Kevin Kwan is struggling to find the right words.
“I mean, my heart definitely skipped a beat,” he says.
“To see the story unfold,justhow I imagined it, was…” He trails off.
“I’m being fabulously inarticulate, but everything that’s happened has been amazing.
I feel like every few months I have to pinch myself.”
That periodic pinching has been going on for more than four years.
to yachts equipped with swimming pools (yes, more than one!)
and even to private planes with state-of-the-art yoga studios and heated floors (why not?!).
His subjects aren’t just crazy rich; they’re filthy, unspeakably,hilariouslyrich.
“I was like, ‘Well, you’ve missed the point completely,'” he recalls.
“I said, ‘No, thank you.'”
*Unusual for a guy who sprinkles footnotes (like this one!)
in his books.As a character says in the novel, “These people are richer than God.”
“She’s put into a world that is completely different from her own,” Wu says.
Think Anne Hathaway inThe Devil Wears Prada.
“Eleanor had to fight to be a Young.
It didn’t come handed to her on a silver platter.
She really doesn’t.
And technically, it’s all Nick’s fault.
He has hidden much of his background from his American friends as a way to find his own identity.
Even to his girlfriend.
“He definitely could have given her a heads-up,” Golding admits.
“In his defense, he didn’t want to scare her!”
*A Malay slang term meaning “Oh dear” or “Oh my God,“lah.
But it’s a tale calligraphed with the specificity of the Asian immigrant experience.
Rachel, an American-born Chinese, has difficulty understanding the customs Nick’s family has followed for generations.
“It was worth it.
The best thing we ever did on this movie was cast this cast.”
In fact, he’s now able to make a whole new promise.
I will show it to you for free!”
“I wish I could’ve cast 300 more people.
There are atleast25 [potential] mega stars I saw that we couldn’t put in this movie.”
- Plus, he’s referenced in the book as a relative of Rachel’s.
Yep, in all caps, and hashtagged #itstime.
“It really influenced the energy of the whole shoot,” Mizuno says.
“It was such a pleasure to feel like I wasn’t there for a tokenistic reason.”
In this movie, that dynamic doesn’t exist, and that’s profound.”
Profound, yes, and more than a little gratifying.
“It was aparty,” Jeong marvels.
“I felt like I was a butterfly on the wall of something incredibly special.”
With that, though, comes pressure.
- Jeong calls him “a well-intentioned Mr. You know, fromThe Hangover.
This is notCrazy Rich Asians Who Will Solve All of Hollywood’s Representation Problems.
And I think that’s all we can hope for.”
Wu agrees: “We needmanystories.
We need another rom-com that’s totally different fromCrazy Rich Asians.
There just needs to bemore.”
Good thing, then, that Rachel’s first adventure is just the tip of the diamond-encrusted iceberg.
Kwan turnedCrazy Rich Asiansinto a trilogy.
That could mean a franchise, but Chu’s in no hurry to pull the trigger on a sequel.
At least not yet.
“Would we love to do more?
Absolutely,” the director says.
“But it’s always up to the audience.”
We want to repeat what happened withThe Hunger Gamesor withHarry Potteror with all these series.
We’re going to tell a complete story.That’sthe goal.”
He definitely seems to like what he’s seen so far.
After watching the first cut of the movie, he called Henry Golding.
“He was so proud.
I was like, ‘You know what?
You’re the only person I need to like.’
To get a compliment like that from him, that’s all that matters to me.”
Some things, after all, are priceless.
Crazy Rich Asianshits theaters August 15.
