Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. If someone tells you theres this crazy set up where you cant tell your grandma and theres a wedding, you expect there will be a moment of reconciliation and catharsis the things that you see in the movies. Born in Taiwan, Joan moved to the UK at an early age. On the other side of the world, birds scatter from a tree near Nai Nai's apartment complex. As stated in the film, it is believed in the East that a person's life is part of a whole (the family), instead of solely belonging to oneself. Billi intercepts Nai Nai's medical test results from the hospital and has it altered to reflect a clean bill of health, helping to maintain the lie. Like, a million times over! Her grandmother was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in 2013. When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. Walking down a busy street, she stops and thrusts her arms outward giving a loud, energy-expelling "HA!" Lulu Wang's deeply personal, disarmingly universal story of culture clash and family grief became an indie phenomenon when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year. According to Wang no one understood the story she was pitching about her internal conflict over lying to her grandmother, with whom she is still very close. But look, it says in the newspaper it's calledDon't Tell Her, and that's why you didn't tell me, because I am the 'her' of the 'don't tell her.'" Every time I finish a film, its kind of depressing because you're kind of at the end but kind of at the beginning again, and youre just excited but also unsure, she said. The family, however, told Nai Nai that she was just fine, that the doctor had given her a clean bill of health. Billi admits that she wants to stay in Changchun to spend more time with Nai Nai, but Nai Nai declines, telling her that she needs to live her own life. That's just the nature of being an immigrant and straddling two cultures. "There's a spiritual connection or energetic -- spiritual maybe sounds too whoop-dee-doo. An old woman in China is talking on the phone with her granddaughter in New York, Billi. She understood the cultural balancing act of being viewed as primarily Chinese in America and primarily American in China. This is articulated heartbreakingly in a scene where Billi breaks down after telling her mom she wants to stay in China and take care of her grandmother. Its kind of an interesting insecurity in the film business right now. This is sort of true. But regardless of when it happens, The Farewell will eventually open in China, and the family might finally have to drop the ruse. Then she made a movie about it' so it went through the entire history of our family, and my grandma read it. When they suggested her, the first thought I had was, Guys, I thought we were on the same page here. Wang and her family would have liked to keep it that way, but due to Chinese-language reviews published ahead ofThe Farewell's upcomingrelease in China, Wang's grandmother found out the truth. 3 Is Yet Another Big Marvel Movie Misstep, Rachel Weisz Doubles Down in Dead Ringers, To Love Tupac Was to Fight With Tupac: Why Allen Hughes Needed to Make Dear Mama, Academy Slaps Down New Rules After Andrea Riseborough, Tom Cruise, Michelle Yeoh Controversies, Here's Where to Watch 'Scream 6' (and All the 'Scream' Movies) Online, Ryan Murphy Sets Sights on Menndez Brothers for 'Monster' Season 2, White House Plumbers Gives Watergate the Veep Treatment and Misses Big, Roy Wood Jr. Hong became the de facto authority for her fellow performers on whether the interactions of the screen family felt like the real thing; she and Shuzhen began hanging out together off-set a lot and, according to Lulu, started calling each other sister. The director had made good on the promise to shoot The Farewell in her still-living grandmothers hometown of Chungchun, ensuring that a high level of authenticity would be built in to the story. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodwards Daughters Appreciated the Fuck Hut Detail Too. ", It's easy to summarize The Farewell as being about one young woman's internal culture clash, but there's a transcendence to the film easily summed up by the recurring image of the sparrow. But even asThe Farewell took America by storm, it stayed quiet enough on the Eastern front that Lulu Wang's real grandmother, upon whom the film is based, never found out the truth of her cancer diagnosis. But theres a line in the movie that people dont die of the cancer, they die of the fear. By making that movie, Im bringing people, were cooking, were eating together. The Farewell true story reveals that Awkwafina's character in the movie, Billi, is based on writer/director Lulu Wang herself. She shares a tearful goodbye with Nai Nai as the visiting family members return to