Q&A With Brian Tee & Jack Huston of Prime Video’s “Expats”

SAMDB’s Andrew Germishuys got to speak to Brian Tee and Jack Huston about the Prime Video series Expats.

Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, Expats centers on three American women—Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo)—whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy. The series interrogates privilege and explores what happens when the line between victimhood and culpability becomes blurred.

Brian Tee plays Margaret’s husband Clarke and Jack Huston plays Hilary’s husband David.

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, Jack Huston
Creator, Director, Writer: Lulu Wang
Executive Producers: Lulu Wang, Daniele Melia, Nicole Kidman, Per Saari, Theresa Park, Alice Bell, Stan Wlodkowski

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SAMDB: Brian, Jack, thank you very much for joining us today.

Brian: Hi.

Jack: Thank you.

Brian: Thank you for having us.

SAMDB: And happy 2024 to you too.

Brian: Happy New Year.(…) You can keep saying. I think it’s the month of January at least.

Jack: At least for the month of January.

SAMDB: Yeah. Well, first time we’ve seen you.(…) So very interesting new show. Expats, Hong Kong 2014, following Margaret married to Clark, played by Brian and Hillary married to David played by Jack.
What drew you to these characters?

Brian: I guess I’ll start off. I think being a father, I think first and foremost. I have children. And in that sense, I never got to portray someone that I’m so incredibly close to already, and then have it flip on his head and have this tragedy happen where it would literally wouldn’t wish this upon your worst enemy scenario. And to be able to live through that and how I would actually connect myself if that ever happened.

Jack: Yeah

Brian: It was so incredibly compelling and challenging at the same time. And I think that upon Lulu Wang being a part of this and really helming it together. And I love her and gosh the things that she’s created, especially The Farewell, I immediately gravitated towards this project. And, so glad I did. So glad I did.

Jack: Makes us different.

Brian: Yeah.

Jack: I completely agree. I think it’s um,(…) it was it was a wonderful phone call to get from Lulu.(…) She’s been a friend for a long time. We got to work together on her first feature.(…) And she just always, you know, shows up in such a sort of unique way, with something completely special and brilliant. And you know, just as I thought it would be as complex and layered(…) and sad and tragic and beautiful and funny as it can be. And you know, that’s what she does so perfectly.(…) And putting together such an amazing group of actors, you know, writers, producers, the whole shebang. It was it was it was amazing from day one.

SAMDB: It’s quite the ensemble, actually.(…) Could you share without spoilers a little about your character? I mean, you know, what is obviously, there’s all this tragedy involved, but a little bit about, you know, Clark and a little bit about David.

Brian: Yeah, I think Clark enjoys being a dad. I think he’s a family man. I think he’s the one that tells really bad dad jokes and prides himself on that, as do I.

So there we’re extremely connected. And I think, you know, there’s a piece of him, especially that he’s the one that brought the family to Hong Kong. Right. So when this tragedy does happen, this this guilt or this sense of just, he’s the one that created this particular situation that the whole family has to go through. And then it’s his struggle to try to keep it all together, in that sense. So it was incredibly, I guess, thought provoking, the whole series is but for me, especially for Clark, it was something that I extremely gravitated towards and connected with, purely because I could bring pieces of myself to the character.

Jack: Yes, I mean, maybe, maybe I didn’t connect as much in my real life, my dear David.(…) It was so, it’s so fun taking on a real character, though, you know, I love that. And, you know,(…) when Lulu called me, she was like, you know, this is a guy who’s, you know, who’s going through pretty much a midlife crisis, questioning everything, all the choices he’s made, making some very foolish and foolhardy decisions,(…) but living with them and actually going all the way with them and sort of, you know, that’s the sort of tragedy of David is, you know, he’s a beautifully flawed human being, as we all are. So it’s always fun to experience and sort of get into that mindset. It was, it was something and it was a lot of food. It was fun.(…)

SAMDB: There are a lot of life changing events in there.(…) Moving to a new city and a lot of tragedy,(…) like really heartfelt emotional tragedy. How do you remove yourself from the emotion?

Brian: Remove ourselves from the emotion?

SAMDB: Once you’ve, once you’re wrapped, how do you step away from?

Jack: I was like, yeah, that’d be a no, no, no, no, no,

Brian: don’t do that. Go deep.(…) I mean,(…) I feel like I’m very fortunate to have the best wife in the world and adoring my child. And I think, you know, I think the professional life and the personal life, you know, though we bring our personal into our professional, I think when we leave our professional, we can strictly be personal.

Jack: I’m exactly the same. I completely agree. I completely agree.(…)

SAMDB: Perfect. Gentlemen, time flies when you’re having fun. Thank you.

Jack: It really does. Thank you mate. Lovely to speak with you.

Brian: Appreciate it.

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