A Conversation With "Crazy Rich Asians" Author Kevin Kwan

welcome to miked up with Milken Institute Asia fellow Curtis chin in conversation with author Kevin Kwan what a terrific turnout it's a jam-packed room there people outside waiting to see Kevin certainly did not know about that but you know Kevin for those of you who don't know Kevin congratulation just made the Time magazine 100 most influential people and we laugh because it was like from Asia or Asian Americans Kevin Kim jong-un Xi Jinping and I think Hoyt Kim so certainly a diverse group Kevin uh welcome you know I wanted to get actually by reading a little bit from an excerpt from the Time magazine description of you it will talk a little bit about of course the fantastic book crazy rich Asians will also be talking about the movie that will come out this August and we're going to talk a little about Kevin's life yeah and all but let me read to you what Constance well to anyone who knows a Constance who Constance Wu is constant is an amazing Chinese American actress also like me from Virginia and she was the woman asked to write the piece in Time magazine about Kevin so I'm gonna embarrass you and read this a little bit so who cares about a piece of jewelry the dress you wear to a wedding in his trilogy of novels about contemporary Asians which began with 2013 s crazy rich Asians Kevin Kwan makes these small things matter not for their glitz but for what those choices reveal about our inner lives and histories like August Wilson what a comparison Kwan is that rare male writer who understands women it's no surprise that his books are bestsellers with a fervent female fan base his stories are also important for Asian men Asian men often grow up in patriarchal cultures American men grew up in a culture that equates toughness with masculinity combine those two cultures and it's understandable why an Asian American man and might be Monet depiction of being small or silly but Quan Kevin here knows that the small silly parts of being human are our softest spots and that softness is where we find our deepest humanity in the tender and sympathetic I'll skip this part because I won't give you any spoiler alerts but Ken doesn't focus on making Asians cool he focuses on making our stories whole the bits were proud of the bits we try to hide the tremendous heart that beats underneath it all and you know essentially if you read some of the coverage of the book and soon to be movie you make very clear that this book is about really introducing Asia to the United States in some way so Kevin tell us actually about what the book is all about and can we actually put up the slide so if those of you don't have the book slide number one so this is the cover and I'm gonna plug Kevin after here there's a book signing with Kevin here at the milk suit in the other room but tell us what is this book crazy rich Asians all about really it's kind of a Downton Abbey in Asia I wanted to take a framework of looking at a family of extreme wealth and really telling the story of what's happening in Asia now you know the fact that over the last century it has risen to become the region of the most powerful economic you know might hmm you know we were talking really the theme of the Milken Institute global conference here in Los Angeles and also the Milken Institute Asia Summit the September in Singapore we hope you're there is really about navigating a world in transition it's hard to talk about our changing world without talking about the rise of wealth in Asia all right and so tell us a little bit about kind of your background and then I want to show a little bit of a clip but you're from Singapore you from the Austin Texas yeah I'm talking about your Singapore I was born in Singapore and I lived there till I was 11 years old okay and then very reluctantly I was sent to Houston Texas Singapore Jackson to continue my schooling and you know hated it at first but grew to love it and then when I was 21 I moved to New York and I've lived there ever since Wow okay hey so is the book and the movie about your life are you a crazy or a change I will just crazy or gestation just crazy okay and Asian and Asian right hey but I'm sure you've drawn on friends or family absolutely I mean the books are very much inspired by my childhood growing up in Singapore what I witnessed and saw that I didn't really understand as a child because as a kid you don't really think of people and how much money they have or you know his family it's just family and things like that and then when you leave that however you know when I was planted from taking away from that world and planted into suburban middle America I began to realize how strange my childhood had been and what wait how you know I had a nanny uh-huh that would you know that I tortured miserably yeah a child you know and I think my father realized that you know and he wanted to take us away from that he wanted us to learn how to mow our lawns actually should yeah rather than you know the gardener lots of gardeners tell us about the film who's in the film and how what was the process from going from Texas Singapore the ER to New York you stayed at Parsons I believe great career there how did like you write a book get an agent how did all that happen sure that's in three seconds or less right we get eight minutes right yeah but you know I started writing the book in 2010 I was a design consultant and was balancing all these different very challenging clients and I wanted something to escape into for myself I wanted to write something fun that I could share of my friends and so bit by bit mainly in airport lounges that's right when I had time when I delays and flights yeah I'm sure you all understand and slowly in two years I had you know half a manuscript