After the Tuesday, June 27, 2006 membership screening of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the DGA Asian American Committee hosted a discussion about the film’s making with its director, Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, Annapolis) moderated by DGA Director member James Wong (The XFiles, Final Destination) in DGA Theater One in Los Angeles.

Following an introduction by AAC Co-Chair Wendy Ikeguchi, Lin and Wong discussed how Lin moved from the independent film world where he financed Better Luck Tomorrow with ten credit cards, to the world of studio financed projects where Lin said, “I could spend the entire budget of my first film before lunch,” and the difficulties involved in filming the third installment of the adrenaline-charged street racing franchise to Tokyo with a combined crew from Japan and America. “It was fun because the Japanese crew liked to prepare, prepare and then go with the plan, while we liked to prepare, prepare and then be spontaneous,” Lin recalled. “It was great learning experience for each crew to get together and by the end of it we were all having fun.”

Lin, who is currently prepping a new indie film featuring actors from all three of his previous ventures, joined the DGA in 2004.