Jane Woo never imagined that her abysmal portfolio would eventually land her a job directing one of Netflix’s most acclaimed animated series. But the Blue Eyed Samurai director’s unconventional path – from fashion designer to cleanup artist to Marvel storyboard veteran to Emmy Award-winning animation director – embodies the fusion of cultures and disciplines that characterizes her work.
Speaking at the Taiwan Creative Content Forum, Wu retraced his journey over 30 years in Hollywood animation and live-action film production, revealing how the COVID-19 pandemic unintentionally created the conditions for international cooperation that made “Blue Eyed Samurai” possible.
Born in Taiwan, Wu immigrated to the United States at age 8 and a half without speaking any English. After studying fashion and costume design at the University of Tokyo, she opened a manga bookstore. This was a decision that changed the trajectory of her career. “My interest in stories came from reading comic books and the great stories they contained,” Wu said. “I was just engrossed in the story.”
In the 1990s, Ms. Wu landed her first animation job at Sony with what she describes as a “terrible portfolio” – one that showed only that she could draw. When she was hired for a cleaning job, she initially thought that her job was to clean bathrooms. “That’s how little I knew about the industry,” she admitted.
She quickly moved on to character design for Season 1 of Men in Black, and then to storyboarding for Season 2, even though she didn’t know anything about Season 2. “How hard is it?” she recalled thinking. After failing at first and spending a summer teaching myself the technique, something clicked. “I realized that I found my voice in storytelling,” Wu said.
Wu’s career accelerated through Disney, where he spent years honing his skills, but struggled with comedy work that didn’t suit his action-oriented sensibilities. Her breakthrough came when Joss Whedon, who had heard about her from two separate sources, contacted her about working on “The Avengers.”
“It’s really funny. When you go to Disney, there are these big white guys and they draw really cute pictures and do cute scenes. You see this little Asian girl and I do all the action, and it’s supposed to be the other way around,” Wu said.
She worked on several Marvel movies, finally ending with ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.’ “I had to do it, right? Because it was the only Chinese superhero, so I had to do it,” she said of joining Marvel’s first Asian-led superhero film.
In 2019, Netflix approached Wu about directing an animated series, but she initially declined the offer because she was away from animation. But when Wu’s agent told him it was for adults, he had second thoughts. “We only do that in the East. We don’t do that in the West,” she recalled thinking.
As news of the coronavirus spread from Asia, Wu made a calculated decision. “I had a hunch that animation could be produced remotely. Live action could also be produced remotely,” she said. Two weeks after accepting the “Blue-Eyed Samurai” job, the world shut down.
Blue Eye Samurai, directed and produced by Wu, was one of the first shows to be produced 100% remotely, bringing together talent from around the world, including a Chinese stunt team, Spanish painters, Japanese designers and a French animation studio. The production operated as a 24-hour studio spanning multiple time zones.
“Working remotely allows you to work with a wider range of people,” Wu explained. “I really think international cooperation is no longer scary.”
Wu designed “Blue Eye Samurai” around the concept of fusion, drawing inspiration from the show’s biracial protagonist, The Miz. “I would describe it as like going to a fusion restaurant and getting a taste of where it’s from, but there’s also something new and exciting and jazzy going on that has a very fresh flavor,” she said.
The work was a deliberate fusion of Eastern and Western elements, drawing inspiration from Sergio Leone, incorporating Japanese Bunraku puppet movements and martial arts traditions. Wu, who studied martial arts in the United States, utilized his martial arts training in his choreography.
While she acknowledged that the show represents an Asian American interpretation, she emphasized the importance of cultural authenticity. “This is our interpretation of our culture, because I honestly believe that in global storytelling, it’s not one or the other. It’s the stories in the middle that are the most interesting, because there are so many perspectives in the middle.”
Wu faced the challenge of teaching French animation studio Blue Spirit Animation how to accurately animate Japanese culture. She traveled to France with a suitcase filled with kimonos and swords, demonstrating the details of proper movement and attire.
“It’s not a bathrobe,” she explained of teaching the kimono system. “I had to show them the kimono system and layering.” She also taught cultural gestures that are unfamiliar to Westerners, such as the Asian “come hither” gesture and the Western version of the gesture.
Working with a Chinese stunt team required a similar cultural translation. “The Bushido system is very different from the Chinese martial arts system,” Wu said, comparing the Japanese sword system to baseball. “There’s silence, there’s research into what you’re trying to do.”
Wu believes the coronavirus pandemic has taught American viewers how to read subtitles and unwittingly prepared them for international content. “Netflix said, lo and behold, we don’t have any more content because everything is shut down, so we have to order content from different countries,” she said, citing “Squid Game” as a breakthrough moment.
The success of “Shogun” particularly moved her. “When I was watching it, there was a conference room and all the actors were Japanese, and it was the drama part, and it was all subtitled,” Wu said. “I couldn’t believe what I was watching. It was an American drama starring mostly Asian actors.”
Wu dismissed concerns about following industry trends and instead focused on character-driven storytelling. “Don’t worry about creating the world. Create the characters. Create the story first, because that’s what we do,” she advised.
Wu expressed cautious optimism about artificial intelligence in storytelling. “I think what AI can’t do is understand how we filter our senses,” she said. “If you leave everything to AI, what you get on the other side is something you can’t feel. It may look good, but you can’t feel it.”
She also broke traditional animation conventions by hiring character designer Brian Kessinger. Brian Kessinger was a white artist who initially seemed an unlikely choice for a series focused on Asia. “He said, ‘I want to play your character,’ and I said, ‘I don’t know.’ He said, ‘Well, give me a chance.'” And he did it,” Wu recalled.
What are her key production principles? “The pipeline needs to support the story, not the other way around.”
“Blue Eye Samurai” Season 2 is scheduled to begin airing in 2026.
