We wanted the characters to have some history together.”Īlthough the film’s co-stars have their own history together, Wong admits that she was curious to see if their chemistry would translate to the screen. “But we wanted to do something differently than the usual meeting of strangers. “We’ve wanted to do a rom-com for years and we were very influenced by ‘When Harry Met Sally,'” Park said. For “Always Be My Maybe,” they collaborated on the script, along with Michael Golamco. They’ve done improv and standup comedy together, and Wong spent some time writing for “Fresh Off the Boat,” the ABC sitcom in which Park stars. Like their characters, Wong and Park have enjoyed a lengthy friendship.They’ve known each other since their days as students at UCLA. Though Marcus and Sasha are initially reluctant to reconnect, they soon discover that they still have feelings for one another. He’s now a happily complacent musician still living at home and working for his widowed dad. Marcus, unlike Sasha, has spent his years off the fast track. It’s not until she returns to her hometown to open a new restaurant, that she runs into her old pal. Sasha moves away from San Francisco and becomes a celebrity chef. That story follows childhood friends Sasha and Marcus (Wong and Park), who have a falling out as teens and don’t speak for 15 years. San Francisco is very much woven into our story. “And I’ve always been a fan of TV shows where the city feels like an actual character. “San Francisco is such a big part of me,” she said. Even the script pages were getting all wet.” “Our sound person just wanted to give up and jump in the ocean. “The fog was so dense and a fog horn was constantly going off, making it hard to hear the actors,” Khan said. We weren’t ready for that.”Īnd then there was the outdoors night shoot, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, that director Nahnatchka Khan remembers with dread. “It was 65 degrees and it felt more like 45 - like we were out on the tundra. “We shot it in July and it was freezing,” she says about the film in which she stars with Randall Park (“Fresh Off the Boat”). She points to a particularly rough night of filming outside the Palace of Fine Arts. Just ask Ali Wong, who grew up in the city and pushed to shoot her new Netflix rom-com “Always Be My Maybe” in her hometown. CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos on a mobile deviceįilming a movie in San Francisco has its benefits, not the least of which are its photogenic skyline and beautiful bay-side scenery.īut it can also present some challenges.

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