hmm and a very good friend of mine the author Michael kurta who is um you know renowned best-selling author and editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster at the time he handed the manuscript over to my brilliant agent Alexander machinist who's sitting right over there we love our agents yeah absolutely and and she she rescued it from the pile that was about Kobe be shredded and we sat down and she said I love this story except I think the ending is very strange and we need to change the ending of it I said well what ending it's only 50% done okay yeah so she said well can you finish the rest of the book in about two months and you were working how are you do your job okay I was working and I was like um well you don't say no to Alexandra yeah haha so I finished the book in two months Wow and we took it out to market and immediately there was a tremendous interest what I think was just the right time people were ready to read a novel about Asia and that's what I noticed you know there were so many financial reports in The Wall Street Journal the New York Times and The Economist about Asian wealth sure you didn't see all the numbers you see all the statistics statistics and I wanted to show the world behind the numbers sure what does it like to be part of a crazy rich family Wow in Asia at this time when they're struggling with ultra-modern life and these ancient traditions huh and then essence what hero has to encounter yeah actually let's actually let's check to the milkiness we'll show you numbers right let's go to slide three and so we put together before coming here a bunch of different slides on the rise of wealth in Asia and we'll quickly flip through a couple so this first slide looks at high net-worth individuals which by this definition is people with a million-dollar in liquid assets right and you'll see I mean I guess it's just 2014 that now that category of people Asia now Trump's the US five point one three million I know within those versus four point seven eight in the US the bottom figures like if you add up all their wealth and Kevin I laughed about this is they don't really know because maybe we don't share with Forbes magazine how much you really have but even with the shareable data seventeen trillion versus a sixteen trillion Asia for us let's go the next slide billionaire breakdown and this we were also laughing because we were just talking on a facebook live interview and Kevin what was the figure you had four Chinese billionaires it was five hundred five hundred ninety seven which is slightly different actually than some of the things I get from form so this to read it out to people billionaire breakdown crazy rich agents Asia now has six hundred and thirty seven billionaires US has five hundred and sixty three billionaire Europe has 342 but the bottom facts for us when we talk about a world in transition we're really intriguing Asia mints one new billionaire every other day ten years ago there wasn't a single billionaire in China Wow and just think about it we better reported that was reported forbes could verify first of all i'm sure there were some that verified and the time we've been together this what four days at the Milken instant global conference they've been to more billionaires created while you've been sitting might even be in this room hey next slide China leads the way in terms of for a billionaires in Asia you know a lot of wealth and Asia we talk about India Hong Kong Japan but look at the the differential here and next slide this is an interesting one particularly because what Constance wrote about you and kind of the appeal of the book and really its strong women in this book a fascinating book but this is self-made female billionaire because here there's a lot of wealth nature you inherit for your mom or dad but these are women who have created a billion dollar you know kind of a said of wealth and so they're reading out tough to read female self-made billionaires 56 Chinese women billionaires and only 15 in the u.s. clearly there's more billionaires but they might have inherited so you think about all of these changes and all one great thing and we were talking about this earlier is that your book your movie gets us beyond stereotypes if you share some of your thoughts about whether was at the event in New York recently for Time magazine mojo and all this steroids as we were laughing like I think we're both bananas which is like yellow on the outside white inside you know and so we were laughing about your own experience of what people think when they meet you tell I went to the Time magazine gal at Lincoln Center last week and you know there were all these people on the red carpet Nicole Kidman JLo you know past presidents things like that and I'm escorted to the red carpet with Michelle Yeoh the PR lady with the clipboard in the headset looks at awesome cheese she goes mr. Quan congratulations nice to meet you is this your wife and I just went oh no no no no no no I mean she's you know literally probably the most famous woman in Asia Michelle Michelle yeah Michelle yeah yeah and the fact that this woman did not know who she was here in New York working in PR it just shows to you you know how much we need a movie like this absolutely you know uh not to raise expectations but there's a lot of a social media chatter about a number of things let's go to the positive stuff four people are saying is this the Asian Black Panther meaning an American film that your lips but but the film is already historic in a couple ways I think you picked up two or three things I mean really it's the first Hollywood studio romantic comedy ever to feature Asian leads I don't think about that yeah ever and then it's the first Hollywood studio movie in 26 years to have an all-asian