The Sympathizer's Fred Nguyen Khan & Duy Nguyễn On Real-Life Friendship And Supportive Cast

Summary The Sympathizer presents Vietnamese culture with a primarily Vietnamese cast speaking their native tongue.

Stars Fred Nguyen Khan and Duy Nguyễn researched extensively to time-travel into the late 1970s setting, finding inspiration in music.

Interestingly, the two actors were already friends well before being cast in the show, which further helped them capture the close bond between their characters.

The Vietnam War is being told through a unique new lens with The Sympathizer. Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, the HBO thriller is set near the end of the Vietnam War, following a group of refugees as they escape from the country and head to America to build new lives. Amid the refugees is the Captain, a spy for North Vietnam who had been working undercover in the South Vietnam army and continues his mission while on the other side of the world.

Joining the Captain is Bon, one of his two childhood friends who worked for the South Vietnam army without any knowledge of his dual allegiances. Upon their arrival in America, Bon struggles with a deep depression due to losing those closest to him during his escape from Vietnam. As the Captain continues his mission in America, he also strives to find a way to help his best friend and give him a new purpose in life.

Related The Sympathizer Episode 1 Recap: 8 Biggest Reveals The new A24 & HBO miniseries The Sympathizer begins months before the Fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War and introduces its mole protagonist.

Hoa Xuande leads the ensemble Sympathizer cast as the Captain alongside Robert Downey Jr. in a four-character role, Sandra Oh, Toan Le, Fred Nguyen Khan, Duy Nguyễn, Vy Le, Ky Duyen, Phanxinê, Kieu Chinh, VyVy Nguyen and Alan Trong. Don McKellar and Park Chan-wook serve as the creators of the HBO thriller adaptation, with the latter also directing the first three episodes of the show, while Sugar's Fernando Meireilles and The Third Day's Marc Munden helming the rest.

In anticipation of the show's premiere, Screen Rant participated in a roundtable interview with stars Fred Nguyen Khan & Duy Nguyễn to discuss The Sympathizer. The duo reflected on their real-life friendship and how it translated to their work as friends within the HBO thriller, as well as their characters' journeys, having a supportive cast and crew, and the importance of Vietnamese representation on screen.

Nguyen Khan & Nguyễn Are Thrilled The Sympathizer Will Present Vietnamese Culture To More Audiences

One of the most important elements of The Sympathizer is that the cast is primarily made up of Vietnamese actors playing characters of the same region, with much of their dialogue also being in their native tongue. For Nguyễn and Nguyen Khan, the opportunity to take part in the show was very special, particularly as the latter grew up in Canada and the former moved there 10 years ago, where very little Vietnamese media exists:

Duy Nguyễn: Well, I grew up in Hanoi, Vietnam, I moved to Ottawa and then Montreal, I moved to Ottawa like 10 years ago. So, I remember when I was a kid, I would be in the theater, yelling, jumping up and down every time I'd hear a Vietnamese word being spoken on screen. But no, I'm in an American show, and now I get to do it myself, and 50% of the show is in Vietnamese, I just can't help but feel so excited. And hearing it on set all the time, and then to hear it now on the screen with the music and sound mixing. It's so epic, it's so cinematic. And I really do hope we have more chances to do this. Fred Nguyen Khan: For me, I was born in Montreal, Canada. The only Vietnamese media that I was exposed to were variety shows, stuff like that. So, I never felt like, as an actor, that the Vietnamese language can be used in film or TV shows until I came to the set. And I met all these amazing actors and their performances are so grounded. And Vietnamese speaking and acting is so different. But when you hear it, and it sounds so cinematic, it's really good. I think it's a good step in the right direction, for sure.

This pride for the show's representation even extended to the duo's efforts to be part of its cast, with Nguyen Khan recalling he "would have been so sad" if he didn't get to be part of the show, while Nguyễn only learned about its existence thanks to his real-life friend:

Fred Nguyen Khan: Man, I would have been so sad if I was not part of this. [Laughs] As a Vietnamese actor, like, "But, but, but, but..." Duy Nguyễn: I think I felt that when I saw the casting call the first time. Fred showed me, Fred actually called me up one day and was like, "Oh, can you read for me for this audition? I need a Vietnamese actor." I'm like, "You need a Vietnamese actor? To speak Vietnamese? On a show? What show is this? What is this? How can I get it?" Fred Nguyen Khan: "Don't worry about it." [Laughs] Duy Nguyễn: Just to speak to how rare this is, just to be able to speak Vietnamese on such a big stage. Now millions of people can be exposed to the language, the culture. Fred Nguyen Khan: This is our first time acting in Vietnamese. Duy Nguyễn: That's a lot of learning. Fred Nguyen Khan: The excitement of getting to act in Vietnamese is one thing, but with it comes the challenge of, "Oh, we have to do this. How are we going to do this? Somebody help me, please." Duy Nguyễn: Yeah, I had to learn a whole new accent. Fred Nguyen Khan: We were so well surrounded, we were in the best of hands. So, it felt like a very safe space for us to just try things. And even if we fail, we can try again. The whole ensemble cast was amazing. I love each and every one of them. I would take a bullet for them. Eh, some of them, I would take a bullet for some of them. Not all of them, but some of them. [Chuckles]

