Southern Fried Asian: Kevin Kwan

Last month, the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore hosted our own Keith Chow in conversation with New York Times bestselling author Kevin Kwan as part of their “Writer’s Live” series. Because they spent a portion of their talk discussing Kevin’s childhood in Texas, we are presenting that conversation in its entirety for Southern Fried Asian!

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‘Writers Live’ with Kevin Kwan, Hosted by the Enoch Pratt Free Library

This Tuesday evening, I will have the pleasure of leading a conversation with Kevin Kwan, the New York Times-bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians and Sex and Vanity. The event is part of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library’s “Writers LIVE” series. Audio of the event will be available on the Southern Fried Asian podcast feed next month.

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Actions Speak Louder than Words: Henry Golding on Being ‘Snake Eyes’

Few comic book characters mean more to me than G.I. Joe’s resident Ninja Commando. Created by Larry Hama and based on the Hasbro action figure designs, Snake Eyes wasn’t just my favorite action figure, he unlocked my imagination as a child. A silent warrior with a classified name and background meant that anyone could be beneath that iconic all-black mask. So for years, Snake Eyes looked like me until the comics eventually revealed the man underneath was yet another white-guy-who-happens-to-be-best-Asian.

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Hard NOC Life: April Reign is Going to the Oscars

In this bonus episode of Hard NOC Life, Keith talks to the creator of #OscarsSoWhite, April Reign, on the eve of the Academy Awards as she prepares to attend her first ever Oscars ceremony!

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#GoldOpen Teams Up with AMC Theatres to Promote New Majority

Back in October, when I interviewed Gold Open co-creator Bing Chen on the Southern Fried Asian podcast, he teased a new iteration of the movement established to promote groundbreaking Asian American films like GookCrazy Rich Asians, and Burning. This morning, they revealed what the next stage of Gold Open will look like. In addition to a partnership with AMC theaters to help “streamline group movie-going, theatre buyouts and bulk regular-price ticket purchasing through a ticket buying system,” the Gold Open system will expand and be applied to media from groups dubbed “the New Majority,” i.e., women, the African diaspora, Latinx communities, and LGBTQ+ artists.

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Atención: You Can Audition to be ‘In The Heights’

Ten years ago, Lin-Manuel Miranda burst upon the scene with the Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights. That same year, Jon M. Chu directed his first feature film, Step Up 2 The Streets. A decade later, both have hit the Lotto with Hamilton and Crazy Rich Asians, vaunting them to A-List pop cultural icon status.

And in 2020, the two will team up to bring Heights to the silver screen! Alabanza!

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N.O.C. Guest Post: Jenny Korn on ‘Crazy Rich Asians’

Hello NOCs,

I would like to introduce you all to Jenny Korn. You can read about how amazing she is right here.

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Hers was one of the most insightful updates I’ve read about Crazy Rich Asians. There have been tons of hot takes about this film, but I truly feel Korn’s perspective is one that is needed — It’s measured, smart, funny, and bite-sized enough to get a full picture of the film, without spoiling anything. What is does for me is ask hard questions — something I don’t think fans do enough of.

Enjoy.

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‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Kevin Kwan Doesn’t Want to Talk About a Sequel… Yet

With the successful weekend box office of Crazy Rich Asians, it’s safe to assume there might be a sequel in the works. Within five days of its opening, the film earned an estimated $35 million, making it number one at the box office and the best debut for a comedy this year. With the success so far, many have been predicting a sequel may be in the works.

Of course, Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan is very superstitious about the idea of sequels and told me days before the release that he hasn’t thought about it.

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‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Star Henry Golding Turns Up the Heat

Henry Golding is ready to take on Hollywood.

“[We’re] possibly moving to Los Angeles,” said the 31-year old British-Malaysian actor during a luncheon in Century City in June. “The focus is definitely on movies.”

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Awkwafina Accepts Repping Asian Americans

Don’t tell Awkwafina that it’s her moment or that it’s her year.

Sure, the actress/rapper starred in this summer’s Ocean’s 8 and is starring in next week’s much-anticipated romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, but the idea of it being just a moment stresses her out.

“I get stressed out when people tell me, ‘this is my best year’ or ‘this is my best summer ever’ or I’m having a ‘moment,’ because all of those things imply a fleeting sensibility,” said Awkwafina. “I want to continue doing this but at the same time, how? How do you do that? There are a lot of questions for me still. I do have that Asian grandma mentality that kind of doomed mentality and I think that’s why I have a hard time taking it in. I’m enjoying myself and I feel truly blessed. I feel very lucky.”

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‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is Exactly the Movie We Needed

Leaving the theater for Crazy Rich Asians, I couldn’t help but feel like all the articles and podcasts and panel discussions had somehow culminated in this one movie. I feel like I’ve been screaming from the rooftops for something just like this. Why did it have to take 25 years for this kind of major studio-backed all-Asian movie? In absolute truth, it’s not just good for an “Asian” film. It’s just plain good. And it is exactly what we needed.

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