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Its a stifling July afternoon in New York, and astonishingly, were heading back outside.
The host offers us a corner table, but Golding declineswithout ever saying no.
Should we go outside?
Our host follows his gaze reluctantly.
There are no seats, he says, because the patio had been rained out earlier that morning.
He looks, well, like a movie star.
Its a bet that Hollywood is going all-in on.
Henry is just a superstar, says Kwan, who is also an executive producer onCrazy Rich Asians.
People just fall in love with him.
Feig also felt Goldings charms from first sight.
InA Simple Favor, Golding plays Sean Townsend, Blake Livelys impossibly New York novelist husband.
I had the same reaction to him that Stephanie would have in the movie, Feig recalls.
You see him, hes gorgeous.
Finding Henry Golding had been the challenge.
He had to be suave and debonair, with a JFK Jr. appeal both relatable and aspirational.
I was very frustrated because I felt like our casting was lazy in the beginning, says Chu.
We werent digging up people Ive never seen.
When you see the same ten people, you dont get to discover new people.
Ultimately, it was Chus Asian internet that came through: someone knew someone who knew someone.
The producer then wrote Chu.
That really burnt me out, Golding says.
Acting had always been something he had wanted to do, but never pursued.
When Chu reached out, Golding decided to go for it.
He recorded some sides for scenes fromCrazy Rich Asiansand sent them in, but they were too stiff.
He got too serious with his reading, said Chu.
We asked him to redo it, and the second video was right on target.
Golding remembers, [Jon] was like, you could do this.
Then he cut short his honeymoon in South Africa to do another screen test.
Were all hanging on this guy, like,like be able to say lines, remembers Chu.
He was able to act.
Him and Constance did a little scene together, and there was electricity in the room.
It made you want to see the movie.
Hes got everything you want: Youd believe that he would be married to Blake Lively.
Casting an unknown in a major motion picture is still a risk in a relatively conservative industry.
It was like, Oh, he got the role because hes half-white, Golding recalls.
But I went through the same loops every other person who read for this went through.
Anyway, everything that could be said about it, he has already heard before.
That covers all the bases!
including inevitable questions like, Which parents the Asian one?
Born the youngest of three kids, the move to England was a fraught one.
There was always a struggle with being Asian and not being Asian enough.
Its going to be down to me to own my race.
So thats something I came to be proud of.
But once youre secure with yourself, it doesnt matter who the fuck says whatever.
He has a handy metaphor to point to on his body.
Golding pulls out his phone and plays a trailer ofSurviving Borneoto show me the tattoo on his right thigh.
Its a fig tree that wraps around other trees and takes their form to become the tree itself.
There are dragon heads, which, he says, represent once being lost, but now found.
It was a sense of finding my identity, being secure and safe in myself, says Golding.
It all, spookily, came true.
