Director Wayne Wang may be best known for directing The Joy Luck Club but his creative contributions outside of the Asian community have also garnered him attention. His recent experiment in Hollywood filmmaking includes directing Maid in Manhattan, Last Holiday, Anywhere But Here and Because of Winn Dixie. His Bay Area roots are also connected to some of his independent projects such as Chinese Box and The Center of the World.

But it’s his 1995 independent triumph Smoke that still remains his masterpiece. The story of several strangers interacting with each other through a Brooklyn smoke shop starred Harvey Keitel and William Hurt at the height of the indie film renaissance. Smoke was a massive word of mouth hit and spawned the companion film Blue in the Face. Serving as a quasi-sequel, Blue in the Face continued the continuity of the first film but was more playful and improvised in nature.

Smoke and Blue in the Face was the second time Wayne Wang made companion films simultaneously. The previous exercise was with 1989’s Eat A Bowl of Tea and Life is Cheap. His latest double feature is the recently released A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and The Princess of Nebraska. Thousand Years has been gaining momentum in theatrical release and Princess recently debuted exclusively on YouTube. Both films deal with culture clashes between old and new generation Asian-Americans but Princess of Nebraska is smaller and more experimental which suits its YouTube unveiling.

Wayne Wang was recently in San Francisco promoting both films and B OXOFFICE was able to catch up with him. CLICK HERE to listen to our interview.