Constance Wu is in talks to topline Warner Bros.’ memorably titled “Crazy Rich Asians,” The Hollywood Reporter confirms. The “Fresh Off the Boat” actress would lead an all-Asian cast.
An adaptation of the best-selling novel, “Crazy Rich Asians” hasn’t officially received a greenlight, but according to THR, “sources say it is on the development fast-track.”
The movie will focus on Rachel Chu (Wu), “an American-born Chinese economics professor, who travels to her boyfriend Nick’s hometown of Singapore for his best friend’s wedding,” the source details. “Before long, his secret is out: Nick is from a family that is impossibly wealthy, he’s perhaps the most eligible bachelor in Asia and every single woman in his ultra-rarefied social class is incredibly jealous of Rachel and wants to bring her down.”
Adele Lim (“Reign”) and Peter Chiarelli (“The Proposal”) penned the script, and Jon M. Chu (“Now You See Me 2”) has signed on to direct.
Wu plays Jessica Huang on ABC’s hit sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat,” currently in its third season. The series, created by Nahnatchka Khan, centers on a Taiwanese American immigrant family. “Fresh Off the Boat” marks the first time an American sitcom starring an Asian-American family has aired on network prime time since Margeret Cho’s “All American Girl” aired in 1994.
When Wu was asked what she’d tell someone “who doesn’t understand why the kind of visibility ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ offers matters,” the actress said, “I wouldn’t say that just visibility is important. I would say visibility as the stars of a show is important. That says that our stories matter,” she explained. “We’re not here to do the taxes of the white person, or to be the chipper best friend to the white person.”
Wu continued, “It’s important to see Asians in those leading roles because it changes what I’m calling the anglo-heteronormative status of TV. [Imagine] that a producer says, ‘Guy and girl meet-cute at an ice skating rink. They fall in love, but then she has to move away.’ If you say that to anyone, including an Asian person, you picture a white person because that’s what’s become normative to us. If it’s ‘Asian-American meet in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown,’ that’s the only time you picture it. We need to have a picture of Asian Americans. We have a unique experience that has myriad opportunities for storytelling, if other people are willing to tell those stories.” Thankfully, it looks like the folks behind “Crazy Rich Asians” want to do just that.
Wu has received three Critics’ Choice TV Award nominations for her performance in “Fresh Off the Boat,” and has a recurring role in Hulu’s upcoming sci-fi series “Dimension 404."