their homes in Japan and America. He also found the connection between Wang and her grandmother moving and was taken by the broader immigrant story she touched upon, the heartbreak of having to leave your family in pursuit of a better life. Starring Awkwafina as a struggling writer in New York and based on a "true lie" from Wang's life, the film tells the story of a Chinese-American family that, upon learning their grandmother has cancer, decides not to tell her and instead stages a mock . When I come across people who have [original] stories they want to tell, they feel like they have to tell those stories in some other medium first in order to get any traction.. I knew right away I wanted to do it as a movie, says Wang, over the phone from her home in Los Angeles ahead of the films Scottish premiere at this years Glasgow Youth Film Festival. It also helped get her parents off her back regarding her decision to give up being a concert pianist or going to law school in favor of a life behind the camera. When we met on a late spring day in Los Angeles, Wang pulled up to the cafe on a mini Segway, embodying millennial chic in an oversized navy suit and bright yellow Vans. "It went into this whole conversation where I was like, 'Yeah, [in China] I had my grandma and then my other grandma and uncles. And [my friend] was like, 'That's it.' "It makes it harder. [17] It expanded to 35 theaters in its second weekend and earned $1.14 million,[18] then made $1.5 million from 135 theaters in its third. Nai Nai does have a limp in real life, but it wasn't from being shot, which Lulu admits is fiction. Wang is much more sanguine now about the film industry too. I was like, 'What?' Lulu Wang's Nai Nai did join the Chinese Army at age 14 to escape an arranged marriage. Released in July, The Farewell centers on a family telling a big lie in order to keep an even bigger secret. When Lulu Wang initially recounted the tale of her family's unusual struggle with a cancer diagnosis, . She also said yes when Peter Saraf, the cofounder of the production company Big Beach, proposed a lets-get-to-know-each-other chat. After the praise and success of Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean's 8 last year, Awkwafina . Her family threw a fake wedding for her cousin from Japan and her grandmother didnt know. It was a little nerve-racking having her so close to the production, she admits. Aspiring Chinese-American writer Billi maintains a close relationship with Nai Nai (paternal grandmother) who lives in Changchun, China. Filmmaker Lulu Wang and star Awkwafina on "The Farewell," the family drama "based on an actual lie" about a woman visiting her beloved grandma in China. Why would they?, Did constructing another lie to make the movie she told her Nai Nai the film was about her family, but for obvious reasons wasnt specific on the details make it feel as if she was going through the same process again? Maybe she could get it published in The New Yorker, she thought. In related news, Awkafina has just become the first Asian American actress to win a Golden Globe inthe Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy category for her role inThe Farewell. So I feel like in a way, I now have an adult relationship with China, with the city.". That was they wanted out of this, she admits. They take so much money, and I dont fit in. In the film, the Chinese American woman played by Awkwafina, battles with her family . And making this film brought joy to all of us." There was no fear while we were there. Soon, Nora Lum, a.k.a. Like Wang herself had been, Billi is a struggling artist living in New York. Billi assures her parents that she will not reveal the cancer diagnosis to Nai Nai. Jian Yongbo, Kmamura Aio, Chen Han, Tzi Ma, Awkwafina, Li Ziang, Tzi Ma, Lu Hong and Zhao Shuzhen appear in a still from The Farewellby Lulu Wang. And somehow that just clicked for him and he became a lot less awkward and things made sense to him as a child. Is this evidence that there's some truth to the line in the film, "People dont die of the cancer, they die of the fear"? When they were filming Awkwafinas tearful farewell to her screen grandmother, the real grandmother came up to her after an emotional take and kept inquiring, Whats wrong, why are you crying? The star had to bite her tongue. Yes. Wang had been here before; she assumed most of the sit-downs would start off well before the inevitable Yes, but what if shoe dropped. It wasn't just that she could now frequent bars; she had a newfound agency. Incredibly, Nai Nai, and the family secret, survived long enough for her to discover both the deception . I knew I had to make this film for me and anyone else who may be understood me, she said. She was 80 years old, and my family, for reasons I'll get into in a minute, decided not to tell her. She . During the