{"id":2116,"date":"2026-03-10T18:36:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/?p=2116"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:36:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:36:54","slug":"amy-wang-slanted-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Slanted\u2019 Writer-Director Amy Wang on Finding Her Voice as a Hollywood Outsider"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amy Wang has wanted to be a director since she was a teenager, but her early determination didn\u2019t make the path any easier. After graduating college, she found work directing promo shoots for the local versions of \u201cThe X Factor\u201d and \u201cThe Voice\u201d in her home country of Australia. Yearning to break into the Hollywood club, she decided it was time to take a big chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI worked in TV for a couple years, and then I was like, \u2018I have to try and go to America and give it a go\u2014why not,\u2019 \u201d she recalls. \u201cAnd so I quit my job, sold everything, packed my bags, and came out to L.A., not knowing a single person, and went to film school at AFI. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to have made a career in Hollywood, which is wild to think about, knowing where I come from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon completing her AFI program in 2017, Wang wrote and directed her own short films and worked on TV series including \u201cThe Birch\u201d (2019) and \u201cThe Brothers Sun\u201d (2024). Wang is now making her feature debut with \u201cSlanted\u201d (2025), a body horror comedy centered on Chinese-American high schooler Joan Huang (Shirley Chen), who undergoes a mysterious cosmetic procedure that makes people of color appear white in hopes of becoming prom queen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With \u201cSlanted\u201d opening in theaters March 13, Wang chatted with us about doing the work to find your own voice\u2014and why she\u2019ll never do something as personal as \u201cSlanted\u201d again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you always want to be a filmmaker? Did you ever doubt this path?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

At 11 years old, I wanted to be an actress, and I did some acting classes and realized I wasn\u2019t very good. And then, at 15 years old, I first watched \u201cFight Club,\u201d which just opened my eyes. I remember running downstairs to my parents and being like, \u201cI want to make people feel how that movie just made me feel.\u201d From then on, I made stupid short films with my high school friends, making them act in my shorts during lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And absolutely there were doubts. I mean, I probably had doubts today. [Laughs.<\/em>] It\u2019s a constant battle of doubting yourself and feeling vulnerable and navigating the rejection that\u2019s in this industry. But I always think back to why I\u2019m doing it: because I get to share stories, reach people I don\u2019t normally get to reach, and be able to make people feel just like how \u201cFight Club\u201d made me feel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Where did the idea for \u201cSlanted\u201d come from, and what made it the perfect first film for you?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The concept has always been something I\u2019ve thought about, especially when I was a teenager, but it really came into fruition because [of the] Atlanta spa shooting in 2021<\/a> where [six] Asian women were killed. It just brought back a lot of memories and feelings that I had. That\u2019s when I started to craft the core concept of this girl changing her race, because I was feeling fearful, confused, and all of these different things that I wanted to channel into something. It\u2019s fantastic that it\u2019s my first film, because I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever make something this personal again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did growing up in Sydney, Australia, as an Asian woman shape your artistry and your perspective?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Growing up as an outsider, I think that\u2019s always been who I am, even in this industry. When I immigrated to Australia, I didn\u2019t speak English. I had to integrate and assimilate into this completely foreign, different culture and try and fit in. And the more I\u2019m in this industry, the more I realize that I\u2019m very rare, in that most people who are in the film industry either come from money or have roots in the industry\u2014and I could not be further from it. My parents have nothing to do with it; I grew up quite poor, and early in my career, I had to take jobs because I needed to pay the rent, whereas a lot of my friends out of AFI didn\u2019t really have to think about that and could just focus on writing or being a filmmaker. And so I\u2019ve always felt this chip on my shoulder, and I often question my place in this industry, but I\u2019m also very grateful that that\u2019s my perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What lessons from \u201cSlanted\u201d will you carry over to your next film?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Something that I think is difficult to master\u2014because I feel like you need to go through it\u2014is you realize that, in post, you won\u2019t need half of the dialogue that you wrote in the script. A scene can exist with just a look, or a cutaway of an apple rotting, and that speaks volumes to what you\u2019re trying to say. So, especially going into my second film, I\u2019m hyperconscious of not overwriting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, you\u2019re writing scripts for other people to read, to convince financiers and famous actresses to want to do your movie, so you also can\u2019t write it so sparsely that they don\u2019t even understand. And so there is this kind of dance that you have to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice would you pass along to any aspiring filmmakers who, like you, are looking to blaze their own path?