A professor at Puerto Rico’s leading University finds love in an aspiring artist from the immigrant Chinese community in Art of Love. “She moved from China when she was young, and lived with her Auntie and Uncle,” explained Kunjue Li, who plays Li Chao in the film, opposite Esai Morales who plays the professor. She continued to explain that her character experienced abuse when she was young, resulting in her being shuffled around and winding up in Puerto Rico.
“She has the mentality of a survivor… but when she finally, for the first time, started reading his books, she fell in love with him in spirit. She loved the words he was using, how he described the loneliness, and the details in the emotion he was describing… She wants to see what kind of man writes like that, and then that became an obsession.”
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Alongside Li and Morales in Art of Love are Caterina Murino, Jim Lau, Bruno Irizarry, Braulio Castillo hijo, and more. Betty Kaplan directed the film and co-wrote it with Eduardo Lalo. The film is set to hit theaters on July 22, 2022, and VOD and Digital shortly after.
Based on the Book
According to Deadline, Art of Love’s original title was Simone, as the story is based on the 2013 novel by Lalo of the same name. “I’ve read the book,” said Li, “the book was very well written, and the way they describe the quintessential existence of someone, I was like ‘oh my god, this is so cool.’ Because, you know, she feels invisible being a Chinese person in San Juan, and at the lower-class level where people don’t see her. If people see her, it’s as Chinese, people don’t see her as an individual, all those things I can relate to.”
As for how closely the story relates to what is written in the book, Li commented that “it’s pretty important,” to how the story was developed, although “the book is longer and the way they describe everything is poetic, and the language is branded.”
Li continued, discussing how she related to the role and how it “basically means to be a foreigner trying to make it in another country,” which Li has done as she left Chengdu, China to study economics in London before finding her way as an actress today. “All my friends from the university are bankers, but I always wanted to be an actress since I was a kid. And in China, actors are not considered as a highly regarded job, so my parents never allowed me…. When I graduated, I had an existential crisis… So, I chased my dream. I just quit my job and went to audition for drama school.”
Working with Cast & Crew
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Li can be recognized for her work on other projects including Tigertail and Steven Soderbergh’s Netflix drama The Laundromat alongside Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman. Li’s costar in the film is also no stranger to the screen, as Morales can be recognized for his work in NYPD Blue, Bad Boys, and La Bamba.
“He’s super lovely. He’s really giving, versatile, and philosophical. We talked a lot about the book,” said Li, “the idea of identity, all those things. He’s an honest friend, really nice, and looked out for me because he’s from there. He knew where to go, where to eat… he can really relate to the writer [his character]. And so, what does it mean [identity] for him? What’s intolerable for him? And the same goes for me.”
Director Kaplan has worked on previous projects like an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Of Love and Shadows. “Betty is super elegant and very beautiful, and she comes from a dancing background, so she’s more than the picture you see in your head; like this need to be here and need to be there. She’s able to make a point of view… She commands the whole set with her feminine energy and male energy… she gets things done, and everyone respected her.”
Li puts her business background to use as a producer, working with Robert Mackintosh as an associate producer of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End musical Tell Me On A Sunday. She also worked on Urine Town with Julian Stoneman and went on to receive five stars for Harajuku Girls, a production she also acted in at the Finborough Theater London.
