Sight Star Terry Chen & Subject Dr. Ming Wang On Bringing The Incredible True Story To Life

Sight is a new movie detailing an incredible real-life story. The center of the film is Dr. Ming Wang, a Chinese immigrant who lived through China’s Cultural Revolution, came to the United States, and became a world-renowned eye surgeon. The movie was directed by Andrew Hyatt, written by Hyatt, John Duigan, and Buzz McLaughlin, and stars Terry Chen as the adult Dr. Wang, Ben Wang as the young Ming Wang, and Greg Kinnear as Dr. Misha Bartnovsky.

As a movie based on a real person, Sight benefited from the direct involvement of Dr. Wang, who was on set through much of the shooting. Dr. Wang served as a constant resource for Chen and Kinnear, especially helping Chen capture the essence of the real person he was portraying. Thanks in part to this collaboration, the story of Dr. Wang rings true and is all the more impactful for that.

Screen Rant interviewed Terry Chen and Dr. Ming Wang about their work on Sight. Dr. Wang happily verified the truth of key movie moments and Chen discussed bringing out the authenticity of Dr. Wang’s story.

Terry Chen Reveals His Process In Preparing To Play Dr. Wang

Screen Rant: Terry, how did you prepare to play the man sitting next to you?

Terry Chen: Well, this project was brought to me by my agents, and I wasn’t familiar with Dr. Wang’s story before that. I immediately went online and checked out some YouTube videos of Dr. Wang helping these young children patients regain their sight, and they’re miraculous to watch. I was immediately drawn to the script that Andrew Hyatt, our writer-director, had composed, and I felt like it was an important story to tell.

We shot this film in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, so we had quite a bit of quarantine time and downtime where I was able to share a lot of stories and talk to the good doctor about his life and about what he had gone through. So, there was a lot of connection personally in terms of storytelling. Beyond that, setting aside all my apprehensions and fear about playing such an iconic figure in the medical world, there was an important message and story to be told. We had to get to work pretty quick during that time, but it was an incredible experience, with Dr. Wang present throughout the whole shoot for the six weeks we were up in Vancouver.

Dr. Ming Wang Reflects On Seeing His Childhood Brought To Life in Sight

Dr. Wang, were you at all hesitant to have your early life in China be such a part of the story? I imagine it would be very emotional to see it acted out on set, and later on screen.

Dr. Ming Wang: Yes, it was a very emotional experience because I literally saw part of my life in the past unfold right in front of me. The production [designer], Chris August, and the whole team did such a beautiful job, down to the details of every single Chinese character on the wall and on the set. It is such a unique experience that I feel privileged to [have had], because few of us will ever relive part of our past, be reminded of the blessing we had, and ask ourselves, “What would I have done better? What would I have done differently had the same circumstance occurred?” Which is a privilege.

Authenticity Was Key In Telling Dr. Ming’s Story

Terry, you’re playing a real person, but you’re also dramatizing the story, working with Greg Kinnear and a bunch of other fantastic actors. What did you, as an actor, want to bring to this on a dramatic level?

Terry Chen:

Authenticity. Just authenticity. When you’re playing a real person, and especially if they’re there every day on set, it raises the stakes. Everybody wanted to elevate their work to make sure that the story was told in an authentic way to honor this great figure who’s helped millions of people across the world with [the Wang] Foundation for Sight Restoration. It was definitely a labor of love, and everybody who was involved in the project felt like they had to do their best to portray this incredible man’s life.

Dr. Wang, there are so many heavy subjects in this movie. One of my favorite moments is a lighter one, when you met your wife. In the movie, you save somebody right in front of her. Is that the real story?

Dr. Ming Wang: Yes, that really happened. It was someone who had no clue about Japanese food and [put this] big [piece of] wasabi his mouth, and he nearly died. I had to practically do CPR to save him, and then my future wife, Anle, was actually standing in the corner, saw the whole thing, and was impressed. The other day I was telling a young man, “If you want to impress a young lady, save somebody’s life.” But that’s how we initially met, and the rest is history.

Dr. Wang & Terry Chen On What They Hope Viewers Get From Sight

Is there one specific thing you each would like audiences to take away from the film?

Terry Chen: I think we have so many great central themes to the film. For me, I hope the audience connects with this notion of family and how important our connection to our family is. We live in a time right now where those family values and dynamics are, I think, slowly eroding away. It’s so inspiring, I think—especially being an Asian American—to see the story of immigration and to see the success that he’s been able to achieve through hard work, perseverance, and then [in] bringing the rest of his family over to North America and the care that he has for his family. The relationship he had with his parents really carved a path for him to attain these incredible successes in his life. I think it’s something that everybody will connect to.

Dr. Ming Wang: Yes, agreed. The family—especially an Asian family—is a very strong bonding. But why should one see Sight? My answer is, have you experienced setbacks or failures in your life? Have you experienced pain? Have you experienced a situation where you could not see beyond the circumstance at the time you were in? Sight will help you develop a vision, allow you to see beyond those challenges in life, and develop a new vision about tomorrow—there’s a better tomorrow. Sight allows us to do what we can, not just for ourselves, but also for those who needs the most help. For me, as an eye doctor, it’s to help those blind orphaned children, and not only develop research—like the amniotic membrane contact lens, which has transformed the world and has helped millions of patients—but also bring those technologies to the bedsides of those who need the most help [in] blind, orphaned children.

Terry Chen: It’s an underdog story. Who doesn’t love a good underdog story, right?

Terry Chen Reflects On His Time On The Expanse

Terry, we have readers that are very passionate about The Expanse, and I saw a thread online titled ‘What Happened to Prax?’ I am curious how much you think about the answer to that question, and what you think the odds are that you will get to answer that question?

Terry Chen: I was so fortunate to be a part of that series—The Expanse—a film noir science fiction piece that had incredible grit and characters involved. I believe Prax ended up going back to his home planet and leading his people in creating a biotechnology to feed the planet. But there’s a whole series of novels, obviously, that it’s based upon that audiences can tap into and find out what happened to him.

About Sight

Sight, starring Greg Kinnear (as Misha Bartnovsky) and Terry Chen (as Dr. Ming Wang), follows the true story of Dr. Ming Wang, a Chinese immigrant who defies all odds to become a world-renowned eye surgeon. Drawing upon the grit and determination he gained from a turbulent uprising in his youth, Dr. Wang sets out to restore the sight of a blind orphan.

Check out our other interview with Sight star Greg Kinnear.

Source: Screen Rant Plus