Doing Research For The Show Was Like "Time Travel" For Nguyễn & Nguyen Khan

With the show being set in the late 1970s, The Sympathizer's period nature required some research for Nguyễn and Nguyen Khan to properly immerse themselves in the era, especially given the former was "born decades after the War" and had "very limited knowledge" of it. The duo ultimately found doing their research to be an "immense" and "surreal" experience that largely equated to time travel:

Fred Nguyen Khan: For me personally, I used to do a form of street dance called popping, which was originated in the '70s. So, I had to really learn a lot about the music from that era, and there was a lot of listening to music in order to get into the energy of the characters. And my family went through the boats and the refugee camps, so taking things from my uncles, and from my father that I thought could be useful for this narrative was very helpful for me. That really was my research, is really asking my family, speaking to my uncles, my father, listening to the music of that era, just watching movies from the '70s, it was such a fun experience to be surrounded by all this time traveling energy. [Chuckles] Duy Nguyễn: [Chuckles] It was like time travel, yeah. For me, I grew up in Vietnam, I was born decades after the War, so I really had no — living in Vietnam, it was very limited knowledge of what it was like back then. And then, I read the book, and then I got to be one of the characters in the show, which is still to this day, who would've thought. The research was immense. I would lock myself in in the room throughout the production. Every time I'm not shooting, I would either be on set watching Fred do his stuff, or in the room watching documentaries, reading articles, movies, and also diaries of the people who survived the war. And I read the book, I think, 20-30 times by this point. Fred Nguyen Khan: That's a lot of times. It's a pretty big book, too. [Chuckles]

One of the most helpful resources the acting duo had for getting into their roles was the music from the era. For Nguyễn, he actually pulled from the world of the show by listening to the records the Captain gave his character, while Nguyen Khan built a specific playlist he felt his character Bon would listen to:

Fred Nguyen Khan: I actually have a Spotify playlist that says "Bon's Record Collection." And it's music that he would be listening to, even though he doesn't really collect music, but that's something that he would be listening to. So, I have two playlists, that one and another one where it's just to get into character if I needed to do something very physical. But the "Bon's Record Collection" one is more accurate to the era, because that's his character, what he would be listening to. There's a lot of French music from Paris during that time, my parents would listen to a lot of Paris music. And my dad was a musician, actually, in a band in Vietnam, and he would listen to a lot of Motown music, and a lot of funk. So, I drew a lot of inspiration from those things. And to answer your question, it's really hard to pick one song out of all of that. I think it would probably be Little Richard. I might change my mind afterwards, but Little Richard, "Long Tall Sally." That, I think, would be something that Bon would listen to as he's running around. [Chuckles] Duy Nguyễn: Yeah, I don't know how many episodes you've seen, it was mentioned in the in the first episode that the Captain leaves his collection of records to Man, and I actually listened to that nonstop, just to get into the character. And also, there's some songs in the show that I heard when I was a kid, Vietnamese songs, and now to hear it on the screen, on such a scale, is so epic.

The Duo Were So Focused On Nailing Their Characters They Didn't Reflect On The Show's Deeper Themes

As the show takes a very satirical approach to Hollywood's perception of Asian and Vietnamese people, The Sympathizer raises important questions about the industry's treatment of people of color and their cultures. While Nguyễn and Nguyen Khan find it "a blessing" to be able to tell the story of the show, they were ultimately so focused on nailing their characters that they didn't have time to reflect on some of these themes:

Fred Nguyen Khan: Well, I never felt like when I was working on this show that I had to even think about stuff like that. I was just so focused on telling the story of Bon. It's such a complex and nuanced character that I had the greatest of fulfillment as an actor to portray this character. I know in Canada, there's not a lot of characters being written that are Asian, let alone Vietnamese. A lot of the times, the filmmakers themselves are not from our culture, so they don't know how to write a character like that. They just write a character, and we get to play them if we're lucky, but for something like this, it's just such a blessing to be able to tell our story, basically. Duy Nguyễn: Yeah, we didn't really focus too much about that during the shoot, because that's the thing that's the genius part about The Sympathizer is that it's very subtle. It's not subtle at all, but very subtle at the same time. [Chuckles] It never hits you in the head with the message, "Oh, this is what we want to say, this is what we're gonna say, no, no, this is what happened with this character." You can draw your own conclusion to real life if you want to, and it's often hilarious, often very funny, and ridiculous. Fred Nguyen Khan: It felt great to just be amongst other Vietnamese actors. It felt like a family reunion with your favorite cousins. It's unheard of for us to be surrounded by so many people. Same language, same culture, so it was great for us.

