Gen Z students tackle academic injustice and class warfare inBad Genius, which remakes 2017’s hit Thai movie for an American audience. Set to arrive in theaters on October 11, the film is directed by J.C. Lee (once a supervising producer in the similarly scandalousHow To Get Away With Murder) and co-written by Lee andCaptain America: Brave New Worlddirector Julius Onah. The new adaption is similar in story to the original, as high-achieving high school student Lynn decides the only way to pay for college is to run a cheating ring operation for high-class students who otherwise won’t make the grade.
Relative newcomer Callina Liang plays Lynn in her first leading role, but she counts on support (both on and offscreen) from3 Body Problem’s Benedict Wong, who plays her doting but strict father. Taylor Hickson and Samuel Braun play her classmates and accomplices Grace and Sam, whileBel-Airstar Jabari Banksportrays Bank, a scholarship student and son of Nigerian immigrants whose arc parallels Lynn’s own.Bad Geniusmay be a high-octane heist thriller, but it is also an exploration of what it means to be a first-generation American — especially relevant in a cultural climate that’s increasingly hostile to immigrants.
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Screen Rantinterviewed Wong and Lee about how their approach toBad Geniusdiffered from the original Thai movie, and how lead actor Callina Liang’s performance surprised and delighted them given her inexperience. Meanwhile, Wong addressed future possibilities for hisfan-favoriteDoctor Strangecharacter in the MCU, and Lee provided an update on his Boy George biopic for Sony.
“Let’s not mess with anything that’s making it work. Let’s preserve that and build out.”
Screen Rant: I’m Thai, but I didn’t realize that this was originally a Thai film from 2017. This reminded me ofRisky Businessmixed withOcean’s 11, and a little ofThe Social Networkwith a Gen Z twist. Incredible job, J.C., and fantastic performance, Benedict. What were some of the key inspirations behind reinterpreting Bad Genius for a Western audience?
JC Lee: Well, you’re going to make me jump out of my seat with joy because two of myinspirations were The Social Networkand Risky Business.
When I saw the original film, I just flipped out over it. I thought it was brilliant. I really loved it, and I felt like my job was to take what everyone loved about that original film and protect it and translate around the margins what we needed to translate for our Western audience, which is certain things about characters and how they behave and their value systems. We’re articulating certain emotional things for Western audiences that Eastern audiences don’t feel as compelled by.
Really, it was truly about seeing that original film, loving it so deeply, thinking it was so smart and so fun, and just saying, “Let’s not mess with anything that’s making it work. Let’s preserve that and build out what we need to build out.”
Screen Rant: Benedict, did you watch the original film? If not, what were some of the themes that jumped out at you when you read the script?
Benedict Wong: I didn’t, and I still haven’t as yet. What is important for me is to hone in on the script that J.C. had written, and not to kind of insert [the original] and as the actor be influenced by that. I just wanted to see the bare bones of this proud father who wants to give his daughter more opportunities than he has ever had.
He’s a single parent, and he’s trying to honor his late wife. It’s all about security and dreams. As an immigrant parent, he just wants to look after his kid, and yet this kid just wants her dreams. That kind of moral compass for me is what I honed in on, and we explore this with these amazing young actors. Callina, this was her first film! And Jabari [Banks], Taylor [Hickson], and Sam Braun. So, I loved this a lot.
Screen Rant: The cast is absolutely incredible. J.C., why did you choose to make this film and what messages did you wish to convey? It feels like a love letter to Gen Z and their hustler ethos.
JC Lee: It’s fascinating because a lot of what inspired this film was those gritty 1970s crime dramas, and I felt there was a real connection between the unrest in society back then and what we see now. I feel like what you have with young people now is sort of like Donald Trump, cryptocurrency… There is a feeling in the culture that the rules don’t work for everyone the way that they were promised to work, and to succeed, we’re going to have to break those rules. We’re going to have to reinvent those rules.
