How a filmmaker turned a real-life fib about death into a funny, bittersweet movie about her family and scored a genuine crossover hit, 'The purpose of the lie was to bring joy. It is ironic that films only get made now if they exist in another medium, added Weitz. "Most families in China would choose not to tell her," explains a doctor in the film. And thats not the story I want to tell or the movie I want to make. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have . Matt Singer Published: July 19, 2019. Not just limiting as a filmmaker like limiting as a human being., When Wang first started pitching what would become The Farewell to producers, it was that type of film what the director calls My Big Fat Chinese Family Wedding that they expected to sign on for. If Nai Nai was given three months to live, how could that possibly be true? I was like, OK, but you realize that means this will be 75 percent in Mandarin,' she recalls. "When it played a the premiere everyone was like, [gasping noise]," she says. It's true that doctors often break bad news to members of the family instead of the patients themselves. Nai Nai does have a limp in real life, but it wasn't from being shot, which Lulu admits is fiction. Well, she remembers telling him, there was this one thing about my grandmother. Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Soon, she was recording In Defense of Ignorance, the 2016 TAL episode that features Wang recounting the tale of her familys little white lie, complete with parental interviews and phone calls in Mandarin. Photo: courtesy of A24 Films. Wang first told the story on an April 2016 episode of This American Life, which piqued the interest of various producers, allowing her to make the movie. To further complicate an already complicated situation: Wang eventually decided to shoot her film about Nai Nai's illness in Changchun, the city where Nai Nai currently lives. This news won't be shocking to anyone who listened to Wang'sThis American Lifeepisode from 2016 about the same subject, but it nevertheless acts as a welcome surprise given that the conclusion otherwise felt tragically cathartic. Wang and cinematographer Anna Franquesa Solano. "[6], Wang later created an episode titled What You Don't Know for This American Life in April, 2016 based on her family's story. Weitz met with Wang. She would come to set, give us all massages, and hand out food and stuff. The experience of working with This American Life had been so amazing and so pure. I do think that when you hear Chinese family drama-comedy, you immediately get a sense of what that is supposed to be, she says. [My grandmother] actually just found out, Wang said. But unfortunately, the world's best-kept secret couldn't stay secret for long. Her family threw a fake wedding for her cousin from Japan and her grandmother didn't know. As Shuzhen, who played Nai Nai in the film, also told IndieWire in a separate interview, the whole cast and crew had to take part in the family's lie, too. The Farewell: Directed by Lulu Wang. I just knew her music videos, because my brother was a fan. Within two weeks, with the help of another production company, Big Beach, The Farewell was financed and Wang was busy banging out a script. The website's critics' consensus reads: "The Farewell deftly captures complicated family dynamics with a poignant, well-acted drama that marries cultural specificity with universally relatable themes. ButThe Farewell makes its debut in Chinese theaters onJanuary 25, 2019, which made it more likely that Wang's grandmother would find out and, of course, it was a Chinese-language review sent to her by a friend that would reveal it. Starring Awkwafina as a struggling writer in New York and based on a "true lie" from Wang's life, the film tells the story of a Chinese-American family that, upon learning their grandmother has cancer, decides not to tell her and instead stages a mock . He just thought he was weird and got made fun of. I was actually making a screwball romantic comedy when this happened to me, says Wang, referring to her debut feature, Posthumous (2014). It also helped get her parents off her back regarding her decision to give up being a concert pianist or going to law school in favor of a life behind the camera. December 3, 2019, 3:48pm. Rather than revealing the news directly to Wang's 80-year-old grandmother, doctors instead told her grandmother's sister (Wang's Great-Aunt Hong Lu) the news, who passed it along to the family. However, the true story behind The Farewell revealed that Lulu Wang's grandma was still alive when the movie was releasedin 2019. Producer Chris Weitz (About a Boy), who along with his brother, Paul, runs Depth of Field, the production company behind