I auditioned for 'Crazy Rich Asians' four times and it was very, very hard for me to not get it, because it was like, these 'Crazy Rich Asians' people were the cool kids and I was the one being left out.
I just feel like, especially after 'Crazy Rich Asians,' gentrification isn't affecting art. I am actually more inspired by art now than ever.
'Crazy Rich Asians' has been compared to 'Black Panther,' but I feel like that's a false equivalency. The idea that there's only this film for Asians and that film for African Americans - it's so binary. I don't think it's like that at all. There should be and will be many films and many stories. Hopefully this just opens the floodgates.
I never thought an opportunity like 'Crazy Rich Asians' would ever come my way.
It's called 'Crazy Rich Asians,' but it's really not about crazy rich Asians. It's about Rachel Chu finding her identity and finding her self-worth through this journey back into her culture. Which, for me as a filmmaker, exploring my cultural identity is the scariest thing.
Being able to work on a film like 'Crazy Rich Asians' as your first role is phenomenal.
I'll be a janitor in 'Crazy Rich Asians 2.' Let's do that.
It wasn't until I worked on 'Crazy Rich Asians' that I all of a sudden have this Asian crew of friends that I became super close with.
When I heard that Hollywood was going to make Kevin Kwan's novel 'Crazy Rich Asians' into a movie, I was so ecstatic I nearly cried.
'Crazy Rich Asians' and 'A Simple Favor' were each a master class in filmmaking, and I had so much fun working with all my costars.
'Crazy Rich Asians' may be fiction, but given the situation I grew up in, I've had an unparalleled view into the very real world it depicts.
Quite honestly, I never thought it would be possible for Asians to make it in the States. But now I feel like it's totally changing. You see so many Asian celebrities now, and more and more of them are taking bigger roles in movies. I feel like everything has changed.
I'm not sure if being Chinese really helped, but I do think that if a non-Asian had written a book called 'Crazy Rich Asians,' they might not have been looked upon so kindly.
My publicist actually told me about the book. She's half-Indian, half-Dutch, and she was like, 'You've got to do this book. It's called 'Crazy Rich Asians.''
As a major feature film with Asian Americans in leading roles, 'Crazy Rich Asians' is important. We hope that this movie will be our 'Black Panther,' announcing to Hollywood that we are here, we belong, and we are ready for more.
When my first novel, 'Crazy Rich Asians,' was published in 2013, many readers were astonished to learn that in Asia, there were women who dressed in couture from morning till night.