Jo Koy: ‘Easter Sunday’ is a ‘love letter’ to immigrants
The busy summer movie season may be drawing to a close, but there’s one last film that is looking to bring audiences to the box office before the kids head off to school for the fall.
“Easter Sunday,” a new comedy from director Jay Chandrasekhar and writers Ken Cheng and Kate Angelo, stars Jo Koy as Joe Valencia, a Filipino comedian who is dealing with not only trying to land a serious role in Hollywood (beyond being the face of a major beer company), but also pressures from his family and a desire to connect more deeply with his son, which all come to a head during the titular Easter Sunday holiday.
“Easter Sunday” has the unique distinction of being the first studio film to center on a Filipino family, something that Koy says was made possible thanks to the involvement of Steven Spielberg.
“He blessed this movie,” Koy said, adding, that when he pitched the film initially “they bought it [immediately], and now here we are about to tell the world all about our culture.”
Lydia Gaston, who plays Susan, Koy’s mom in the film, added, “It’s definitely very exciting to have us Filipinos being featured in the big screen... it’s a great representation for Filipino and Asian American talent.”
However, though the film showcases Filipino culture and family dynamics, it also has universal themes almost anyone can relate to.
“It’s a Filipino family,” Koy says, “But you’re gonna relate to [my character’s] mom. You’re gonna relate to me. And that’s [the] beauty of this movie. We get to let these people see that.”
Koy also says he hopes multigenerational families, especially those include young people with immigrant parents or grandparents, take away something from this film.
“You really understand what these parents went through, just so that you can live the life that you live now. And that voice needs to be heard,” Koy said. “This movie is a love letter to all the immigrants that came to this country that open up the doors so that we can do what we do.”
Beyond the more general representation the film offers, Koy said the character of Joe Valencia is largely based on his actual experiences as a stand-up comedian in Hollywood. In the film, Valencia is offered a major part in a TV show under the condition he “does an accent,” presumably for laughs. Koy says this was directly inspired by real-life notes he received on productions.
“I’m auditioning for a cop,” he recalled, saying he would ask “Why do you want me to do my mom’s accent? That doesn’t even make sense. But unfortunately, that’s how it is.”
Koy also said the pressures his character faces from his family are something that was inspired by his own life as well.
“It goes all the way [back] to my mom not approving me chasing my dream. ‘Why don’t you be a nurse like your sister,’ like, that’s all real stuff that you know you deal with in life. So, yeah, it was fun to actually see art imitate life.”
“Easter Sunday” releases exclusively in theaters Aug. 5 and tickets are available now.