get the full script for my episode. You know, for all the episodes. And I just worked, it was from what I was given on the page, you know, and it was, you know, I've been training to do that, you know, all my years of being actors. So it was great to put it to use in that way. And I think that with the acolyte, it's probably an advantage, you know, because of any of the new Star Wars, the Disney Star Wars stuff, this is the stuff that feels the most independent from the prior canon. It feels like it's making its own, you know, and this is where the blowback of the fans and this and that come in, but also where I sometimes enjoy it because I think, hey, they're not beholden to what came before. They can do new stuff, they can tell new stories, they can introduce new characters. And fans like, oh, that contradicted this or contradicted to that. I have bad news for those people. They're all made up stories. Oh, no, it's crazy. They can do whatever they want with them. And all they have to do is tell a story that's entertaining. And some of it, the new aliens are amazing. And they're telling a new story. And whether or not it contradicts what came before, you know, I find myself watching specifically your scenes with the witches, and thinking, oh, are they the witches of Dothamir, which I don't know a whole lot about because they were introduced and stuff that was a little after my Star Wars, like, mainlining fandom? Or a different sect of witches? Okay, are they, like, how far sensitive are they? What are the rules here, all this stuff? And I think the questions sometimes have to be more interesting than the answers. Maybe it's just where I'm at. But I like watching something and thinking rather than just having an answer stuff for me. So you got to be an author a bit of this area of the Star Wars universe. Yeah, it never existed before. And I have read about the night sisters, but they weren't the night sisters. Right. So, yeah, we worked completely from scratch. You know, and it was very scary to navigate a little bit in the beginning, but then, you know, so much of every aspect, the costume design, the hair and makeup, the sets inform my character. And I was able to just get there and kind of, you know, have all these things inform me about what the character was supposed to be. And Amy, like, the craftsman on that show, and the craftsman, whenever they go Star Wars, are on another level. The costumes, the production design, the details given to the props, everything. It probably shouldn't represent too much stuff that we have here on Earth. So it all becomes incredibly detailed. They've also, on the Disney shows, gone pretty heavily into shooting on the volume stages. And, you know, these are the stages that keep us at our virtual sets. You've seen them really done really well in shows like the Mandalorian, where, you know, maybe the actors show up and there's a rock out cropping on set and everything else is unreal engine populated and moves with the actors. And it's pretty incredible these virtual sets. And you've seen these volume stages before and things that you may not even suspect were volume stages. Was it a volume stage shoot for you? Because sometimes there's shows like Fallout where they take pride in having practical sets. They're all practical. Oh, my God. Yes. So whatever you see on screen is from real locations. And our set, our witches set was built completely from scratch and it was outdoors at night time. And yeah, like it was an incredible amount of artistry behind all of the sets. It was so crazy to see in person to like be able to touch and feel everything. It's like a gift to actors, you know, to be able to walk and set and have everything there. And we don't have to imagine anything at all. So yeah, I can't really imagine how the previous Star Wars actors worked, you know. They probably had to imagine a whole lot with, you know, all the virtual stuff. I'm guessing it might be fun, but I don't know how much you're going to get back from your co-star if it's a tennis ball. But that's actually our belief to me because that, I mean, the sets there, especially on that setup with the witches is pretty impressive. And then there's there's a sequence key here. So Amy's character exists in a bit of a, she didn't choose in a bit of a flashback. And in some of the sets are like destroyed and there's fire and all those sorts of crazy stuff. Like it's pretty, it's pretty intensive. And there are tons of reasons to do that in a virtual way. But I imagine like, that must be impressive. Like that's got to help. If the second you walk in, you're there. You're in Star Wars. And it was, and it was location. I would have thought that that stuff would have been a set with a digital adjustment behind it. Yeah, it looks so good right on screen. It's beautiful. It's incredible. No, Amy, where are you from? Like, where did you get into this? Like, what was the bug that you were like, yeah, I want to go acting like I want to do that. Who did you see? What did you see? What was the, who were you? Who were you? Who was that? I asked that to myself every day. I think it's part of our journey to do so. But yeah, where did it start for you and that led you into acting? Where did you grow up? I actually was born in Boston. I grew up in Connecticut till the age of 