Constance Wu says she's worried about backsliding of Hollywood diversity amid DEI rollbacks
Actor Constance Wu is back on the big screen with her first role in three years.
Wu stars alongside Naomi Watts and Bill Murray in 'The Friend,' a feel-good dramedy about a writer who adopts a Great Dane that belonged to her late friend and mentor. The movie will be out in theaters on March 28.
It's a lighter role, but she's also sharing some heavier thoughts.
The 'Crazy Rich Asians' and 'Fresh Off the Boat' star said she's worried about potentially 'repressive and backward' steps related to diversity in Hollywood amid all the larger national rollbacks of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
'I have noticed that with recent TV and movies I've seen, representation is a little less important when it comes to casting,' Wu said. 'This could be good in terms of focusing on story and characters, [but] it could be bad in terms of people reverting to limited imaginations of what story and characters could be.'
She said she specifically questions the idea of 'authenticity' as a reason to sidestep diversity.
'What does authenticity mean? It means the truth, and if you're really an artist then you can find the truth in any circumstance, any character, any face or any article of clothing. How much do you want to challenge yourself? Sometimes people don't like to be challenged,' she said.
The latest annual UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report showed that the white share of all film roles increased from almost 60% in 2023 to 67% the next year, while other race groups and ethnicities were still underrepresented. For example, Asians make up only 5.5% and Latinos 3.6%.
This trend is further reflected in other aspects of Hollywood, as only 1 in 10 theatrical film writers are people of color and only 2 in 10 theatrical film directors are people of color.
Wu made her Hollywood breakthrough with the 2018 rom-com 'Crazy Rich Asians,' which grossed $239 million at the box office worldwide. The success of the movie ushered in a new wave of stars and representation, making the way for movies such as 'Past Lives,' 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' and 'Minari.'
'At its best, [these initiatives] are about expanding imagination, creativity and possibility,' Wu said. 'But, If you are stodgy and stuck in your ways, as a director, you're limiting yourself. If you think it's just about trying to check off a box, that's not what it's supposed to be and not what it should be,' she said about onscreen diversity.
Alongside acting, Wu has another job as the mother of two young children. The actress compared motherhood to the golden triangle of productivity — fast, cheap and good, and says you can only have two. Her version, she jokes, is the 'golden triangle of motherhood': clean house, personal sanity and happy and healthy kids — and again, you can only have two.
'I really like having a clean house and I like having happy and healthy children, so personal sanity goes out the window. This production triangle goes out the window if you're a man with a wife but, for mothers, even if you have a husband or help, that triangle is real,' Wu said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
Best Summer Game Fest 2025 trailers: Mortal Shell 2, Stranger Than Heaven & more
Watch all the most interesting trailers from the biggest summer preview event of the year, including Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Code Vein 2, and Wu-Tang: Rise Of The Deceiver. You never know what you're going to get with Summer Game Fest, the would-be replacement for E3 hosted by The Games Awards creator Geoff Keighley. Some years there's tons of big name reveals and some years it's mostly just AA and indie titles. This is one of those years. That doesn't mean there was nothing of interest, but the mic drop reveal at the end of the two hour long show was Resident Evil Requiem, and it was by far the biggest game to be featured. Despite being only a day after the Nintendo Switch 2 launch, and Nintendo registered as a partner, the only time the console was even mentioned was a brief ad for Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition. Although that does probably increase the chances of a Nintendo Direct later in the month. There were a few notable trends for the games at this year's Summer Game Fest: a lot of Soulslike titles with dark grey visuals, a lot of anime games, and plenty of live service titles still trying their luck at hitting the big time. So, if the thought of that doesn't appeal you may find the pickings relatively thin. Although there's also Jurassic World Evolution 3 and the Deadpool VR game if you fancy something different. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. The first annoucement was Mortal Shell 2, a sequel to the 2020 Dark Souls clone that is still one of our favourite Soulslikes not made by FromSoftware. Developed by a mere 30-man team (Keighley was keen to highlight that many of the games were by surprisingly small developers) the sequel seems to be going for a more overt horror atmosphere, while there was a lot more gun combat than usual for the genre. It's out sometime in 2026. It's never a surprise to see Hideo Kojima at a Geoff Keighley event but the cut scene he decided to show for Death Stranding 2 was not exactly the most enthralling. It featured Luca Marinelli as Neil and his real-life wife Alyssa Jung as therapist Lucy, arguing about the fact that he's forgotten who she is. Neil is apparently the villain of the piece, and the one dressed up in Solid Snake cosplay in some of the previous images. The game itself is out in just a few weeks, on June 26. Sega had a strange little dig at Mario Kart World during their reveal of Sonic's latest kart racer, pointing out that it has cross-play… even though Mario Kart is obviously only on Nintendo formats. The game looked good, but the focus of the demonstration was crossover characters from other games, including Hatsune Miku, Ichiban Kasuga from Like A Dragon, Joker from Persona 5, and Steve from Minecraft. The game will be released on September 25 for every format imaginable. We're really not sure the art style in this unexpected sequel to the 2019 Soulslike works very well, with its anime characters and realistic backdrops, but at least it's something a bit different. The original didn't seem quite successful enough to justify a follow-up, but the action looks good and at least it's one Soulslike that's not copying FromSoftware's visuals as well as its gameplay. It'll be released for Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC sometime next year. It does seem madness that there's never been a console action game based on Game Of Thrones. There still isn't, but at least this real-time strategy game isn't just some seedy mobile title. Unfortunately, the pre-rendered trailer never showed a hint of any gameplay, so there's no clue as to what it's actually like, but apparently it involves 'ruthless free-for-all battles where trust is fleeting and power is everything'. It's out next year and seems to be PC-only, which is a shame as it could have worked as a spiritual sequel to EA's old Lord Of The Rings real-time strategies. It's been a very busy week for Capcom this week, with Pragmata re-unveiled at the State of Play on Wednesday and Resident Evil Requiem being the big reveal at the end of Summer Game Fest. But we also got a new gameplay trailer for the reboot of Onimusha, which looks extremely pretty and continued the series' tradition of not even trying to have anyone sound like they're actually from Japan (like Resident Evil, the originals only had English voiceovers). There's no release date yet, but it's out next year on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. One of the strangest reveals of the show was what seems to be a Muppet version of Punch-Out!!, with the potty-mouthed puppets taking part in what also probably counts as a homage to Rocky. The gameplay does seem almost identical to Nintendo's old boxing game but hopefully there's a bit more to it than that. The game doesn't have a release date and is currently scheduled only for PC. Expected to be the next big thing in online shooters, the only thing ARC Raiders has been missing is a release date, but it finally got that at Summer Game Fest. It'll be out on October 30 for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC, which is interesting because that's right around the time you'd expect this year's Call Of Duty to come out – and the new Battlefield, if EA launches it this year. ARC Raiders' strong word of mouth gives it a head start though, which could make for an interesting autumn shootout. When we interviewed Jospeh Fares about Split Fiction, we asked him why he thought no one had ever tried to copy his games, despite their huge success. He didn't know but finally another developer seems to have wondered the same thing and Out Of Words does look very reminiscent of It Takes Two in particular. The hand-crafted, stop motion visuals are neat though and it's definitely one to watch, even if it doesn't have a release date yet. Another game taking inspiration from Split Fiction, at least in the sense that it has a friend pass that means only one person has to own a copy of the game to play online co-op. It's by the creators of the very good Lego Builder's Journey and rather than being based on Lego licensed sets, or any other established toy line, it's all about solving puzzles by building Lego structures. If it's as good as Lego Builder's Journey it'll be doing very well indeed, although there's no release date yet. Between South Of Midnight and The Midnight Walk, and Out Of Words, stop motion animation Is suddenly very popular for video games. The art style in this new game from Annapurna was notably different though, and while we're not entirely sure what's going on in terms of the gameplay the 80s soundtrack sounds like it'll be the best thing since GTA: Vice City. Made by just nine people in Indonesia, this very bloody looking beat 'em-up looked extremely impressive, and also very reminiscent of the violence in Oldboy. We didn't quite gather what was going on in terms of the story but we're sure revenge has something to do with it, as you beat down hordes of goons and get a Mortal Kombat style view of an opponent's skeleton, when you manage to put a big enough dent in it. It'll be out on PC next summer. We can't say we've ever been fans of Scott Pilgrim, either the comics or the film, but the 2D graphics for this new scrolling beat 'em-up look gorgeous. It's clearly intended as follow-up to Ubisoft's film tie-in from 2010, which was well received by many, and is by the same team behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and Marvel Cosmic Invasion (which was also at Summer Game Fest and announced Rocket Racoon and She-Hulk as characters). It'll be out on current and last gen consoles and PC next year. Although 007 First Light did get a quick name check on stage, developer and publisher IO Interactive instead spent their time talking about Agent 47 in MindsEye and Mads Mikkelsen in Hitman: World of Assassination (aka Hitman 3). He'll be reprising the role of Le Chiffre as the latest elusive target in the game – a special character, usually played by a famous actor, that is only available to assassinate for 30 days, starting from today. That's neat but it's also interesting that it implied IO has a considerable amount of leeway with the Bond licence and what they can do with it. The other Lego game to be unveiled was an outrageously obvious clone of Mario Party, only with 300 different minifigures instead of the Mushroom Kingdom crew. These can be rearranged in trillions of different combinations, in order to compete for stars golden bricks and play 60 different mini-games. We're big fans of Mario Party (and Lego) so if this manages to be as fun as Nintendo's games then we're all for it. It'll be release for both consoles and PC this year. A new game from Drinkbox Studios, makers of Guacamelee! and Nobody Saves The World is immediately of interest but this Diablo-esque role-player looks a bit more serious and horror tinged than their previous games. It also seems to be channelling Hades creator Supergiant Games, none of which is a bad thing. Whether it's a Metroidvania or not isn't clear but at certainly points in the trailer it definitely seems to have co-op. It's not certain which formats it's coming to but it's out on PC next year. A lot of people are probably going to compare this to online survival game Grounded, but the plot makes it sound like a more serious version of Pikmin, with aliens visiting Earth and battling with both insects and some sort of mechanical robot menace, as you search for your lost crew. It's out for consoles and PC next year and while there's very little concrete information on the gameplay the visuals certainly look impressive. Whether you care about the Wu-Tang Clan or not this had some of the nicest visuals of any game at the show. They seemed fairly obviously influenced by the Into The Spider-Verse movies, but that's no bad thing, and we're only surprised that hasn't happened before. The idea of a Wu-Tan action role-playing game was leaked quite a while ago, where it was described as Diablo meets Hi-Fi Rush, which does seem to fit with what you see in the trailer. There's no release date so far. There were a lot of great looking games at the show, but this might have been our favourite, with its 40s style animation reminiscent of a 3D Cuphead. It's a bit hard to tell exactly what's going on with the story but you seem to be playing an alcohol abusing cartoon character who's been tricked by the Devil into… taking part in a third person action roguelite, that also has three-player co-op. There's no release date but if it looks as good as it plays it'll be doing very well indeed. The final reveal before Resident Evil Requiem was what was previously codenamed Project Century and while it looks like a Yakuza spin-off it's not actually part of the franchise, even though it's by the same developer. Sega didn't explain much, but when the game was first introduced it was set in Japan in 1915 and yet this trailer is set in 1943 (i.e. in the middle of the Second World War). More Trending Given the codename that probably implies you're playing in multiple time periods across the whole century. There was no mention of formats or a release date though, so it's probably still quite a while away from release. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Call Of Duty 2026 campaign has a brand new setting for Modern Warfare says leak MORE: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gets Switch 2 upgrade but there's a problem MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 GameChat feature doesn't censor swear words
Time Out
2 days ago
- Time Out
Eddie Huang is doing a Chinese-meets-Greek restaurant pop-up at NYC's The Flower Shop
Eddie Huang has come a long way from hawking Chairman Bao buns at the beloved Baohaus. Since his days cheffing in the Lower East Side, Huang's long resume lists hosting duties on the Cooking Channel, MTV and Vice, a documentarian, a producer and a best-selling author of two books, one of which spawned the ABC series, 'Fresh Off the Boat.' But it seems as thought the restaurant world truly never left him, as the multi-hyphenated talent is returning to lower Manhattan for a summer-long residency. Starting June 11, Huang will be taking over the kitchen of The Flower Shop, only a ten-minute walk from his former haunt. Named Gazebo, the residency was inspired by Huang's experimentations cooking traditional Chinese dishes in olive oil sourced from his wife's family's field in Greece. On his Substack, Canal Street Dreams, Huang spoke about how this simple swap created an entirely new profile. 'At home, I use the olive oil from Natashia's family field in Greece to reimagine Chinese food that's usually made with high heat oils,' said Huang. 'By simply changing the way I apply heat due to the character of olive oil, it's completely changed my cooking and it comes out tasting like Chinese food from a blue zone.' Huang's personal and worldwide culinary influences come through with small plates of cherrystone clams with pancetta noodles to a scallop ceviche dish with Marcona almonds that reflects his time with the seafood legend of Lima, chef Javier Wong. Large plates explore the cuisines even further as his red cooked pork stars Iberian pancetta and the chopped chili fluke is made with his wife's blend of oil, named, 'Natashia's sizzling oil.' Dessert finishes with a griddled Kossar's chocolate babka with ice cream. The pop-up will run on select dates from June until September. The first round will start this month on June 11 to June 13, followed by July 9 to July 11, August 6 to August 8 and September 10 to September 12. Dinner is $80 per person, which includes your choice of small plate, a large plate and dessert. Reserve your table here.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
The secret meaning behind Ariana Grande's wedding scene in Wicked: For Good trailer as fans go wild for surprise Easter Egg
The first trailer for Wicked: For Good was bound to send fans into a frenzy, as they await the conclusion of the Oz-based tale in November. But while it was no surprise that fans are excited to see Ariana Grande reprise her role as the sorceress Glinda, others were quick to spot a cheeky Easter Egg from director Jon M. Chu buried in the preview. The film sees Glinda prepare to marry Prince Fiyero (played by Jonathan Bailey), after becoming a pawn in the Wizard and Madame Morrible's attempts to bring down Elphaba. And in the trailer, fans see the moment Glinda walks down the aisle in a stunning white bridal gown. However, social media sleuths were quick to spot the wedding's decor bore a striking resemblance to the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians, which Chu also directed. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. In the stunning scene, Singaporean socialites Araminta Lee and Colin Khoo are just minutes away from tying the knot in a jaw-dropping $40 million affair, while lovebirds Nick and Rachel struggle with their own feelings in the midst of growing tensions. Filmed in a lavish former convent in the heart of the nation's trendiest neighbourhood, the scene sees stunning bride Araminta making her entrance as water slowly trickles down the aisle dusted with petals and lined with lush greenery. And it seems that Glinda's own big day will bear some resemblance, with flowers and topiary lining the aisle as she is unveiled in a beautiful bridal gown. Comparisons of the two weddings quickly popped up on X, with posts including: 'That man is a miracle worker! 'The fact his last 4 movies have been both sorts of Wicked, In The Heights and Crazy Rich Asians. He does not miss a beat; 'Jon M. Chu's growth as a director is really impressive. When you look at the majority of his filmography, you realise that CRAZY RICH ASIANS was the turning point of his career where he really began to step it up as a director. Eager to see if he sticks the landing with FOR GOOD;' 'The wedding scene from Crazy Rich Asians lives rent free in my mind 24/7;' 'John M. Chu ''Professional dancer and wedding planner/coordinator;'' Both scenes boasted jaw-dropping greenery and stunning decor (Wicked pictured left), with Crazy Rich Asians' nuptials filmed at a convert convent in Singapore Comparisons of the two weddings quickly popped up on X 'He's going to have a wedding and it's going to be the most magical thing;' Wicked: For Good is set to hit cinemas on November 21, with a first look at the movie conclusion of the Broadway hit teasing the fate of the protagonists and a first look at new characters. The sequel sees the return of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Ariana Grande as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North - with part two of the musical movie following their friendship after Elphaba was banished from Oz. Elphaba is living in exile, hidden within the Ozian forest while continuing her fight for the freedom of Oz's silenced Animals and desperately trying to expose the truth about The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). Glinda, meanwhile, has become the symbol of Goodness for all of Oz, living at the palace in Emerald City and reveling in the perks of fame and popularity as she prepares to tie the knot with Prince Fiyero. She is also working under the instruction of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) to convince the citizens of Oz that they have nothing to fear when it comes to The Wizard. Yet behind the scenes, Glinda is attempting to reconcile Elphaba and The Wizard, which only results in her being drawn further apart from her friend. As a result Boq (Ethan Slater) and Fiyero are set to be changed forever, while the safety of Elphaba's sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode) comes into question. Just as tensions in Oz reach an all time high, a girl from Kansas comes crashing into all their lives. Fans went wild at the first glimpse of Dorothy - who was seen walking along the yellow brick road with the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow. Her face was obscured as she was shown from the back, with fans taking to X/Twitter to try and figure out her identity. They penned: 'the way we still don't know who plays as dorothy in wicked new trailer'; In wicked for good what if we don't see Dorothy's face the whole movie.?' 'So She brings Dorothy to Oz?'; 'i just watched wicked last sunday and it's so gooood oh i can't wait for this. show me dorothy pls!!'; 'Who do you think could be playing Dorothy in Wicked For Good?'; 'The crazy part about the Wicked: For Good trailer is the fact that there's still so much to come. We didn't see Nessarose or Boq. They recently filmed scenes at Shiz for this. We got a little of Dorothy's crew. This is just a glimpse. I can't wait to see it ALL unfold'; Several names have been put forward while fans try to guess who is Dorothy. The frontrunner so far is Alisha Weir, 15, who is best known for playing Matilda in the Netflix adaptation of Matilda the Musical and the titular character in the horror flick Abigail. Others have suggested that Addison Rae or Taylor Swift could be slipping into the iconic ruby red slippers. Last year's global cinematic cultural sensation, which became the most successful Broadway film adaptation of all time, now reaches its epic, electrifying, emotional conclusion in Wicked: For Good. Wicked: For Good is being directed again by award-winning Jon M. Chu, who has confirmed that there will be new, original songs in the sequel, along with fan favourites For Good and No Good Deed. Wicked was a box office success and raked in around $747.2 million on a budget of $150 million.
