Zwick insists, Korean or not, that his movies have Seoul.
Photo by Janice Kim
Last week, Hollywood director Don Zwick reignited controversy over his latest film, a remake of the 2018 blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians with an all-white cast titled Crazier, Richer Asians, when it won Oscars for Best Picture and Costume Design. The film stars Scarlett Johansson and Zac Efron as Professor Rachel Chu and her husband, Nick Young, alongside a cast painted in heavy makeup to mimic their Asian counterparts.
“I’m trying to show that America doesn’t want to see Wangs and Choys in Hollywood,” said Zwick during his acceptance speech. “We want more method actors. We want to see Brad Pitt with taped-back eyes doing a Chinese accent.” He went on to discuss the difficulties of making his film, stating, “Finding the perfect cast was one of the hardest things I’ve accomplished in my career. Do you know how many Asians came to audition? I wanted to tell them, ‘Get out! The movie is called Crazier, Richer Asians, not Box Office Flop!’”
Zwick’s statements resulted in a wave of backlash from the Asian American community. In the past week, protestors have marched through Chinatowns and other enclaves in Los Angeles and New York to express discontent with Zwick’s film. One Asian American protestor in particular was witnessed saying something about Zwick’s comments.
A few Hollywood celebrities had chosen to support the Asian American community. When asked for his opinions on the controversy, Tom Hanks said, “While I respect his [Zwick’s] eye for mise en scène, I find Mr. Zwick’s speech to be harmful, hurtful, and bad, and I’m frankly offended on behalf of our Asian American friends — and they’ll always have a friend in me.”
Zwick, however, has only doubled down on his sentiments since the controversy began. In a publicly released statement, Zwick wrote, “In future projects, I plan to film all-white remakes of Everything Everywhere All at Once and Dìdi, the latter of which will be renamed because I don’t know what Dìdi means. It is my hope that by removing elements of foreign culture and hard-to-pronounce names, I can make these movies a more relatable and meaningful experience for the American people.” Zwick’s agent mentions an additional project, tentatively titled Bu Yao Wok Away, that tells the heartwarming story of a young man who helps a struggling Chinatown kitchen by teaching them to hide their accent.
Many in the Asian American community, including rising actors like Steven Yeun and Michelle Yeoh, have been speaking up against Zwick since before his first projects. More importantly, his comments have started to catch the attention of real Hollywood stars like Timothée Chalamet and Sydney Sweeney. “Well, I think it’s interesting, but I wasn’t really paying attention,” said Chalamet in a recent interview. “I think Steven [Yeun] probably knows more than I do — is that how you say his name? Stee-ven?”
In Zwick’s statement, he also admitted that there are alternatives to using yellowface: “Of course, I’m not saying that it’s good to use yellowface. Even I would only use it as a last resort solution to fix the mistake of having Asian characters in a film.”
On a more positive note, Brad Pitt has expressed his excitement about his upcoming role as Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once. “I’ve been waiting and practicing my accent since I saw last year’s Crazier, Richer Asians,” he said in a recent interview. “I’ve learned a lot from the greats: Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Marlon Brando in Teahouse of the August Moon, and Emma Stone in Aloha. But to be fair, Emma Stone is probably the worst since she doesn’t do the accent.”
