Hollywood faced a backlash recently regarding the white-washing of their Asian characters, specifically Scarlett Johansson’s casting in the Japanese-based film Ghost in the Shell and Tilda Swinton’s casting as The Ancient One in Marvel’s Doctor Strange. As the dialogue continues onward, it’s at least satisfying to see something like Crazy Rich Asians, a new film that’s touting a predominantly Asian and Asian-American cast, as well as an Asian-American director.

THR reports that Jon M. Chu, known for bigger spectacle films like this year’s Now You See Me 2 and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, is in talks to direct Crazy Rich Asians, which is based on the 2013 book by Kevin Kwan. The story centers on three wealthy Chinese families when the heir to one of largest fortunes in Asia brings his American-born Chinese girlfriend to Singapore for a wedding. What ensues is a twister of gossip and scheming.


Kwan wrote a sequel to the book called China Rich Girlfriend, which sees the drama surrounding the couple’s actual wedding. So there’s already potential to continue the story in another movie if Crazy Rich Asians performs well at the box office. Moreover, Chu is committed to keeping the cast free of whitewashing:

[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/jonmchu/status/727922442178461696[/EMBED_TWITTER]

Here’s the book’s plot synopsis from Amazon:

When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor. On Nick’s arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers.

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Image via Universal Pictures