Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Antonio Aaron, Brennal Keel Cook, Grace Serrano, Roy Huang, Saban Films, Sam Li, Shomari Love, Take the Night

Take the Night Star Sam Li on Filming Crime Drama & Social Media

Sam Li knew he was taking a chance embarking on an acting career back in 2015 but found his persistence paid off. Now he's finding himself in some higher profile projects, including roles in the Saban Films' American Carnage, the HBO Max film Women Is Losers, ABC series Home Economics, AMC's Better Call Saul, an upcoming Netflix series The Brothers Sun opposite Everything Everywhere All at Once Michelle Yeoh, and now a lead role in the crime drama Take the Night. Li spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with director, writer, and star Seth McTigue in his directorial feature debut, co-star Roy Huang, and immersing himself in his role as Robert Chang. The story follows a sibling rivalry and family secrets where an elaborate surprise birthday stunt heads into increasingly dark places when career criminals hired to stage a fake kidnapping go, rogue. Older brother William (Huang) secures a crew to stage a fake kidnapping of his brother Robert, but the crew has plans of their own, and the brothers must put aside their sibling rivalry if they want to save the family fortune.

Bleeding Cool: What interested you in Take the Night?
Sam Li: It immediately stood out because it revolved around a Chinese-American family. I've been pursuing acting a few years before this film, but it was during a time when we're slowly starting to see the evolution of Asian representation. We're seeing more Asians in media with movies and TV, and I felt immensely proud to be able to take part in a project that I felt was another opportunity to put Asian-Americans on the map. It was huge.

BC: How do you break down your chemistry with Roy?
Li: It was really easy. In the film, I would say that it's a tense brotherhood, a rivalry of sorts, and it gets kind of ugly, but also good. That's a huge part of the film. I won't spoil too much, but off-camera, he's an amazing person. He's an incredible human being and someone I actually really look up to as a person. I remember talking to him on set, like in between takes and scenes. I was like talking to him and just feeling like how he talked about his family and his kid. I was like, "Wow, that could be even just a fraction of who this guy is."

BC: How do you break down this set that Seth ran?
Li: [Seth] definitely had a lot of fun with it. This is what I really loved about doing 'Take the Night' was we didn't take ourselves too seriously. At the end of the day, we knew we were making a fun film for people to see. It was one of these things where everybody but Seth was trying to stay on track [laughs]. Seth is someone who has so much fun on set.

BC: Was there anything you did to prep for the role, or was it straightforward?
Li: It's pretty straightforward. Robert Chang is very different from who I am as a person, and even like what I was doing at the time, I make a lot of social media content. It's really interesting to do my social media where I'm really light-hearted, fun, all smiles, positive vibes, and then have to go into this film and play really repressed. Robert has a lot of pressure on him. He's very serious, not jokes and fun because his life is not like that. His life is immensely tough, filled with pressure for him to succeed, and I thought that was really fun to tap into. It's good.

Saban Films' Take the Night, which also stars Brennal Keel Cook, Shomari Love, Antonio Aaron, and Grace Serrano is available in theaters, on-demand, and digital.

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