conversation, her mother told her that she would not be permitted to tell her grandma the truth, no matter how much she thought it was the right thing to do. Throughout the trip, however, she clashes with the rest of the family over their deliberate dishonesty towards her grandmother. However, the true story behind The Farewell revealed that Lulu Wang's grandma was still alive when the movie was releasedin 2019. Her family threw a fake wedding for her cousin from Japan and her grandmother didn't know. He just thought he was weird and got made fun of. Not just limiting as a filmmaker like limiting as a human being., When Wang first started pitching what would become The Farewell to producers, it was that type of film what the director calls My Big Fat Chinese Family Wedding that they expected to sign on for. She said: 'And then it was just the three of us.' The Farewell screens at the Glasgow Youth Film Festival on 13 September and goes on nationwide release on 20 September. That was the contrast we needed., The whole purpose of the lie was to bring joy. And so thats why I made the film.. I heard this extraordinary true story, this beautiful complete story. '", As we sit on a couch in Park City, Utah, a few days after the film's first screening, Wang's voice begins to crack as she explains how her life changed when her parents emigrated. Struggling to understand her identity and her place in society, Joan keeps a low personal profile but is keen to share her thoughts with the wider world. Wang already had one film under her belt her 2014 debut Posthumous which, by her own admission, hadnt quite turned out the way shed hoped. That night, Nai Nai gives Billi a hngbo, encouraging her to spend the money as she chooses. "I thought, if I cant make it the way I want to make it, I dont want to make it at all. Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media. Wang's grandmother even visited the set, which was shot at her hometown in China. Movies based on true stories always feature a degree of creative license. Wang's own "Nai Nai," or grandmother in Chinese, was diagnosed with cancer and her family decided to keep the diagnosis from her. When Nai Nai visited the set, everyone still had to continue the lie; Wang told theTimes that Nai Nai thought that the movie was loosely based on our family, with everybody coming back to China for a wedding., Wangfinished the movie and premiered it at the Sundance Film Festival to enormous acclaim. I felt like if people dont get it, but I made the film I set out to make, then I could be proud of it. Its bringing excitement to the neighborhood, the city, my family. "Six years after her diagnosis, Nai Nai is still with us," reads a caption at the end of the movie. The decision not to tell Nai Nai about what's ailing her is part of a Chinese cultural tradition Billi feels divorced from as someone who has grown up largely in the West. It brought joy to all of us.. To Wang, her story was nothing like that. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. http://www.youtube.com/GoldenGlobes\r\rCONNECT WITH US\rWEB: http://www.goldenglobes.com\rFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/GoldenGlobes\rTwitter: http://twitter.com/goldenglobes\rInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/goldenglobes/ The experience of working with This American Life had been so amazing and so pure. The Farewell (Chinese: ; pinyin: Bi Gos T; lit. The lightly fictionalized film finds Awkwafina's character Billi in the same situation, grappling with her own impending loss and frustration with the cultural practice of secrecy. Well, she remembers telling him, there was this one thing about my grandmother. 'Don't Tell Her')[3] is a 2019 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Lulu Wang. Wang, who was born in Beijing but emigrated to the United States with her parents when she was six, says that she had never heard of withholding a prognosis from a family member. TVs Streaming Bubble Has Burst, a Writers Strike Looms, and Everybody Is Freaking Out, Its Either Going to Be Really Funny, or Theyre Going to Be Horrified: An Oral History of. But what about the real grandmother that the story is based on? Who else can I talk to about this, Lulu? The Farewell became 2019's little indie movie that could, earning acclaim out of the gate at Sundance last January and going on to garner awards buzz for its phenomenal cast and, last night, a Golden Globe award for breakout starAwkwafina, who made history as the first Asian actress to win Best Actress at the Golden Globes. But for me, going back and having agency allowed me to see the city as an adult. She knew she had a film in the personal tale of her Chinese familys quest to keep her aging grandmother in the dark about her cancer diagnosis. Little Nainai is certain her big sister is still alive