Crazy Rich Asians: surprise movie hit
Crazy Rich Asians has taken the movie world by storm but the flick hasn’t been without controversy. Here’s how the all-Asian romcom became a Hollywood blockbuster
IT’S creating plenty of hype, drawing in an audience usually slow to go to the movies and casting the spotlight on a culture that’s been little explored by Hollywood. And Crazy Rich Asians is reaping the rewards at the box office, raking in $39 million (R565 million) in its opening week in the USA. The plot is a romcom for the ages: pretty girl and good-looking boyfriend head to his exotic overseas home for a wedding and to meet the family – and hilarity ensues.
But the film might never have made it to the big screen if not for a firm “heck no” to Tinseltown from Kevin Kwan, the author of Crazy Rich Asians. Kevin’s 2013 novel was a bestseller and before long Hollywood producers came knocking. At one early meeting, a producer asked him to imagine lead character Rachel, an Asian-American, as a white woman.
“That was their strategy,” Kevin told Entertainment Weekly. “I was like, ‘Well, you’ve missed the point completely.’ I said, ‘No, thank you’.”
And his insistence to do things on his own terms has helped turned the movie into an unexpected hit.
THE WHITEWASH
Kevin (44) grew up in Singapore and moved to the USA with his family when he was 11. His novel, the first in a trilogy, is about a Chinese-American woman’s journey back to Asia – so for Hollywood to suggest he “make her white” in the movie was abhorrent to him.
Hollywood has long shied away from casting people of colour as the leads, believing the films would flop at the box office. When acclaimed director Ridley Scott was criticised for casting mostly white stars in his 2014 biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, he had this to say: “I can’t mount a film of this budget and say that my lead actor is Mohammed so-and-so from such-and-such.” But the tide is changing. Movies such as Black Panther, Get Out and Girls Trip have proven black-led casts can bring in huge box-office takings without alienating anybody as Hollywood studios have long feared.
In fact, nearly 40% of people who went to see Crazy Rich Asians in its opening weekend in the USA “identify as white”, the Huffington Post reported.
Kevin eventually optioned his manuscript for just $1 (with provision for further earnings) to Hunger Games producer Nina Jacobson and her producing partner Brad Simpson after they promised to “do it right” and stick to the premise of the book.
“I think the culture is shifting. Hollywood is seeing the importance of this,” Kevin says.
THE STORY
Economics professor Rachel Chu joins her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, also a lecturer, on a visit to his home country of Singapore for his best friend’s wedding.
Rachel knows she’ll be introduced to Nick’s friends, family and a new country – but she’s unprepared for a first-class ticket to a world populated by Southeast Asia’s wealthiest elite.
She learns Nick’s family is filthy rich and he’s considered one of Singapore’s most eligible men. Rachel has to deal with jealous socialites, odd relatives and – worst of all – Nick’s disapproving mother.
THE PEOPLE
Crazy Rich Asians boasts the first allAsian cast in a Hollywood movie in 25
years, since The Joy Luck Club, the 1993 adaptation of Amy Tan’s book about ChineseAmerican women and their relationships with their Chinese mothers.
Directed by Jon M Chu, Crazy Rich Asians features many familiar faces: Constance Wu (Fresh off the Boat), Henry Golding (BBC’s The Travel Show), Awkwafina (Ocean’s 8), Ken Jeong (The Hangover), Gemma Chan (Transformers: The Last Knight) and Michelle Yeoh (Star Trek: Discovery and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Jon, a first-generation American of Taiwanese heritage, also directed GI Joe: Retaliation, two Step Up films and the Justin Bieber documentary Never Say Never.
“Growing up in an immigrant household, part of me is traditional Chinese,” Jon (38) says. “But I’m really a California boy. Going to school, I’d play basketball and tennis and do all these very American things, and that struggle over my cultural identity was very much present in my life.
“This movie speaks to my identity as an Asian and that struggle of figuring out who I am and where I belong. It also deals with what my family went through, what my mom and my dad from mainland China [went through], so all the struggles I’ve experienced are in this story in a fun way, not in some sort of lecturing way.”
THE BUZZ
The opening week’s takings in the USA were largely thanks to the unprecedented turnout of Asian-Americans.
Typically, the Asian-American portion of a movie’s audience is between 8% and 10%. In this case, it was nearly 40%, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film was made on a modest $30 million (R435 million) budget and it earned well above the projected $25 million (R362 million) it was expected to make when it opened.
And it’s been universally well received, scoring a 93% “fresh” rating on reviews aggregator RottenTomatoes.com.
THE CONTROVERSY
It’s a big deal that there’s a mainstream Hollywood hit movie with an all-Asian cast – but not everyone’s thrilled about it. Singaporean Twitter was less than enthusiastic when the movie’s trailer dropped and deeply critical of the fact the cast seems only representative of the country’s Chinese population.
Alfian Sa’at, a Singaporean poet and playwright, posted a screenshot of the trailer on Facebook where two men with dark skin – he called them “brown backdrop people” – are seen opening car doors. He captioned the screenshot, “Does a win for representation mean replacing white people with white people wannabes – the nouveau white?”
Many agreed with him, saying the film appears to feature few brown faces and those who are there are in the background as servants.
In Singapore, Chinese make up 74% of the population, Malays 15% and Indians 7,5%. The Malays are considered the indigenous population.
But Singaporean journalist Mili Mitra pointed out in The Washington Post that the film is “a romantic comedy about a Chinese-Singaporean family. Its entire premise centres on a specific segment of the country’s society – the insanely wealthy – that’s disproportionately ethnic Chinese.”
A WANTED MAN
All the hype may have benefited Kevin Kwan’s standing in Hollywood – but it’s focused renewed attention on another matter altogether. Authorities say the author didn’t register for national service (NS) in Singapore in 1990 despite being sent notices and could face three years’ jail time if he sets foot in his birth country again.
Kevin has applied twice to renounce his citizenship but was rejected as he hadn’t first done his national service.
“He failed to register for NS in 1990 despite letters sent to his overseas address,” the ministry of defence said in a statement. “He also didn’t have the right permit for a long-term stay overseas. Mr Kwan is therefore wanted for defaulting on his NS obligations.”
Those glowing Hollywood lights must seem all the more beckoning now.
Crazy Rich Asians is in cinemas now.
‘I think the culture is shifting. Hollywood is seeing the importance of this’
SOURCES: EW.COM, COSMOPOLITAN.COM, HUFFPOST.COM, BBC. COM, EMPIRE-ENT.AFRICA, THR.COM, WASHINGTONPOST.COM