American Born Chinese Stars On Filming At a Real High School

At the premiere, Ben, you wore a pin on your jacket. Uh-huh. What was at the center of the pin?

At the center of the pin?

Yeah. The decoration?

Let me look at it. Oh, okay. I have no idea. I did not look at this pin.

You look so bummed, though.

Thank you. Thank you. This is very stressed the whole time but glad, glad it came off okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Flip. I don't think it's this, but just for the show, I'm going to put a crayon. He drew a full artist.

So this is I wasn't sure what it was because I I so it's a pearl I don't It was like a because the pin was like a flower.

Yep. It was a flower. And there was a round thing in the middle. It was a pearl. It was a pearl, right? It was a pearl. Okay. I don't know my my bad.

I know your other pin was red. Yeah. Or when you kept dropping everywhere. You had a different pin at it.

I was There were two options. You had a second pin that he lost in my room. We were all hanging out in my room and he dropped on the floor and didn't even realize. And I picked it up and was like, "Hey, is this yours?" It's not his pin. He has to give it back to someone. someone was the real owner. Lucky him that I'm observant and look around my hotel rooms before I leave.

How was the premiere, though? Was that trippy? Was that your first premiere?

It was my first premiere. It was super, uh, wild, especially when like you're backstage and Michelle Yeoh is next to you and she's like, "You know, I get nervous, too." I was like, "Okay." I don't believe you. I'm like, "I think you're just saying this to make me feel better, but thank you." But she really does. It is actually very sweet.

Yeah, she looks She looks like she gets stage fright. It's really awesome. She's so like ten times better.

Yeah. It's really sweet of her to like She's She's the nicest.

She seems really nice.

Yeah, she is. She is.

Okay. Ready for the next one? Yeah. What year did the graphic novel of the show come out? Flip. Okay, 2016. You guys were both correct. No, I didn't tell you. Did you read it before? Before I got the job?

Yes. I hadn't heard of it before that, but before my chemistry read with you, I bought the book and read it.

Oh, me, too. Really?

I didn't buy the book. I I rented it. I I went to the

All these rentals.

I went to the library. I went to the I went to the Stanford Public Library. Um, callback to Stanford, Connecticut. I'm mentioning it twice now in this pod.

Yeah, I can say that my mom bought it on Amazon for me. Love. And she put it on my bed at some point. And then, "Read this, honey."

I know. She was like, "You should be nice." You were shooting a movie there, doing nothing else.

Yes, I was shooting I was shooting a basketball movie. Oh, yeah. I was shooting *Chang and Eng*. Which is also on Disney Plus. Disney Plus loves you.

They do. They're a fan. They do. They're making a lot of content about me, Chloe. And I'm grateful for that.

Okay, let's do What are the school colors? Okay, ready? Flip. Is it Bronco's colors? Orange and blue.

Orange and blue. Blue and white. You wore it. No. It can't be. It's not? It can't be. Well, okay. Right. Well, the cheerleaders uniforms were light blue, white, and then underneath their uniform was red, long sleeve. I think it's orange, 'cause I I I wore the jersey, the soccer jersey. And actually, I was gifted the jersey as a wrap gift by the.

Do you have it framed in your house?

I have it in my closet. Um, but that jersey is it's it's orange and with the blue logo. So, I don't know why. So, yeah, I Okay, so the cheerleaders.

Yeah, how dare you tell us what our school colors are? Well, they're they're really dressed looking. Did you go to Crest? We'll let you slide on this one.

Thank you. I think we're right. No, that's from Sierra, Sierra Madre. Crest Hill is *Chang and Eng*. I'm getting my wires. You're right. Pick the right show. Pick the right show. Come on.

But how was it being back in school?

Um, well, luckily, it didn't have to do any actual classwork, so fine. So, it's great. That was the sucky part about school, right? So, We Yeah. I got to just sit there all day. We did shoot on location at a real high school during school hours. And so Oh, yeah. So, we would have to like press up against the walls and let the students go by or get shoved into a classroom really quickly in between classes so all the students could go by and they're all staring at you. And teenagers are very scary. I'm scared of teenagers. They freak me out. They're terrifying. They have a very intense They're all dressed so well now. They all look so nice and just We're terrible. They're so confident. It's like, what? Yeah. They all look kind of mean and like they would just like insult you into oblivion. And plus we have a hallway that's filled with like extras. Right. Right. Of like fake high schoolers. Right. So, the bell would ring and all the fake high schoolers would like press up against it and then the real high schoolers would like come through and like stare at us like we're zoo animals. Yeah. Um, it's terrifying. That was that And they're all in like black and I'm wearing like pastel purple and like skirts and dresses and they all look like really cool in their in all their black clothes and they look intense and scary and it was

But to to them, you guys are like famous. Like, I just know it because like you're shooting a Disney Plus show.

See, I think they did not look at us that way. I think they looked at us like, "These losers." Oh, my God.

Oh, you guys are so We're not.

No, that's more the vibe, I think. Yeah.

That's crazy, though, because it's like you guys are like high schoolers with them. And you're totally not.

Nope.

What an interesting thing. Yeah. Okay. Ready for the next one? Yeah. So, unrelated. Great. To you and the show. Perfect. This was the biggest song of 2022. Not that you'd really know that off the top of your head, but Ben is not really big into pop culture.

Hey, America doesn't even know. So,

Well, now they do. The more you know. 2022. Biggest song. What do you think you heard the most? We're just testing your knowledge. I know what song I heard the most in 2022. Guess who was Jimmy wouldn't stop playing it. I know who Jimmy not stop playing. Um, I love that song. That country road. Yeah. It's a big album for him. Or we'll let you write down your favorite song. Favorite song of 2022? Okay. I don't pay attention to when songs come out. I just You're like writing down one from 2003. I know I so would. I can't even think of a song. I'm like gone, gone.

Do you want a hint?

Yeah.

Okay. It was by Harry Styles.

Okay. He was in One Direction. I don't think it was this, but this is the only song I can think of. You're going to write down a One Direction song. I'll do some fun designs by it to make it like nicer. Okay, ready? Flip. A question mark in the pretty heart. That's not That seems more like that. I wasn't actually sure if that was the one. Actually, I think I might have almost gotten sick of that song 'cause I heard it so much. On everywhere, all the time. As It Was was the actual song. You know, As It Was. It always clicks once you like you think about it. Jimmy likes that song, too. Where's Jimmy? I know. We need to get Jimmy in more interviews. Get him to fly him out from Taiwan more. We're going to tell them. There we go.