Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
(The original novel hit No.
1 on the New YorkTimes best-seller list for paperback fiction for the first time in July.)
Im really kind of shattered about it.
They sold a fantasy a fantasy of politics, of entertainment, of society, of art.
And now every issue is just Trump, Trump, Trump, he says.
Im trying to get away.
I open a magazine to escape.
in photography at Parsons and then worked as a creative consultant for brands and celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor.
Kwan, a Hong Kongeducated ophthalmologist.
But thats the story of whats happened in Singapore.
Theyre super-private and super-paranoid, so I dont ever talk about them, he says.
Crazy Rich Asianscame to Kwan after the death of his father in 2010.
I wanted to do something that just brings me pure joy, but also bring other people joy.
That was kind of my epiphany, he says.
I didnt know what kind of story I was going to write.
I just started spilling my truth, and then it became this fun, sprawling, crazy novel.
(It was a very quick conversation that I shut down, he says.)
And I said, Hell no.
I felt way too close to the material, and I was not an expert screenwriter at that point.
He had input into the films casting, though.
He wanted Michelle Yeoh to play Eleanor Young, Nicks terrifying mother.
Shes fit as you cant believe, he says.
She looks like she could be a 50-year-old woman, not 94.
Ive never met so many assistants who have assistants.
Its a stratified society on its own.
And then, higher up, theres less stubble and bigger bellies.
Its a funny world.
He adds, I could write a whole book about it, and I might.
Before the shoot, he looks at a rack of clothes, opting for a light-blue Canali jacket.
My mom will call me up, like, You look so fat!
Im naturally introverted, so being the public face of something, I dont think I do it well.
Im such a perfectionist that I want to hire someone to play me who can do it well.
Henry Golding, he jokes.
I should have derailed his career: He could have just played me.
