But as one of the film’s executive producers from the start, he organized a research tour of Asia for other producers, answered questions from screenwriters Adele Lim and Peter Chiarelli, and helped pick the director. “If you make sure all your work has depth, even if it’s something fun and light like a rom-com, that’s how you make good work.”Īt the time Kwan sold the rights to Crazy Rich Asians, he was already tasked with writing its sequel, China Rich Girlfriend. “At the end of the day, the thing that drives people and moves people is truth and story and humanity,” she says. “Even saying I’m worthy of being a leading lady-people don’t like it when a woman asserts her worth.” But her experience on Crazy Rich Asians, being supported by people with the same commitment to representation that’s guided her career, was more positive. “I couldn’t do a shoot because I had a sick family member, and I was punished for it,” she says. But Wu’s clear ideas about the type of work she wants to do, along with her race and gender, have made her a target on and off sets. “I’m very panicked that I’m not going to be able to handle it, and I’m just going to have hurt feelings for a really long time.”įor so long, Asian-American women have been told to be grateful for whatever they get, and that being objectified is better than being ignored. “I’m really scared of being such a public figure and opening myself up to scrutiny,” Wu says. It also means that she’s vulnerable to criticism about everything from her hair to her pronunciation of Mandarin to her love life. She’s not typically an anxious person, but she’s sensitive, which is part of what makes her such a great, funny actor and outspoken advocate of women’s issues and greater diversity in her field. But Wu has spent years discussing the state of Asian representation, both in interviews and with fans, and a sense of pressure has made her terrified of what will happen when the film is finally out.īehind the smiling Instagram posts and glossy photo shoots ahead of the movie’s release, Wu tells me she has been having panic attacks and crying every night. Her casting in this film as Rachel signals that she’s the most bankable Asian-American movie star in a generation. After years of work in the game of Hollywood, Crazy Rich Asians is poised to win. By representing Asian people so vividly, the film could set a precedent for many more stories like this one to be told. Crazy Rich Asians has the potential to revive the romantic comedy-a genre that has foundered at the box office recently-for a massive general audience. Hollywood has grown increasingly dependent on Asian financiers and global audiences to turn a profit. This mattered, both for fans of Kevin Kwan’s best-selling book series, which inspired the film, and for Asian audiences the world over who have waited decades to see themselves represented onscreen in all their diversity. Later, the filmmakers turned down a lucrative deal with Netflix to make the film with Warner Bros., which guaranteed it a higher-profile release. An early prospective producer suggested casting a white woman as the lead. That doesn’t mean getting this movie made was easy. It has already won over critics: the film has a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It also boasts a relatable rom-com heroine, opulent set pieces and witty dialogue. Crazy Rich Asians is pure escapist fantasy, a Cinderella story about an Asian-American woman meeting her boyfriend’s colorful and, yes, crazy-rich family in Singapore. And it makes use of a multilingual script that flips seamlessly from English to Cantonese to Mandarin and back again.īut if you understand the cultural forces that are at play-an underserved audience, the rapidly expanding influence of Asian culture and the power of the global box office, this $30 million movie doesn’t seem like much of a gamble at all. It features two leads who are new to movies: Wu, an actor most recognizable for her role on the ABC series Fresh Off the Boat, and Henry Golding, a virtual unknown who last worked as a travel host for the BBC. It’s an earnest romantic comedy in a sea of action and superhero films. It’s the first modern story with an all-Asian cast and an Asian-American lead in 25 years the last, The Joy Luck Club, was in 1993. To many in Hollywood, Crazy Rich Asians might look like a risky bet. As Rachel, a professor of economics and game theory at New York University, tells her students, “The key is playing to win, instead of trying not to lose.” He folds, only to be crushed when she reveals her cards. Her hand is much weaker than her opponent’s-he’s got two pairs-but she fearlessly bluffs and puts in all her chips. There’s a scene in Crazy Rich Asians in which Rachel Chu, the lead character played by Constance Wu, is in a game of poker.
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