14. And then my family decided to move to Hong Kong because my dad, he wanted to change his career. He was a restaurant owner and then he wanted to get into import export. So he uprooted all of us and we went in the middle of my high school year to Hong Kong. So I'm like coming from like suburban, like a little town called Waterford and going to the metropolitan Hong Kong. It was crazy. You're 14 or 15 at that age. You're in your sophomore year of high school. Freshman. Freshman. In the middle of freshman year that I had to move. I shouldn't say traumatizing because it did make me adaptable. It made me develop this skill. But at the time I was really, really confused. Because you're going through puberty and then it's your formative years. And I had to adjust. I lived a very simple life. And then now I'm going to a British international school. And having to take the GCSEs, I'm coming from an American education and then going to a British full on British education. And yeah, I had to suddenly start studying because I didn't before. And you're certainly surrounded with a different culture or multiple cultures because of the way that Hong Kong exists. Did you have to learn Cantonese or Mandarin or did you have to learn a different language or were you pretty set being in a British school? Did you at least need to do the accent? You didn't have to do the British accent? Well, I mean, people were actually making fun of my American accent because everybody was very posh and they were all very international kids. And I was made fun of American accents. So now I don't even know what accent I have. It's kind of a mixture. And your dad got it. He's like, I'm going to go into import export. In Hong Kong, shortly before, it's given from British rule back to Chinese import export is about to get super fluxy in flux. And you're like, restaurant, restaurant, I'm going to go to Hong Kong and maybe to try and maybe it's advantageous to jump in at that time to a province or a country that's about to switch ownership. It had already switched? Yes, Jonathan. Everybody else was trying to get out of Hong Kong. Oh, yes. Complete opposite. That is. Yeah. You know about that. So that's good. That's crazy. Yeah. And how did that affect your relationship with your father? Were you an only kid? Amy? No, I am the oldest of three. Okay. So you had to take some. So you protected your younger. You took some like, Hey, this is going to be okay. Is it going to be okay? Like internally, you're like, oh, freak it out. But you had just, I mean, I don't know. You tell me. Yeah, it was, I mean, it was, it was tumultuous, but I have always been very independent from a very young age. I traveled to Hong Kong when I was nine by myself. So, you know, it wasn't why. Well, my parents were like, okay, it's summer vacation. Why don't you go to Hong Kong? But usually it's with a family. You have summer vacations. You're really, what? Really go visit your aunts and you have them. Okay. So you had some, okay. So you had family there. Okay. I did. All right. They weren't just like, hey, good luck, kids. Slap a stamp on you. Here is your passport. Yeah. I mean. Hope you come back. Life attendants felt sorry for me. And so they put me in first class. I was like in the way back in the coach area and then they're like, oh, this poor kid, nine year old kid. We'll just give her a nice seat in the first class cabin. Yeah, tumultuous sounds like something you've been dealing with for a stretch. Yeah. And like the, your siblings, are they okay? Are they okay? I mean, they had you look at out for them, I guess, right? I mean, when you're independent, you weren't like, hey, I would talk on when I was nine. Y'all are on your own two piece. Like you looked out. Like you were like, no, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna help kind of guide them as well. Because this is, I have to navigate this and I can only imagine what they're doing. Yeah. So, I mean, in some ways I was a parent. My, my dad actually left me and my brother. It was my brother and I who first went to back to Hong Kong. And then my mom and my sister came later, like a year later. So we lived with my grandma and my grandmother was very old at the time. And so I basically had to look after my grandmother and my brother. My father, he started a business in China. So he wouldn't come back, like come back maybe once a week or something to, you know, like spend a day or two with us during the weekends. So yeah, I mean, all this stuff just made me who I am today. And that relationship, your father's still with us? I know. Yeah, both my parents have passed. I'm sorry. Was that, was that something that stuck with you? I mean, because, because I don't know, one of the things I'm getting for you Amy and I've known you all of maybe 30 minutes. But is, is your, your ability to persevere, your ability to like overcome much, I think is required. When we opened up, we started talking about the strikes and we started talking about the survival game, a game that is this industry. You know, especially in the current state where people are like, Hollywood's coming back, maybe not in its previous form. You know, maybe it, not in its previous form. You took this indie film, you know, maybe you knew some people on the indie film, maybe you were part of putting it