Sung Kang on Why the Car Community is Ready for His 'Drifter' Movie

TORONTO—"This is broccoli" is an admittedly strange three-word pitch for a movie, but if anybody has earned the latitude to explain themselves, it’s Sung Kang.

The 53-year-old actor has been a part of the Hollywood machine for over half his life, but it was his (re)turn as Han Lue in 2006’s The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift that cemented Kang’s reputation in the car community. Han was the cool, calm counterpoint to the boisterous, over-the-top antics that had up until that point defined the franchise. It was a balance that worked so well, Kang came back again and (spoiler alert for a five-year-old movie) again.

Now he’s got his own auto-focused movie in “Drifter,” an upcoming film about a racetrack janitor (named Tree) with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to compete on the pro drifting stage. Kang isn’t simply acting in this one, either: he also has director and producer credits, making this a very real labor of love. As part of the “Drifter” press tour, Kang and Co are taking the movie on a road trip to the fans, including the Canadian International Auto Show. That’s where I sat down with the Georgia native to talk about why now is the right time for “Drifter,” the differing car scenes in the West and the East, and the importance of representation and authenticity within the community.

The first order of business is getting Kang to expand on an earlier comment from the trailer reveal that morning: that the community is ready for “Drifter.”

“I'm not sure that in 2010 a movie like Drifter couldn't, first of all, have been made, and number two, The Fast and Furious movies needed to kind of play out the way it did. 'Drifter,' is, to me, like broccoli. It's the greens, right? You got to go eat some junk food for you to appreciate the broccoli. ​​You have to be ready for it. Like, if you just give them broccoli, that's the first thing on the plate, [they’re] like, ‘man, give me some fried something, right?’”

Kang goes on to list the big set pieces and sequences that the multi-billion-dollar franchise has explored. He was never interested in retreading that path for this movie; he wanted something personal, something with “honest human emotion.” That’s not to say there aren’t parallels between “Drifter” and “Tokyo Drift,” specifically in the focus on authentic action captured through the camera—made possible by the connections Kang has built within the community over the past decade-plus.

"Could I have done this in 2010? I didn't have the social circle. I didn’t have the support, and the friends that would come together helped me build the cars, come and drive the cars,” says Kang. Connections like former Formula D driver Dai Yoshihara, James Pumphrey, and Rutledge Wood, all with important parts to play in the film.

It’s not just the big names but the broader community, too. During the final climactic shoot for “Drifter,” some 12,000 people came out to fill the stands for an authentic, big drift event feel. Kang is clearly thankful for such a positive response. “I don't think this was possible in 2010. At least for me, it was not possible,” he says.

Cars as connection. It’s something we hear often within the community, that as cool as any car is, it’s really the connective tissue between people, where the human stories come to the fore. Kang has repeatedly referred to Lola, the red AE86 Toyota Corolla that Tree drives throughout “Drifter,” as the star of the movie. But he reveals a surprising revelation about his own history of project cars.

“What I've learned with being part of these car builds in my personal life is I realize, like, after the cars is done, I actually don't care.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, it's like, it's nice to drive, you know, and it's like, that's cool, but then, the thing that really is meaningful to me was all those late nights and those laughs and the shared experiences and the stories.”

Listening to Kang describe it, the project becomes less of a car and more of a four-wheeled journal, capturing those ephemeral moments in metal, glass, and rubber. A journey, and like all journeys, there are ups and downs. “It’s what you leave behind. And then you look at the car as a representation of the best of you and the worst of you,” says Kang. “The car is so honest, like, you open it up and you go, that's where I shortcut it. That's where I was impatient. I could have taken my time.”

Ever humble, Kang acknowledges the process of a build allows for others’ expertise to shine, and to learn from the experience. He admits he’s no painter, but finds joy in finding someone who isn’t just getting paid, but “they believe in this idea, this mission, this ethos, they put their heart into it.” He finds art in every aspect, even down to the wiring harness—and it all feeds back into the mission. “I transfer that kind of concept and that idea into making the movie. So actually building the cars is almost like a film school for me, you know?”

While it’s the JDM machinery that he has long been associated with—Lola, “Tokyo Drift,” his Fugu Z—Kang grew up in Georgia surrounded by American iron. Pop culture played an important role in shaping his views on cars too, including the likes of “Dukes of Hazzard” and “Knight Rider.” His move to California opened his eyes to Japanese and European cars, but also revealed the enthusiasm back home for these same cars. He talks excitedly about Datsun, of Paul Newman and Brock Yates and the BRE years, and how the largest collection of the team’s cars in America is in Atlanta.

Looking further abroad, it’s that connective tissue again. We both talk about our time in Japan—for Kang it was the Autosalon in January 2025, for me the Tokyo Mobility Show last fall—and how there’s an appreciation for American imports there.

“Even Hummers!” exclaims Kang. “And that's beautiful, is that we think, you know, go to Japan, everyone's gonna be into the Japanese cars. But that's where you realize how powerful cars are, that Japan celebrates Hummers more than we do in America. And they celebrate it like, amazingly. They see beauty in it where we kind of just, like, take it for granted, you know?”

Seeing this stuff in person is one thing, but Kang recognizes the next generation is coming into the car community from different angles, including video games. His own car, the Fugu Z and its naturally-aspirated RB-series motor, is in Gran Turismo 7, after all. The director admits he isn’t a gamer—”I have ADD, so I can’t sit down and, like, focus long enough”—but considers himself an advocate because of the accessibility. 

Look, even this is not accessible today for a 16 year old kid,” Kang says, motioning to his co-star Lola. “These are super rare. They're hard to find. They also cost money. A 16 year-old kid that doesn't have a job or is working at McDonald's. You can't really go out and buy one of these on this Daddy helps you, right? And no dad's gonna in his right mind buy this for their son for their first car. This is gonna break down.”

Kang calls sim racers an entry point, a way to experience something that’s affordable, comfortable and safe. He also highlights the travel aspect, like the Scapes feature in GT7 or even how the upcoming Forza Horizon 6 will feature a curated version of Japan. These additional features provide important context for young automotive enthusiasts.

We wrap with an important question. Kang has become a role model to an entire generation over the last 20 years, an Asian actor portraying a character free of stereotypes in a space that didn’t often afford others that chance. What advice could he give for the upcoming generation, be it building or racing or even covering cars in the media, to ensure more different voices are heard?

His answer is long, yet simple. He tells the story of his married friends, both of whom worked on “Drifter.” In the first week of the film’s 22-day shoot the crew was in Barstow, CA, where Kang attended high school. It’s an arduous start in the high desert, with temperatures regularly cracking 110 F. On day three or four, Kang’s director of photography tells him that his wife—also a cinematographer—is “probably” going to quit the movie. “He's like, ‘Because she thinks you're delusional. Like, there's no way she thinks you're gonna finish this movie 'cause it's too big,’” explains Kang. “He said ‘There's too much going on. And you don't have enough money and you don't have enough time.’”

Three weeks later, “Drifter” wrapped in Englishtown, New Jersey. Kang was going through that dip that many creatives experience at the end of a project—a mix of depression but awe for the journey, of wondering if this is the last time he’ll get that feeling. His friend picked up on this melancholy and she asked what was wrong, before confessing she nearly quit. She then relayed her own journey of becoming a cinematographer, of asking the most famous cinematographer in her home country how to follow in his footsteps.

His answer was simple: “just be a good person.”