For one thing, Crazy Rich Asians — originally a bestselling novel by Kevin Kwan — consists of more than a dozen distinctive characters. There’s Chinese-American Rachel Chu, who travels with her Singapore-born boyfriend for a wedding in his homeland. There, she meets her partner’s mother, his Hong Kong-bred cousin, and another cousin from London, among many other roles that require actors to adeptly speak with a British or Singaporean accent on top of having what Chu describes as an X factor.

“When you have a wide range of characters that you’re supposed to find, they’re not going to be people you know necessarily,” Chu said. “When I do a ‘regular’ movie with Caucasian actors as the leads,” he said with a small laugh, gesturing with air quotes,“… actors are everywhere.” That’s not the case when it comes to finding Asian actors, he said, but it’s not because there aren’t enough Asians to audition.



In fact, the director attacked the myth that there are few Asian entertainers (“There are so many!”) and explained that, rather, it’s a consequence of the lack of roles written for them. When actors can’t land managers, agents, or other representation, they have less of an opportunity for exposure, and the vicious circle spins on. “There are not parts for these people, and so … why would they have a manager?” Chu's search for Asian male leads has been particularly challenging, because he needs five of them. “It’s a systemic problem because there aren’t enough leading-man roles for people to cut their teeth on and learn how to be a leading man,” he explained. “As an Asian male myself, I feel like this representation is very important to me, and I want it to be a range of dudes that have a range of looks and feels, so it’s not just one-note either.”



Although Chu said Warner Bros., the studio behind the forthcoming film, has been supportive of his vision and has agreed to invest “more money, more time, more effort” into finding actors who fit the bill, he wanted to cast a wider net for those who aren’t established names already.