together as most indie films are all hands on deck. And then from it, you landed on the radar of someone who maybe you knew prior, maybe didn't, but it was enough to convince them to get you an audition for Star Wars. You're doing the Star Wars thing now. You're, you're, you're just going to keep rocking. I have to imagine that nine year old Amy getting on this plane, this is where a lot of this stuff happened, welcome to Geekscape, you know, on the psychotherapist couch. And, and, and I think that that, that's incredible. No, no wonder you were able to like, whether the Star Wars Internet. Well, it helps that don't know too much about it. So nothing really affects me. Amy, I'm trying to think neither today. They just, they just want Star Wars the way they went through Star Wars. You know, when, when something is so, I get it, it's passion. You know, you really want things, you don't want things to change. You know, you want things to be the way they are, the entertainment, like things changing are scary for people. So, you know, and I'm, I'm used to it. I'm like, I'm used to adapting. I think that's what I'm getting at. And you said it much better than I did, but it sounds like something that was instilled in you. Early on, you roll with the punches and, and you, you do the best. Did you ever go back to these bullies who made funnier accent and get revenge? I'm kidding. That's not how we live. Wait, maybe you did. Did you? No, they're my friends now. Wait, what? How did you do that? I don't know. I, I'm, I'm friends with everybody. I don't, at least I don't think I have enemies. So, if they, if you do, they're too scared to show themselves. Keep your enemies close, right? Yeah. And, and this, this, is the case. So you're in Hong Kong. You're growing up. When you graduate this British school, you quickly depart Hong Kong or does family keep you there? Yeah. So, I really wanted to get out of Hong Kong at that time. And my dream was to actually be a designer, fine artist, and go to school, art school in New York. So, my senior year of high school, I plucked myself from there. I convinced my parents to let me go to New York to live with our uncle, my uncle. The basement of his home. And, um, where New York was that? It was in Queens. Yeah. It was, uh, Flushing Queens. Um, I went to, um, a school in Fresh Meadows, a public school with metal detectors. Well, you're like, I've done this before school, whatever. No, but it was like going from a posh international school, whatever to a public school that didn't have enough seats. Oh, my God. Students. So, yeah, it was a very huge change once again. And it was, but it was awesome. Like, I was on my own and they have my parents to tell me what to do. And I really was steadfast in wanting to get into Parsons or Pratt or, you know, all the, all the good art schools in New York. Um, but yeah, fast forward. It actually, you know, after being a year in New York, it didn't happen. I went back to Hong Kong for summer vacation and I found out my mom had cancer. And yeah, so she, um, that summer she passed away. So I had to take a, I had to take a gap year to take care of my brother and sister. And, uh, that changed my whole course of the way I went about things. Um, so, yeah, in the course of that went to art school in Beijing instead, because my dad was like, Oh, why don't you kill two birds with one stone. She learned your Mandarin because you don't know, you don't know how to speak Chinese. Um, I only spoke Cantonese at home. And, uh, yeah, and then I went to art school at Singhua University in Beijing. Um, once again, had to adjust and adapt. I didn't speak the language. So for two months, I was like doing sign language. Oh my God. Yeah. So I learned, you know, I really, you're just fighting. Yeah. I'm just like, I always like, that's why I learned by doing it. It's, it's kind of been my life. And, um, in the middle of like me going to art school there, I had the bright idea of wanting to become an actor. And what was that spark? What was the thing that you witnessed or that you experienced, um, that you were like, art school has got me, you know, to, to, to these places. But that, that lane looks like one for me. Yeah. Um, I just didn't like the way they were teaching. Um, it was very rigid and, um, it lacked creativity. They weren't really teaching, you know, to use your creativity, your instincts. It was very. Um, we had to draw every day for like hours and it was about the skill. And then I just, I just felt like, Oh, you know, I wish I was in New York. I wish I was in Parsons. Um, but it was a lot of, um, movie watching, like, uh, during my downtime and exploring the city. In Beijing. Yeah. And, um, because during that time, you know, you know, pirated DVDs were a thing. Yeah. Um, I, I would, I had access to international film. So I watched all kinds of films. And it was during that time that I just felt so comforted by the stories, the characters, and it really made me go. If this does this for me, I want to do this. You know, what were some of those, like, you know, what were those, you know, maybe you're watching these on pirated copies and there's people's heads in the bottom of the frame or this of that. But I think that the power of it transcends those barriers of, Oh, the sounds a little muffled or the image isn't