‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Kevin Kwan Optioned His Book for $1 to Keep the Movie From Whitewashing

When Kevin Kwan received numerous movie offers for his book, Crazy Rich Asians, he instead optioned the film adaptation for a very good reason. Kwan revealed, in an interviewed with The Hollywood Reporter, that he made this decision in order to prevent his characters from being whitewashed in the movie version.

The risky move was made after one movie pitch encouraged him to change his main character from an Asian woman to a white woman, “It’s a pity you don’t have a white character,” said the producer to Kwan.

It turns out he also turned down a deal with Netflix in order to not only make sure the cast was Asian-American, but they also wanted the movie to have a cinematic-feel. “Jon [the director] and I both felt this sense of purpose. We needed this to be an old-fashioned cinematic experience, not for fans to sit in front of a TV and just press a button,” Kwan said in the interview.

If it is anything based on Kwan book, then we’re sure the move will have paid off. You can see for yourselves in theaters on August 15.