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I think the biggest thing that makes a good filmmaker is doing the work to find your voice. Really thinking about your past and figuring out: What do you believe in? What are your core values? How do you see the world, and what differentiates you from everybody else? Because that\u2019s really your superpower: the thing that\u2019s going to make you stand out and be as authentic as possible. Early on in your career as a filmmaker (at least for me), you\u2019re kind of copying elements of people, like, \u201cI wanna be like Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino.\u201d I think that\u2019s fine, but it all needs to serve your road and who you are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filmmaker Amy Wang opens up about turning personal pain into body horror comedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":2118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAmy Wang on \u2018Slanted\u2019 and Her Hollywood Outsider Story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Chinese-Australian writer-director discusses how growing up as an immigrant shaped her debut body horror comedy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amy Wang on \u2018Slanted\u2019 and Her Hollywood Outsider Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chinese-Australian writer-director discusses how growing up as an immigrant shaped her debut body horror comedy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmFreeway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T18:36:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T18:36:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1436\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jalen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Derek Lawrence\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jalen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Slanted\u2019 Writer-Director Amy Wang on Finding Her Voice as a Hollywood Outsider\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-10T18:36:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T18:36:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1029,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/\",\"name\":\"Amy Wang on \u2018Slanted\u2019 and Her Hollywood Outsider Story\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-10T18:36:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-10T18:36:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1\"},\"description\":\"The Chinese-Australian writer-director discusses how growing up as an immigrant shaped her debut body horror comedy.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg\",\"width\":1436,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Courtesy Bleecker Street and Tideline Entertainment\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Slanted\u2019 Writer-Director Amy Wang on Finding Her Voice as a Hollywood Outsider\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/\",\"name\":\"FilmFreeway\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/filmfreeway.com\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1\",\"name\":\"jalen\",\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Amy Wang on \u2018Slanted\u2019 and Her Hollywood Outsider Story","description":"The Chinese-Australian writer-director discusses how growing up as an immigrant shaped her debut body horror comedy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Amy Wang on \u2018Slanted\u2019 and Her Hollywood Outsider Story","og_description":"The Chinese-Australian writer-director discusses how growing up as an immigrant shaped her debut body horror comedy.","og_url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/","og_site_name":"FilmFreeway","article_published_time":"2026-03-10T18:36:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-10T18:36:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1436,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jalen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Derek Lawrence","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/"},"author":{"name":"jalen","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1"},"headline":"\u2018Slanted\u2019 Writer-Director Amy Wang on Finding Her Voice as a Hollywood Outsider","datePublished":"2026-03-10T18:36:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-10T18:36:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/"},"wordCount":1029,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg","articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/","url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/","name":"Amy Wang on \u2018Slanted\u2019 and Her Hollywood Outsider Story","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-10T18:36:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-10T18:36:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1"},"description":"The Chinese-Australian writer-director discusses how growing up as an immigrant shaped her debut body horror comedy.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/SLANTED-Still-1.jpg","width":1436,"height":1080,"caption":"Courtesy Bleecker Street and Tideline Entertainment"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/amy-wang-slanted-interview\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Slanted\u2019 Writer-Director Amy Wang on Finding Her Voice as a Hollywood Outsider"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#website","url":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/","name":"FilmFreeway","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/591baa98fd782d61dc5f30b220dba9c1","name":"jalen","url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2116"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2120,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions\/2120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}