Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu break down their favorite scenes in the film, which hits theaters July 7.
There are many unforgettable scenes in Joy Ride, but there aren't many that can top the film's foursome impersonating a K-pop band to bypass airport security after their passports are stolen.
Directed and co-written by Crazy Rich Asians co-scribe Adele Lim, Joy Ride follows four unlikely friends who embark on a once-in-a-lifetime international adventure. When Audrey's (Ashley Park) business trip to Asia goes sideways, she enlists the help of Lolo (Sherry Cola), her irreverent childhood best friend who also happens to be a hot mess; Kat (Stephanie Hsu), her college friend-turned-Chinese soap star; and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo's eccentric cousin. Their trip soon becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging and, of course, debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.
Stranded without their passports, Deadeye is the one to suggest the ladies impersonate K-pop stars to board a flight without hassle. Decked out in colorful wigs and bright costumes, the four assume the personalities of the fictional girl group Brownie Tuesday, comprised of Sassy (Park), Cutie (Cola), Lisa (Hsu) and Lisa 2 (Wu). But when their credibility is questioned by airport staff, they break out into an outrageous rendition of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's "WAP" that will likely be stuck in viewers' heads for a long time.
"It was a collaboration," Cola tells ET's Denny Directo of Brownie Tuesday's iconic look. Park credits the film's costume designer, Beverley Huynh, for bringing the group to its epic level, adding that she "really had an idea of it for us."
"We filmed Monday through Friday [for] so many hours, and then every Saturday for like three of them leading up to it," Park adds. "We would rehearse the dance all day because it's a fantasy sequence, so we wanted it to be good. I think the names they came up with [are the] best and we kind of found our characters a bit."
Calling the scene an "homage to every pop star in the world," Cola admitted that she had the toughest time with the scene's choreography, saying, "I'm not a dancer, but it was such a fun challenge."
Wu claims the title of "second worst" but Park points out that her breakdancing skills are actually top-notch.
"I think that Sherry will be the one to rip the dance floor, but I didn't know that Sabrina could breakdance and do all this stuff," she shares. "Me and Stephanie -- I've danced since I was little, I was trained. So in my head I was like, 'Oh, I can't look like I'm trained, I have to look like a K-pop star,' you know?"
Lim credits the creation of Brownie Tuesday to co-writers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao, saying that like many other elements of the film, the sequence stemmed from a desire to provide joy to its audience. So much so that the film's title -- which was changed from Joy F**k Club -- in reference to the 1989 novel and 1993 film adaptation, The Joy Luck Club -- for "legal reasons" was inspired by that desire.
"We ended up with Joy Ride because this is what this movie was to write, to shoot and to share with an audience," Lim tells ET. "It is a joy ride, it is an adventure you go on with your best friends and have the time of your life. After the pandemic, you know, and the world we are living in, that's all we want. People go out there and have the best time in the movie theater."
Lim explains that the film is a work of love from her, Chevapravatdumrong and Hsiao, who are real-life friends. "We would go out to dinner and tell each other stories from our messy dating lives and the lives of our friends. And we thought, we're professional writers, we can put it in a movie like, why not us? And so that's where it came from."
"I think they're gonna fall in love with how real [the] dynamics are," Lim continues. "Even if you are not an Asian American woman out there, their relationships are based on like our friendships, like what we really talk about when with our day-drinking pals and it feels really real even though it is kind of crazy and they get into some [wild] situations."
The stars are just as sweetly enamored with the film. Cola gushes that even the original Joy F**k Club script was "so brilliant and just so hysterical," noting that Lisa 2 is "one of the funniest things I've ever read in a script."
"We knew it was raunchy and we knew it was rated R, but the first script we got was very different from what you see on the screen," Park reveals. "I believe there's a Water Buffalo at one point. But I think that [Adele, Cherry and Teresa] had such a good sense of the heart and the clockwork of each of these characters that we were like, 'Whoa.' I've never laughed out loud and cried to myself while reading a script ever until this one."
And Joy Ride is undeniably in a league of its own, being one of the few films with a predominantly Asian and queer cast.
Reflecting on that significance, Lim notes, "You cannot be an Asian American in this country and not have been affected by what Joy Luck Club did for us. It was the first time a lot of Asian Americans saw themselves as the heroes of their own story, you know, in a major Hollywood movie. So with our movie, again, not as classy, but we're like the subversive, out of control, teenage daughter of Joy Luck Club."
Hsu adds, "I've said this a whole bunch, but growing up, I was like the class clown in high school. People would be like, 'Oh, you should work with Seth Rogen one day.' And I never thought that the way that I would get to work with Seth was like, the four of us being front and center, leading a [rated] R film. So yeah, it just feels so satisfying to get to have fun, be the center of the story and be chaotic. I'm always being so funny, but I've never been so important and that is awesome."
"Yeah, it was really refreshing. And we'll try to get Water Buffalo in the sequel," Cola quips.
Speaking of a sequel, the cast already has ideas. "Of course, it's a different country," Hsu throws out. "I think there's a wedding involved."
"I think there's just a Deadeye spinoff," Wu pitches. "[A limited series] called Deadeye. It's a nod to our film. Jessie Armstrong stars in it."
Joy Ride is in theaters July 7.
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