Interview (Part 2): Chris Wu

My interview with 2021 Black List writer for his script Mr. Benihana.

Chris Wu wrote the original screenplay “Mr. Benihana” which landed on the 2021 Black List. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Chris about his creative background, his script, the craft of screenwriting, and what making the annual Black List has meant to him.

Today in Part 2 of a 6-part series to run each day through Saturday, Chris shares the real life inspiration behind his screenplay Mr. Benihana.

Scott: Let’s talk about your 2021 Black List script “Mr. Benihana,” such an enjoyable read.

Chris: Thank you.

Scott: Here’s the plot summary:

“When a short Japanese kid from postwar Tokyo decides to make it big in New York, he discovers a winning recipe of exploiting his heritage with good old-fashioned American entertainment, to the great shame of his traditionalist father. This is the true story of Rocky Aoki, the OG daredevil playboy tycoon.”

Everybody’s probably been to Benihana’s. I’m not sure that someone would say, “Wait a minute, how did this get started? Is there a movie here?” But you did. How did that happen?

Chris: During the pandemic, I wanted to write an Asian American biopic. That was my main goal. Mostly because you look out there and there aren’t any. I felt like it became my mission to do that. I started researching a lot of different Asian American figures in sports, entertainment, music, architecture, politics, you name it.

I was trying to find someone whose story stood out and popped. It was my manager who helped me find Rocky Aoki.

Scott: Is this John, your manager at Bellevue?

Chris: Yeah, John Zaozirny. I was chatting with John about Steve Aoki, DJ Aoki, and John pointed out that Steve’s father created Benihana. And that guy led a crazy life. Maybe I should look into him. I read the first article that I found off Google on Rocky Aoki, and I was like, “Wow, this guy has done it all.” His story feels larger than life. He’s done so much more than just creating Benihana. All this was good fodder, it felt prime for a movie.

Scott: I have a lot of questions about the approach you took to the narrative, because it is quite interesting. I remember reading an article with Akiva Goldsman, he had written “A Beautiful Mind.” One of the reasons why he was attracted to it was he said John Nash’s life laid out in three acts. Genius. Madness. Redemption.”

I’m looking at that, thinking about you in relation to Rocky Aoki. Did you see a natural structure there to how the story would play out, or was that something that you had to discover along the way?

Chris: There was a lot of discovery and different twists and turns to finally get to where it is now. One thing that was pretty clear to me from the get-go was that his life trajectory followed the same kind of rise and fall that you find in movies like “Goodfellas,” and “Wolf of Wall Street.” The Icarus curve. That was a very loose structure I could build off. But finding the details of voice and tone, how the story would be told, all that took more work to pin down.

In my research, I sometimes found multiple accounts of the same story that Rocky would tell. For instance, how he got his name. His real name was Hiroaki Aoki, and he changed it to Rocky once he came to America. I saw three different versions of how that happened. So okay, there’s a bit of an unreliable narrator at play here. I was able to use that, have fun with it.

That also helped liberate the storytelling. I didn’t feel completely tied to every single thing that I read about him. And it also became a theme. Rocky was an entertainer. He didn’t care so much what was authentic or what was true, as long as it entertained. That was his primary goal and that’s what he thought was the recipe for success in America. I ran with that. I used what Rocky espoused and that’s how I shaped the script.

Scott: The details of his life are remarkable. Olympic wrestler, immigrant to the United States, basically penniless. Ice cream truck, goes to Harlem and become successful. Saves up money and then eventually convinces his father and takes a bad deal, gets five percent ownership to found Benihana’s. Then it’s rags to riches, like you said, “Wolf of Wall Street.” Three women in his life resulting in multiple children with. The whole money, drugs, booze, fast living storyline.

So let me ask you. You set off with this kind of a mission: “I want to tell a story, an Asian American biopic”. How much of that was, “Well, I know biopics are quite popular in Hollywood, they show up quite a bit on the annual Black List.” Were you motivated primarily by that or did it become more of a passion project based on immersing yourself in the life of this remarkable individual?

Chris: The passion came first. To tell you the truth, I’m now dealing with the business side of it with, “OK, how are we going to sell this movie? How are we going to get attachments?”

In general I tend to follow the passion first. The producer cap stays in the closet for a while. For me, that’s usually how the more interesting and exciting scripts are written.

Scott: So you’re writing the biopic, but you make some choices that… in a way, it’s a conventional “cradle to grave” biopic, but there are some unconventional aspects to the script. For example, the use of voiceover narration.

We’ve seen that before and “Wolf of Wall Street” and “Forrest Gump,” even though a fictional character, that’s a good reference point. There are times where Rocky breaks the fourth wall. Literally talks directly to the reader. For example, there’s this side of voice-over in the script:

“Now I know what you’re thinking, not another fucking biopic about another rich asshole. Oh, I’m sorry. Is Scorsese the only one allowed to do that?”

[laughter]

Scott: Was that the voice thing that you were talking about discovering along the way?

Chris: Absolutely. Part of the fun was playing with the tropes and subverting them. Or finding ways to poke holes at them. Rocky had such a distinct voice in real life. When you read his quotations, they’re outrageous. He actually said something like, “The moment I learned to stop being Japanese was when I found success.” Just leaning into his voice, I was able to allow that to guide a lot of the storytelling.

Tomorrow in Part 3, Chris talks about some of the key character in his Black List script Mr. Benihana.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Chris is repped by John Zaozirny at Bellevue Productions.

Twitter: @wu_stein.

For my interviews with dozens of other Black List writers, go here.