Lee Isaac Chung

I was a little bit anti-industry, anti-Hollywood.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I have always loved comedies.

— Lee Isaac Chung

Film shoots generally don't smell good.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I've never felt completely American.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I was an art house guy, making little, not-much-happening films.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I'm not much of a visionary guy when it comes to figuring out how to go about my career.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I took time off and realized that what I was lacking was the discipline in trying to write a script.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I was used to always having a stack of Korean television VHS tapes growing up.

— Lee Isaac Chung

There was never a point where I thought, 'I'm going to do something Asian American.'

— Lee Isaac Chung

There's a lot of regret that I have about not showing my proper gratitude to my grandmother.

— Lee Isaac Chung

The attention and all the interviews and all that, it has been wild and something that I'm not used to.

— Lee Isaac Chung

Having parents who are chicken sexers - I had trouble explaining that to kids at school!

— Lee Isaac Chung

These days I love watching Billy Wilder. I'm not saying the arthouse stuff is self-serious, but I needed to get out of…

— Lee Isaac Chung

'Minari' was only eligible for the best foreign language film category due to the HFPA rules on language, so the film was…

— Lee Isaac Chung

I just want to say that 'Minari' is about a family. It's a family trying to learn how to speak a language…

— Lee Isaac Chung

My father came to America believing in the romantic dream of what he saw in films like 'Big Country' and 'Giant' -…

— Lee Isaac Chung

The single most eye-opening experience for me and what propelled me to become a filmmaker was that I started to see films…

— Lee Isaac Chung

My dad told me that he came to the U.S. because of watching Hollywood movies. So the American Dream for him was…

— Lee Isaac Chung

I want people to know that I am not an overnight success, if only to encourage the people who don't feel that…

— Lee Isaac Chung

There's something about just connecting with people in their specific place and also finding that they're human just like me.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I think one of the things that I had to establish for myself quite early on was the rule that this is…

— Lee Isaac Chung

I felt like I was growing up with two different churches, in a sense. And that's always stayed with me - not…

— Lee Isaac Chung

Among Korean immigrants the majority tends to be Christian, because that was the way they immigrated to America - through the support…

— Lee Isaac Chung

My parents, they grew up in a time when there was war in Korea. And my grandmother, her husband, my grandfather, was…

— Lee Isaac Chung

I remember hearing my mom saying so many times we should never have left Korea. She would see the way that I…

— Lee Isaac Chung

Insecurities and missteps can plague writers and artists who come from rural places. We worry that our provincial life experiences won't gain…

— Lee Isaac Chung

I was on this weird, wild goose chase where I thought I might try to adapt a Willa Cather book. And if…

— Lee Isaac Chung

My sister and I thought my grandmother was not very grandmotherly compared to all of the church ladies that we knew. She…

— Lee Isaac Chung

I modeled my work after contemporary masters of art house cinema but felt my voice was missing.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I didn't have much of a taste for Korean food growing up: I was over the moon about Mexican food.

— Lee Isaac Chung

Most of my friends were white. I grew up really the only minority in my school, along with my sister.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I wanted to make something that transcends borders and gets beyond this feeling of national identity.

— Lee Isaac Chung

It's hard to say, 'I demand a seat at a table for best picture.'

— Lee Isaac Chung

I filmed my first narrative feature in 2006, a story set in Rwanda called 'Munyurangabo.'

— Lee Isaac Chung

I try not to be someone who's preaching a message with my films or anything like that.

— Lee Isaac Chung

The films that excite me most tend to be the films that seem like voices that we haven't heard of before.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I always loved Flannery O'Conner, and how she's not trying to create sympathetic characters.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I do care what my daughter thinks and what the future generation of whoever is down the line will think.

— Lee Isaac Chung

I don't diminish the idea of being American, but what I embrace is the idea of being human.

— Lee Isaac Chung

'Lucky Life' is my second narrative film. I worked on the idea for 'Lucky Life' while in Rwanda for my first film.

— Lee Isaac Chung