“The challenge with LittleAmerica, it’s that we’re not telling what we’re used to hearing about immigration,” says Canadian director of Indian origin Deepa Mehta with aplomb. Continuing from a stellar first season, AppleTV+’s anthology fiction series does indeed tell hopeful tales of immigration filled with shared experience — all, without exception, inspired by real-life experiences. .
“These stories brought to the screen are very special, but they address all the human connections”, continues the filmmaker, who was several times in the race for the Oscars, as in 2007 for his feature film Water.
After having signed the direction of the episode “ The Manager » in season 1 of LittleAmerica in 2020, Deepa Mehta is therefore back for that of “ Mr Song », in which we follow the fate of Luke. This young man from a Korean family, and living in the black community of Detroit in the 1980s, is particularly recognized throughout the world for his talent as a hatter thanks to the colorful headdresses he made for Aretha Franklin.
“The scenario of this episode is pure gold, at the meeting of two cultures and living together”, underlines Deepa Mehta, who absolutely wanted to preserve the honesty of the representation and the past of Luke Song. . “How do you keep this balance without just talking about skin color or cultural identity? Always bearing in mind what are the foundations of humanity, however complex they may be, which bind us all,” she confides with disarming benevolence in her voice. And like Luke Song in real life, the one in fiction doesn’t compromise, pushes forward no matter what. “That’s what I really liked about his character,” she says.
For her part, the author of the episode and co-director of LittleAmerica, Sian Heder, admires the friendship between Luke Song and Martha Jean Steinberg, a famous Afro-descendant radio host from Detroit. “Their connection is amazing to say the least, as Luke considered Martha his second mother. As a result, their quasi-family relationship was very interesting to probe and transpose into the series”, specifies the winner of the Oscar for best screenplay adapted for Coda earlier this year. The essence of this second season is found here, in the exploration of the unexpected.
The American dream, otherwise
Two years after the release of LittleAmerica, which began in 2020 under the Trump era, from which emanated a “deep anti-immigration sentiment with a constant demonization of newcomers”, its second season is camped “in a climate a little more favorable to discussions”, remarks Sian Heder . “Even though hatred and division are still part of the political landscape and discourse in the United States, I find it important to observe what the ethos of the American dream means today,” adds the screenwriter, producer and director. According to her, it is as much an opportunity as a burden, two aspects so opposite that they become fascinating to exploit.
By telling stories that are not simply optimistic, Sian Heder and her team of collaborators wanted to show what immigrants sacrifice, what they no longer have when they arrive in the United States. “Some people lose their family, their culture, their community, and sometimes the American dream doesn’t work. We wanted to hear those stories too,” she adds. This world after is precisely the common thread of the second season of LittleAmerica.
“It’s the most important aspect of the series, which makes us see the world in all its grandeur”, affirms Deepa Mehta. For her, it remains essential to expose these positive paths of people who many consider as foreigners. “But you know, mothers are mothers and sons are sons, regardless of our origins or our language”, concludes the one who made it an honor to participate in LittleAmerica.