According to Ali Wong, kissing Daniel Dae Kim in her new movie Always Be My Maybe was just ‘pure joy.’
We don’t blame her.
In the film which premieres this week on Netflix, Kim plays Sasha’s (Wong) ex-fiance, Brandon Choi, a successful and charming restaurateur. Handsome, successful and smart, Brandon was described by Sasha as a ‘hot, chiseled Prince Eric’ from the Little Mermaid, but he ultimately breaks up with her to ‘find himself’ in India. We should also mention that he’s also a narcissistic dick.
“I’ve heard all sorts of adjectives [describing my character], but one of the best things about being an actor is give you license to be who you’re not,” said Kim during the Always Be My Maybe press junket. “Brandon is definitely someone I’d like to think is not like me but there is a sort of freedom playing someone who’s very different from yourself.”
In a scene, shown in the trailer, we already know Brandon calls Sasha to break off the wedding which prompted Sasha to hilariously go off on him while at a children’s party.
“I can’t remember whether or not [I was on the other end of that scene],” Kim says. “She was on the other end for me. I’m not sure if I was on the other end for her because of my shooting schedule. I think she had the benefit of hearing what my response was going to be. I thought she played that scene so well and it was really nice.”
Kim didn’t mind playing second fiddle to Randall Park’s Marcus. Kim just wanted to be a part of the film and support it. The size of the role didn’t matter to him.
Kim was actually really happy to have played Brandon, because it would be his comedy debut and he got to play a guy completely different from him. Kim actually knew a fair number of Brandon Chois throughout his life, so he drew on them. “What Brandon lacks is self-awareness and you couple that with an extreme focus and add some narcissism, then you have a recipe for someone who just doesn’t care about people that he should be prioritizing. I started there. Everything else fell into place.”
As for playing the man who breaks Sasha’s heart, Kim was completely fine with it.
“It feels really good because that break up is what propels her to search for someone new and something that she didn’t know she needed,” Kim said. “It’s kind of the impetus for her to find her relationship with Marcus. If it takes breaking up with me to have all those good things happen to her, I’ll take it.”
Always Be My Maybe opens in select theaters on May 29 and will be released on Netflix on May 31.