- Everything about this movie was just... gorgeous.
- Hollywood needs more diversity and representation
and this film is just a starting point.
♪ (industrial intro) ♪
- (Nick) Rach, we've been dating... - (gasps) Crazy Rich Asians!
- Dude! I watched this movie already.
- (chuckles) I'm actually gonna go watch this tonight.
- (Nick) What about us taking an adventure east?
- I love her! She was on "Fresh Off the Boat."
- (Nick) Singapore, Colin's wedding. Don't you wanna meet my family?
- (Rachel) I hardly know anything about them.
- See, okay, I actually have no idea what this is about.
- (woman) ...take your bags and get you checked into first class.
- (Rachel) Nick, we can't afford this. So, your family is rich?
- I feel like I should've read the book.
- The book series is also really good.
- I've read the book, and I did not like it.
- (Peik) The Nick you're dating is Nick Young?
- Awkwafina! She's the best. Ken Jeong!
- (Rachel) Do you guys know them or something?
- (Wye) Hells yeah. They're just the biggest developers
in all of Singapore. - (Peik) Damn, Rachel.
It's like the Asian Bachelor. - (laughs)
- It's so weird, because you never see Asians,
and it's not a stereotypical Asian role.
It's just a normal movie, finally.
- I run into people like this all the time through my business.
- (Rachel) You're like the Prince William of Asia.
- (Nick) That's ridiculous. I'm much more of a Harry.
- Which means she's the Meghan Markle.
- (Nick) This is Rachel Chu. - (Peik) She just thinks you're some,
like, unrefined banana. - That's gonna be me one day
in the future. I'm such an unrefined banana.
- (Peik) Yellow on the outside, white on the inside.
- That's my dad. I always call my dad a banana.
- I've heard a lot of people are excited for this movie,
and not just Asian people, and that's amazing.
- (Eleanor) I know you're not what Nick needs.
- Ah, the classic Asian parent.
- (Rachel) She's, like, trying to play a game of chicken with me,
thinking I'm gonna swerve like a chicken.
- (Peik) But you can't swerve. You're gonna roll off and be like...
- (Rachel) Bawk-bawk, bitch. - Yes! I'm so excited.
- (Nick) I met a girl, I fell in love, and I wanna marry her.
- Henry Golding is such a man. - I still feel like they picked...
Asians who will be appealing to the mass audiences.
- Asians are a lot more than what this book and movie
are trying to portray. We're not that crazy.
- (Eleanor) I know this much: You will never be enough.
- Ugh, I felt that. Oh my god.
- (Oliver) ...time someone stood up to Auntie Eleanor.
Well, you. Not me. Oh god. She can't know I was ever here.
- That part got me in tears. It's such a beautiful movie.
- Getting so emotional just watching this.
- This is like "The Great Gatsby," but an Asian version. (chuckles)
- Everything about this movie was just gorgeous.
- (Rachel) If Nick chose me, he would lose his family.
And if he chose his family... - I'm so excited for this movie.
- (Rachel) ...he might spend the rest of his life resenting you.
- (Peik) You nasty. You kind of nasty. You got nastier.
- ♪ Glorious, glorious ♪ - So good!
I'm so happy that you showed me this.
Thanks to Jeannie. She actually invited me
to the movie premiere, so I got to see it two weeks ago.
And at first, I was a little bit skeptical
'cause of the name, but then by the end of the movie,
I was like, I need to watch this again.
- This is so special to me. I'm so happy to be here.
I actually was at the red carpet premiere.
I loved seeing and hearing everybody's reactions in the theaters.
Now I understand why React is so big,
because there's nothing more fulfilling
than to see other people react to something that you love.
- (FBE) That was the trailer for the film "Crazy Rich Asians."
- It looks promising. - (FBE) So, the film has become
a huge talking point for people, specifically those of Asian descent.
And so, for this episode, we've decided to invite some
of our cast members who have that cultural background
to talk about the movie.
- That's right! That's the way to do it.
Entertainment is shifting towards diversity
and shifting towards accurate storytelling
from people who experience their culture firsthand.
It's told through our perspective. It's told through the eyes
of Asian-Americans.
- Hollywood needs more diversity and representation.
And this film is just a starting point.
- I just hope that people don't stereotype it through this,
because there's so many different view that you can explore.
- I'm afraid that anyone who's not Asian
is gonna get the wrong perception of Asians.
