EXCLUSIVE: Director Steven Tsuchida Talks New Movie, ‘A Tourist’s Guide to Love’

Netflix’s new romantic comedy, A Tourist’s Guide to Love is now streaming globally and we got the chance to chat with the mastermind behind the movie, Director Steven Tsuchida.

During our chat, we talked the locations featured in the movie, why they were so important, what he’s hoping fans get from the movie, and so much more. Check out the full interview below.

How did you decide on the locations that would be featured in the movie?

“The script was written by a Vietnamese American named Eirene Donohue, who was born and raised here in America. She had a good idea of what would be interesting places. And as the script was being developed and we knew we were going to start production 10 months ahead, we started working with a Vietnamese producer who helped us refine the places that were both inspirational but, to be honest, be shootable within the schedule that we had. Really, the overall goal is to showcase the Vietnam that is both still holding on to the reverence, the importance of their past culture, but also showcase and contrast it with how modern Vietnam truly is.”

Why was that so important to you?

“Because when you say Vietnam, certainly in North America, everyone’s heard of the country, but visually, and I’m guilty of this too, all you think about is the war, or certain cliched food. Just because they’re just not high on our media profile like China, Japan, and Korea, so we have no visuals in our head of it. So it’s really awesome to be able to have the objective of showing the big cities like Saigon, Ho Chi Min City, and Hanoi, which are two very different cities. Then, of course, showcase the more interesting cultural towns, smaller cities, and villages. So that was the objective, and we worked with an incredible producer and location scout in Vietnam to make it happen”.

Well, the places you picked were fantastic! Absolutely beautiful.

“I wanted this to be a vacation for the eye as people watch. So, trying to find these incredibly visually rich places was very important. And the production, both the American side but, in particular, the Vietnamese local production, did an incredible job accomplishing what I wanted to do. They made it physically possible. There are so many places that are just breathtaking in Vietnam, as with any other country, as with any other movie about countries, but frankly speaking, it’s all about time and money. You just cannot go to every single spot. People will probably watch the movie and say, ‘Hey, where’s Hà Long Bay?’ and there’s other heavy hitter, big name spots in Vietnam. And number one, I didn’t want to go to some of the more super typical spots and, number two, physically you just can’t go to every single one.”

You are exposing the audience to a side of Vietnam they may have never seen before it. But it’s not just the audience you are exposing, it’s the characters as well. You forced your characters to explore new places and explore who they really are. Can you talk a little bit about finding that balance with the characters and exposing it?

“One of the great things about romantic comedies is on the surface you are watching it because you think you’re watching two people come together romantically, and we all can relate to that. But what I always start with is that goal is a long, long journey where you’re watching the main character really come into his or herself’ s identity. It’s really about finding yourself first before you can truly fall in love. A lot of times, and this is the cliche but it works, you’re with someone in the beginning because you’re not a complete person, or you don’t realize you’re a complete person, or you haven’t really transformed into your final form. It sounds like I’m talking about a Pokémon character, but you haven’t quite transformed into your final form. These movies are a journey, watching that person discover who they are, feel good about themselves, and then fall in love. This movie physically goes the entire course of Vietnam, from the south to the north.

South being the big city, is more closely relatable to Rachael’s character, Amanda. And as she goes toward the middle of the country, it becomes more cultural. We’re invited to older cities and older temple areas. And then it goes to a really off-the-beaten-path village that physically is eight hours away from a big city, and then ends in a city. It allows Rachael’s character, who’s a city person, an urban person, an American, to start in a city that is still very far from America, but closest to America, like Ho Chi Min. Then as she goes to the smaller, more culturally significant ancient cities, in the middle of the movie, she’s going to places that are over 1,000 years old, finding deeper meaning or not even finding meaning, but realizing that there’s more meaning to something within herself, and accepting that the life she was leading may have not been the best for her. Then as she goes up north, where Sinh’s ancestors are. Then, the movie ends up in another bigger city, Hanoi, which is the capital, the reality of being in a city, all of the conflicts come to a head. Being able to use Vietnam as a third character and bring out each of the character transitions and changes. It was a wonderful opportunity to use Vietnam in that way.

Well for my final question for you, what are you hoping fans get from the movie?

“Number one, I do hope that people, as you expressed right now, will have a greater appreciation for the country of Vietnam and its people. I’m fairly confident that it will break people’s stereotypes of Vietnam as essentially being stuck in 1972. It’s a real combination of the internet/modern world and still holding dear to its traditions. It’s village life and then there’s an H&M all of a sudden. It’s very much that. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, it’s actually quite beautiful, that clash of both tradition and modern. So, I really want people to get a greater appreciation for Vietnam, and then for me, certainly as an Asian-American filmmaker, it was a rare, beautiful opportunity to have this story where the love interest’s an Asian-American lead who’s funny and handsome, and has aspirations, and is not as perhaps cliched in certain other media formats. Sinh’s an interesting free spirit and a lot of times the handsome Asian guy, he’s a rich lawyer, doctor, or something. And I know that is going to be a really wonderful opportunity for people to interpret and see Asian-American men in particular in different light. Personally, I am Asian-American, and you don’t see that as much as you would like to. It is changing, I will say that, but that is something I’m very proud to be able to promote.

Then, of course, I think in these times people can always use a two-hour vacation. Without getting philosophical as all of the other things I just talked about, I just really want people to feel good, to feel good about love, and feel good about the relationships that they’re in. I’ve always tried to be careful in dealing with romantic comedies to embrace the idea that it’s wonderful to be in a relationship, but not to make that be the solution to life. Although this movie is about falling in love, it’s about empowering women to not make the message you have to find this guy to make your life happy. That in some ways may go against all rom-coms in general but I’m just trying to tread that solution lightly.

I think you hit the nail on the head with this movie.

“Like I said, I had these talks with Rachael we wanted to make Amanda strong, so hopefully we accomplished something that’s fun, but powerful.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Photo credit: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Netflix