because of her decision to lie to her, because we gave Nainai joy instead of . July 12, 2019, 12:15 PM. Let's get back to my interview with Lulu Wang. Lulu Wang's deeply personal, disarmingly universal story of culture clash and family grief became an indie phenomenon when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year.Based on Wang's own . It's something that Wang wonders. And then we went to America and it was just the three of us," she says. -This American Life, Yes. Then a funny thing happened. But look, it says in the newspaper its called Dont Tell Her, and thats why you didnt tell me, because I am the her of the dont tell her., But we havent talked about it, so Ill see what happens when I see her.. with her cast and crew toshoot the movie there. It was 2016, and Lulu Wang was done with filmmaking. Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023: 13 shows in the world's largest arts festival that are already on sale - including La Clique and Frank Skinner, The Nurse 2023 Netflix true story, where is Pernille Kurzman Lunden now, who was the Danish nurse killer, When Lulu Wangs grandmother was diagnosed with a terminal illness, her family in China decided not to tell her, inspiring the US-based director to make culture-clash drama The Farewell. Theres a second part to this anecdote, Wang points out with a smile, one that she swears is 100-percent authentic. A title card reveals that six years after her diagnosis, the woman Nai Nai's character was based on is still alive and still unaware of her sickness. "You heard the gasp.". This felt like a real-life screwball comedy, but as the situation unfolded what was really interesting was how emotional the whole experience had been for me, but also how undramatic it was from an external perspective. And the review said, 'The film is based on Lulu Wong's real life. "[29] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter commented, "its moments of sweet sentimentality are fully earned and heartfelt. Lulu Wang's indie hit, starring Awkwafina and Zhao Shuzhen, may be an awards contender, but that doesn't mean the film is easily categorized. Its already been dubbed a bona fide indie blockbuster success, and it doesnt even go into national release until August 2nd. Shes like, Well just tell her that movies are fiction and none of it actually happened. Told by doctors that Nai Nai has three months to live, the family decides to hide her diagnosis from her and gathers at their home in China to say goodbye under the pretense of a wedding. "[32][33], Former United States President Barack Obama named The Farewell amongst his favorite films and television series of 2019 in an annual list released on December 29, 2019. She resisted. She wasnt suspicious; everybody on the crew knew not to tell her. Like in the movie, Lulu Wang, her parents, uncle and cousin went to China for the main purpose of visiting her grandma. I dont think shed done Oceans 8. Instead of toasting, Wang, who still desperately wanted to adapt her story for the big screen, burst into tears. "I'm saying it now, getting really emotional. He goes, Hey, do you remember when we had that conversation here, and you said youd never feel this creatively satisfied again? The only caveat: Nobody could tell Nai Nai the truth. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Lulu Wang almost didn't get to make The Farewell, her sophomore feature that's garnered rave reviews since its Sundance debut in January. When Wang pitched her setupa Chinese-American woman returns to her home country with the other expatriates in her family under the guise of a wedding, but with the true intent of seeing the family matriarch before she diesshe was met with a flood of criticism from both Chinese and American financiers: Who is this movie for? The night it aired, Wangs friend took her to a sushi bar to celebrate. So she fashioned the film accordingly, resisting requests from American and Chinese backers to make a broader, more sentimental film. Id also come to accept that it wasnt my decision; it was my familys decision. Now The Farewellis opening in theaters around the country and Nai Nai is still, happily, aliveand well, now in her mid-80s. Thats kind of also what Billis character is [going through]. I have a fat face and Im going to ruin everything. Finally, one day I sat my great-aunt down and said, Listen, we all love you, but if this is going to be difficult for you emotionally. And she told me, No, I have to do this. Its a decision that both upset the American-raised Wang (who wanted to tell her), but also fascinated her, inspiring her to write and direct The Farewell, a bittersweet comedy drama thats in the process of becoming a genuine break-out hit after racking up higher per-screen averages than Avengers Endgame when it went on limited release in the US this summer.