such films as Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist and A Single Man, was driving down the 10 freeway in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Mercedes Martinez, when the two happened upon Wangs story. "Whether or not we will keep the secret is up in the air, because we want to show her the movie," the director recently told IndieWire. [13][14] It was released in the United States on July 12, 2019. I went to bars -- I never went to bars as a 6 year old, obviously. Wang was thinking about coincidences and strange out-of-body experiences when she incorporated the sparrow into the film, but a theme of connection was also on her mind: "The connection of these two countries that are across the world from each other, but that there is a connection even if its not physical," she says. This caught the attention of producer Chris Weitz who helped secure financing for the film. -This American Life, Yes. Wang already had one film under her belt her 2014 debut Posthumous which, by her own admission, hadnt quite turned out the way shed hoped. The Farewell true story reveals that Awkwafina's character in the movie, Billi, is based on writer/director Lulu Wang herself. with her cast and crew toshoot the movie there. In the film, the Chinese American woman played by Awkwafina, battles with her family . '", As we sit on a couch in Park City, Utah, a few days after the film's first screening, Wang's voice begins to crack as she explains how her life changed when her parents emigrated. There's energy. We kept asking ourselves, is it ethical to make her go through this traumatic experience again, take after take? Meet Awkwafina, the Breakout Star of 'Crazy Rich Asians' She shares a tearful goodbye with Nai Nai as the visiting family members return to their homes in Japan and America. TVs Streaming Bubble Has Burst, a Writers Strike Looms, and Everybody Is Freaking Out, Its Either Going to Be Really Funny, or Theyre Going to Be Horrified: An Oral History of. Journey deeper into the true story behind The Farewell by watching an interview with writer/director Lulu Wang, whose family's story provided the basis for the movie. On the other side of the world, birds scatter from a tree near Nai Nai's apartment complex. And her friend saw a review of it and was so proud of her, one of her longest friends, and sent it to her. Wang is writing the script now. Now that youve made this film, do you still feel like you want to quit? And I told him no, making The Farewell that was what exactly Id been looking for., The phones began to ring soon after In Defense of Ignorance first aired, all producers on the other end of the line, all of whom had heard the episode and believed there was a movie there. However, Wang's father believes that he knew he was dying. Lulu Wang's new film -- one of the best of the year -- is based on her own family's story, an "actual lie," as the opening suggests. She was so full of joy. It's a little astonishing that Wang was able to keep that secret from her grandmother, through the shooting ofThe Farewelland as the film garnered praise at film festivals and award shows. never to see her grandma again, the fade to black blooms into footage of the real Nai Nai still alive and zesty six years later. There was no fear while we were there. Speaking about the inspiration of The Farewell, Wang said her own struggle in balancing American and Chinese culture led her to make the film. Shereturned to her hometown in China and even Nai Nais house! When they were filming Awkwafinas tearful farewell to her screen grandmother, the real grandmother came up to her after an emotional take and kept inquiring, Whats wrong, why are you crying? The star had to bite her tongue. The Farewell (Chinese: ; pinyin: Bi Gos T; lit. The film ends with the revelation that Wang's real-life grandmother, who was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in 2013, is still alive and still unaware of her diagnosis. Last year, Wang headed to Changchun, China, and her grandmothers neighborhood to tell her story. Casi Moss/Courtesy of Big Beach. And the title of the movie is Dont Tell Her in Chinese. In an interview with Vox, Wang was asked whether her grandmother will see the film. Excerpt from the Golden Globe Foreign-Language Film Symposium presented by the American Cinematheque and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. But theres a line in the movie that people dont die of the cancer, they die of the fear. By making that movie, Im bringing people, were cooking, were eating together. They take so much money, and I dont fit in. I was like, 'What?' "While this process was unfolding, [Lulu Wang] was constantly reminding us, 'Dont leak this,'" Shuzhen said. Filming there allowed her to spend a lot more time with her grandmother (NPR). And so you just felt very torn. That direct connection. 