The Sympathizer, adapted from the book of the same name, tells the story of a double agent working during the Vietnam War. Its co-creator, Canadian Don McKellar, says it was a rewarding but challenging exercise in throwing away preconceived notions.
How the creators of HBO 's The Sympathizer turned the bestselling novel into a dark, comic romp for TV | CBC News LoadedHoa Xuande, left, appears in a still with Robert Downey Jr. from the HBO series The Sympathizer . Adapting the complex novel was a challenge that series co-creator Don McKellar says ultimately proved to be rewarding. First off, it's a novel — one of the more lucrative source materials for an industry perpetually hungry for existing IP and a built-in audience.
"If I had written the book for a white audience, I would have sold it for a lot more money and many more publishers would have been bidding for it."But that excitement with the final product does not erase the difficulty in bringing to the small screen a story so focused on the experience of Vietnamese people. Making it no less difficult was the fact that one of the series co-creators, Don McKellar, is from halfway across the world.
Being from Canada, he said, gave a unique mirror to at least feeling like an American, but somewhat removed. Downey Jr. was the first name considered for the role, McKellar said, as it required a technically skilled actor who could do more than "only play themselves." And after a meeting with McKellar, in which the actor riffed, improvised jokes on the characters and scenes, he was immediately hired.
After landing the role, Xuande had to go through a two week "crash course" to relearn both his language and heritage.
HBO The Sympathizer Novel Adaptation TV Series Vietnam War Double Agent Dark Comedy
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