Catching Up With Christine Ko On the Importance of Replenishing Ourselves, Focusing On What Matters and Season Two of ‘Dave’ on FX
Photography by John Mark; Interview by Alison Engstrom
Since we chatted last year (Note: Christine was kind enough to take some self-portraits in the height of quarantine) life seems very different. how are you and how have you been doing over the past year?
I’ve been really good honestly, thank goodness for 2021. It’s been awesome, especially since things have opened up and we could get the vaccine. Work has been wonderful, it’s been non-stop, I’ve just been so excited. We got to finish up season two of Dave, which we were nervous about because we started it in November and we wrapped in March, we were so happy. It’s been so cool to see the response to the new season because we changed some things up and we added some elements to it.
When we last spoke you had finished the beautiful film Tigertail and had just started with Dave. Since you also starred in a music video with Justin Bieber. How did that come about?
That’s how the year started. What was so interesting was at the beginning of the year, I remember seeing the Anyone video with Zoey Deutch and I said to my friend, this is shot really well, it felt like a film. I said, I would definitely do one of them. No joke, I then got a DM from a producer who said, Justin would like you to play his wife in his next music video. I was like this wasn’t real (laughs).
That’s awesome, the power of the universe, also Sometimes DMs can be interesting.
When I started doing more research, I realized it was someone who worked at Scooter Braun’s company, who also is our production company on Dave. It worked out that he was looking for someone to play his wife in a very dramatic film-type of video; they showed him some clips from Tigertail. It was so cool to be in that space because I felt like I was doing my usual job of acting but it was wildly different. Sometimes he would sing in the middle of the scene and I had to stay in character while he was performing. Sometimes it was just him and I in the room with the cameraman— he sang beautifully. I met him briefly just before I did a scene where I am bawling because I found out I had cancer. He was kind and he thanked me for being so gracious with my time; he said he felt lucky that I said yes to doing it. I was like, of course, then we continued on being madly in love with each other (laughs).
I feel like it’s the ultimate teenage dream to be in a music video, of course, I am coming from the MTV TRL days. Last year offered so many lessons on many levels. It made me awaken to the fact of the things I wanted to stop doing and start doing. Has it changed or influenced the way you want to move forward in the world?
When we talked a year ago, I had a lot of anxiety, not just about what was going on in the world but also, if I was good enough to be doing what I was doing. I was focused on the material aspect of my job, like not being able to have a premiere of Tigertail, these are things you dream about when you are younger.
Especially since the road was so challenging at times and you persevered so much.
Yeah and when you are done with a project and you can’t wait to talk about it and dress up in cute clothes. What was interesting for me was all of the projects came out and I got to watch them. I realized it was about the work and how you felt about the work. It’s not about all of the material items in your life you think you need to feel fulfilled. If you are lucky enough to meet great people when you go to these events and be in that environment it’s wonderful, but it’s not what defines you as an actor. I really let go of these things but questioned if I cannot work for the next six months or I cannot attend any events, will people still want me? Will people be interested? Will I still have a job and be able to pay rent?
I got time to sit back and be creative and watch movies again. I had kept going and going; I didn’t get to Netflix and chill (laughs). It was good because I could replenish myself and then come January, the floodgates opened. Every project I wanted to be on or that I thought I could be on all came my way. I felt so lucky that I got a chance to reset. I need to stop doubting myself so much in this industry and say, whatever will be will be and sometimes it will all come at once and be extremely overwhelming.
I understand that too, I find myself asking those questions all of the time.
It’s about asking ourselves what our idea of success is and what genuinely makes us happy. When it all got taken away, I realized I was happiest being back on set. When I went back to season two of Dave, I felt so grateful that I had this to look forward to, it gave me something to be excited about when I was home. It made me work harder and be less cynical about the industry like, if we are going to be on set for 14 hours, let’s do it! We are making a show (laughs). Now when I go to premieres, it’s so fun!
