![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/forge-logo-640x480.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With FORGE, writer-director Jing Ai Ng takes the bones of a true-crime art-world scandal and transforms them into something far more psychologically textured than a standard forgery thriller. Inspired in part by the infamous Knoedler Gallery scandal \u2014 and particularly by the unresolved mystery of the Chinese forger who fled and was never fully heard from \u2014 Ng found the kind of narrative opening filmmakers dream about: a real-world crime with enough unanswered questions to allow imagination to step in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat really was a huge inspiration for the story,\u201d Ng says, noting that the forger behind tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent art was Chinese and \u201cwas never interviewed \u2014 complete question marks.\u201d For a filmmaker fascinated by art crime, identity, and deception, that ambiguity became \u201ca great canvas and a great starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Set in Miami\u2019s lush, moneyed art world, FORGE centers on siblings Coco and Raymond Zhang, played by Andie Ju and Brandon Soo Hoo, who operate an underground forgery business before being pulled into a larger scheme by disgraced millionaire Holden Beaumont, played with oily entitlement by Edmund Donovan. But what makes the film so compelling is not simply the mechanics of the crime. It is Ng\u2019s decision to place the emotional weight of the story on Coco \u2014 an artist, a criminal, a dreamer, and, in her own warped way, a purist.<\/p>\n
Ng knew the audience had to feel for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to lend a softness to the main character,\u201d she says. \u201cShe\u2019s a villain, but we still wanted you to feel for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
That emotional investment is what elevates FORGE beyond the familiar rhythms of a heist or procedural. Coco may be committing serious crimes, but Ng frames her less as a stock antagonist than as a woman desperate to have her artistry seen. Her tragedy is that recognition comes through imitation, deception, and eventually exposure. In one of the film\u2019s sharpest ironies, Coco\u2019s dream of seeing her work displayed publicly does come true \u2014 just not in the way she imagined.<\/p>\n
Visually, Ng and cinematographer Leo Purman treat forgery as an inherently cinematic crime.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/forge1-640x359.png\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cArt forgery lends itself to being in a film because it\u2019s such a visual crime,\u201d Ng explains. \u201cIt\u2019s really about the deception of what you can see and what you can tell and what you feel when you look at an art piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ng and Purman drew from crime and forgery films, including TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., but they also rooted FORGE in a very specific sense of place. The paintings seen throughout the film were influenced by South Florida landscape artists, and the production brought in a local Miami painter to create the original artwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did a lot of extensive research on the kinds of paintings and the art movements that came out of South Florida,\u201d Ng says. The final look became a collaboration between Ng, Purman, production designer Arielle Ness-Cohn, the art team, and the painter himself.<\/p>\n
That collaboration is essential to the film\u2019s layered visual design. Ness-Cohn sharply distinguishes the worlds Coco moves through: the warm, red-toned intimacy of the Zhang family restaurant; the shadowed, expansive warehouse studio where Coco works; and Holden Beaumont\u2019s sterile glass-and-money universe of high-rise offices and inherited privilege. Each space reflects a different kind of performance, fraud, or longing.<\/p>\n
Ng laughs at the ambition of mounting an art forgery film on an independent budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote an art forgery film, which is ambitious on a budget like this, to say the least,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had to work with what we had access to, what was in our budget, what locations we could get for free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, those limitations helped sharpen the collaboration. \u201cIt became a true collaboration between all the heads of departments,\u201d Ng says. \u201cHow do we complement our story and make adjustments in the environment so that we can tell the story that we want to tell?\u201d<\/p>\n
The result is a film that looks far more expensive than it means. Ng credits that to her team\u2019s attention to detail and constant conversations about color, texture, and mood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really proud because I think the film looks way more expensive than it actually was,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a testament to everyone putting their heads together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editing is another key component of FORGE\u2019s visual storytelling. Working with editor Briana Chmielewski, Ng uses montage not as filler, but as emotional compression and tonal transformation. Sequences of Coco aging canvases and painting are intercut with Raymond fabricating documents, creating provenance, and building the lie around the image. Later, as FBI Art Crimes agent Emily Lee, played by Kelly Marie Tran, begins connecting the pieces, Chmielewski\u2019s cutting draws Coco\u2019s creative process and Emily\u2019s investigation into a tense collision.<\/p>\n
