Vivien Ngô: The Jill-of-all-Trades Behind 'Daughter'
Vivien Ngô is a rising talent who has spent the last few years establishing her career on film and in television. You might have seen her featured in episodes of Shameless, Class of Lies, and NCIS: New Orleans, or perhaps in such indie films as Wyrm. An alum of Guthrie Theater and Shakespeare’s Globe, Ngô is currently promoting her first lead role in a feature-length film, doubtlessly, the first of many more to come.
Ngô portrays the titular character in Daughter, a new thriller written and directed by Corey Deshon. The film is about a family living in utter seclusion. Their reason for doing so - to avoid a widespread plague - was actually thought up before anyone had even heard of COVID-19. In Ngô’s words, “We all joked that Corey has the power to predict the future! We lived the quarantine life before it happened… and so when I was stuck in quarantine again at the very beginning, getting cabin fever, I’m like ‘this feels familiar.’”
Speaking of the quarantine life, it would be particularly tense and terrifying to experience it in the main setting of Daughter. Played by Casper Van Dien, Father is the ruthless patriarch, ruling this little family unit with a short fuse and all the fanaticism of a cult leader. Mother (Elyse Dinh) lives closely in his shadow, keeping the house as neat as she can, avoiding conflict whenever possible. And then there is Brother (Ian Alexander), an innocent youth who sees his situation as utterly normal, which adds a whole other disturbing layer to this thriller.
Expertly played by Ngô, ‘Sister’ is a victim of abduction and held as a prisoner until she learns to accept her place as Daughter (or Sister, in Brother’s case). She must walk a tightrope between trying to survive and trying to escape. For Ngô herself, portraying this character was an interesting challenge. “It was different to be a character that just takes things and is silent, because I would hope I wouldn’t do that…” but of course that is the dilemma which Sister faces, and Ngô acknowledges that perhaps Sister’s method was the best option: “her being observant… I don’t know if she’s really obedient or if she’s just surviving and she’s really smart. Maybe I wouldn’t be smart enough to survive. Who knows?” Certainly a question which any audience member can take with them after they finish the movie.
On top of her starring role in this film, Ngô’s work on Daughter extended behind the scenes. Even when writer/director Corey Deshon was still putting the story together, Ngô was involved in the project. Both had experienced a creative drought from which this film was eventually born. “It was pretty collaborative,” Ngô reflects, “Corey went off and wrote the script with me, Ian, and Elyse in mind… [he] always gave room for us to give notes after the first couple of drafts.” For her part, Ngô didn’t have many notes for him, which she attributed to their many conversations. Corey, in Ngô’s words, “understood a lot of my frustrations and who I am as a person.”
Additionally, Daughter was not the first time that Ngô has worked with her co-star Elyse Dinh, nor was it even the first time that Dinh portrayed Ngô’s mother figure. The two can be seen playing a mother and daughter in Ava DuVernay’s hit series Queen Sugar. Ngô first met Dinh in the bathroom during the audition process for that series.
“There was this woman washing her hands, and I look at her… and as far as I knew, the only people having callbacks were for my role… [was] she just another option?” After that momentary confusion, the two women became fast friends on the set of that series. As Ngô observed, she’s taken to calling Dinh “Mom” when they hang out. Given how often her co-star has ended up playing mother figures in her career, Ngô quipped that she considers all those actors family as well (“I get to call Kelly Marie Tran my sibling!”). Prior to the inception of Daughter, Ngô had spoken with Deshon about making a film for Dinh to co-star in “because she’s been in this industry for three decades now… we felt that she needs a chance to do what we know that she’s capable of.” The opportunity to really flex one’s talents is an opportunity which Daughter definitely afforded to Ngô, Dinh, and Alexander in particular. And yet Ngô admitted that she was still very nervous when she and Deshon sent out the script to Alexander and Dinh: “it all hinged on them saying yes.” Thankfully, they were both only too happy to take roles which were a welcome relief from the cliché roles that Hollywood still hasn’t abandoned.
Making this independent thriller certainly came with its challenges, of course. Playing a role both in front of and behind the camera left Ngô in a state of exhaustion, and the filming schedule had to be altered when she developed a high fever. When Daughter entered post-production, Ngô was the person who oversaw the crowdfunding campaign to raise the rest of their budget. “I thought I cried a lot during pre-production and production,” Ngô observed with a wry smile, “doing crowdfunding at the beginning of lockdown? That was special.” While the experience didn’t dampen her spirits, it give her some practical experience. “I do want to produce more,” Ngô was quick to clarify, “I want to direct at some point, and I’m not against producing or directing something that I’m in, but… if I’m taking such a large role behind the scenes as well, [I would like to] be able to let go more.” But regardless of any challenges that she might face, Ngô has made it clear that she has no intention of slowing down any time soon. “I’m looking forward to the day [that I direct something]. Not there yet, but hopefully in the next couple of years.” No doubt she’ll make good on her prediction.