John Cho Plays a Villain in ‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother’

John Cho plays Pastor Haun Yoon, the main villain in Bassam Tariq’s ‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.’ It is the first time in his career that Cho has played a straightforward villain.

The film premiered September 12 at TIFF before being released by Amazon MGM. Oscar winner Mahershala Ali stars as Latif, a devout Muslim and contract killer in Texas who is raising three children alone after his wife’s death.

Haun is an Army veteran who, after a near-death experience, starts a militant Christian church. Its members justify violence as a righteous response to what they see as greater evils.

Haun’s look shaped the performance

Cho said the character’s hat, boots and grillz helped him move beyond his familiar screen persona. The costume changed his physicality and made Haun feel more dangerous and comfortable as a leader.

Cho, who immigrated from Korea to Houston as a child, described the role as a kind of full-circle moment because Haun also grew up in Houston.

Building the meeting between Haun and Latif

Tariq and Cho decided not to draw directly from real churches. Instead, they first developed the character’s history and his genuine mission, so Haun would not simply be played as a con man.

Rehearsals with Cho and Ali helped establish the relationship between the two characters. Cho said Haun and Latif present themselves in very different ways but are both driven by their own versions of faith.

A fight staged in a mirrored room

Cho said he was most nervous about the scene in which Haun first meets Latif. The production then moved into an elaborate fight sequence staged in a room covered with mirrors.

The choreography required the actors to synchronize numerous movements within each take. Cho said Ali carried the especially demanding physical workload in the sequence.