Sung Kang has “100 percent” embraced his role as an on-screen ambassador to the car community. The actor, perhaps best known for his role as Han Lue in the Fast & Furious franchise, wrote, directed, and stars in Drifter, a new movie celebrating car culture and all the stories it contains. IGN can exclusively reveal the very first trailer for the movie, which you can watch in the player above.
In Drifter Kang plays a “solitary racetrack janitor with a gift for drifting [who] is haunted by his tragic past. Given a single chance to compete at a pro drifting event, he discovers his raw talent is useless without the one thing he’s always avoided: connection with others.”
Kang, who first appeared in 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and starred in 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, and 10th installments of the franchise, says that connection is core to everything that went into Drifter. It’s something he began to embrace after the death of his friend Fast & Furious costar Paul Walker, who passed away in 2013. I spoke to Kang about making Drifter and how Walker’s death inspired him to celebrate the community they shared.
“After 20 years in [the Fast & Furious] franchise, you realize the impact that that movie had throughout the world, but then you ask ‘Why?’ It’s the theme of family. [When] Paul passed away, I realized how connected people were with us. I think [in] very few movies does the audience actually emotionally go through something with you. We all shared a loss of someone. And maybe a lot of people didn’t know who Paul was personally, but he knew the character. And to be able to share that loss together, it solidified this deeper relationship I have with our audience. I used to just call them fans [but], they’re not our fans. They are our friends. They are our family. They’ve gone through something traumatic together. And today I’ve embraced it.”
Sung Kang in Drifter.
Sung Kang in Drifter.After making Drifter, Kang says that he now has an even deeper connection to that community. The movie, for which Kang says “every penny” was financed with help from car enthusiasts all over the world, gave Kang hope after some tough times in Hollywood.
“[After] 31 years in this game of being an actor in Hollywood, most days I would wake up hopeless. My dream as a little kid was be part of projects that have substance. And as I get older, I realized that phone call was never going to happen. And waking up the worst version of myself is really hard. I’m not trying to play the violin, but artistically, I was just unfulfilled.
“[Drifter] is very parallel to what I’ve gone through on a personal journey as a man. Vulnerability is so hard to share with strangers. You want to be strong. And through that vulnerability, I’ve met a community with the shared passion and it’s allowed this dream to happen and it’s Drifter.”
Beyond Drifter, Kang is finding other ways to dig into the enthusiasm ingrained within car culture. Enter: Forza Horizon 6. Kang teamed up with Xbox for a special sweepstakes celebrating the game and Japanese car culture in particular. With the Horizon Passport Sweepstakes, Kang curated exclusive experiences where fans had a chance to win an “epic supercharged adventure in Japan.” That contest is now closed, but Kang says the partnership was a perfect fit.
Sung Kang in Drifter.
“Forza Horizon 6 takes place in Japan and celebrates Japanese car culture. I have this love affair with the car culture in Japan. [The game] is celebrating the people, the cars, and the place that have in many ways saved my life artistically [and] spiritually. I’ve been part of other games and their approach is very singular. It’s about racing and it’s about the cars. But Forza Horizon 6 is celebrating the ‘why’ behind it and celebrating the different dimensions of the culture.”
Kang says he appreciates how the game allows people who might not have the resources to build, modify, and race cars in real life a way to participate in car culture.
“That’s why the Forza game is to me so important. You realize not everyone’s going to be able to have access to that tangible thing because it costs money. These cars are not cheap. [In] the video game, the cost of entry is a lot less. It’s still our community. It brings our community together.”
Kang sees a direct line between the enthusiasm that surrounds a big game like Forza Horizon 6 to his ability to put together a feature-length movie without traditional Hollywood support.
“The community that’s part of that game is so important to me because (they) came together and gave birth to this movie. So I learned how to write. I learned how to direct. I learned lenses, camera. They said, ‘Don’t give up. There’s a story that you want to tell. Be the voice for this culture.’”
Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He’s spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton