Will we still have a Crazy Rich Asians 2? Conflicts, controversies and delays

Four years after 'Crazy Rich Asians' captured the hearts of many for its romantic plot and revolutionary Asian representation, a sequel is now finally underway thanks to the hiring of a new writer to replace previous showrunners Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, Deadline reports.

Why was there a need for a replacement writer? Read on to find out about the conflicts and controversies that caused the delay of the highly expected sequel.

(Image: Warner Bros. Pictures)

‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is a romantic comedy film based on Kevin Kwan’s bestselling novel of the same name.

(Image: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Directed by Jon M. Chu, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is the first hollywood film from a major studio to feature a predominantly Asian cast in a modern setting. The last time a Hollywood film has done so was in 1993 with ‘Joy Luck Club’.

Did you know that director Jon M. Chu was actually mentioned in the original ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ novel? According to Vulture, this was because ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ writer Kevin Kwan was friends with Chu’s cousin, Vivian, and then took inspiration from Vivian’s words to include in a dialogue between the characters Nick and Eleanor. The movie was meant for Chu to direct!

Initially, Peter Chiarelli was the sole screenwriter of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ before Jon M. Chu signed on as director. But, Jon M. Chu insisted on bringing in an Asian screenwriter to review and revise Chiarelli’s script. That was how Adele Lim joined in as the film’s second screenwriter and helped support and add cultural accuracy to Chiarelli’s work.

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From Vulture, another fun fact behind the production was that due to her busy filming schedule, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Constance Wu was at risk of losing her role as Rachel Chu. Constance Wu had to personally reach out to Jon M. Chu and pleaded to him to not take the actress off her role by explaining her connection with the character and her affinity for the role.

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It was a success - Jon M. Chu was so deeply moved by Constance Wu's personal appeal that he pushed production back by four months to accommodate Constance Wu’s busy schedule!

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The film went on to be a huge success in the box office, leading it to become what MSN Entertainment notes as the highest-grossing romantic comedy in 10 years, and the sixth highest-grossing romantic comedy ever in cinematic history.

Due to its success, Warner Bros. Pictures gave the ok for two sequels of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ to be in the works. Following the books in the original ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ novel trilogy, the sequels will be titled ‘China Rich Girlfriend’ and ‘Rich People Problems’ respectively.

‘China Rich Girlfriend’ is set in the same timeline as its prequel, with the events in the sequel occurring two years after ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. The story features characters from ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, focusing on Rachel’s surprising parentage and Astrid’s love story.

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However, there are several issues delaying the production of 'Crazy Rich Asians 2'/'China Rich Girlfriend’, such as new controversies and pre-production complications.

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From The Hollywood Reporter, one-half of the original screenwriting duo of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, Adele Lim, has decided not to join in the production of ‘China Rich Girlfriend’ due to a pay gap between her and Peter Chiarelli. From the report, it was quoted that “[Adele Lim] declined to provide specific figures, but sources say that Warner Bros.’ starting offers were $800,000 to $1 million for Chiarelli and $110,000-plus for Lim.”

Continuing on from The Hollywood Reporter, it has been theorized that the pay disparity was “industry standard” given that Peter Chiarelli had more screenwriting experience under his belt than Adele Lim, who only broke through with her first breakout screenwriting project with ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. However, Adele Lim believed otherwise.

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Adele Lim argued that the pay gap could have been due to her being demeaned for her worth as a screenwriter due to her status as not only a woman but also as a person of colour - “...hired to sprinkle culturally specific details on a screenplay, rather than credited with the substantive work of crafting the story.”

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Although Peter Chiarelli had volunteered to split his pay to make up for the pay gap between him and Adele Lim, Adele Lim chose to decline the offer and permanently leave the production team of ‘China Rich Girlfriend’ and ‘Rich People Problems’ in 2018.

Adele Lim said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that “what [she] make[s] shouldn't be dependent on the generosity of the white-guy writer”, and that the issue she has was with the industry’s discrimination against women and people of colour like herself. Warner Bros. tried to woo Adele Lim back into the team by offering her higher pay in 2019, but to no avail.

From Screen Rant, Henry Golding, one of the lead actors of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, had reached out to director Jon M. Chu on the sequel’s progress in 2020. Despite the optimistic declaration that shooting for the sequels will begin back-to-back in 2020, Chu revealed that the script for the sequel had been delayed due to the team having issues with finishing the script.

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Not only has the loss of Adele Lim from the team affected production of the sequels, but Digital Spy also notes that Jon M. Chu’s explanation for the delay was due to difficulties in translating the novel's material into the screen.

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Further, there were also complications involving the casting of fan-favourites into the sequel, as it did not make sense to include certain favourites like Awkwafina into ‘China Rich Girlfriend’ due to the plot difference between the sequel and ‘Crazy Rich Asians’.

Screen Rant also mentioned that the success of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ has led actors of the original to be swamped with many projects, with little time to participate in the filming of the sequels.

For one, Constance Wu has been busy with the filming of ‘The Terminal List’ alongside Hollywood A-lister Chris Pratt, leaving no time to reprise her role as Rachel Wu for ‘China Rich Girlfriend.’ It appears to be very difficult to make accommodations and fit her alongside the other equally busy schedules of the other actors.

Having already achieved cult status with the success of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ at the box office, the hype for its sequels will likely not end anytime soon. Many are still eager for the release of ‘China Rich Girlfriend’ and ‘Rich People Problems’, even though production has been delayed for more than a year.

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After a long wait, the 'Crazy Rich Asians' franchise is now saved with the confirmation of a new writer to replace both Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim. From Huffpost, Warner Bros. has managed to recruit the help of Amy Wang, who comes from a Chinese Australian background, to continue off where her predecessors had left off.

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Amy Wang is known for her work in many film shorts, with her most famous being 'Unnatural' which won her the Cannes Lion award back in 2018! Huffpost has also noted that the writer is also currently attached to two other Netflix projects.

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With Amy Wang being the sole writer of the sequels now in replacing both Chiarelli and Lim, it seems that the hiring will now have solved the issue of pay disparity, and of the gender and racial insensitivities that have plagued and delayed the production of the 'Crazy Rich Asians' franchise. This looks like a step forward for not just fans, but also the industry!