perfect and it's not pristine. Um, and, and that is the power of it. And for a lot of people who don't have because of, you know, it's like my intro to anime was in Mexico when I spend summers with my grandparents in Mexico. And it was just so much more anime in Mexico at that time than there was in the US still. I mean, adult swimming, that stuff hadn't really started up. The tsunamis have hadn't really started up. And, but suddenly I can see my cross and sort that in, in, in Mexico. Um, so because of that, those kind of licensing deals and those not the boring stuff not happening. Sometimes that's the only way you're going to go is some of that bootleg stuff. Well, just give me a couple of favorites where you're like, that's the magic right there and I want to be a part of that magic. That's the one that really made me evoked something in me. Um, what do you fan boy out with? Amelie. That's incredible. Amelie. All the Miya Zaki films. Um, let's say, uh, what else do they were so many? I love the one car where I films, but it wasn't the 50 VV's were actually very good. Um, not calling the cops on you. That was a while ago in a different country. What do you think I am in her poll? Like, don't worry about it. I mean, I feel bad for saying because I'm now I'm in the industry and like, yeah, but we're all at college at one point and like, it's like, oh, dude, check this out. You can't get it any other way. You know, I mean, like, fact that, I mean, we didn't have what we have now. Right. And the internet was like super slow and like dial up, but like, no, you're not. I get it. Hey, me. I'm on your side. If they come for you, they come from me. You got that. We're in this together. I'm signing with you with the wish for sports. And I think what you're, I think the theme you're watching these films, like, I'm always a beautiful film. That is full of fantasy and watching a music. Maybe like the first time that I saw Castle in the sky, lap at a castle. The sky said, I said, how does this dude even think of this stuff? How does, how does this even like the boy in the hair and just watching this past December? Just be like, how does he do this? Where does this come from? And I, and I can see how that is about that is inspiring you to transcend the world that up to this point, it's constantly been telling you like you're going to live over here. You're going to live this. You're, you're, you, you have been dealt so many dictations in your life. Cancer in itself is telling you that this is, this is going to be the culmination of your relationship. With your mother. And there's, and it's dictated for you. And as a young girl, I'm sorry, but this is a card to your dealt. And Amy saying, then discovers that Amalie is, she's, she's alone and she has these fanciful, like, imagine this imagination that delivers her from loneliness to the point where she finally then finds love and in these Miyazaki movies, take us from this real world into this place that's just next door it feels like. And even stuff like Spirited Away and Boy in the Hair and R movies that take place next door to our own, right, Totoro is our world, but these things are just next door to our own. And, and I can see why, and Amy saying would need that after having people dictate through multiple stages, you're going to get on this plan by yourself, kid. I can see why maybe you, maybe you went to this and in Star Wars, I think we love Star Wars because it's, it's that extension of our own. That's why we love any of this stuff. It's why people may be listening to Geekscape, watching Geekscape right now is because we need those extensions of ourselves to learn to look back through the mirror at our own world and say, okay, I think I should take a left here. Okay, I think I should push this a little bit further. Okay, I think I should aspire for this. I don't know, I'm, this is my TED talk now, but... No, it's so beautifully said, Jonathan, yeah. A little verbose, but thank you. Really, really like it's so well articulated. I didn't, I haven't been even, I haven't been able to articulate it like that. You were in the woods though, having dealt with grief. Yeah, I dealt with grief that age and, and we talked a little beforehand, we've gone through some of the similar things. Sometimes you're in the trees and you can't see them. I mean, sometimes you're in the woods, you can't see them, the trees, right? But you're walking amongst them, you know, sadly you're in the shadow of them and you're trying to find sunlight and... Yeah. And that's a, that's a tough journey. I can see why you are a fighter. Have you produced Amy? Have you written? Have you been like, you know what? I'm not, I'm not gonna wait for another indie film or another Star Wars or another edition. I'm gonna put some pen to paper and I'm gonna create a character for myself and I'm gonna start telling some of these stories that are maybe similar to the ones that inspired me on this journey. Yes, absolutely. I have been working on a story for the past few years. I knew it. I knew it. I mean, I love it. Those experiences really did inspire me to go and say that I'm like, okay, I've done these things on a very tough indie set and then a huge set like Star Wars and like, I've watched the directors on these sets, big and small, like a hawk. I'm like, okay, what