Gran Torino family

The plot of Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino is a closely guarded secret. But now that shooting has wrapped up, how the Hmong actors fit into their roles is becoming more visible. Clint Eastwood’s character, Walt, stumbles into the middle of a struggle within the Hmong community. He tries to intervene in a contest between a war-torn family and a ruthless street gang over the soul of a teenaged boy.

Meet the Gran Torino family

Bee Vang

What defines the young man who plays Eastwood’s alter-ego in Gran Torino? Bee Vang, 16, is as humble as the character, Tao, though not quite as bookish. With a mild-mannered countenance and a slight build, he’s equipped to fill the role of neighborhood wimp. At 5’5” he says the height difference with Eastwood’s 6’2” is part of the point. “Tao is literally ‘looking up’ to Walt” in the story, Bee explains.

Bee is still starry-eyed, despite working opposite Eastwood for weeks. Born in Fresno, and now from the Minneapolis suburbs, he never thought he would go into acting. In fact, he was buried in his high school books, already taking courses at the University of Minnesota. He was planning to go pre-med.

Bee thought medicine was his passion, but “I was hoping that getting this part was trying to tell me to follow my other passions.” Although he has no more than drama club for his theater training, this multi-talent also loves filming, painting and drawing. He plays classical music on piano, viola, oboe and flute. And he does school band.

Bee landed a private audition for Gran Torino before the May open casting in the Twin Cities. After his callback, he waited and waited. One day the phone rang. The guy said, “Are you driving?” Bee said, “No.” “Are you doing anything that would put your life in danger?” “No.” “Well, Clint would like to work with you!”  “I got down on my knees and started crying,” he recalls, with emotion. “The whole thing was really life-changing.”

It’s not surprising that he was “floored” by the news. Bee had been a longtime fan of Eastwood, owning videos of Letters from Iwo Jima, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the first Dirty Harry and several others. Eastwood, he informs me, has been known to Hmong since they used to watch his movies in Ban Vinai.           

It’s clear that Bee savors his work with this 78-year-old icon of Hollywood. He’s making Clint a mentor in life, just like their roles in the show. Bee’s had his share of being picked on, even had his bike stolen as a kid. But despite bringing up bad memories, he’s “enjoying every second of working with the entire crew…They know I’m inexperienced and young. They let me know when I need directing. I’m learning a lot.” 

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