On the Golden Globes categorizing Minari as a foreign film: "I wasn't surprised. I have no desire to try to massage both sides in this situation, but it really just comes down to the idea that rules and institutions can never capture real life. And it can never really understand that what builds a place like America and what makes it great is all the people that are contributing to it . . . If this is the thing that helps to expand these institutions and rules? Cool. That's why we make this stuff."
On representing Korean culture with authenticity in Minari: "All these thoughts were racing through my mind, like, 'What do I do?' 'Do I play a caricature of our fathers?' 'Are people going to want me to play a larger, catchall idea of what a Korean ajusshi is?' . . . There's this built-in Voltron image of what an Asian dad is supposed to be, and to break through that is kind of difficult. To not just break through the expectations of others, but also to break through the gaze in your own mind."