are they doing? How are they doing it? You know, what is it about what they're doing? That's good. What's, what could be, you know, maybe I could bring more of myself's skills to certain things. So I really studied it. I studied these directors hard and it's like a free film school, you know, when that you're on a set. With sometimes you're not, you know, that's an advantage sometimes of not being the main character or like you get to lean back sometimes and kind of observe what's going on. And I had that opportunity doing an indie film where I wore many hats. I was late actor, but also I did costume design for that. And then I'm on Star Wars set where I'm like, Oh, coconut coming from the indie world, how he translated his skills as the indie film director onto a huge set. So, you know, all these things, I'm just kind of absorbing. What's the name of the indie film? Amy, because it seems to have had a pretty transitional, pretty important role so far in it, because being a lead of something that you fought for and probably fought for for several years, and then saying it through fruition and then having some fruits come from it. What was the name of it? So the Geeks gave us a good seek it out. It's called Silent River. It's currently on Amazon Prime. So check it out. And what is this new story that you're writing? Or is it still being in the cooking phase? I had already written a pilot for it, but right now, after years of, you know, life, you know, my ideas of what direction I want to go in changed drastically in the last couple of years. It stinks a lot of people don't follow your scripts. It's the worst. I'm like, wait, what didn't nobody's doing what they're supposed to be doing in my story that I made for myself. Yeah, I get it. So yeah, so now I'm like, okay, maybe the better direction would be to have a feature film script where I can possibly direct, I hope to direct. And it's called Lady Lock. It's inspired by my brother and I's relationship. And it's got gambling in it. I have not psychoanalyzed your relationship with your brother yet, but I was going to get to it. The one family member I have an animal like, oh, yeah. Did your brother deal with the gambling addiction for a stretch or not to put them on blazers as well? But I have friends who have lost homes over that stuff and it's been painful to watch their choice between taking care of a loved one in gambling. And they slowly get so clouded in it that something that would seem very clear to us. You want to take care of your loved one has given away to truly an addiction. How much can you tell us about that next hurdle that Amy Singh found herself fighting to overcome? Well, there's no rest. There's no rest for you, by the way. Not in this life, Amy Singh. You know, the great thing is I do enjoy it. And it's thrilling. It's, you know, when there are challenges like this, it really gets me passionate and going. So, I, you're talking about my brother, you said? Yeah. Like, how did I come about this story? Yeah, my brother is a pretty big story for myself. It's a pretty big narrative in my life. My relationship with my brother is one passed on and one's still here and we finally, you know, yeah. Are you the oldest, you? I am now. Oh. I have been since '96. I'm sorry. Yeah. I totally understand. And we have the family wall here. Oh, wow. And pictures of my brother's right here. But, yeah, that's a pretty big theme for me is his brotherhood. Your brother went through it. Hey, went through it. And he got it for my mom. You know, my mom was addicted. And I, you know, seeing that, I think, you know, it kind of affected him. My mom's passing. And then my dad's passing. And I think he just fell into it. And was he, was he doing it as a way to celebrate her as a way to hold on to her? No. To what her habit, what was the, yeah, it probably wasn't conscious. What was the, what was the, the, the game? I believe there was escapism a lot of it because I actually gambled and I got a taste of what it would feel like to fall into deep addiction because it's so that world is so, I mean, you know, yeah, and the casino is designed in a way that draws you in. It keeps you, it's crazy. No clocks, no windows and time just doesn't exist there. Yeah. So, you know, my mom was a dealer and then she became a pit boss in a Connecticut casino. And that kind of led to her, you know, starting to play because another casino opened up nearby. And so it, yeah, it turned into this thing where like before she couldn't gamble, but then she was like, okay, you know, she thought she would have control over the game because she was seized it all the time. And she's like, she knows how it's run. She knows how it's run. But it, you know, she fell into deep addiction. And that was one of the reasons why we moved was to get her away from it. Oh my God, that is. Yeah. Amy, I didn't even know the extent of it. Yeah. Yeah, I know. It's like, I know, you know, it's, it may not feel brutal from the inside because you've strengthened yourself from it through it. But this is what inspires me to, you know, it's a very unique perspective on gambling and addiction. So I want to tell it from my point of view. I mean, you would play a sibling or you would play a version of someone who is seduced by this thing yourself. The witness to it or the