Actor Christopher Naoki Lee is set to make his feature directorial debut with the film Dinner Party. Lee, whose credits include AMC’s The Terror and Fox’s Deputy, not only penned the script, but will also star in this socially-minded picture.
With his co-writer, Greek alum Daniel Weaver, Lee crafts a story centering around a dinner party with a group of diverse millennials. In the midst of their conversation, a verdict arrives for a controversial trial regarding sexual misconduct that has shook the nation. Afterwards, the dinner party turns into an insightful learning lesson for all the attendees to analyze their own histories. It is a test to friendship as they determine whether they can get past their differences, especially when they realize one of the attendees is guilty of a past transgression.
Dinner Party stars a young, diverse cast which includes Top Gun: Maverick star Kara Wang, Imani Hakim from Everybody Hates Chris, Adam Senn from Hit the Floor, Allison Paige from The Flash, Charles Hittinger from the Pretty Little Liars series and Kausar Mohammed who appears in What Men Want and the Silicon Valley series. The story seems to portray a very relevant, timely topic in today’s time, with Harvey Weinstein recently found guilty for third-degree rape and first-degree in criminal sexual assaults. The film directly sheds light on the new movement in Hollywood on an issue too prevalent and snuffed out throughout history.
In response to his work on Dinner Party, according to Deadline, Lee touches upon his identity and how this film can prove to be revolutionary in American discussions: “As an Asian-American born and raised in a diverse community near L.A., Dinner Party is a personal story that explores the unspoken views of race, gender, sex and class that lie beneath the surface of diverse friendships in America, and the repercussions that arise when they’re exposed.”
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