The director of the Sundance sensationThe Farewellhas made the kind of movie Hollywood never makes.
The Farewellopens theatrically July 12.
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(Indeed, Im an only child and a bad liar.)
Truth is stranger than fiction, so the more mundane thing is easy to lie about, she says.
Im very good at spotting when people are inauthentic.
I can always feel when someones not fully connected.
Its just an energy thing.
Her second feature,The Farewellis populated with the lies we tell the people we love.
Her family, including her grandmothers younger sister, Little Nai Nai, decided not to tell her.
The world ofThe Farewellstraddles geographical, cultural, and linguistic divides.
The inevitable fish-out-of-water and East-meets-West narratives happen, but in subtle, sometimes painful ways.
Part of Billis and Wangs journey is wrestling with the cultural logic of whether or not to lie.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, she is a skilled fabricator.
I guess all but the correct one, the mundane lie hidden among the big, bold statements.
Theres nothing I dont like to eat!
I literally love everything, especially sweetbreads.
I really believe the universe rewards the courageous.
In 2007, she moved to Los Angeles.
So she got a job as an assistant to a producer one of those stand-and-wait jobs.
Only Wang does not like to stand and wait.
My boss, the producer, saw that, and she was just like, You cant do that.
You cant just walk up to video village.
Theres a hierarchy in the studio system that I just wasnt aware of, Wang says.
She was unceremoniously fired.
I was not a good assistant, regardless, she adds with a smirk.
The funny thing about Hollywood as a town that makes stories is there arent actually that many original storytellers.
Lulu can do that, says actor and screenwriter Brit Marling, who stars in the film.
Shes like a firecracker.
She has an internal source of light and energy.
Its not a phony optimism.
Its a hard-won optimism.
The world can really beat that out of you as a woman.
But she has a relish for life.
Wang had tried pitching the concept forThe Farewellbefore theThis American Lifeepisode, to no avail.
I had a Chinese investor literally say, My Big Fat Chinese Wedding.
Why is that not enough?
Mountains are falling because youre losing your grandmother that you love.
Wang would either make the film she wanted to make or not make it at all.
Its a real privilege to be able to say no, she says.
It puts you in a situation where you cant make your best work.
(Big Beach Films ultimately produced the film.)
I try not to explain things in the movie to a Western audience.
I didnt want to have any kind of self-awareness about identity.
It was really just about the purity of the experience and the emotions I was feeling throughout it.
In January,The Farewellpremiered to rapturous reviews atthe Sundance Film Festival, provoking a bidding war.
Thats kind of how capitalism works it ruins things because it shifts your perspective entirely.
Wang called her mom to ask for advice.
I can buy you a house now.
And you’re free to tell all your friends, she remembers telling her.
Why would you buy me a freaking house?
I already have a house, her mom replied.
I think that is surprising because you dont really think that about people like us, you know?
Shes a boss bitch.
Soon after, she met Wangs father and, eventually, stopped writing.
I didnt want to believe in her reality.
While she was pregnant with her, shehad gone to see a blind psychic in a remote Chinese village.
He said, Youll have four children, and your first will be a daughter, Wang recalls.
And he said, You are water, but youre like a river.
But your first child is your daughter.
But my mother is very matter-of-fact.
Shes like, This is what was said, and so this is your fate.
This is your destiny.
I said, But what does he know?
You never had four children.
She was pregnant four times, and she had forced abortions because of the one-child policy.
Who knows what we believe?
Is it a self-fulfilling prophecy, or is it a prophecy?
