Joy Ride: Sabrina Wu confirms Deadeye’s gender identity
Sabrina Wu has confirmed speculation over the gender identity of their breakout character in Joy Ride. The raunchy comedy, directed by Adele Lim, follows four Asian-American friends and their berserk adventures on a road trip to China.
Joy Ride was met with universal critical acclaim for Lim’s direction, the chemistry between the leads and its subversive depiction of Asian-American women in comedy – and film in general.
Wu, a writer and comedian, makes their feature-film debut as a socially-awkward, androgynous BTS stan called Deadeye. The cast is rounded out by Ashley Park (Emily in Paris) as Audrey, an uptight lawyer, Sherry Cola (Good Trouble) as sex-positive artist Lolo and Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) as Kat, a famous Chinese actress.
While Deadeye is referred to as ‘she/her’ throughout Joy Ride, the last scene sees the character undergo a physical transformation and take on ‘they/them’ pronouns, which Wu says was “intentional and canon”. “Deadeye is, for sure, non-binary.
