Bowen Yang says he has ‘imposter syndrome’ and shoots ‘badly’

Bowen Yang talked about his experience shooting Evil in a conversation with colleagues SNL Alum Will Ferrell reflected on working with his star cast this week while also recalling his crazy travel schedule to film the musical and television show at the same time.

“I feel like I snuck into this movie because they gender-swapped my role,” says Yang, who is one of them SNL’s “The brightest stars of recent years,” Ferrell said in their conversation interview Magazine. “I’m like, ‘Why am I in a scene with Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum?’ I still have imposter syndrome.”

Ferrell agreed, noting that the feeling “never goes away, which I think is a good thing.”

Shooting the film itself was challenging, as Yang had to balance shooting his scenes in London and returning to New York every week SNL. He told Ferrell that Lorne Michaels gave his blessing as long as he didn’t miss a show.

“I think, ‘No problem. I have my CBD tinctures to get used to the jet lag and I have these great nootropic green tea caffeine gels to wake me up. I have this.’ And then I had a nervous breakdown,” Yang said. “Because I would do shows on Saturday, then fly first thing on Sunday morning, land in London at night, then shoot on Monday and Tuesday and then fly back on Wednesday.”

Yang said he went through the back and forth enough times “to actually drive me crazy.”

“Even though I have no regrets and it is the honor of my life to make this film SNL At the same time, I will never make the weekly eight-hour round trip again,” he said.

It is not the first time that Yang has reflected on the challenges of implementing the schedule. In conversation with Vanity Fair Back in May, he called the experience “a little mentally taxing.”

“It really hit me on a somatic level – I was just like, Wow, my body refuses to lift an arm or whatever,” he said at the time.

This challenge definitely seemed to pay off. Evil opened last week with $112 million, one of the best debuts of 2024.