Michael Tow – City on Fire

By starrymag | June 16, 2023

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) Please tell us the premise for “City on Fire.”

 

A) “City on Fire” takes place in Ny in 2003, a city still healing in the wake of 9/11. A 19-year-old woman Sam Yeung (played by the wonderful actress Chase Sui Wonders) gets shot in Central Park and the show takes us to the underground music scene to the Upper East side and the wealthy elite and the mystery that unfolds. I play Joe Yeung, Sam’s single father who is struggling to come to grips that his daughter, who is now in a coma, may not survive and his whole world as he knows it may be forever changed.

 

Q) How was your character Joe Yeung originally described to you?

 

A) The breakdown for the role of Joe was that he was paunchy and defeated. Sam’s beaten-down father who holds a grudge against just about everything. After Sam is shot Joe sits with her at the hospital, scared he’s losing his entire world. I tried to audition with that in mind (I’m not paunchy), but then once cast, I took the character in my own direction.

 

Q) Was there something about this role or the series that made you want to be a part of the show?

 

A) Finding out that “City on Fire” was being produced by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s Fake Empire. They created “Gossip Girl,” “Chuck,” “The OC” and many other iconic shows. I was ecstatic when I found out I got cast and would be able to work with them.

 

Q) What did you find particularly challenging about portraying Joe?

 

A) Joe is a single dad whose daughter was shot and in a coma. She is his whole life and without her his life is meaningless. So, the level of emotions and devastation for a parent about to lose his child had to be represented in his character. In almost every scene I had to prepare emotionally and mentally to put myself in that dark and desperate place. It involved not being as social as I wanted to be with other cast members and isolating myself to get in the correct frame of mind.

 

Q) Were you familiar with any of your costars before working with them on the series?

 

A) I knew of Jemima Kirke from “Girls” and John Cameron Mitchell when he played Joe Exotic. Unfortunately, I didn’t work with them on set but got to know them off-set. They are so talented.

 

Q) What were some of your favorite scenes or episodes to film and what made them stand out to you?

 

A) My most favorite scene to film was a scene where we had to shut down a street in Manhattan. The shot was focused on me, and I was in this cool throwback old Ford truck from the 90s and it was in the middle of this city-wide blackout in New York. On the wide shots, as I was sitting in my truck looking at this chaos on the street in front of me, I had to remind myself that the cameras were on me and that everything happening in front of me was centered on me, not the chaos. It was pretty surreal.

 

Q) With every episode so intense, how did you shake off a long day of filming?

 

A) It’s a tough thing to do to unwind from a character who is in such a dark place. I just wanted to be with my wife and girls but filming on location in New York I wasn’t able to. So, I would meet up with my fellow actor and friend Andy Peeke and we would play Pickleball in New Jersey. After a few hours of playing, I would feel the heaviness of the character start to lift.

 

Q) What do you think it is about “City on Fire” that has made it such a fast fan-favorite series?

 

A) It’s the great characters in the show. Wyatt [Oleff] and Chase [Sui Wonders] are so good as the leads of the show. They are so compelling, and you feel and root for their characters. Also, Josh and Stephanie did such a good job adapting the story from Garth Risk Hallberg’s book.

 

Q) You were a part of the film Hocus Pocus 2! What did it mean to you to be a part of such an iconic franchise?

 

A) My wife and daughters were big fans of the original Hocus Pocus so it was really exciting when I found out the news that I was cast. I played the role of Mr. Wilke, the no-fun teacher at the school who wears a big banana suit. My daughters usually are not impressed or interested in the acting projects that I’m on but for this movie (even though they won’t admit it) they were a bit awestruck. So, I got to be the cool dad with my daughters. It lasted about a day.

 

Q) What are the other recent projects that you have been busy working on?

 

A) I can’t say too much about my upcoming roles as plot lines are kept under wraps, but I’ll be recurring in the new Taylor Sheridan series “Lioness.” I got to work with big stars like Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldana. I’ll also be recurring in STARZ’s “Raising Kanan.” I get to do a scene that has rarely or maybe has never been seen before for an Asian American male on TV. “Lioness” comes out this July and “Raising Kanan” probably in the Fall.