3 Is Yet Another Big Marvel Movie Misstep, Rachel Weisz Doubles Down in Dead Ringers, To Love Tupac Was to Fight With Tupac: Why Allen Hughes Needed to Make Dear Mama, Academy Slaps Down New Rules After Andrea Riseborough, Tom Cruise, Michelle Yeoh Controversies, Here's Where to Watch 'Scream 6' (and All the 'Scream' Movies) Online, Ryan Murphy Sets Sights on Menndez Brothers for 'Monster' Season 2, White House Plumbers Gives Watergate the Veep Treatment and Misses Big, Roy Wood Jr. A writer and classical pianist by trade, Wang, who was born in Beijing and immigrated to Miami when she was six, first told her absurdist family drama as a short story and then as a podcast, in collaboration with This American Life and producer Neil Drumming. It's something that Wang wonders. A few other ideas for potential sophomore projects started to take shape here and there. The lie wasnt her grandmas illness: in 2013, her Chinese grandmother, or Nai Nai, really was diagnosed with cancer and given three months to live. And so thats why I made the film.. Awkwafina as Billi and Zhao Shuzhen as Nai Nai. "[32][33], Former United States President Barack Obama named The Farewell amongst his favorite films and television series of 2019 in an annual list released on December 29, 2019. All rights reserved. What was hard about the experience first time was that no-one seemed to take my side, says Wang. Fearing Billi will end up exposing the lie to her grandmother, Haiyan and Jian tell her to remain in New York City. Opening Of All-Time With $40M+ As 'Lion King' Still Lords With $76M+ Sunday Update", "How Universal Is Reviving The R-Rated Comedy & Making 'Good Boys' Great At The B.O. Lulu Wang was in Berlin in 2013, editing her first film, when she got the call: Her grandmother in China, who'd briefly taken her in when her parents fled the country in 1989, was terminally ill . When Wang's grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, her family traveled to China to say goodbye, but decided to keep the diagnosis from the woman she affectionately called Nai Nai. [11] In an interview with Filmmaker, cinematographer Anna Franquesa Solano stated that the references for the film included Force Majeure and Still Walking. They just want to put me in this box, andunless I can do this kind of storytelling, its not worth it for me to do all that.. But look, it says in the newspaper its called Dont Tell Her, and thats why you didnt tell me, because I am the her of the dont tell her., But we havent talked about it, so Ill see what happens when I see her.. par | Avr 28, 2023 | time difference between perth and melbourne daylight savings | dippity bix australia | Avr 28, 2023 | time difference between perth and melbourne daylight savings | dippity bix australia But: What if the main character is the bride, she breaks up with her white boyfriend, they have to get married to keep this lie to Grandma going, and then guess who falls back in love, and., Its like, I see the film youre envisioning because that film already exists! Wang adds. With A $21M Opening", "Keira Knightley in 'Official Secrets' and Molly Ivins Doc 'Raise Hell' Lead New Openers", "Awkwafina Proves She's More Than a Comedian in The Farewell", "Is The Farewell the olive branch the US-China culture war needs? But while Wang's family's story has been broadcast on This American Life and on theater screens nationwide, The Farewell still hasn't hit China, and per IndieWire, the real Nai Naiwho is still alive despite the three-month prognosis given to her in 2013still hasn't seen it nor been told what exactly the movie is all about, though she does know it's "loosely based" on the family. . I have a fat face and Im going to ruin everything. Finally, one day I sat my great-aunt down and said, Listen, we all love you, but if this is going to be difficult for you emotionally. And she told me, No, I have to do this. But even asThe Farewell took America by storm, it stayed quiet enough on the Eastern front that Lulu Wang's real grandmother, upon whom the film is based, never found out the truth of her cancer diagnosis. Yeah, its great that you have this premise and that the grandmother is dying. Lulu Wang was in Berlin in 2013, editing her first film, when she got the call: Her grandmother in China, whod briefly taken her in when her parents fled the country in 1989, was terminally ill. 