Text | North American Pottery
Bright and charming scenery, luxurious and rich scenes, handsome guys and beauties in love, and family members who are strenuously opposed. The new movie "Crazy Rich Asians" has the standard plot of the classic Hollywood romantic comedy.
Unusually, this film is the first modern Hollywood film to feature an all-Asian cast and English as the film language since The Joy Luck Club released 25 years ago. With this background, the film is no longer a mere big-screen romance, but carries a unique sense of mission.
The movie story is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Singaporean novelist Kevin Kwan. It is about a young Chinese woman who accompanies her boyfriend to a friend's wedding in Singapore, but discovers her boyfriend's life experience that has not been disclosed. It turns out that the other party is the descendant of a highly sought after rich man, such as the "Diamond King Five" who is fake. Next, facing the jealousy of the cunning mother-in-law and celebrities, the girl ushered in a witty experience.
The heroine is played by Constance Wu, a Chinese-American actress who has received attention in the American drama "Fresh off the boat" in recent years. The picky mother-in-law in the film is played by well-known Chinese actress Michelle Yeoh.
According to the audience feedback survey of the preview, the story is clear, the scenes are gorgeous, and the cultural background is interesting. The excellent word of mouth of the preview makes the official release of the film worth looking forward to. The new film, also known as "Crazy Rich Asians," is expected to gross $29 million this weekend.
For Zhu Haowei, who directed "GIJoe: Retaliation 2: Total Counterattack" and "Now you see me 2", "Crazy Rich Asians" aims to be more than just a popular romance Comedy, but to use this film to make Asian American actors shine in Hollywood, and let the entire American film industry see that a full cast of Asians can also have a strong box office appeal.
If the film does do well at the box office, it will open the door for Asian-American actors and filmmakers who have worked hard and failed in Hollywood.
Who said the door didn't open just in time? Hollywood is being criticized for being too "white" (Hollywood actors and film professionals are dominated by white people).
Over the years, Hollywood studios have been criticized negatively for not being inclusive enough in the composition of Hollywood's film actors and management.
Although black-based films like Black Panther and Get Out have proven that films that reflect the lives of non-white people can still be commercially successful, unfortunately, There has been no substantial change in diversity in Hollywood over the past decade.
"Crazy Rich Asians" may be an opportunity to change the wind.
In 2016, when the creators of "Crazy Rich Asians" were looking for investors, the "Oscar Taibai" campaign was in full swing. Big film companies began to search for film projects that did not focus on white stories, and happened to come across "Crazy Rich Asians". Streaming giant Netflix immediately offered a tantalizing contract, but the creative team ultimately opted for an olive branch from Warner Bros. Pictures.
Warner Bros. Pictures, which is affiliated with AT&T in the United States, invested in the film, and there was also a gamble, because several major Hollywood film companies had long disliked the type of film that took the romantic comedy line and focused on series blockbusters.
For "Crazy Rich Asians", which cost only 30 million US dollars, Warner, in the mood to release a blockbuster, has made a big marketing campaign and spared no effort to promote it, which is enough to show its high expectations for this film.
At the same time, Warner and the film's main creative team did not forget to emphasize that this is not a film developed for the Asian market, but a work created for the global market.
When the film's creative team saw the novel "Crazy Rich Asians" in 2013, they decided to make it into a movie, but at that time they didn't want to limit the movie's positioning to the Asian market. The love and family themes in the story are universal.
Before the script was finalized, the creators flew to Singapore and Hong Kong to try to find and experience first-hand cultural experience. The film was eventually shot in Singapore and Malaysia.
It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of the film casting, we encountered a lot of challenges. Excellent Asian actors who can speak fluent English are still a scarce resource in Hollywood. The director used casting staff in Vancouver, Beijing, Singapore, and Hong Kong to search for suitable actors in a large area. Henry Golding, who plays the male lead, was originally a TV host with no actor experience. He was caught by the accountants in the Malaysian office and became a rich man in the film.
In this hot summer, can "Crazy Rich Asians" bring a warm box office?
If the audience is willing to pay for the film, it will undoubtedly send a signal to Hollywood that there is a market for Asian stories and Asian faces in mainstream international films. At a time when traditional theater chains seem to be powerless, this new change may be an answer.
"Crazy Rich Asians" has not yet been officially released, and the creators of the film are already thinking about the next film that revolves around Asian stories and has Asian actors as the core cast. The prototype of the story comes from a news event that happened this year - the rescue of a Thai youth football player trapped in a cave.
I hope the next Hollywood movie featuring Asian Americans won't have to wait another 25 years.
Public number: North American Tao Ai Ai (ID: peach0990)
View more about Crazy Rich Asians reviews