When looking at how the show could resonate with modern viewers, and any parallels they see between the story and the current year, the duo particularly pointed to their characters' friendship as the best thing for audiences to take away from it. Considering the group find themselves on "completely opposite political spectrums", the stars hope that those in similar positions today recognize the humanity in others runs deeper than their political beliefs:

Duy Nguyễn: Yeah, the show is so complex, just like the book. There's so many interweaving themes and topics. There's a lot to talk about, but underneath all of it, it's very apparent it's the love of the blood brothers who are on a completely opposite political spectrums. But, somehow, they still love each other deeply, they somehow still recognize each other as humans. "We're just humans, and this is the circumstance, and we don't have to let the circumstance determine how we treat another human being." And then you have the characters who share the same political ideologies in the show that don't like each other, that despise each other, so I hope that message will resonate with the audience nowadays, so that we can start thinking about maybe treating each other like humans instead of where you stand on the political spectrum. Fred Nguyen Khan: Yeah, there's a lot of empathy from these characters and from this cast, as well. Duy Nguyễn: And it's also a different side of war. There are stories about war that we've never heard about, so start talking, start asking what's actually happening.

Nguyễn & Nguyen Khan's Off-Screen Bonding Started Well Before The Sympathizer

With the Captain, Bon and Nguyễn's Man being central pillars to the show's overall story in their friendship, referring to themselves as both The Three Musketeers and blood brothers after making a blood pact as kids, building an off-screen friendship would have been an important task for the actors behind the characters. For Nguyễn and Nguyen Khan, however, this process began well before filming got rolling on The Sympathizer:

Fred Nguyen Khan: Well, a lot of people might not know this, but Duy and I have been close friends a long time, before we even got hired on the show. He was my reader for my first audition, and I was his reader. So, that part of the friendship was fine, we didn't need to work on that. Meeting Hoa, on the other hand. [Laughs] Actually, it was quite easy, because all jokes aside, when I first started shooting, the first two weeks or so, it was only the Captain and Bon, we were just doing scenes with the two of us alone. So, it was just us bonding over the scale of this production, and how grateful we are to be part of this story. And we were very supportive of our lines, running lines, with our Vietnamese language, and just making sure that we did the best that we could, whatever circumstances that were thrown at us. Duy Nguyễn: Yeah, I think all of us, really, while shooting it, we knew how special this show is for us. Also for millions of people who are going to be watching. So, immediately from the start, from the time I stepped foot on the set, all I saw was love. We always had each other's backs, and I met Hoa for the first time — I joined really late, I joined like two months after they already started shooting, they already started bonding. [Chuckles] And then I joined, and for the first two days of shooting, I was alone. If you watch the show — spoiler — I was alone with the camera. And then suddenly, after the second day, the third day, Hoa came on and I was like, "You are my best friend now. I'm so tired of acting with the camera. Save me!" [Laughs] And then we just bonded immediately.

Despite being friends in real life, though, casting director Jennifer Venditti had no idea of Nguyễn and Nguyen Khan's prior knowledge of each other, with the duo going on to praise their being cast as a testament to recognizing the potential bond they could form on-screen:

Fred Nguyen Khan: To answer the first question, they had no idea. They didn't know at all. I didn't really tell them to cast my friend, that's not a good thing to do. But it just worked out in the best of ways somehow. A lot of dominoes had to fall for this to work out, and to for both of us to be there. So, somehow, this is the prime alternate universe where everything works out. Duy Nguyễn: Also, that speaks wonder to the casting director, Jennifer Venditti. Somehow, she just sensed that there's something between me and Fred to be like, "Oh, that guy might work with that guy." So yeah, it's really pure coincidence that we got cast playing, because I auditioned for so many other characters, and I heard nothing back, and I was like, "I'm ready to just be a dead body, so I can be part of this world-changing show." [Chuckles] But, somehow, I get to be here with Fred

Filming The Sympathizer Out Of Chronological Order Was Challenging For Nguyễn & Nguyen Khan

With its multiple-continent-spanning story and jumping back and forth between time, The Sympathizer ultimately found its shooting schedule to take a non-chronological approach to filming, shooting the Vietnam-set sequences near the end while the American-based bulk was at the start. For Nguyễn and Nguyen Khan, this ultimately proved a unique challenge as they processed the evolution of their characters:

Fred Nguyen Khan: I think one of the challenging things about shooting this show is that we shot a lot of things out of order. I think we started with episode 2, and then went to 3, and then it was 5, 6, 4, and then 1, 7. So, it was all over the place. But the more that we bonded as a cast, the more that our characters were able to draw from those experiences. I think, for me, it was just being able to trust the cast to give you what you need, and having the directors tell you exactly what you need. I think it's very organic in that way. Duy Nguyễn: It is really an ensemble piece. Even though my character only appears alone, behind that camera is all the cast. They're just there for you always, every day. And I drew a lot of that to my performance, because I know how, even though if the days get hard, there's always somebody to talk to, somebody to hug, and we all knew how meaningful this story is for us, and for millions of people who are going to be watching. So yeah, we all just wanted to make the best thing that could ever be.

About The Sympathizer

Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, THE SYMPATHIZER is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his new life as a refugee in Los Angeles, where he learns that his spying days aren't over.

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Check out our other Sympathizer interviews with:

Phanxinê & Kieu Chinh

Vy Le, Toan Le & Ky Duyen

Sandra Oh & Hoa Xuande

Susan Downey & Niv Fichman

Park Chan-wook

Don McKellar

New episodes of The Sympathizer air Sundays on HBO and Max.