[ad_1]
Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu sees his mistake in picking brown actors in menial roles.
While promoting his new movie In the Heights, Chu told Insider that he should have made the South Asian characters in Crazy Rich Asians more human and that he is totally receiving criticism.
More Variety
The success of the 2018 romantic comedy centers around the relationship between Chinese-American professor Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) and history professor Nick Young (Henry Golding). He takes her to her home in Singapore for her childhood best friend’s wedding (and event of the year), where Rachel comes to learn about Nick’s incredibly wealthy family.
As the matriarch of the young family, Nick’s grandmother organizes many lavish events in her estate which is guarded by high level security. And although Indians are the third largest ethnic group in Singapore, they are considered only active armed guards. Chu said South Asian actors were at the party as guests, but admitted he had in no way increased their attendance.
They’re just sort of there, Chu said. I don’t give them the space to be there.
It’s a lesson I didn’t understand until it happened, he continued. I was like, it’s a book that exists, and I’m making that book into a movie. I cannot add a new character in this book.
Hearing it from people, for me was a learning experience, he added.
Chu will be able to put this experience directly to good use in the Crazy Rich Asians series as the director of the sequel, China Rich Girlfriend. Book author Kevin Kwan recently told Varietys Marc Malkin that the two sequels (the third being Rich People Problems) are in full development. It’s been almost three years since the first movie hit theaters, but Kwan insisted the sequel had to be as good as the first, if not better.
The story continues
We’re one of those unicorn movies, so there will be a lot of pressure not to disappoint fans and to perform really well, Kwan said. I can’t wait for there to be so many more movies like this to take the pressure off us.
The best of variety
Sign up for the variety newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
[ad_2]
picture credit