That’s so great. I think it’s so important to keep that in the forefront of your mind too when life goes back to ‘normal’, not to lose that sense of gratitude for those moments.
Yes and also thinking I needed to be in a certain place to be satisfied with my career. Last year, I was around lovely friends and my family was okay and I thought, this is enough. I am still going to work hard and chase all of my dreams but I can’t complain.
Now to talk about Dave, Congratulations on having it become’ FX Networks Highest Ranked Comedy Series Ever. The show is so funny—it’s quirky and offbeat. What do you think people love about it so much?
Thank you! We really weren’t expecting it. It’s awesome and I would say that Dave (Burd), one-hundred percent had that in his mind. He said, we are making the best TV show, and now seeing all of the work he does on the show, I get it. I have never worked with a showrunner who acted in every scene, edited every scene and did the music in every scene. That’s a layer that most people don’t know, he picks every sound that goes into every scene. All of us have been done since March but he is still in the editing room. I think that’s made a huge difference to why we are successful, it’s his vision. It’s deeply personal, so many of the scenes came from somewhere, which is why they are so funny. They really color the characters and he gives every character a spotlight, for a show called Dave it should just be about him. Yet we all have stand-alone episodes and you want to care about every character so you can see how their lives go and how they all come together.
what can we expect from your character Emma this season?
I’m so excited because this season Emma gets her own stand-alone episode. She is the only character who has known Dave before he was a rapper. We get to dive into what his life was like. Dave, in real life, used to work at an ad agency and that’s when he realized he was pretty good at rapping—it’s when his first Youtube video came out. He really wanted to talk about that; we explore that relationship and compare it to his present day where he has a record deal. He has been given everything he has ever wanted and he isn’t appreciating it versus what our lives were like when we were working at the ad agency and we just dreamed about it all. I’m excited for everyone to see the episode.
I didn’t realize that he touches everything, that’s very cool.
He does all of the work and doesn't complain. I think that’s why we work so much harder, it’s because anything he would ask us to do, he would do it in a heartbeat. There are also a lot of storylines on the show that make us think about out lives and our relationships. It’s a great combination of being funny, heartfelt and vulnerable but not shying away from talking about uncomfortable subjects because that is real life.
Comedy anymore is an ideal vehicle to talk about hard subjects, I find things are just so heavy in life, levity is more challenging.
That’s the great part about season two is that I have control over her as a character. The first season we were guessing our way through. For season two, the writer’s room became so much more diverse and the person who wrote my character is an Asian American woman. There were things she wrote that I very much connected to, I never had that before.
I read in an interview where you said ‘Emma is the girl I want to be friends with’. What do you like about playing her?
I like Emma because she is so straightforward and doesn't care what people think of her. I have always wanted to say, who cares, this is who I am and I’m going to have a good time that’s what I like about this character. She is someone you could go to for advice and she will tell you the truth every time whether you want to hear it or not.
Is there any improvisation on set?
Oh yes, it’s 90% improv. We have scripts, don’t get me wrong, but Dave always says, say it the way you would say it. Most of the time we just riff with each other, it gets cut in editing, I am usually shocked because I don’t know what makes it. Jeff Schaffer, our showrunner always calls me the coach because I am bringing everyone back to the scene. The goal is to make Dave laugh in the moment. We always try to see what will make him laugh.
You mentioned you have a lot that came to you, can you share any details!
I just finished a rom-com in Utah called Sweet Pecan Summer, I was there for a month and I was really excited about it. We talked about this last time, I said I wanted to do a rom-com next and this is exactly what it is. I loved them growing up, my favorite was My Best Friend’s Wedding. I’m also really exited because I am going to film a indie in Syracuse next and it will be a complete flip about a movie that addresses mental illness. That’s what keeps me going, trying all of these different characters. I’m really lucky that I haven’t been put into a box yet, I’m able to bounce into different genres. The one thing I haven’t done is an action film, next time I talk to you.