When I look at Gen Z, what I feel most acutely from them is not disillusionment, but a determination to say, “We’re going to remake the world the way that we decide to remake it, and your notions of fairness or morality or goodness, we reject them. We will define them for ourselves in our own way.” This young Asian girl decides to say, “I’m throwing all of that out the window to pursue something bigger for myself,” and that felt like the perfect encapsulation to me, so that was very exciting.
“I think that it takes a really special actor to be able to do that, especially a young actor.”
Screen Rant: Benedict, can you talk about the dynamic between your character and Lynn? And about working with Callina, who blew me out of the water.
Benedict Wong: It was so beautifully nuanced. When I first met Callina, she was like a [deer] in the headlights, like, “Oh, I’m going to work with Benedict Wong.” But as it was all coming together, my focus was on her and how that translates to just giving her all the hope. And it was just me and her; that was it. We were in our bubble, and hopefully, that transposed to the dad and the daughter, and just him looking out for her. We’ve kind of crossed the line, so I think I’m a second dad.
But they are this tight family. They work hard. He’s just 24/7 just grinding it out. It’s the immigrant story that we’re all very familiar with, where they’ll give you the best cuts of the meat and they’ll just eat the bones. But again, it is that wrestle of security and dreams. They just want to know that you are going to be all right. And once you’re there as the first generation, you kind of feel this passion as your guidance there. It’s what they do with it in this heist movie that becomes pretty amazing to watch.
Screen Rant: J.C, can you talk about navigating the moral complexities of Lynn’s character as she orchestrates the cheating scheme?
JC Lee: Yeah, that’s what makes Lynn fantastic as a character. One, it’s really Callina’s performance. There’s a lot on the page, but whatever’s on the page is kind of useless until you have an actor step in and breathe life into it, give it dimension, and give it truth. We wrote a complicated character, but Callina stepped in and made it a human character. I think that it takes a really special actor to be able to do that, especially a young actor. I will never forget the moment her audition tape came in, and all of us were sort of like, “Whoa, who is this young woman?” She’s just magnetic.
For me, sure, the writing was fun — and I am proud of the writing. But without this cast, the writing is just words. The multiple dimensions, the takes that they give you, and all of the different sort of nuances and gradients of every character? That’s all Callina, that’s Benedict, that’s Jabari. That’s this incredible group of people that came together and made something special. We just got to sort of say, “Oh, my God. Make sure the camera’s rolling. Get that!”
Benedict Wong Addresses The Chances Of Doctor Strange 2
And J.C. Lee gives an update on his Boy George biopic.
Screen Rant: Benedict, Screen Rant readers want toknow aboutDoctor Strange 3. Do you think there should be aDoctor Strange 3, and where would you like to see Wong go next in the MCU?
Benedict Wong: Of course, I think there should be a Doctor Strange 3. Where is Wong going to go next? Well, he is the Sourceror Supreme, isn’t he? I can only imagine what’s going to happen now, especially with Doomsday coming up. Yeah, we’ll see. Well, it’s in the hands of the Marvel Universe.
Screen Rant: JC, I’m really excited about your adaptation of Boy George’s life for Sony. How far into the process are you with that?
JC Lee: I am taking a break from writing that script so that we can all have a chat. I’m in the middle of the writing, and I’m in contact with George, who’s an incredible person who has shared incredible details and so much material with me about his just insanely remarkable life. It’s going to be a really exciting one. I’m very excited about this one, and I think it’s going to be special. It feels special to me.
Bad Genius is a gripping thriller that follows Lynn, a brilliant scholarship student, who devises an ingenious cheating scheme to help her friends ace their exams. As their underground cheating operation expands, Lynn finds herself at the center of a high-stakes game that tests her morals and pits her against the American education system.
Bad Genius
Cast
Bad Genius follows a gifted student who devises a scheme to assist wealthy classmates in cheating on exams, risking her future for financial gain. The film delves into the pressures of academic success and the moral dilemmas faced by a young scholar.
