"The same thing had happened with my TV show, Fresh Off The Boat"
Constance Wu has discussed the effect Crazy Rich Asians has on the Asian American community.
In a Haute Living interview, Constance Wu talked about the impact of Crazy Rich Asians.
Widely regarded as a success after becoming the top-grossing comedy in 10 years, Crazy Rich Asians was the first full-Asian cast mainstream film in over a decade.
Reflecting on its success, Wu said she actually expected the film to do as well as it did because of the success of Fresh Off The Boat.
“I actually did!” She said. “No one else really did, but I knew because the same thing had happened with my TV show, Fresh Off The Boat. Because of FOTB, I knew there was an audience hungry for it, and for a movie that has an even bigger reach than network television, I knew it would be a success.
“Not to mention, the cast and director are a great team so I had a lot of confidence in them.”
When asked why she thinks the film resonated with audiences, Wu said it “tells true human themes through a different viewpoint, it’s not the same old faces and settings.”
Nonetheless, the 36-year-old Taiwanese-American actress still believes there is a lack of diversity for Hollywood’s Asian community.
“There have only been a handful of Asian-American-led stories in the past few years,” she said. “So few stories cannot reflect such a multi-faceted group of people.”
Wu therefore hopes that Crazy Rich Asians will inspire the industry to embrace Asian American projects.
“I think CRA is a start and it’s success will show producers and investors that people are hungry for this content,” she said. “I hope Crazy Rich Asians will open the door for even more projects starring Asian Americans. It’s definitely something that should be improved upon and I think we are working towards that.”
In related news, Crazy Rich Asians co-star Henry Golding was recently chosen as GQ’s cover star for its ‘Men Of The Year’ edition.