Constance Wu may be starring in another romantic comedy. The “Crazy Rich Asians” star is in negotiations to topline an untitled pic for Screen Gems, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. Also in talks to join the project is “GLOW’s” Kimmy Gatewood, who plays Stacey on the wrestling show. Gatewood would be working behind the scenes: she’d be making her feature directorial debut on the project, produced by Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman via their Brownstone Productions banner. Brownstone’s Alison Small will exec produce.
Penned by Savion Einstein (“The Longest Birthday”), the script centers on a “charmingly chaotic woman who has to get her life together when she becomes pregnant with two babies from two different men.”
Wu stars in ABC sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat,” currently in its fifth season.
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.”
The “Eastsiders” alumna 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-Americans 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.”
Wu was last seen on the big screen in “Crazy Rich Asians,” which has grossed over $237 million worldwide. She just received a Golden Globe nod for her performance in the box office smash.
Gatewood has previously stepped behind the camera for shorts and episodic television. “Control” and “Hyperlinked” are among her directing credits.
