Latest news with #AmyWang
ABC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
An Asian teen turns herself white to win prom queen in Amy Wang's wild satire
Growing up, Amy Wang's father lovingly packed her lunch for school. And each day, she'd throw that lunch in the bin. Throughout her primary years, and even into high school, she remembers being embarrassed by the intricate Chinese meals. "I'd get teased," the now 34-year-old says. "I would beg for like, white bread, ham, cheese, Vegemite, just simple ingredients — like, give me spam! "It sounds so weird but it was what I wanted because every other white kid had that." The memory serves as the jumping-off point for her feature film debut, Slanted, which premiered at the Sydney Film Festival this week after winning the Narrative Jury Award at South by South West (SXSW) in Austin earlier this year. Wang's now based in LA after moving to the States at 19, and is behind a string of projects, including the upcoming Crazy Rich Asians 2. But while she's set her satirical body horror in the US — with a notable cast of up-and-comers to boot — it's rooted in the racism and the struggle to belong that plagued her throughout her childhood in Sydney. "In my early teens, I would think a lot about: 'Wouldn't life just be easier if I was white?' "So, the concept [for the film] came from, 'OK, what if she gets what she wants? Then what happens?'" Slanted sees Wang's morbid teenage dream come true, as aspiring prom queen Joan Huang (Shirley Chen) signs up for a radical surgery to change her race. Like her protagonist, Wang moved to the West from China at seven years old, without speaking a word of English. She moved primary schools five times, forced to make friends and fit in at each new school. Shifting these experiences to an all-American setting was "very entertaining", and puts her debut in the realm of Hollywood classics like Mean Girls. "It was fascinating as an outsider. I didn't know about [how US students] say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. It's like: 'Are you guys in a cult?'" Part body horror, part teen comedy, Slanted takes its satire to sci-fi extremes. Pre-surgery, Joan tries everything to fit into the beauty standards of blonde idols like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter — using race-altering Instagram filters (which really do exist) and pegging her nose in an attempt to look less Chinese. "The peg on the nose — I used to do it when I was in high school, trying to make it smaller and pointier, like a white person's nose," Wang says. "I've had Asian girls or even African-American girls come up to me [after screenings] being like: 'I used to do that too!'" Joan gets the nose she's always dreamed of post-surgery when she transforms into another (white) person entirely: Jo Hunt. This new Joan is played by the increasingly noteworthy McKenna Grace, who spent months on Duolingo to nail the tonal intricacies of Mandarin. As Jo distances herself from her old life, she soon discovers all the privileges of no longer being a minority: "I don't have to be Asian-American, I can just be American." Wang didn't actually meet her dad, who emigrated ahead of her and her mum, until she moved to Australia at seven. But the paternal role is central in the film as Joan is spoiled by her sweet, gentle father and showers him with affection in return, but pushes back against her mother's attempts to connect, in a show of peak teen angst. "I feel like there are a lot of media portrayals of Asian men who are toxic gamblers and drunks," Wang says, adding that Asian women are often stereotyped as tiger mums. And it's this familial bond that makes Joan's transformation — which her parents take as a rejection — all the more heartbreaking. As technology, plastic surgery, social media and AI move well beyond the nose peg of Wang's own teen years, she's fascinated by the way attitudes towards race are changing. "Nowadays, more than ever, a lot of Western beauty standards are actually imitating Asian beauty standards; cat-eye make-up, tanning and all of those things. "It's really interesting to think about what that means, when you're rejecting the actual person of a Chinese Australian girl, but you're white and you're trying to emulate pieces of what she represents, getting the best of both worlds." While Slanted's transformative "ethnic-modification surgery" is hopefully still a long way off, TikTok is full of Asian influencers getting nose jobs, opting for a more Western look. "When I was growing up, you had people like Britney Spears, but none of them had much work done, compared to today's role models," Wang says. "There are so many more ways for girls to compare themselves to each other now." Slanted will screen on June 15 as part of the Sydney Film Festival, with an Australia-wide cinematic release yet to be confirmed.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Crazy Rich Asians 2' writer Amy Wang says the sequel is a ‘slow process,' but she's ‘hopeful'
AUSTIN, Texas — Amy Wang is having a moment. Her debut feature film, Slanted, just premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film & TV Festival. She was also tapped to write Crazy Rich Asians 2, the long-awaited sequel to the 2018 box office smash. 'It's a slow process. They want to get the script right,' she told Yahoo Entertainment, referring to the studio in question, which she did not identify. Warner Bros. produced the first film and owns the rights to the second one. 'I'm hopeful that it will be made soon, but right now, it's a lot of waiting around.' A TV series adaptation based on the books by Kevin Kwan is also in the works at Max, but that's a separate project. In the meantime, Wang is in Texas promoting Slanted — a biting satire about race that's also very personal for her. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Wang was on a walk with her husband one day in 2021, when she was 'jolted' by the news that six Asian American women were killed in a hate crime spree in Atlanta. It made her reflect on her experience as a Chinese Australian woman. 'When I was growing up as a teenager, for a really long time, I would wake up and think, 'Hey, wouldn't life just be better if I was white?'' she said. 'All of those emotions and repressed feelings came to the surface.' She started thinking about what a story like that would look like, and it evolved into a darkly comedic (and, she admits, controversial) script — what if two actors of two different races played the same person? That's the idea behind Slanted, a film she wrote and directed, which follows an Asian American high schooler who undergoes 'transracial' surgery to become white in her quest to be accepted by the popular girls and win prom queen. 'So many of the best films, like Get Out and Sorry to Bother You, poked fun at race and difficult topics,' she said. 'I felt like satire and a bit of body horror was the way to go. … I love pushing buttons and making people feel uncomfortable.' Wang tapped Shirley Chen and Mckenna Grace to play her lead, Joan Huang. She goes by Jo Hunt after undergoing experimental surgery to appear white. 'The character of Joan has this kernel of truth to her that I like to pretend doesn't exist. … I like to think of myself as somebody who's very outgoing and comfortable in my skin and identity,' Chen told Yahoo Entertainment. 'But I remember growing up in Washington state surrounded by a lot of white people and imagining as a 6-year-old … that I could turn blonde and have blue eyes.' She said that she outgrew that opinion once she had a better understanding of race, but she sees this role as a tribute to that version of herself. Wang and other cast and crew members confided in her about their own insecurities, which meant a lot to her, given how impressed she was by them 'Tapping into that quiet self-doubt feels really universal and vulnerable — that was really important to me,' Chen continued. Like Wang, she has a few projects in the works, but she's most excited about 'exploring my voice as a creator.' 'I'm really inspired by musicians and artists like Doechii … who pull from so many different forms and voices and styles to create something that's unique to them,' she said. '[Doechii] has worked to know herself and wants to make art to show you that you can be yourself too. I hope I can have a similar effect.' premiered on March 8 at South by Southwest.
