Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu on diversity and making In the Heights – based on Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s play and with tips from Steven Spielberg
- Debut film Jem and the Holograms was a disaster, but Crazy Rich Asians grossed at least US$238 million and made stars of Awkwafina, Henry Golding and Gemma Chan
- Spielberg liked Chu’s first short film, so they met and talked musicals at DreamWorks where the great man was making The Terminal with Tom Hanks
Jon M. Chu ’s path to Hollywood eminence began with his biggest failure. Jem and the Holograms, a musical that Chu directed, grossed just US$2 million in 2015, posting one of the 10 worst opening weekends in Hollywood history.
“I remember sitting there feeling very empty,” says Chu, 41. “I cleared my slate and started to look for whatever those next projects were going to be. I told my agents and managers, ‘I’m not going to make money for you for the next five years, so buckle up.’”
Chu hoped In the Heights, his forthcoming adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning play, would have a similar impact for its largely Latino cast. Then the pandemic intervened, shuttering theatres and forcing the studio to postpone the movie’s release. While Miranda was eager to get the film out into the world, Chu held firm to his belief that it needed a big roll-out. Initially, AT&T Inc.’s Warner Bros. seemed to agree.
But then Warner Bros. announced plans to debut the film and 16 others on HBO Max and theatres at the same time, a move that caught Chu off guard. He found out just 15 minutes before the press release dropped and was one of several filmmakers peeved by the lack of communication. “I don’t know, a little heads-up would have been great,” he says. “But, you know, they paid for it in the end.”
