Could a Crazy Rich Asians trilogy break Hollywood’s race barrier? No, judging by fate of these Asian films
- From The Joy Luck Club to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon talk of an ‘Asian wave’ in US cinema has been predicted, but it has never materialised
- Crazy Rich Asians sequels will still be shot back-to-back in 2020 though
“You have to think of the community. There has never been a big commercial film for Asian-Americans that shows them as real people. This would mean so much.”
The words were taken from a producer’s pitch for the film Crazy Rich Asians , right? Wrong. That was US-based Hong Kong director Wayne Wang trying to persuade author Amy Tan to give him permission to adapt her book The Joy Luck Club into a movie back around 1990. (He succeeded.)
Although Crazy Rich Asians has sparked talk in the Asian-American community of more Hollywood films which reflect their lives and tell their stories, the same arguments have been made for the last 25 years. With actress Gemma Chan confirming to Variety on the Captain Marvel red carpet this week that two Crazy Rich Asians sequels will be shot back-to-back in 2020, the hopes are certainly raised again.
Long before this, The Joy Luck Club in 1993, the popular wuxia drama Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000, the gently humorous Saving Face in 2004 all heralded an era of more American films with Asians in leading roles telling Asian stories to a mainstream, ethnically diverse audience. But sadly, each time such hopes fizzled out.
Wang’s The Joy Luck Club was a spirited attempt to change the representation of Asians in American cinema. Tan’s bestselling book depicts individuals rather than stereotypes, and in her story, Wang saw a chance to redress the inaccurate, often negative, portrayal of Asians that had plagued everything from the Fu Manchu films to The Karate Kid.