News

The “Crazy Rich Asians” cinematic universe is expanding. A new spin-off film, centered on fan favorite characters played by Gemma Chan and Harry Shum Jr., is reportedly in the works.

The yet-untitled Warner Bros. project will be written by Emmy-nominated “Barry” screenwriter and producer Jason Kim and will be in continuity with the upcoming “Crazy Rich Asians” sequel based on Kevin Kwan’s trilogy installment, “China Rich Girlfriend.”

The rom-com will follow Astrid Young Teo (Chan) who is the newly-single cousin of “Crazy Rich Asians” lead Nick Young, played by Henry Golding. The first film saw Astrid learn that her husband (Pierre Png) has been unfaithful; she reconnects with first love and former fiancé Charlie Wu (Shum Jr.) at Nick’s engagement party. As Deadline reported, the Kwan novels include that Astrid’s parents broke up her engagement to Charlie as he was not a “suitable husband” due to their socioeconomic differences.

Exclusive: Emmy nominated Barry producer and scribe Jason Kim is set to pen a spinoff of Crazy Rich Asians which will center around the Gemma Chan character of Astrid Young Teo and her romance with Charlie Wu, played by Harry Shum Jr. in the original movie.

I hear that Kim came in with a dynamite pitch for the lovebirds’ story, and Warner Bros. swooned for it. The project is in early development.

Note, the Crazy Rich Asians sequel remains in development, and it’s being penned by Amy Wang. Both the spin-off and Crazy Rich Asians sequel will be tied to Kevin Kwan’s second book in the trilogy, China Rich Girlfriend. That book, in addition to covering Astrid and Charlie’s relationship, follows the Constance Wu and Henry Golding characters, Rachel and Nick, on a trip to Shanghai to find the former’s birth father.

Astrid is the newly...

Exclusive: Crazy Rich Asians co-star Pierre Png has signed with Luber Roklin Entertainment and Gersh for representation in the U.S.

The Singaporean actor broke out in the U.S. with his co-starring role in the critically acclaimed film Crazy Rich Asians, playing Michael Teo, the husband of Astrid Leong (Gemma Chan).

Png has been honored by the Asian Television Awards, earning a Best Actor award in 2014 for his performance in Zero Calling. He also received a Best Actor nod from Star Awards Singapore for The Journey – A Voyage, and he made the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artists list by Star Awards Singapore in 2012, 2018 and 2019.

Png is repped by Mediacorp’s The Celebrity Agency in Singapore, which teamed with Luber Roklin and Gersh for Png’s representation in the U.S.

“We are excited to bring Pierre into our fold, he is an extremely talented actor with worldwide appeal,” said Luber Roklin’s Matt Luber.

Exclusive: After a successful West Coast/East Coast partnership over the past three years, Platform PR and Serge PR are becoming one — officially partnering under the Platform banner.

Scott Boute (Serge PR CEO) will join Siri Garber (Platform PR CEO) and Angela Mach (Platform PR Vice President) to head up the West Coast office in Los Angeles, with industry veteran Darren Olcsvary remaining head of New York operations. Jane Negline will continue to run the Australian branch of Platform which includes clients Danielle Cormack (Wentworth), Miranda Tapsell (Top End Wedding), Sam Frost (Home & Away), Nicole da Silva (Wentworth), Belinda Bromilow (Hulu’s The Great), Rodger Corser and Geraldine Hakewill (Wanted).

“I am so thrilled to partner with Serge PR,” said Garber. We have worked together for three years now and felt that this was the perfect time to evolve and move in a new direction. It is exciting...

We haven't played our dumb instagram game in a while. So here are celeb pics we felt the need to share (*sharing is not endorsement). Would you rather...?

• barbecue with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II?

• take allergy teests with Mark Wahlberg?

• receive flowers with Nicole Kidman?

• have a comfort food moment with Pierre Png?

• play with Jai Courtney's puppy?

• spend hammock time (in the 50s) with Natalie Wood?

• find positive energy with Cynthia Erivo?

• cosplay woodland creatures with Amanda Seinfried

• make Alec Baldwin mow your lawn?

• snake charming with Elle Fanning?

• dance on a mini-tramp with Goldie Hawn?

• pretend you're at a private nightclub with Kate Beckinsale?

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide.

Alexander Skarsgård, Pharrell Williams, Heidi Klum, Kyle Maclachlan, and Michelle Yeoh were among those who gathered at the fifth annual amfAR Gala Hong Kong at the newly opened Rosewood Hong Kong to honor renowned entrepreneur and change-maker Adrian Cheng for his exceptional contributions to the global struggle against HIV/AIDS.