victim of it or both or how. I don't know. I don't want to put your movie on blast. I definitely want to. I definitely want to follow up with this project because it's, I love it. I think if it's personal and if it's real, I think I think the balance between voting and evoking as a storyteller, I think is fascinating to me, right? Because sometimes people do come on here and they're not exploring. They're just sharing. They're just like shedding. And I don't think that's a good story. I think that's, you know, and I do it a lot on Geekscapes and I apologize. Geekscapes gave us, right? If you're listening, you're like, ah, Jonathan needed to do this episode a lot because he's just talking. The goal is to evoke, too. And so I think that a conversation, I think if your film's like some form of a hand off to the audience and be like, hey, this is something that I want to evoke in you. And then what did you bring to this conversation as an audience? And now you make the story yours, which is why, again, I think that the questions are more important than the answers, especially with something like science fiction. It's like, it's like, who do you just say what's canon? I mean, I know there are stockholders. I know that there are people who own the property. But those property holders have dismissed canon left and right and overdone canon a million times. So like, at what point are you going to hold it as a biblical fact that Luke and Leia were the first children born solely through the force, right? Which is like, I think a lot of people were ticked when they were like, wait a minute. The acolyte is hinting that these kids were born strictly through the force because there's only females on the planet. Like, first off, do you know any of these are human go by human rules? Dude, it's a galaxy far, far away. Maybe not even have the same working parts. And suddenly you think that that's how reproduction works over here. Have you seen the green people? How do you think they reproduce? Like, Chewbacca is fully naked. We don't know how he produces. He's just wearing a bandolier. Like, you didn't learn anything from that and bookies. So, so I think that that is like a really silly argument. DC and Marvel and all these places that we worship, they've redone their canon a million times. And so many people are going to come out and be like, whoa, look and layer. We're the first ones that were supposed to be born solely over the force. Why the acolyte, which is suddenly having kids, is like enough. Well, we didn't even finish watching all the episodes yet. Maybe that's totally, you know, maybe that's not going to be what people are thinking. I mean, I don't know. I like that. I do like that. And I'm going to watch the episodes. I went back to Star Wars, but no offense, Star Wars fans, but I find this story that you actually dealt with and worked through. I find it super interesting. You've written it. You're, you're, you're, you're floating it around to producers, maybe some friends to be like, Hey, what's the angle here? How we start putting the, putting the scene together? Maybe some of it's already put together. Okay. All right. I see how I see what you're putting down. I like it. Lady Luck. Okay. I like it. I don't want to talk too much about it because you're going to come back on geeks. You're going to talk more about it. There's one thing I've learned about Amy saying in the last hour is that she perseveres. Oh, thanks. And that means that she's going to make this thing like she made the last one. I'm just tired. No, I said, no, I said that last week. I said, I wrote two feature film treatments in two days this week, just because they were, they've been chasing me for years. And I tested them with people in conversation or listen to that. And I just sat down and it possessed me. And then I said, I'm going to produce this is like, okay, you want to make a project with me? Here's one of them. Boom. Here's another one. But Heidi, at one point, it's just been like, if you don't write that, you're an idiot. It's all like, wow, I'm writing it. Oh my gosh. It's so great that your wife encourages you. She, maybe she's just tired of the story. I was like, you know what? I don't want to hear it anymore. Put it on paper. I'm kidding. If you're just going to tell it to me, it doesn't matter. No, she's going to part. She's been a part of every single one of these things. And we'll continue to because that's just the way it goes when you when you sign on for this life. You know, that's what happened when you when you wouldn't bootleg Domily. You didn't know it. He didn't know it. It was always the same for me too. It was always like, you know, some of it did start in the Hong Kong stuff. It did start with those John Mo films and being like, Oh, I think I'm the only kid who knows about the killer. No, you're not Jonathan. You think you're the only kid in the mid 90s when you got the killer and hard boiled and better tomorrow and all those Hong Kong movies that John was doing. You weren't absolutely not. But they were super cool there in the mid 90s and you had them watching them until the VHS was wore off. You thought you were the only kid who was discovering Nausica Valley the wind when you were in 1995 watching them for fan VHS dubs. No, you weren't Jonathan. You weren't the only