BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Nov. 2, 2000 — Joan Chen can’t remember the details of her first Thanksgiving (she was a newly immigrated college student at New York University and probably had something at the cafeteria), but she says it doesn’t matter.
“I don’t think it’s a holiday until you have a family. I think that’s what holidays are for,” says the 39-year-old Chinese actress, who plays a Vietnamese mother preparing for her first Thanksgiving in this month’s “What’s Cooking?” “I’m accused of being not sentimental enough. You know, like Christmas gifts or dinners. I just felt, you know, [that] it’s in every day. Thanksgiving, however, is a little more special because I do think it’s the best holiday just by the name of it. It’s to give thanks. And there’s so much that I want to give thanks to.”
At the top of her list? Being one of the few Asian actresses to make a name for herself on both continents, lasting longer than an It girl and, more recently, investing her talents behind the camera in directing last year’s “Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl” and this year’s Richard Gere-Winona Ryder romance “Autumn in New York.”
For “What’s Cooking?,” Chen returns in front of the camera as Trinh Nguyen, who has plans for a big family Thanksgiving but is tested through her family’s crises. Eldest son Jimmy (Will Yun Lee) says he’s too busy to come home from college; Jenny (Kristy Wu) keeps a sour attitude and a white boyfriend on the hush-hush; and middle son Gary’s (Jimmy Phan) romantic ideas of gang life bring unexpected twists to the home.
It’s one of four cultures — the others Jewish, Mexican and black — portrayed in the film. Directed and written by Gurinda Chadha, the portrait of different families’ Thanksgivings brought together an eclectic group of actors. Mercedes Ruehl plays the Avila family matriarch whose plans to introduce her children to her new boyfriend are complicated when her cheating husband returns to reclaim her. Alfre Woodard runs the Williams house, hoping to put together a perfect dinner despite a quarreling father and son (Dennis Haysbert and Eric K. George) and meddling mother-in-law (Ann Whedon). And Lainie Kazan plays the Jewish mother who is dealing with her lesbian daughter (Kyra Sedgwick) bringing her “roommate” (Julianna Margulies) home for the holidays.
Chen, who whips up Vietnamese spring rolls as well as an ill-fated turkey in the film, says she found an instant connection with her movie family through food.
“We all had something to say about the food,” she says with a laugh. “Everybody would be talking about what they would cook at home and how they would cook it … and have heated discussions about what would taste a little better. And once you start getting into food, all of a sudden you’re a family.”
And Chen, whose last U.S. big-screen appearance was in 1995’s “Judge Dredd,” says spending the past three years on her directing projects (she has one or two more in development) has improved her acting process.
“[I’m] a little more disciplined and a little more considerate, and even now if I go on auditions I’m a little more relaxed,” she says. “I have a better understanding of what the other side goes through. And [I] wouldn’t take rejection as personally. I was happy not to be thinking of directing.”
“What’s Cooking?” opens Nov. 17.