Nicole Scherzinger Performs at amfAR Hong Kong Gala

Credit/Copyright: Ryan Emberley

Pansy Ho, a leading supporter of the gala since its inception in 2015 and an influential figure in the Hong Kong and international business community, served as Honorary Chair of this year’s event. Presented by Apm Monaco and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, the gala raised over $2.75 million for amfAR’s life-saving AIDS research programs. American Express, Champagne Perrier-Jouët and Absolut Elyx were Signature Sponsors. Wines were provided courtesy of Boroli.

Other guests in attendance included Choi Jin Hyuk, Ha Ji-Won, Paulo Pong and Sonia Cheng, Martin and Cathy Lee,...

Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl welcome Nick Davis back to the podcast this week for lots of Crazy Rich Asians talk.

Index (58 minutes)

00:01 Introductions. Randomness.

02:10 Nick has read the book that The Wife is based on!

05:01 Crazy Rich Asians talk. Lots and lots on with Spoilers (sorry). We love the ensemble including Michelle Yeoh, Harry Shum Jr, Pierre Png, Gemma Chan, and more...

36:34 Older films we've been watching: Travels with My Aunt (1972) Your Name (2016), and Luchino Visconti's The Damned (1969)

42:00 Recent releases: I Feel Pretty, Madeline's Madeline, The Darkest Minds

50:45 Steve James new docuseries "America to Me"

54:00 Glenn Close for Best Actress!

Referenced in this discussion

• Nathaniel's year old review of The Wife from Tiff

• Murtada's Desiree Akhavan interview

• Justin Chang's Crazy Rich Asians review

• Kelley Dong's Crazy Rich Asians review

• The 1972 Best Actress list

You can listen to the podcast here at...

[This post contains spoilers for Warner Bros.’ Crazy Rich Asians.]

The song that plays over the final scenes of Crazy Rich Asians had to hit several important notes: It had to strike the right emotional tone for Rachel’s (Constance Wu) departure from Singapore, wistful yet strong; it had to work as an emotional throughline as the film checks in with the other key relationships in the movie — Nick (Henry Golding) and Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), Astrid (Gemma Chan) and Michael (Pierre Png) — and it had to serve as a thematic closing statement for the film, the first studio product ...

[This post contains spoilers for Warner Bros.’ Crazy Rich Asians.]

The song that plays over the final scenes of Crazy Rich Asians had to hit several important notes: It had to strike the right emotional tone for Rachel’s (Constance Wu) departure from Singapore, wistful yet strong; it had to work as an emotional throughline as the film checks in with the other key relationships in the movie — Nick (Henry Golding) and Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), Astrid (Gemma Chan) and Michael (Pierre Png) — and it had to serve as a thematic closing statement for the film, the first studio product ...

When fakes are more real than the real…— A Confucian ConfusionIn 1991, the playwright Frank Chin wrote this of Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club: “[It writes] to the specifications of the […] stereotype of Asia being as opposite morally from the West as it is geographically. [...] We expect Asian-American writers, portraying Asia and Asians, to have a knowledge of the difference between the real and the fake. This is a knowledge they have admitted they not only do not possess but also have no interest in possessing. [...] They talk about the agony of the stereotype, but when pressed, have no idea how to describe it.”1Two years later, filmmaker Wayne Wang’s adaptation of Joy Luck Club was a box-office hit that earned nearly three-times its budget in theaters. Frank Chin was labelled a contrarian cynic, and Joy Luck Club continued to rise above all criticism—“It is not deep,” declared the Washington Post...

Warner Bros. rolled out the jade carpet for the Hollywood premiere of “Crazy Rich Asians.”

With the temperature hovering around 95 degrees outside Tcl Chinese Theatres on Tuesday night, everyone seemed to be talking about the weather — while blotting and wiping sweat from their faces.

“Do you like how Warner Bros. managed to create Singapore-style temperatures?” producer Brad Simpson joked.

The cast and crew may have been melting, but they powered through with excitement over the movie, the first studio film featuring Asian-Americans in lead roles in 25 years.

“To be in a film that is representative of what should be, we should be normalizing all of this,” said Henry Golding, who stars in the romantic comedy about a New York University professor (Constance Wu) who accompanies her boyfriend, Nick Young (Golding), to Singapore to meet his uber wealthy family. “We shouldn’t be the only Asian film made in 25 years. That’s ridiculous.