Richard Roeper talks with Jon M. Chu, director of the highly anticipated romantic comedy, and star Henry Golding.
When “Crazy Rich Asians” hits theaters Wednesday, it will be the first Asian-focused major studio film in 25 years.
That’s right. A quarter-century. The last was “The Joy Luck Club” in 1993.
From the moment it was announced there would be a movie version of the best-selling, culture-clash, romantic-comedy novel by Kevin Kwan (the first in a trilogy), there’s been a lot of talk — and a lot of trolling — about the project.
Director Jon M. Chu (“Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” “Now You See Me 2”) and leading man Henry Golding were recently in Chicago to talk about the movie and welcome the audience at an advance screening at the Arclight Theater.
Prior to the screening, we met at Cindy’s Rooftop, a bar and restaurant on the 12th floor of the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. Seemed like a fitting locale given that “Cindy” is Cindy Pritzker, of the Crazy Rich Pritzker family. (Cindy’s son John oversaw the restoration of the hotel. A Warhol portrait of Cindy occupies a prominent space on the wall at Cindy’s Rooftop.)
I was looking to do something more personal and not just do franchise movies. What am I actually contributing to the film landscape?
I wanted to do something about my cultural identity, which I had never touched.
But I thought I should at least pick up the book and read it. And a week later, I get an email from a mutual friend of mine and Jon’s, saying he wanted to connect us.
We met on Skype, had a long conversation for an hour, an hour and a half. He said, “Will you read for me?”
Wealthy Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh, left) does not approve when her son Nick (Henry Golding) falls for Rachel (Constance Wu) in “Crazy Rich Asians.”| Warner Bros.
A week later, he sent another video, and that was [the character of] Nick Young right there.
Michelle Yeoh told me, “If you want me to be the standard villain in this movie, I won’t do it, because I can’t go back home and have everybody look at me like I just sold my country out. So I’m going to defend our culture, and you can defend the American way.”
And that’s really the whole point of the movie. This next generation is like a remix [of previous generations], a new identity.
