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Fil-Am actor Reggie Lee on working with Jason Momoa in 'Sweet Girl': 'He's just a great guy'
LOS ANGELES — If there is one actor who is so down-to-earth and sweet, it is Reggie Lee.
The Fil-Am actor, who was born in Quezon City and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, was accepted to Harvard but instead decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue his passion—acting.
Also known as Sgt. Drew Wu on "Grimm" (2011-2017) or William "Bill" Kim on "Prison Break" (2006-2007), Reggie has also appeared in numerous films such as the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise as Tai Huang, "The Dark Knight Rises" as GCPD Officer Ross and in "The Fast and the Furious" as Lance Nguyen among others.
Recently, Reggie may be seen as Dr. Ralston Wu in the Brian Andrew Mendoza-helmed action thriller film, "Sweet Girl," which also stars Jason Momoa as Ray Cooper, Isabela Merced as Rachel Cooper, Adria Arjona as Amanda Cooper and Justin Bartha as Simon Keeley.
Filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the movie is the feature directorial debut of Brian Andrew Mendoza. It is about a woman named Amanda Cooper who falls ill with a rare form of cancer. Her husband Ray is told that there is a potentially life-saving drug for Amanda but was pulled off the market days before her treatment. Ray and his daughter Rachel then go to great lengths to find BioPrime CEO Simon Keeley who paid the manufacturer to delay production.
We were able to interview Reggie on his experience in doing the movie and below is our email interview.
When did you get the part in "Sweet Girl" and what was your reaction?
I was offered the role way back in the beginning of November, 2019. Pre-pandemic. I was obviously thrilled since I knew I'd be working with Jason Momoa. I mean, who doesn't want to work with Aquaman right?! I also knew I was going to work with Adria Arjona, whom I had known previously when we met at Comic Con some years back when her show, "Emerald City," was taking over the "Grimm" (the show I was on for years) timeslot at NBC when we had ended the show. So it was great to reunite with her. The surprise was that Isabel Merced, who plays Jason's daughter in the film, was a fellow Clevelander. So we had lots to talk about since we're both from there.
Can you tell us more about your character as Dr. Ralston Wu?
Well, it was actually Dr. Ralston before they cast me. When I got the role, they changed the name to Dr. Wu. Same as my "Grimm" character's surname. Will I always be playing a Wu? Ha ha. He's Amanda Cooper's (Adria Arjona) oncologist. She had a bout with cancer before, when I treated her. But the film begins when there is a resurgence of her cancer and she comes back to me for treatment. I've obviously known the family since her first occurrence, so there's a wonderful relationship there. It's then that I recommend a certain therapy and complications ensue that I can't really talk about. You just have to watch the film! But I can tell you that my dad (who is a retired physician) was happy that I was finally playing a doctor.
Was this filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and how was it working with Jason Momoa?
Yes! This was filmed in Pittsburgh from November of 2019 to February of 2020. My scenes were actually filmed in December so it was cold and snowing. Very much a change from LA weather. There was a lot of hot chocolate consumed during that shoot!
Jason was every bit the nice guy that everyone says he is. There's no pretense. He's just a great guy. And wonderful doing the scenes with since that aspect of his personality lent itself to the history of these two characters.
Did you do this during the pandemic and lockdown? What are the challenges of filming during the pandemic and lockdown?
Thankfully, we shot this right before the pandemic began. But from what I hear, the strain was already probably in the US by that time.
I did, however, shoot an entire season of a series I was on, "All Rise," during the pandemic. It was testing four times a week and incredibly safe protocols. It was expertly engineered, though, by our producers so that the actors who had to take their masks off were never around any crew. At times, we shot with 19 cameras so that close-ups would be done at the same time as the master shot. It was these things that I feel could be brought into the process even after the pandemic that, I felt, were more efficient.
Are there any other Filipinos in the cast?
As far as I know, there weren't any other Filipinos in the cast. But seeing as some of those scenes were in a hospital, there probably were. LOL!
I am still looking forward to a show or film that highlights Filipino doctors and nurses.
What do you think should be done to include Filipino actors in medical shows or hospital scenes because the reality is there are a lot of Filipinos in the medical field in the US?
This is a tricky subject. And the answer is obvious to us who are Filipinos. Just include them in that world because an overwhelming percentage of nurses in US hospitals are, indeed, Filipino.
It always takes education. Mostly behind the camera, that that statistic exists. I think it's going to take a Filipino writer or producer to actually write those characters in. But it will happen. I have faith that there are enough of us now in the industry that are open about our ethnicity and think that it's time we started educating people on how much Filipinos are part of the fabric of the US daily life. In fact, Filipinos are the second largest Asian American community in the US. And, I think, the least represented in the media. Let's change that!
What are your other projects?
I just finished shooting a Netflix series called "The Lincoln Lawyer" (a TV adaptation of the film). It hasn't been dated yet by Netflix. But guess what? My character is Filipino!
—MGP, GMA News
