{"id":44519,"date":"2018-09-20T11:12:34","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T15:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=44519"},"modified":"2018-09-27T10:18:05","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T14:18:05","slug":"option-now-film-soon-in-eastwind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/option-now-film-soon-in-eastwind\/","title":{"rendered":"Option Now, Film Soon! [in East Wind ezine]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"While texting with a (much younger) Korean American friend the other day about meeting at the movies, I gave her two choices: CRA<\/em><\/a> or Searching<\/em><\/a>. I was all giddy on my end, thinking how phenomenally lucky we were to have TWO APA choices, but my bubble burst a bit when the phone bleeped with \u201cWTF is CRA? Searching for what?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, then \u2026<\/p>\n

As much history-making APAs-in-Hollywood success we\u2019ve seen in the last month alone (Jenny Han\u2019s To All the Boys I\u2019ve Loved Before<\/em><\/a> from Netflix gave the yogurt drink Yakult its biggest commercial boost<\/a>!), clearly we need more, more, more.<\/p>\n

A plethora of literary source material is certainly out there. For interested readers, Kevin Kwan\u2019s CRA<\/em><\/a> is actually a trilogy \u2013 it continues with China Rich Girlfriend<\/em><\/a> \u2026 and Warner Brothers has already announced<\/a> it will reunite the original production team and cast for the sequel. Rich People Problems<\/em><\/a> = CRA3, which is all but guaranteed to make it to the big screen. Who knows, maybe Kwan\u2019s planning CRA4, CRA5 in perpetuity! Or at least as long as the tickets sell!<\/p>\n

Where there\u2019s bucks to be made, of course studios are taking notice. Bestselling author Celeste Ng has BOTH of her books going celluloid<\/a> with Oscar-nominated producer Michael De Luca helming Everything I Never Told You<\/em><\/a> and Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington adapting Little Fires Everywhere<\/em><\/a>. Apple\u2019s acquired Min Jin Lee<\/a>\u2019s National Book Award finalist<\/a>-ed Pachinko <\/em><\/a>with plans to turn it into a series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For Hollywood\u2019s makers and shakers in search of more literary fodder, for indies looking for quality inspiration, for film students in search of final projects \u2013 for anyone in need of great stories \u2013 consider turning these pages into celluloid success.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"The set already exists for much of Vanessa Hua<\/a>\u2019s A River of Stars<\/em><\/a>: San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown is just waiting for the crew to arrive! Hua\u2019s debut novel is a timely, rollicking comedy-of-sorts about another breed of crazy rich Asians \u2013 wealthy Chinese nationals who arrive pregnant in the U.S. to birth children who will provide \u201ca foothold in America,\u201d just in case the homeland gets a bit too unfriendly. Scarlett, a factory manager, gets sent by her wealthy married lover to have their love-child in a luxurious facility outside Los Angeles. Fearing she might lose her American-citizen-to-be to its manipulating father once her womb is no longer useful, Scarlett flees her gilded cage \u2026 with a knocked-up teen sidekick she never planned for! Move over, Thelma and Louise \u2013 Scarlett and Daisy are on the run!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Then there\u2019s Don Lee<\/a>\u2019s multiple titles. Some angry young director could really jumpstart his or her career with The Collective<\/em><\/a>, about three APA college friends and the violent suicide of one of their own that unravels their lives. Of course, any of Lee\u2019s stories from his debut collection, Yellow<\/em><\/a> \u2013 about the quirky, unpredictable residents of Rosarito Bay (not unlike Northern California\u2019s Half Moon Bay) \u2013 would make for excellent source material. His two follow-up novels set in that same Rosarito Bay, Wrack & Ruin<\/em> and his latest Lonesome Lies Before Us<\/em><\/a>, would both make for excellent dramedies! Savvy studios should consider turning the Rosarito titles into a multi-season series.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Alice Stephen\u2019s Famous Adopted People<\/em><\/a>, which hits shelves next month, is a wild, wild ride featuring a Korean American adoptee who isn\u2019t particularly interested in finding her birthmother but gets found instead by a birth family she could never, ever have imagined. Hot-topic buttons \u2013 North Korea, megalomaniacal dictators, the cosmetics \u00fcberindustry, mysterious kidnappings \u2013 all get pushed here, with fabulous shooting locations, both real and imagined, all of which should incite substantial audience curiosity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"I\u2019ve been longing to see Thrity Umrigar<\/a>\u2019s The Space Between Us<\/em> on screen for over a decade. It\u2019s one of those quiet stories with deep, affecting insights about everyday relationships. Here, the focus is on a privileged woman and her servant of many years who is both her closest friend and merely hired help. The novel is set in contemporary Bombay, but the story could happen anywhere that the haves and have-nots live side-by-side, alternately supporting and disdaining one another. Umrigar just this year finally published a sequel, The Secrets Between Us<\/em>, making the two-book originals adaptable as either two films or even a series.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the younger audience angle \u2026 because they go to the movies en masse.<\/p>\n

\"\"Maurene Goo\u2019s The Way You Make Me Feel<\/em><\/a> features two 16-year-old frenemies forced to work closely together \u2013 on a tiny food truck in the L.A. summer heat! \u2013 to avoid suspension and pay off the damage they caused at school during prom. That the sparring antagonism will eventually turn to BFF-ship might seem predictable, but the bonding journey is delightfully unique, complete with Korean Brazilian culture and food (where have you seen THAT on screen before??!), a coffee-supplying entrepreneur named Hamlet, the \u201ckimchi squat,\u201d an impetuous runaway to Mexico, and a competition worth $100,000. And that\u2019s just a few of the glories of The Way You Make Me Feel<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Emily X.R. Pan\u2019s The Astonishing Color of After<\/a><\/em> is, well, just astonishing! The debut novel already feels like a cinematic masterpiece, filmed in \u201ccarbazole violet,\u201d \u201cburnt orange,\u201d \u201cmanganese blue and new gamboge yellow and quinacridone rose.\u201d Yes, Leigh sees life in Technicolor, until her mother\u2019s suicide turns her world to the \u201cblackest black.\u201d But her mother isn\u2019t actually dead: \u201cThis isn\u2019t like some William Faulkner stream-of-consciousness metaphorical crap,\u201d Leigh insists, \u201cMy mother. Is literally. A bird.\u201d And she makes avian deliveries: a box arrives from maternal grandparents Leigh has never met, with instructions to bring it to Taiwan for a first-ever visit where she\u2019ll finally find much-needed answers. Can\u2019t you already see the family drama, the teen first love, the heritage trip, the famous Taiwanese night markets? And the magic \u2013 the astonishing colors of magic!<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve gotta admit, we\u2019ve got plenty of stories to tell. It\u2019s soooo time for Lights! Camera! Action!<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: “Option Now, Film Soon!,” EastWind: Politics & Culture of Asian Pacific America<\/em>, September 2018<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Young Adult, Adult<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While texting with a (much younger) Korean American friend the other day about meeting at the movies, I gave her two choices: CRA or Searching. 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