We Got This Covered: Chow is a really perceptive jerk because he always insults and attack the guys in their own individual ways based on the personalities of their characters. Is that something that starts in the screenplay, something you come up with, or something that you work with the other guys on?
Ken Jeong: I think it all just came instinctively. I think there was something in the first movie that I did improvise about why I liked and hated each one of those guys. I think I said to Cooper at first [in Chow voice] “Oh, you’re not my type. You’re too good looking.” Then with Ed, “Oh, I could like you. You have this really ethereal beauty.” Then I look at Zach: “Oh, I like you. You’re fat.” [laughs]
It was just all these things weren’t necessarily that personal, but they kinda were. It worked because we were all acquaintances prior to filming the first one. I had done All About Steve with Bradley the year before The Hangover, I knew Zach from stand-up and I had done a movie with Ed called The Goods. So I had a working knowledge of those guys going in, so there was already that instant comfort level and chemistry. But you’re right, Chow does pick on them really specifically. I think there’s an outtake in Hangover III where I just quickly go down the line of all three of them and just say “Hi nerd! Hi fatty! Hi Blue eyes!” He just has this specificity where he can just marginalize these guys in five words or less.
We Got This Covered: In this film, the three guys have to now be a lot more serious about what they’ve done in the past, but your character still has to be as crazy as he ever was. How does that factor into how you deal with the guys this time out?
Ken Jeong: Yeah, it definitely changes things, but I have to give a lot of credit to Todd Phillips for that. With Chow, he’s the only character that you can go as far over the top as you want to go. Within the confines of that character, he’s never over the top just for the sake of being over the top, but he’s just always over the top as a person. It all kind of makes a perfect fit for him, but because in this movie Chow has such an expanded role in the story it changes things.
I really have to credit Todd this time for helping me shape my performance because sometimes I would just instinctively go for something bigger and he would just reign me in because the dynamics were different this time. In order to go from point A to point B in the plot he would just tell me, “You can’t put any mustard on this one.” Things had to really be a certain way in this one.
Like the karaoke scene in this one where I get up and sing. If you give any actor a karaoke mic, I don’t care who it is, they are going to try and sing good. That’s just the ego and the instinct of the actor. So my instinct on this one was to just knock this one out and it would be so great that maybe I would get a Grammy. (laughs) Then Todd just said, “What are you doing? Chow has got to be vulnerable right now.” He needs these guys and there’s a sense of desperation in Chow, and he thought it would be more interesting if he was just an international criminal with this big personality who just can’t go up on stage. Maybe he can sing great in the bathroom or the elevator with the Wolfpack like he did in Hangover II, but he’s completely scared here. That was all Todd, and at the end when Chow knows he did a bad job singing he just swats away the mic, that was all him beat for beat guiding me. I can’t take credit for any of that. When I watch him swat that mic away, I just laugh so hard.
That’s what I love about Todd and this specificity of genius he has. He’s my favourite director that I’ve worked with. He knows tone so well and he knows what he wants and he’s always right. He just has this sophistication that I really haven’t seen in comedy. He’s amazing.
We Got This Covered: So we know that The Hangover trilogy is complete but is this the end of Mr. Chow? Is it possible that we’ll see him return in a spin-off or prequel, perhaps?
Ken Jeong: [laughs] From your mouth to God’s ears, I’d love that! I’d love to do a Chow spin-off, I’ve told Todd that. The only problem is, it wouldn’t be a Hangover movie. It would be a completely different thing, but I’m confident that it would be possible to do. Chow is my favorite character that I’ve ever played. So ya, I would love to do a Chow spin-off, I love that character, he just makes me laugh so hard. I’d love to see a Chow origins story or something like that.
We Got This Covered: Now that the trilogy is over, what’s your favorite memory from this experience?
Ken Jeong: There were a lot of nice moments. I remember in the second one all of us were just hanging out at one point and there was just complete silence and stillness. It was me, Bradley, Zach and Ed. And all of us were just thinking about how lucky we are. It was one of those lovely moments. We didn’t even say anything. But it just kind of implied that we’ll be lifelong friends because we’ve been through so much together.
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