Terry Chen and the Real Dr. Ming Wang on Sight & Giving Vision to the Blind

Dr. Ming Wang survived the Cultural Revolution in China as a teenager. Mao Zedong’s anti-Western purge targeted intellectuals, teachers, scientists, doctors, and their families with brutal violence. Wang came to America, earned three degrees at MIT and Harvard, then embarked on an astonishing career as a renowned eye surgeon responsible for several medical breakthroughs. Dr. Wang has worked tirelessly to restore the vision of blind children. Sight tells his remarkable story with gripping realism.

Terry Chen stars as Dr. Ming Wang, while Ben Wang portrays him as a young man. Greg Kinnear co-stars as Dr. Misha Bartnovsky, Wang’s medical partner and best friend. Sight follows their efforts to cure the blindness of Kajal (Mia SwamiNathan), an Indian girl disfigured in a horrific crime. The film also recounts the events that shaped Wang’s life in China. You can watch our interview above or read on for our interview with Dr. Ming Wang and Terry Chen.

Casting Terry Chen as Dr. Ming Wang

MovieWeb: Terry, please talk about the casting process. And Dr. Ming, how involved were you with casting Terry?

Terry Chen: The story of Sight was brought to me by my agents. I wasn’t familiar with Dr. Wang’s story previous to that. So, upon reading the script and doing some research online, I was immediately drawn to the project and had a conversation, a phone conversation with our writer-director, Andrew Hyatt, at which point I knew I was fully into the project. That conversation just bared so much fruit in terms of collaboration, and to tell the incredible story of this esteemed doctor.

Dr. Ming Wang: I did not make the film. The Open River studio made the film under the leadership of David Fischer, the producer Darren Moorman, and also Andrew Hyatt, the director / writer. But I was consulted about recruiting and casting the actor for the lead role. They did ask me, Ming, tell me what you think? What is your desire? I say, well, two [things] — one is good-looking, and the second is young. They say, why? I said, you know, it has to be truthful (laughs).

Terry Chen: We got one out of the two (laughs). I’m just a little bit younger.

Getting the Medical Details Right in Sight

MW: The film shows you actually researching and doing surgery. Terry, obviously, you had to train for that. What was that experience like? Did you see Dr. Wang in action? Or was that something that you learned in other ways?

Terry Chen: Thankfully, we had Dr. Wang throughout our whole production for the six weeks in Vancouver. You have to remember, we shot this film in 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, so we had quarantine time. There was a lot of time to share stories about his life, and what he had gone through. So just through those shared experiences and stories, I was able to build a full character.

Dr. Ming Wang: Terry’s a quick study. He picked up the medical skills and everything. Greg Kinnear, the sitting surgeon on Sight, he was the one I had to do more chores. ‘Hey Greg, you’re still now with your hand, you cannot touch the object,’ because he’s not used to being in the operating room setting. But Terry picked up very quickly.

Terry Chen: I faked it really well (laughs).

Helping Children Is Not Political

MW: The most poignant moments in the film are when the children have their eye bandages removed and can see for the first time. Did any of those kids see the film? Have you been able to get their reactions?

Dr. Ming Wang: Yes, many, in fact. Kajal, the Indian child, at the time, there were three families who took care of her in this house when she was in America. I got two of the three families to see this film after years of work taking care of Kajal. It was such a powerful moment for them to bring back their work in helping that young child. And also many of my patients, I actually have a version, a part of the film, and also the autobiography completely into audio, mixed up with music for most of my patients who can’t see.

MW: That’s beautiful. One of the more striking aspects of the film is the younger version of you (Ben Wang) in China, dealing with the horrible Cultural Revolution, and what was done to Lili (Sara Ye), to your family, and the intellectuals. For you both, these stories are now coming out in public. Chinese citizens are having different reactions. What do you think of that being actually shown and accurate?

Terry Chen: I think that, first of all, our message is not a political one. The context of the era that Dr. Wang came through was an incredibly violent and controversial one, but it was a part of his journey. Pressure makes diamonds, right? So, through that terrible, horrible incident, it really pushed him, and pushed his desire to succeed in North America. What a way to sort of come out of that era, and to have helped millions of people like he has. What a triumph, what an inspiration, such an important story to be told.

Dr. Ming Wang: Yes, we live in a polarized world. People have opinions. We have viewpoints, political and otherwise. We’re trying to tell the story itself. We’re trying to relay the world as seen by an eight-year-old, a 14-year-old, and a 30-something-year-old. The world, the growing journey, the arc of the protagonist, and the audience themselves can draw the conclusion. The audience themselves can come away with that point. At least see it, but combined with their own life experiences. I think if we can do more of those, returning to the source, returning to the story, and give all of us the opportunity to share, that’s the best way to heal.

The Role of Faith and ‘Willing to Love Each Other Despite Our Differences’

MW: I want to talk to you about working with director Andrew Hyatt and Angel Studios. Your faith plays a part in this film. I feel that Hollywood doesn’t give faith-based films that much credit, even though they’re very successful at the box office. Should audiences be embracing that? What can studios do to make more films like this?

Dr. Ming Wang: I will say first that I think it’s important to recognize both the role that faith played in many folks’ lives, including my own, ‘the purpose-driven life.’ And at the same time, we need to recognize that not everybody is a Christian, not everybody has a faith or belief. I think the ultimate common ground for all human beings is to respect the willingness to trade places, the willingness to see the world from another’s perspective.

Sight
is trying to bring out this dimension of universal humanity, and to tell all of us that it’s so important for us to really respect each other, and be willing to listen from another person’s perspective, willing to love each other, despite our differences.

Terry Chen: We’ve been so fortunate to partner with Angel Studios, who’ve really brought this message to the masses. Our central themes, how important they are, kind of fall to the wayside if nobody watches the film. We have a wide release, May 24th, with Angel Studios in over 2000 theaters. Which is a lot more than a lot of Hollywood studios get released. I think that’s an indication of their belief in our film.

Terry Chen: I think it’s a very important time, especially coming over the last few years through the pandemic. That defensiveness, the anti-Asian sentiment. I think this is a response to that. A really timely film that will deliver a message in response to all those negative stereotypes and narratives that have been put forth.

Sight is a production of Open River Entertainment and Reserve Entertainment. It will be released theatrically on May 24th from Angel Studios. You can find showtimes and get tickets at Angel Studios here.