'Don't Tell Her') is a 2019 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Lulu Wang.It stars Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, and Zhao Shuzhen.The film follows a Chinese American family who, upon learning their grandmother has only a short while left to live, decide not to tell her and schedule a family gathering before she . And making this film brought joy to all of us." [26], Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film an A grade and praised Awkwafina's performance, writing, "As a Chinese-American grappling with the traditionalism of her past and its impact on the future, she's an absorbing engine for the movie's introspective look at a most unusual family reunion. She fought on the side of the Communist Party against the Nationalists during the Chinese Revolution. Photo via IMDB. But we haven't talked about it, so I'll see what happens when I see her. Later, she sees a similar bird resting on the windowsill of her Chinese hotel room. Wang says that one plus is that the lie gave birth to the film, which was shot in her family's hometown of Changchun. Brunet, an acclaimed French filmmaker, says HBO Maxs adaptation doesnt accurately represent her 13-year relationship with accused murderer Michael Peterson. This is sort of true. You cant tell me what its about. Coronation Street actress Barbara Young dies aged 92, Nurses strike continues: Major disruption for NHS services in England, Additional flight to evacuate Britons from Sudan today, Ryanair cancels 220 flights over May 1 bank holiday due to strikes, Hardcore coronation fans already camped outside Buckingham Palace, One dead and seven injured in Cornwall nightclub knife attack. The Farewell's release in China was recently delayed, which Variety suggested could be due to the film's likelihood of winning upcoming major American movie awards and potentially boosting its potential success in China. It will open in New York and Los Angeles on July 12. It brought joy to all of us.. Throughout the trip, however, she clashes with the rest of the family over their deliberate dishonesty towards her grandmother. To me, its a very American story because Im American, and its just about me going back to a place where I dont understand and Im trying to understand, she said. ", The reasoning behind keeping a secret like this from the real Nai Nai is "to make sure the person still lives a happy and carefree life, and that their condition does not get worse," Shuzhen said, and from her experiences meeting with Nai Nai, that's been the case. Then she made a movie about it so it went through the entire history of our family, and my grandma read it. Shed finished Crazy Rich Asians but it hadnt come out. Awkwafina (left) with Lulu Wang in New York in June. Filmmaker, alumna Lulu Wang '05 will discuss "The Farewell" at virtual event March 25. That was the added bonus, to get to spend time with her." Lulu Wang's Nai Nai did join the Chinese Army at age 14 to escape an arranged marriage. Released in July, The Farewell centers on a family telling a big lie in order to keep an even bigger secret. Though much ofThe Farewellgrapples with mortality, the point of Wang's piece is not what happens to Nai Nai, even though it's nice to know there's a happy ending. She knew it was about the family that was obvious. My brother was born in America. The Farewell is a bilingual film in English and Mandarin Chinese. Lulu Wang's "The Farewell" may have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival almost 10 months ago and arrived in theaters in the U.S. this past summer, but one of its breakout stars somehow . Meanwhile, Wang is currently working on a new film, an adaptation of the short story Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein that takes place in the near future and, according to Wang, centers on questions of family and why we have children. Her Nai Nai is still very much alive, six years on, and the family still havent told her about her illness a testament, perhaps, to the benefits of the lie, but also a development that has necessitated additional layers of screwball-like subterfuge. ', Lulu Wang, left, on the set of The Farewell., Awkwafina, left, and Wang on the set of The Farewell., The Farewell: Lulu Wangs Truth, Lies, and the Long Goodbye, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. THE FAREWELL director Lulu Wang tells the harrowing tale about how she kept the content of her film about her grandmother a secret from her grandmother while shooting it right under her nose in her grandmothers neighborhood in China. They were planning a celebration in China the next year, but it was decided the celebration would instead be in two weeks to ensure that Nai Nai was still alive. "[11], Director Lulu Wang says that she kept the secret from her grandmother during and after film production. You can't tell me what it's about. Breaks Down His Killer White House Correspondents Dinner Set, New Jeans, Rina Sawayama, Saweetie Among Gold