The rest of the world thinks that Asians are really out there,
that all we wanna do is get money, money, money.
It's like, that's the last thing I want people to think about my people.
- (FBE) Before we talk a little bit more about the film,
we wanted to highlight a tweet sent out by one of the film's stars,
Constance Wu. - Love her.
- (FBE) So, we don't have time to read her full message.
- Okay, wow. - (FBE) We wanted to highlight
just a few statements she made in her tweet.
- "'Fresh Off the Boat' was the first network TV show
in over 20 years to center an Asian-American story."
Is that true?
- "Suddenly, the 'Fresh Off the Boat' success,
people were talking about the lack of Asian-American stories.
Why has it taken 20 years?"
I feel like it's just how Hollywood is.
With that success, now all of a sudden,
everyone's like, "Asian culture! We should start casting Asian people."
- There is so much happening with other movements right now,
with feminism being a huge thing, with the whole black power movement.
I'm not saying that... the problem, I guess,
that Asian culture faces is bigger than all those things
that I just said, but I'm also not saying
that it's anything that should be looked past.
- "'Crazy Rich Asians' is the first Hollywood studio film in over 25 years
to center an Asian-American's story." 25 years?! Oh my god.
- "Before 'Crazy Rich Asians,' I hadn't even done a tiny part
in a studio film. I never dreamed I would get to star in one,
because I had never seen that happen to someone who looked like me."
This makes me so excited.
- Oh my god. I'm starting to cry, too, because that's--
I feel so bad for actors out there. A lot of my friends are in drama,
and a lot of them are like, "I could never get casted
in anything, 'cause I'm Asian." And that sucks.
- "Our amazing director, Jon M. Chu, says, 'This is more than a movie.
It's a movement.' He is my hero, and he is leading the way.
I hope you help our movement." - It really is a movement.
I didn't really think about it like that.
But one movie can spark more movies to feature people of color.
- Maybe as an Asian, you wanna get into screenwriting,
producing, directing, creating stories so that other Asians can be in it.
You can't just come into Hollywood and be like, "Ay, white people,
put me in your movies." - You have to find the fit,
you know, the character. It give you a better representation,
because that is the true culture of that part.
Look at me. I cannot play Spartacus.
- We've had a lot of movies that kind of do that,
like with "Love, Simon" and "Crazy Rich Asians."
We have these stories that people haven't heard before,
but it will pave the way for things in the future.
- "I hope Asian-American kids watch 'Crazy Rich Asians'
and realize that they can be the heroes of their own stories."
- "I know 'Crazy Rich Asians' won't represent every Asian-American.
So, for those who don't feel seen, I hope there's a story you find soon
that does represent you." That's so nice. That's so heart--
I don't know, it just makes me really happy.
- So many people just look at Asians as Asians.
They don't see them as different types of people.
I remember my freshman year, when I used to play baseball,
anytime we drove past a Panda Express, all my teammates
would just yell, "Degler!" They would just yell at me, right?
And I'm like, "I'm not even Chinese!"
- Telling everybody's story is so important.
It makes people feel not alone in this world.
I just feel so emotional, because I just never felt like...
I never felt like I mattered.
- (FBE) So, for you growing up, how aware were you
about the lack of representation in media, such as films and TV?
And how do you feel about it now? - I mean, when I was little,
I guess I never really put thought to it.
But when I started to get a little bit older,
I started to realize, like, man, if I wanted to see Asian people
on TV, I'd have to go watch a Korean drama with my grandma.
- I came from a family that really just didn't give a damn
if you were on screen, because that doesn't mean anything.
It doesn't mean you have value. If you really wanna truly make change,
go and be a politician. Go and be a teacher.
- Growing up, I was always watching TV shows, where, you know,
this specific person was the hero, and we're all just the sidekicks.
It made me feel like, "Oh man, maybe I'm just not that important."
Even when I did watch any sort of film
with any sort of sidekick Asian character,
my friends would joke and pick on me with that,
and say, "Oh, look. That's you."
Like, you're the little sidekick that no one gives a crap about.
And that's why I kinda stick with anime.
- I've been wanting to direct movies since I was very young.
- It's gonna be hard for me to do this industry,
because, like I said before, I'm Asian and I'm a girl.
And both of those things have been seen as not as good
as a Caucasian male in this industry.
Things do need to change in Hollywood with a lot of things,
and (laughs) this is definitely one of them.