cast what was the last is that like joy yeah oh joy look club Wow and that's kind of amazing you know when you consider 60% of the world population is Asian absolutely yeah and in the u.s. you know Asian consumers as a minority group see more movies and spend more money at the movies than any other minority group so the fact that it's taken 26 years it's it's so long overdue absent entire generation of Asian Americans has never seen themselves properly represented on the big screen or the small screen and so to get to hear from people to see these tweets you know teenagers crying looking at the you know looking at the you know the trailer and disbelief it was very very sort of you know gratifying for me cuz he don't have absolutely let's go to the I think it's slide number two which is a cover a magazine cover of its Henry right enough mate so besides Michelle Yeoh who you know as the star of the hit ABC sitcom fresh off the boat Henry Golding was a complete unknown he was a BBC travel documentary host and this is his first lead role and he's just skyrocketing yeah it was also the second time an Asian couple has ever appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly ha do you remember the first time was michelle yeoh and chow yun-fat Ford Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon back in 1992 ha so well kudos to you kudos the Warner Brothers hope we're gonna make a lot of money with this so that your second and third books will be made it to movies also yeah I'm not just my books you know there's so many there's so much great material out there and there's so much talent out there that deserves to be showcased and you know if we can help in a small little way to sort of crack that damn you know lucky you've done a number of interviews and I'm gonna use one of the questions I you should have a polished answer yeah people want to know how much is real how much is exaggerated to make a point about the rise of wealth in our crazy world in my books in your book and then you know I haven't seen the film yet yeah but it's only in your book and then maybe what's translate into the film in my books everything is real it's a hundred percent real as I always say you know I don't have an imagination ha I've just always been an observer Wow of these scenes even I don't want it like sporting storylines but there's a part in the book where in Asia you know sometimes you have like a lucky fish in the aquarium I think there's I don't know a forty five thousand dollar fish or whatever and it wasn't really perfect so the crazy rich family had plastic surgery on the fish to make it look better oh is that true it was actually a $250,000 I guess yeah forty five thousand it's just a bargain it's a super rudder on and you can a tional Geographic get a whole piece on it well and there are surgeons in Asia who specialize in plastic surgery for Pat fish so it's quite popular I guess if it gets me a second billion dollars that's well worth it 250 there were so many stories that I had to take out of my books because my editor said this is not believable you're gonna lose your audience and I said but it's absolutely true and here are the articles to prove it you know how and she said you're still gonna lose your audience so you know we have to just tamp it down a bit to make it more believable sure is the book similar or is the movie similar to the book or absolutely you know it's it's it's you know I'm you couldn't tell the whole story of my but my book has over 25 different characters complex layering and this is an hour and 45 minute movie so it's you know things have to be simplified some sacrifices have to be made sure it really does capture hopefully the essence of this world you know I tell everyone you know follow Kevin on social media but you'll see you know this movie the clip you know having seen the movie you know the trailer has has actually generate a little bit of controversy in Singapore for sure and Southeast you can talk to me a little bit about what you've read I don't give a shout out to the trolls yeah but they can hang about that it's very valid you know so it after the trailer premiere that went viral in Singapore and there was a lot of complaints that people weren't seeing any characters speaking English and I just English kind of like a Singapore exact sentence I think at the local pot spa you know that's sort of a mishmash of lots of the dialects with English sure and it's Singaporeans are very proud of speaking of English and they didn't hear a single word of it and it's like it's a two minute clip from from a two hour long movie you know there is going to be Singlish yeah there are Singlish characters in the movie you're just not seeing that in our little selection here but the fact that it became such a flashpoint just shows how important it is for Singaporeans to have this movie be authentic yeah what about you know there was also some comments I was like written by certainly comments that the I don't the director the producer who the casting agent Henry is not 100% Asian you know his father is white his mom is from Malaysia from Sarawak what about all that issue you know can you be not Asian enough for Asian or you know why isn't a Singaporean it's a Malaysian or a half Malaysian what we should reactions and I think that speaks to decades of Hollywood not representing you know correctly and for us it was about finding the perfect character in the play Nicholas young and Henry is Asian you know when Brad Pitt is in a movie and he plays an Irish person or a Czech person no one screams about it hmm but the fact that you know Henry is Eurasian yeah part Asian grew up in Singapore lives in Singapore that was a problem for some people and it's like why is there that unfairness in how Asians are