person, but they feel like they were made for me. That's amazing. See, that's that's the power of film. And that's really what made me gravitate towards wanting to be a part of it all. So, I mean, I don't know what was crippled. What is it like? The crippled bastards. Oh, crippled bastards was like, it's crazy. I have never heard of that. I haven't really a dude with no arms. And he teams up with a guy with no legs. And you see them lose their arms and legs in it, but they already had no arms and legs as actors. They literally have no arms and legs. And they team up and it's kind of messed up to say it this way, but they kind of Voltron each other. So like the dude with no legs hops on the other guys back and like this little harness and it becomes his arms. And the dude with legs, it's like they're flipping it all over the place. They're actually incredible martial artists, but they have nubs. They have like this wall. And it's, and it's. And I remember watching in college and being like, Oh my God, this is like insane, but they are actually really talented stuntmen and martial artists. And part of it's just like, how does it, you know, part of it, you turn it on, you're like, how is this going to work? And then you watch, you're like, Oh, no, it just doesn't just work. It actually works beautifully and spectacularly. And I also always love this era of film because, you know, similar to what was happening in black exploitation and some of the indie, you know, stuff like here in the US. At the same time is like, you know, that indie movement that came out, you know, Roger Korman just passed and that whole movement here in America. It's like, Hey, just get your camera and tell a story and let's go find a theater to play it in. Right. And that stuff was going on so big over in Asia and here. And I can only imagine it was happening in other parts of Asia, like in India as well. But it's a total holder from like the French New Wave stuff where it's like, we're going to make movies, too. Let's go grab a camera. Let's go in on it. My favorite era of film, Geekscapes, we can get into it if you guys care later on in an episode of like Italian aerialism to me is the most crazy thing ever because it's like, Oh, look at the ruins of our homes at the Nazis in the, in the, you know, Italian fascists just fought through against the Americans and now we got rubble. Let's go make a movie and we're going to do what? Yeah, we're going to go make a movie in the rubble of post war Italy. We're just going to start making movies. And I find that such an exciting movement. And then it becomes fantastical when it drifts a decade out later into the fifties as French New Wave. By the time it hits the art houses of the US, combined with the stuff that starts coming over from Japan with seven samurai's and all that stuff and maybe the Tahoe movies. Suddenly you hit the 70s and you're cooking with gas with all this stuff and people are just making loud movies, but they're clear movies. I mean, this is a very clear story of revenge. They took our arms. They took our legs. We're going to get revenge. We're going to team up to get revenge. That's so clear. And Heidi was like, wait, that's the ending? Yeah, they killed the guy who took their arms and legs. Like it freeze frames on the guy dying, like, eh, spoiler, it freeze frames when they get them. And she goes, wait, where's like the dead new monitor? Like, no, no. They got the guy. It's over. What else do you want? Like they got the guy. He took their arms and legs. It ends on a free. Like the guy's literally like, eh, the crippled master. And you're like, it's entertaining. You know, that's what you were from a movie. You want, you want things that make you laugh and make you cry and make you feel clear. So even if it's not like, you know, people love these movies. And I think it's good as a filmmaker, as a writer, as someone who's like metabolism for writing, it's gone. I've been looking at the daughter being born. I've been writing like a fiend. A absolute fiend, comics, movies. It's just been nonstop over here. And I have to refill the metabolism. And it's been so much. I've just been watching so much stuff for and like the clarity, clarity, clarity, clarity. It's kind of like become my kind of like guiding light. It's like, okay, is this clear. It doesn't have to be that reset anything. It doesn't have to reinvent anything. Is it clear and is an audience going to be along for this ride? And I think I'm going to follow this person, even if some of the stuff they're going through is internal, which, you know, is going on, like, do their actions convey their internal processes in a way. Even if you're doing it through color and lighting and in composition, but I don't know, this is all film full school stuff, but it's always good to go back to our cripple masters. I mean, I love about your projects. Yeah, I love it. Well, we can cherry talk. We can trade projects offline whenever you want. There's more projects coming geekscapes. We're going to announce a project that comic con that I think you guys are going to be like, oh my God, I didn't know that was happening. We're announcing that with a comic con. And then it's baby time. And then many more and other stuff. We got like three weeks or four weeks, three weeks. Yeah. I'm excited. Oh, yeah. Are