House A100 Honorees, Newsmax Accuses Murdochs of Designing a New-World-Order Globalist Kill List Against Tucker Carlson, DeSantis' Disney Board Will Countersue the Mouse, 'Redfall' is a Decent Looter Shooter With an Identity Crisis. And, yet, as much as Billi disagrees with her family's decision, she also feels an inexorable pull toward the country in which she was born. And [my friend] was like, 'That's it.' I have to admit I read that and I was like, Go mom, laughs Clea Newman Soderlund, speaking about her fathers posthumous memoir, Dakota Johnson on Family, Sexual AgencyAnd the Psychotic Making of, The 42 Best Romantic Comedies of All Time, We take stock of the best rom-coms everfrom, Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 1, Paul Newman Says Wife Joanne Woodward Turned Him Into a Sexual Creature in Posthumous Memoir. You dont really have any agency. Lulu Wang is the writer-director behind The Farewell, which follows a Chinese-American woman as she returns to her family's homeland to say goodbye to her grandmotherwho doesn't . She also said yes when Peter Saraf, the cofounder of the production company Big Beach, proposed a lets-get-to-know-each-other chat. Shooting around the real Nai Nai created an extra challenge for the cast and crew who had to make sure they didn't let anything slip. This story contains spoilers forThe Farewelland also real life. ", Wang hadn't been to Changchun since she was 6 years old, and when she returned to film The Farewell, she found her relationship with her surroundings evolve beyond her childhood nostalgia. And the review said, 'The film is based on Lulu Wong's real life. Warning: Mild spoilers for The Farewell are ahead. This is therapy to me.'. As much as The Farewell is about confronting loss, it's also distinctly about place. But regardless of when it happens, The Farewell will eventually open in China, and the family might finally have to drop the ruse. The episode also gave her the high card and the courage to ask for everything she wanted. Her 2014 directorial debut, Posthumous, explores what happens when a struggling artist (Jack Huston), who learns that his work is more valuable after his "death," concocts a shady scheme to reap the rewards of his "posthumous" success. Dramatic Competition section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019. Based on the real life experiences of director Lulu Wang and starring Awkwafina, the film follows a family trying to hide a cancer diagnosis from their elderly matriarch. The sex symbol confessed that "girls thought I was a jokea happy buffoon," before he met his wife. And the title of the movie isDon't Tell Herin Chinese. National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Then shed she ask, But what about the family, whats the story? Is that the question? "There's a spiritual connection or energetic -- spiritual maybe sounds too whoop-dee-doo. "It's hard to say," says Wang, "because I know other people who've made similar decisions and they have a lot of regret or they still feel like the person deserved to know" (People). Like Wang herself had been, Billi is a struggling artist living in New York. The 36-year-old director who came to the U.S. as a child in 1990; she grew up in Miami but now lives in Santa Monica had . Its so meta, said Wang with a laugh. [9][10] Filming also took place in New York. The Farewell opens with a title card declaring that the film is "based on an actual lie" from director Lulu Wang's own life. We got distribution in China. Filmmaker Lulu Wang and star Awkwafina on "The Farewell," the family drama "based on an actual lie" about a woman visiting her beloved grandma in China. And I said my brother went through that. Billi keeps her promise to maintain the lie. Its a tale of loss, a meditation on how to say goodbye, and an investigation into how different cultures handle illness and death. "[8], The film was primarily shot in Changchun, China, over the course of 24 days in June 2018. In related news, Awkafina has just become the first Asian American actress to win a Golden Globe inthe Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy category for her role inThe Farewell. Weve been able to stall her by telling her were not allowed to send it over. She says that "life is not about what things one does, but more so about how one goes about doing them". All revealed the same prognosis. Come along for the ride! It will be an all-Asian cast, I want to shoot in my grandmothers town, and my number one market is not the Chinese market the minute we try to change it to fit both sides of the equation, were sunk. And they just said, OK, well try to aim for it being a Sundance film then. They knew what the sweet spot was. Both Big Beach and Weitzs