New HBO series The Sympathizer comes from co-showrunner and director Park Chan-wook, adapting the novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen and starring Hoa Xuande.
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Xuande plays The Captain, a spy for the Viet Cong operating within the South Vietnamese Army, who flees to America along with other South Vietnamese refugees, but continues to smuggle information for his handlers.
Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr plays four roles of Americans central to The Captain's journey within the series - a CIA operative, an Oriental Studies professor, a congressman and a film director.
Director Park explained why Downey Jr plays the four roles when speaking with RadioTimes.com and other press, saying it was a "very important" concept for the series to get right.
Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey Jr in The Sympathizer. Hopper Stone/HBO
He said: "It was very important to find a fine line in terms of going with Robert playing multiple roles, because this concept itself, him playing different characters, was very important. It represented four different faces sharing one body, which is representing America as a whole.
"And it was very important that the audience was able to catch that this idea was what we were going for. So, while they needed to be different, at the same time, they had to be one and the same.
"So, we were dealing with portraying these characters realistically, because we had to feel that it was someone who actually lived in 1975.
"At the same time, we had to portray the characters each as unique characters, which meant they had to be a little bit exaggerated, or perhaps heightened in expressing them.
"And we had to avoid portraying them as a caricature, so it was a very complex process in finding the fine line between being real and representing them in a unique way."
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
