Stephanie Hsu plays the role of Kat, in the R-rated comedy film ‘Joy Ride’. Kat is a Chinese Opera Star and friend of Audrey (Ashley Park) who travels to China on a business trip along with Lolo (Sherry Cole) and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu). Stephanie Hsu’s Kat is a college friend of Audrey.
‘Joy Ride’ follows the life of Aubrey who decides to go back to China to find her maternal mother. Joining her on this trip is her best friend, Lolo, and her cousin, Deadeye. They meet up with Kat, who is a popular opera singer in China, but things go wrong when Kat’s Career is threatened when a photo of her secret vagina tattoo goes wrong.
The movie is written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao and is writer Adele Lim’s feature directional debut.
Stephanie Hsu on her character Kat’s nude scenes
In an interview with Variety, Stephanie Hsu revealed more about what went behind the scene. She talks more about her character Kat in the movie and her reaction when she read the script first.
“It’s a body double. Let me be clear and let my mother know, When I read it in the script I thought it was hilarious and it felt so obvious for the trajectory of that character, but then filming it was a different story. I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’” Hsu said.
“Specifically when I saw the makeup artist do their work on our brave and courageous and body positive body double, when I saw that I was like, ‘OK, this movie is too much. This movie is actually unhinged.’”
In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, Stephanie Hsu revealed more about the audition process to find a body double.
“It was very important that we chose someone who was comfortable in their skin because that is a very courageous and exposing act. We chose this woman who was very sex-positive and awesome,” Hsu said.
Stephanie said that she enjoyed playing the role of Kat in the movie and that her upbringing contributed to it.
“I think we figured out the sweet spot of time, duration. I come from a comedy background and hung out with all boys growing up, so I was around a lot of perverted people who were unhinged. When I read it on the page, it didn’t really strike me as something wild. And suddenly, when we were shooting it, it wasn’t abstract. You’re like, “The makeup artist is gonna put this on a body, and they’re gonna shoot that body!”
Stephanie Tsu has received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her dual role of Joy Wang and Jobu Tuapki in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022). Her other projects include ‘Shortcomings’, ‘The Path’, ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight’ in which she voiced the character Zhen.
