The character’s trademark skill is to be as slick and unnoticeable as possible.
He’s effortlessly cool.
Virgil’s cousin, Han, rounded out the group as the de facto enforcer.
Credit: Giles Keyte
“I said, ‘I’m not sure if I’m into that.'”
Both broke at the time, Kang and Lin met at Denny’s to talk about the movie.
Kang felt Han was “sparse” and asked to read for Ben.
It was a small test for Lin, as Kang didn’t feel right for the lead.
Kang developed a backstory that pitted him as more than the gangster-throw in.
Han grasps the identity he fought to wear.
“He’s earned every cigarette he smokes.
That was something that was very clear.
It was very Sung-influenced, the character: I’ll own up to that for sure.”
“He has a heaviness to him.
His life isn’t easy.
Even smoking, I was like, ‘Why does he smoke?'”
“It’s not to just be cool; I don’t think Han cares about being cool.
He’s fighting for something.
He’s fighting for purpose.”
Kang’s first major film role was a realized, complex person.
And naturally, he thought that was a one-off.
“I didn’t even know what the significance of Han was.
Where could that character go?”
he says.Fast & Furiouswas a mere blip on the fringes of his and Lin’s radars.
Kang read for the lead, Sean, under no pressure.
But Lin wanted to make it happen.
“Very quickly, I realized, ‘Well I want Sung Kang, and I want Han.'”
He serves a surrogate father to Sean and others in Tokyo, housing them in his garage.
The two Hans’ worlds are completely different.
“Fast & FuriousHan lives in la-la land,” Kang says.
“Han inBetter Luck Tomorrowate at McDonald’s, most likely.
Han inTokyo Driftcould go to Nobu if he wanted to, but he chooses not to.”
He parcels out morsels of wisdom because he’s assured of what he wants.
Allowing Sean to bust his fine-tuned car allowed him to learn the Arizona teen’s true character.
“One car in exchange for knowing what a man’s made of?”
“That’s a price I can live with.”
Wealth and women filled his life, but were revealed as a veneer for his internal pain.
Han dies 75 minutes intoTokyo Drift, with little dialogue to work with.
“Give me something to opposed to just standing there.
It’s amazing how that translated onto screen.”
“What I think Sung brings is this complexity.
He doesn’t overdo it.
I feel like when he talks, those words mean something.
And how he interacts, there’s something about it that was very much earned,” Lin says.
“That coolness is earned.
How he’s always eating or how he moves, it’s something he’s earned himself.
To me, that’s what makes him intriguing to people.”
With death, Han seemed to finally be a part of Kang’s past.
But Lin and the franchise didn’t make Kang return the keys just yet.
That’s when Lin was trying to convince Diesel to make a cameo.
“So much of what we talked about ended up in theFast and Furiousfranchise.
It was really cool, for the first time, a lot of those backstories came to life.”
With the connection established, Han became a franchise regular.
Life also swiftly changed for Kang.
“Before theFastfranchise, I’m just a regular dude trying to make a career.
All of a sudden, you wake up and you’re Mickey Mouse,” he says.
She sees through Han, pegging his oral fixation as a link to his life as a former smoker.
“When you lose somebody that truly makes you better, a soul mate, it affects people.
Gisele sacrifices herself inFast & Furious 6to save Han.
The effect is instant, turning the usually lax and warm driver cold.
Not like Letty gone, but genuinely buried in the ground.
And Kang is cool with it.
“That’s what makes me happy.
If Han didn’t die, I don’t think he would have had the impact.”
The impact of the character affected Kang, too.
“In a way, Han kind of paralleled my life,” Kang says.
“I used to look up to all these superficial things that now have no value.
To me [now], how do I wake up with purpose?
Because time is short: it could be gone just like that.
Fast 8shot in Cuba this spring, another foreign locale for the cast to conquer.
Kang pines to go due to the old autos on the island.
Now people endearingly yell “Han.”