production company Depth of Field ended up coming on board. Every time I finish a film, its kind of depressing because you're kind of at the end but kind of at the beginning again, and youre just excited but also unsure, she said. To spare Nai Nai from the stress of knowing her condition, the family flies to China and stages an elaborate fake wedding in order to see her one last time. When I come across people who have [original] stories they want to tell, they feel like they have to tell those stories in some other medium first in order to get any traction.. During the conversation, her mother told her that she would not be permitted to tell her grandma the truth, no matter how much she thought it was the right thing to do. [19] It continued to expand in the following weeks, making $2.4 million from 426 theaters and then $2.2 million from 705 theaters. But look, it says in the newspaper it's calledDon't Tell Her, and that's why you didn't tell me, because I am the 'her' of the 'don't tell her.'" [20][21] The film expanded further to over 800 theaters in the next few weeks, $1.4 million from 861 theaters, $882,623 from 816 theaters and $841,414 from 891 theaters. And the review said, The film is based on Lulu Wongs real life. Told by doctors that Nai Nai has three months to live, the family decides to hide her diagnosis from her and gathers at their home in China to say goodbye under the pretense of a wedding. "I very much felt the way that Billi in the movie feels, which is that it's wrong to lie," Wang told People magazine. At the end of the film, Billi returns to New York. They entangled me in the lie and I entangled them in the movie, which is a continuation and complication of the lie., What happens when her grandmother wants to see The Farewell is the next big hurdle. I remember sitting in New York in their studio, having a glass of whiskey and doing it in one take, she says. When Billi reveals the Guggenheim Fellowship rejection to her, Nai Nai encourages Billi to keep an open mind and not get hung up on this failure, "don't be the bull endlessly ramming its horns into the corner of the room." Why isnt your protagonist the bride in the wedding? Director Lulu Wang, whose own experience inspired the film, says that like in the movie, it was her great-aunt (her grandmother's sister) who ultimately made the decision to withhold the diagnosis. Like in the movie, Lulu Wang, her parents, uncle and cousin went to China for the main purpose of visiting her grandma. Hong became the de facto authority for her fellow performers on whether the interactions of the screen family felt like the real thing; she and Shuzhen began hanging out together off-set a lot and, according to Lulu, started calling each other sister. The director had made good on the promise to shoot The Farewell in her still-living grandmothers hometown of Chungchun, ensuring that a high level of authenticity would be built in to the story. All rights reserved. A24. Her grandmother finally told him the truth in the hospital three days before he died. It was, in her words, an oasis in the middle of all of the Hollywood nonsense. It was on the air within a month. 15 years later, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Emma Stone, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, and more remember making their seminal teen comedy. [12], The film had its premiere in the U.S. The lie was her familys decision to withhold this information from her (a custom in China), even bringing Wangs cousins wedding forward by a year so theyd have an excuse to visit her en masse one last time without raising any suspicion. The podcast became a sensation with audiences and suddenly her personal story was just right for film. "I just didn't want to make any compromises on this particular story," she said, emphasizing that her goal was to make the film as authentic as it could be. Yes. So making this film became part of the lie. We want to hear it. She understood the cultural balancing act of being viewed as primarily Chinese in America and primarily American in China. Based on Wang's own experiences,The Farewelltells the story of a Chinese family who decides not to tell their grandmother that she has Stage 4 lung cancer, and the Chinese-American granddaughter (Golden Globe winner Awkwafina) who struggles with this decision. -NPR. When the movie went into production last year, not only did Wang cast her real aunt (who instigated the lie), she shot it two blocks from her grandmothers neighbourhood in Changchun and, let her visit the set. "[25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 89 out of 100 based on 47 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
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