- (FBE) The film was being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
The creators of the film notably rejected a huge offer
from Netflix so that the film could be released in theaters.
- Wow. - (FBE) Why do you think
that it's important for a film like this
to be in theaters specifically? - I feel like when you watch something
in a theater, it creates such a different experience.
It makes it feel more real.
- Just having the movie is enough. We need the whole experience.
We need to be treated equally as every other movie.
- I've seen it in theaters three times,
and I can honestly say there is nothing like sitting
in a movie theater with surround sound,
a huge screen, and an all-Asian cast being projected on the screen.
There's just nothing--
there's nothing more empowering and powerful.
- (FBE) So, as we've been discussing, there's been a lack of representation,
including some cases where roles written as Asian characters
end up being played by white actors.
- Oh yeah. You know, like "Charlie Chan."
That, I didn't like, you know? Because when you say playing,
you know, Charlie Chan, you know, the real Chinese,
have somebody Chinese play that character.
- "Ghost in the Shell." That movie...
I didn't even bother watching it.
- I watched "Breakfast At Tiffany's" when I was a kid.
I never noticed anything wrong with that,
and then I found out that it was a white dude playing an Asian.
- (FBE) Some have pointed out over the years how few household names
are of Asian descent and how many big shows like SNL
have never had a full-time Asian cast member.
- I never thought of that before. I don't watch SNL,
but then I guess it never dawned on me,
just because it's what expected of society.
- (FBE) Why do you think that Hollywood has had
such a tough time casting specifically people of Asian-American descent?
- I honestly have no idea. I know it's not a lack
of actresses and actors.
- It's probably better to have more Asian casting directors
in Hollywood, 'cause I think those are the people
who are actually making it happen.
- Well, it's not a stable job, and most Asian upbringing,
you need to find a stable job when you get out of school.
- It's not that they didn't want to cast Asian people.
It was mainly that I feel like they were scared
of what would happen if they casted Asian people.
It's still a business, you know? They're still trying to make money.
And if they're doing something out of the norm,
that's not gonna make money.
- Movies have been around for so long,
and it's always been geared around Americans
and Caucasian people that it's just hard
to break out of that bubble and do something different.
It's just so much easier to just go with it
and just do it. - (FBE) So, despite the excitement,
there has been some backlash with the movie.
Some people were upset that based on the trailer,
the film does not accurately portray Singapore's accent
or cultural diversity and lacked visible South Asian characters.
- Oh god. Who said that? If we really use a Singapore accent,
we would not know what's going on.
I can barely understand what they're saying.
Is it Malay? Is it Engrish? I don't know. (chuckles)
- (FBE) This has led people online to debating as to how progressive
the film is. For you personally, do you think that this
does lessen the impact of the film? Or are these concerns unwarranted?
- Well, you know, anything you do, there's the pros and cons,
and people bitch about it.
- If someone is willing to say, "Oh, this movie isn't progressive,"
because they didn't nail every single aspect of the movie,
they're just-- they're dumb. It is making a difference,
and you have to be okay kind of with things going wrong.
- The criticism is too intense, because there's only so much
you can do in a film. I'm not, you know, Chinese.
I'm Vietnamese. But there were a lot of parts
in the movie that I related to so much.
- I think the criticisms are valid. With that being said,
I feel like this is taking the right step forward.
It opens the door. - (FBE) Finally, many people
in Hollywood are hoping that this film is a mainstream success
and it'll propel future movies with Asians leads in stories.
Do you think that's gonna be the case? - Oh, totally.
- I think it's gonna happen. I think more movies are gonna be made.
- It might open the door for Asian leads.
- I just don't see a good story line from the Asian culture type
of background that is entertaining enough
for us to accept. - Definitely.
This, it's just-- this is so empowering
for Asian artists, but I think just for Asian-Americans in general.
- When kids are growing up now,
they can see people that look like them
that inspire them to do more. People in Hollywood
need to cast Asian Americans in that they need to just be conscious
and think about it and create roles with depth.
- Thanks for watching this special episode of React.
And shoutout to Stella Star and Molly Ferguson.
- Make sure to subscribe and hit the bell
if you don't wanna miss the next episode.
- Bye, guys! - Hi, guys. JC here,
producer here at FBE. Thanks so much for watching
this special episode of React. What did you think
of "Crazy Rich Asians"? Let us know your thoughts
down in the comments below. Thanks for watching. Bye, guys!