you prepared? I'm so ready to be a girl dad. Her Heidi did such an amazing job. I show her my neighbor Totoro once and suddenly the baby's room becomes my neighbor Totoro fairy. Oh, like fantasy land. There's my neighbor Totoro stuff everywhere. There's a bedside light of my neighbor Totoro. There's my neighbor Totoro on the walls. There's fairies. I'm so excited to be a girl dad and people got me a blood sport onesie. Wow. Excited about that one. We got a never ending story onesie. Sorry. She's going to come out right and be ready to make an appearance. I don't know. I mean, I think we're going to try and limit internet until she understands internet, which none of us really do. But I guess it said don't know if you're going to see her face grace social media for a while. Yeah, and I know screens are a no no for two years on her because of this, you know, just the studies say that, you know, getting a kid screen addicted within the first two years and what it does to learning just. Yeah. I think he gave us you're going to see a lot of toes and feet and arms is proof of life. And if you see a full body of the baby, I think you're going to have an emoji on its face. I think we're just going to keep things to the London household and immediate vicinity. But feel free to come to Comic Con. You might be able to see the baby there. Just don't post a picture of her child. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. No, it's smart. You need to be protective. Also, you know, your child should be the one who decides they won't be on social media. She's got to want to be on a cake scape. It's lame. Oh, she won't be talking until like three years old. She won't even know. Yeah. And then if she's in feeling like her dad should be talking too much. Oh, maybe we're going to take out from here. Maybe she's going to have the gift of Gav just like you. Yeah, like Spider-Man's gift. It's also a curse. Great power comes great responsibility. Amy, I feel like we can go forever. But I think the main points are this. Amy's awesome. She's in the acolyte. You can follow her on Instagram at the Amy Seng. There's a silent T in there. Is it silent? I don't know. Maybe it's just her pronunciation of the name. But the Amy Seng on Instagram. And then she'll be back in a short while to talk about Lady Luck or however the name lands on that independent film. And we'll see her signing at Comic Con at the Geekscape booth. I don't know. I'm just pretty much lining up your dance card for you if you don't mind. Thank you. I love it. Thank you so much. Of course, of course. Geekscapes were pretty predictable over here. You know we're going to be back next week with a brand new Geekscape. Actually, you don't know that because I've been kind of inconsistent because of the baby and the work stuff. So I do know that I plan on landing episode 700 of Geekscape before Comic Con. It's going to be a special. I want to invite a bunch of past Geekscapes all over it and have kind of fun there. Geekscape 699, which is the next one up on this feed, I think I have some ideas. I'm talking to those people. And we're just going to see because I'm keeping things open in case baby comes early or something like this. But we are full on baby watch right now, Geekscapes. And if you want to see me at the Geekscape booth, it's going to have to be Wednesday night because I'm going down Tuesday to set up the booth. I'm hanging out Wednesday to shake hands and promote this project that we're about to announce there. And then if I can drive home Wednesday night, I will. But otherwise, I'll drive down Thursday morning because I'm on baby watch. And the only thing going on after Comic Con for baby watches, Heidi wants to see her boyfriends Ryan and Hugh and Wolverine Deadpool. I had nothing to do with it. It's fully Heidi saying, I want to see my boyfriends in that Deadpool Wolverine movie. She got the tickets. She's like, you're not keeping me from my boyfriends. Yeah. Yeah. Once you've seen the boyfriends, the baby can come. What's your booth number? I don't know. Oh, I don't know. It's it's new. Well, geez, Geekscape is maybe something I should have had here for the promotional party on the podcast. Geekscape is check the Geekscape socials. You will definitely see the booth number coming up. I'm far behind on a lot of the stuff. I love you so much Geekscape is Amy. Thanks for being a great guest. Thank you for being a great host. So much fun. And we will catch you on the next Geekscape. All right. Share this with your friends. Tell them this is fun because I have fun and hopefully you do too. So don't hate and create. That's what we do around here. Peace, everybody. You're listening to the Geekscape Network. You
Actress Amy Tsang has appeared in shows like The CW’s Kung Fu, Lucifer, Magnum PI, Shameless, and more... but I think what interests Geekscapists the most is her role as Ensign Rane on the new (and controversial) 'Star Wars: The Acolyte'! And Amy plays one of the latest continuity additions, the Acolyte Witches, so there's much to discuss! We'll get into the warring fandoms over the newest Star Wars series, Amy's approach to her character, and her place in the Star Wars universe! And of course, we'll talk about a lot more because it's Geekscape!
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