Here are 7 fun things you need to know about Crazy Rich Asians.
1. Henry Golding wasn’t an actor, ‘discovered’ by accountant
On US talk show The View, Golding who plays the romantic lead Nick, admitted he hasn’t acted before he got this starring role.
At first, the TV presenter didn’t even want to audition for the part.
When they offer came to audition he says he thought; “This is for someone else who is going to bring the A game who is a legitimate actor who the studio is going to gamble on.”
The director Jon Chu discovered the tall dark and handsome and charismatic former hairdresser through an accountant who’d met Henry years earlier when he was hosting TV travel shows.
Chu followed Golding on Instagram and one audition later a star was born.
2. A watch on film for one second needed security
When the glamorous brainy beauty Astrid (Gemma Chan), is giving a present to her husband Michael (Pierre Png), Kwan says it simply had to be a Paul Newman Rolex Daytona from the 1960s (one sold in 2017 for US $17.8 million).
He tracked the special Rolex down personally and the watch was borrowed from a collector.
It was flown around the world with its own body guard for a one second scene because they wanted to get everything authentic and well… just perfect for CRAs.
3. Author Kevin Kwan’s mother thinks its all bit of a yawn
“My mum is sort of like … so what?” said Kwan at a recent talk at the MilkenInstitute.
“She is in Texas but she spends part of the year in Singapore as well. Because she knows this crowd so well it’s not really exotic to her. It’s not really interesting. She’s like …what are you writing about my friends? And why is this interesting?”
The books are very much inspired by Kwan’s childhood growing up in Singapore where he was born and lived until he moved to Texas with his family at 11 years of age.
“As a kid you don’t really think of people and how much money they have. It’s just family.”
“When I was taken away from that world and planted in middle America I began to realise how strange my childhood had been.
“I had a nanny that I tortured miserably as a child. I think my father realised that and wanted us to learn to … mow our own lawns. Rather than you know, lots of gardeners.”