Poppy Liu’s – Poppy Liu says “I Love Boosters” feels extra special because the film’s Chinese factory-worker story reflects her own upbringing, right down to the Mandarin accent. In the surreal anti-capitalist comedy now in theaters, Liu plays Jianhu—who teleports into the
When Poppy Liu walks into the story at the center of “I Love Boosters,” she isn’t treating it like a performance she just stepped into. She’s treating it like something that already had her fingerprints on it.
In the Boots Riley satire—now in theaters—Liu plays Jianhu. a Chinese factory worker who teleports into the Bay Area and starts robbing clothing stores. She does it as a middle finger to fashion mogul Christie Smith (Demi Moore). whose business has helped make working conditions untenable for workers in China. With the help of Corvette (Keke Palmer) and the shoplifting Velvet Gang. Jianhu becomes a spark for protests and factory strikes worldwide. with the film pushing a pointed idea: railing against billionaires isn’t enough if characters don’t also look after people close to home.
Liu, 35, describes what drew them to the role as both political and personal. They point to the character’s momentum—the moment Jianhu starts as someone “happy just hanging out with her cousin between shifts at the factory. ” and then gets radicalized in real time. trying to figure out how to help her community. Liu uses she/they pronouns.
“That radicalization is what I cared about,” Liu says. “Yes, we need global working-class solidarity, but we also need to water our own part of the collective garden.”
Before any of that translated to movies, Liu says they were already familiar with hustling. Before their film and TV career took off. the “Hacks” actress worked “every job under the sun. ” including bartending. stocking retail shelves. and improvising the Bard in “Drunk Shakespeare” off-Broadway. Most unforgettably. they were part of a leftist-themed puppet show where the performers went to high-end luxury condos and staged shows in playrooms for toddlers—ages 1 to 3—talking about “the ethics of an oil spill and Chinese political art.”.
Liu’s go-getter, advocate spirit is exactly what they say made “I Love Boosters” click. And if the film is surreal on the surface, Liu says it’s grounded underneath by the question it keeps returning to: what does action look like when the people who suffer most are the ones farthest from power?
In one of the film’s most personal pivots, the role’s details were shaped around Liu’s own background. Liu says they discussed the script at length with Riley. who changed Jianhu’s hometown and language from Cantonese to Mandarin—choices Liu linked directly to their upbringing. Liu also asked their mother. Leah Cai. to record voice notes of their dialogue so Liu could authentically capture the Mandarin accent.
“Jianhu needs to have an accent because she’s never lived in the U.S. before,” Liu says. “At the same time, I felt really careful about it because for the most part, there’s still a caricature aspect to the way that Chinese accents are presented in Hollywood.”
Liu was born in Xi’an, China, the daughter of engineers. Their family moved to Minnesota when they were 2, then returned to China about 12 years later. They say their “English is still way better than my Mandarin. ” and that they “grew up with American culture.” Their earliest film memories are watching “Titanic” and “The Silence of the Lambs” when they were 5. and they remember laughing at how their parents “didn’t know the American movie rating system.”.
Since their 20s, Liu has aligned themself with numerous social-justice causes, including the Free Palestine movement in recent years. They say they have never felt pressure to stay quiet about social and political issues.
“When I first signed with my manager and agent, I barely had a credit to my name,” Liu recalls. “But I sent them both a one-sheet PDF of my personal identity statement: a 10 bullet-point breakdown of the stories I wanted to do and the people I wanted to work with.” They say they were met with support from the beginning. adding that they heard from friends who were being advised to stay silent—but “I never got that from my team at all.”.
Liu also says they’ve built community with other performers who have voiced support for Palestine. including Hannah Einbinder and Melissa Barrera. Liu met Barrera two years ago. when Liu says there were only a “handful of people being outspoken about the genocide in Gaza. ” and Liu says “we all found each other early on.”.
At the Golden Globes earlier this year. Liu and Einbinder were seated with Mark Ruffalo. and all wore “Artists4Ceasefire” pins. Liu recalls the moment in vivid. human terms: “From across the table. he was like. ‘I see you. ’ and I was like. ‘Comrade Mark!’ ” Liu says Ruffalo came over and they “clasped hands and stared deeply into each other’s eyes. like. ‘Yes!’ ”.
That same sense of recognition is what Liu says makes “I Love Boosters” extra special for their family. Along with its topical themes, the role reflects a lived connection—part of it is in how Jianhu speaks and carries the accent Liu asked their mom to help translate into performance.
Liu says their mother, Leah Cai, joined them at the movie’s Los Angeles premiere, calling it “extra special” and saying “She really loved it.” Since the film opened in theaters late last month, Liu says their mother has also been sending pictures of family friends in Minnesota attending “Boosters.”
“They’re all going to the theater in droves to support me,” Liu says. “There’s this big group photo of these Chinese aunties and uncles in their late 50s and 60s, all standing around a gigantic ‘I Love Boosters’ poster. I felt so emotional seeing it.”
For Liu, the pride isn’t abstract. It’s about hearing feedback from the people for whom the story doesn’t feel borrowed. “This is the role I care most about, in terms of their feedback,” they say. “I felt so proud to hear them be proud of it.”
Poppy Liu I Love Boosters Boots Riley Keke Palmer Demi Moore Jianhu Corvette Velvet Gang Mandarin accent Leah Cai Golden Globes Artists4Ceasefire Free Palestine movement U.S. film news