Ng has worked with both Purman and Chmielewski for nearly a decade, dating back to film school. Hearing their work singled out brings visible pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeo and Briana, I\u2019ve been working with for almost a decade,\u201d she says. \u201cWe met in film school nine years ago. It\u2019s so wonderful to hear you praise them.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/forge2-640x361.png\")
<\/p>\n
Just as important is the score by Marco Carrion and Ian Chang, which helps place the viewer inside Coco\u2019s dream state. Ng wrote the script while listening to Chang\u2019s solo album, and his sound became deeply embedded in the DNA of the film.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote the script to Ian Chang\u2019s solo album,\u201d she says. \u201cIt informed my writing very strongly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ng imagined FORGE with an electronic score, but one threaded with Asian instrumentation and percussion. That blend mirrors Coco herself \u2014 contemporary, restless, culturally specific, and often lost inside her own fantasies.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoco is a character that very much lives in her head and in her dreams,\u201d Ng says. \u201cThat fantasy sometimes gets in the way of real life and what the audience would consider important, like family. But to Coco, maybe that\u2019s secondary. That\u2019s a painful reality, but we wanted the audience to feel what she felt at the same time. The music is an important part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casting proved equally crucial. Ng did not have her leads attached when the film was greenlit, which allowed for a wide discovery process. T.R. Knight was the first to come aboard, pitching himself for Sandy Baker, a choice Ng says turned out wonderfully. Tran followed, and then the search for Coco and Raymond stretched across several months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent a few months auditioning people all across the country for the roles of Coco and Ray,\u201d Ng says. \u201cWe\u2019re so happy that we found Andie and Brandon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan and Eva De Dominici, as Holden and Talia, were also critical finds. Ng knew those roles could easily tip into caricature if cast or played too broadly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you cast them in a different way, it\u2019s possible they come across as caricatures,\u201d she says. \u201cI really think those two brought so much depth and humanity to what those characters are like. You still feel so sorry for Holden, even though he represents so much that is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tran\u2019s FBI agent Emily Lee occupies a different space in the film \u2014 observant, practical, and intentionally unglamorous. That realism extended to costume design. Ng and costume designer Colleen wanted Emily\u2019s wardrobe to reflect the actual working reality of federal agents, especially in a specialized department like art crimes, rather than the polished Hollywood version.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt reflects the reality of the actual FBI, especially the art crimes department, which is something we researched really extensively,\u201d Ng says. \u201cKelly is an actor who really cares about her costume. It was a joy to get to see when the final fitting happened and it all came together.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Ng, making FORGE was its own marathon of discovery. The scale of a feature, particularly the demands of post-production, taught her lessons she will carry forward. But the biggest storytelling lesson was deceptively simple: never lose sight of the main character.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to pay close attention to your main character even more than you think,\u201d Ng says. \u201cBe paranoid about it, if anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
That vigilance pays off in FORGE, a crime film where the forgery is not only on canvas but in identity, class, family, authorship, and self-worth. Ng may be making her feature directorial debut, but she does so with a sharp eye for visual storytelling and a deep curiosity about why people need their illusions to be believed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned that I really love directing,\u201d she says. \u201cI really believe in movies and the stories that people tell, so I\u2019m really passionate about carrying this through.\u201d<\/p>\n
With FORGE, Jing Ai Ng has crafted a debut that understands the difference between copying an image and creating meaning. And in Coco\u2019s fractured, fascinating pursuit of artistic legitimacy, the film finds its most haunting truth: sometimes being seen is the greatest con of all.<\/p>\n
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 05\/05\/2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FORGE opens\u00a0in Los Angeles beginning May 15 at the Landmark Nuart Theatre and in New York beginning May 22 at Quad Cinema<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n