'Fast & Furious' actor Sung Kang turns passion for drifting into directorial debut 'Drifter'

Korean American actor Sung Kang brings his years of experience from the “Fast & Furious” U.S. film franchise into his directorial debut, “Drifter,” which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Before joining the “Fast & Furious” films in 2006 with " The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," Kang had no real experience with drifting, a car-community subculture built around controlled sideways driving. This exposure led to a lifelong obsession that would eventually culminate in his directorial debut, “Drifter.”

The movie, led by Kang, follows a lonesome racetrack custodian with a secret talent for drifting.

“I’ve been so fortunate to be part of this global franchise that has introduced me to this amazing audience that has supported us over decades now. I wanted to go deeper and honor that community with my own story and put my own personal truth to the characters and the world that I built in ‘Drifter,’” said Kang. “It’s really a love letter to the car community that has given me a place to belong, especially in the darkest hours of my life, and they are so important to me.”

Kang was determined to make the movie as authentic and true to the drifting culture as possible by calling upon legends in the car world, such as Dai Yoshihara, Adam LZ, Rutledge Wood and Brian Scotto.

The experience and guidance that the filmmakers and race car drivers provided Kang with was invaluable.

Calling upon legends of the car community was especially important for the climactic race scene. With a huge turnout, 12,000 car enthusiasts volunteered as background extras to pack the stands during the Legends of Drift event in New Jersey and shoot a fake drifting event live.

To authentically capture the dynamic car shots at Legends of Drift, Kang relied on a combination of a traditional Hollywood film crew alongside professional drone operators who work in Formula Drift.

“There’s a phrase that Brian Scotto taught me in his work as a car action director. He coined this phrase, ‘honest angle.’ In his work, there are real drivers, real cars. There are no camera tricks or VFX. I borrowed that phrase as a north star for the whole movie, not just the car action, but the characters and the whole thing. If I’m going to make a love letter to the car community, it has to have people from that world who helped make the movie. It takes a village to make a film and they all came together to support me in my dream.”

As well as calling upon industry experts to provide their knowledge and guidance, Kang also used his decades of experience in the movie industry and the “Fast & Furious” franchise for the most important things in filmmaking: patience and trust.

“It doesn’t matter how big the budget is. The cars sometimes have a mind of their own, and things will happen that you didn’t predict or prepare for and you have to just be patient,” said Kang. “In a big franchise, you have the best of the best in every department coming together, and eventually the director has to relinquish control and just trust. The operative word here is trust. Trust the people that are around you that know better than you.”

He added: “Trying to micromanage and dictate and be nervous, that’s an energy that doesn’t work around cars. You have to be patient. They do have a soul of their own. They have a mind of their own, and sometimes you just gotta wait for that magic moment. And if you honor that, you get these magical moments that you could never predict or prepare for.”

Kang believes that his directorial debut came at the right time in his life, as with age and experience he has gained more empathy and patience and been able to apply them to filmmaking.

“When you’re younger, you have all these voices in your head, and you feel like you have to control everything. But then you get older, and you really don’t have any control,” said Kang. “What you can control is how you approach from an authentic and sincere place, and you can control your empathy.”

Having originated in Japan in the late ’60s, drifting also became popular in the United States in the early 2000s, helped massively by “Fast & Furious.” Whilst still a niche subculture, Kang remarks that the drifting scene in Korea is starting to grow and hopes it will develop further in the near future.

“Car culture [in Korea] is very much new. I had the privilege to visit and meet some local drifters. Maybe they don’t have the population or the facilities for [drifting]. But I can tell you this: their passion for it is exactly the same. It’s beautiful to see drifting transcend outside of America and Japan and become global.”

He added: “The cars are cool and the smoke and all of that stuff are great spectacles. But, I realize that drifting is growing every year because of the people in that community. A drift event is like a family barbecue. They embrace and welcome anyone who comes with authenticity and passion for cars, or they want to learn and they have curiosity.”

Adam Davidson is a London-based arts journalist who specializes in music and movies and has contributed to publications such as LA Times, Radio Times and The Boston Globe. He can be reached at adam4726@gmail.com.