treated why cuz Asians aren't just Chinese agent you know it's a it's a huge dynamic polyglot of different cultures and people and mixes why not my family's Eurasia so why do you think there is that reaction is it probably will be learned in school or what do you think I think we can blame Hollywood because there's been so little representation in the past that people are desperate to see authenticity on screen hmm yeah you know anyway I understand completely the sentiment we involved in the casting tell me about the process from the book to the movie how did all that work it was fascinating to sort of get this insider peek it took five years for us to bring you know the book came out in 2013 and even before the book came out there was a lot of interest from Hollywood studios to their credit money yeah see their credit they noticed it was on a buzz about the book you know Barbara Walters I think was harassing my agent to get her a copy in advance copy and then Graydon Carter from that I'm told gave a copy great recording car window editor Vanity Fair he gave a copy to Wendi Deng Murdock ha and she was very interested and so I think when the when the Hollywood heard that she was interested everyone's heard coming out of the woodwork but in the end I decided to really find the right production team that I could partner with okay that would really stay true to the book stay true to the casting because you know some producers wanted to change some characters to Caucasian mm you know different people at different formulas of how they felt this move it would sell yeah like we need to change Rachel to Reese Witherspoon or something like that but we do like withers loved the milk that is beloved love you know I don't think I don't think she's right to play Rachel Chu quite frankly so you know I wanted to find a really great team and we did with color Forrest and Ivan hook pictures okay we came together and slowly over five years we found the best screenwriters we found Jon Chu the amazing director Michelle Yeoh signed on Constance signed on and then Warner Brothers came in and you know decided to be part of it so it was um it was all just a confluence of amazing events but it took time where was again a film shot tell us about the whole production process of the film yeah it was like Singapore's a star it seemed totally I'm in Singapore this is really a Valentine to Singapore because the movie is shot it's you know in Singapore and Malaysia completely on location and it was the most international not just a national CASP international crew ever assembled that John Truett worked on well we had makeup artists from Czechoslovakia the DP is I think Croatian it was a huge international ensemble of people and I think there were 30 makeup artists on hand well because with so many characters filming in 99 degrees and humidity in ball gowns like there was a lot of coverage we needed to get people looking beautiful and cool you know so it was an amazing production and I was very intimately involved and just a measure of how much John wanted to be authentic he called me up one day and they had they were given a watch that Astrid one of the characters you know this beautiful Airy delegation she's giving a present to her husband okay and it was a watch of a certain brand that I won't mention and he said you know would Astrid really give her husband this watch and I said no absolutely not you know she would get him you know a Paul Newman Rolex Daytona from the 60s so we went on search for that and I found the right collector and we got this amazing half million dollar Paul Newman Daytona and it was flown across the world Wow with its own bodyguard yeah for a 1-second scene because he wanted to get every detail perfect Wow an authentic to what it would be were you involved like as an adviser then on the film yeah I was your watch was not my watch but no I not tell me yeah I worked very intimately with though with the costume designers the set designers with John you know it's available for any questions they had throughout the whole process it was a joy to be that much involved because a lot of times aren't you know certainly as an Asian American I personally excited about this film hoping it's a grand success you also know as an asian-american you have like great fame and wealth on your way to crazy rich Asian dumbness how are you gonna use that you know what are you gonna do you know beyond be a great writer and creator what are you thinking these days I think you know last five years have been so transformative for me seeing the effect of these books and and what it has done for Asians around the world especially younger Asians and so if I can do something to really inspire the next generation of creative people you know be them artists or dancers or actors if I can create more content for Asian talent that's that's what I want to do you know that's my mission is to encourage sure young people into the arts you know and how do you think you might do that partner with someone you met at the Milken Institute global conference or that would be great that would be really great I haven't really much time to really mix and mingle but I am looking for ideas of how can we harness the creativity that's inherent in the next generation and and bring them forth apps especially in Asia yeah because I think most Asian parents just want you to have a really great job at Google you know or JP Morgan or be a doctor and it's it's a struggle and a violinist and a violinist of course you know it's a struggle to try to maintain a creative life as a young person and to pursue that dream it's actually one of the other Asian American speakers here told a joke about pursuing a career that was not banking and it actually was funny but he said when he first told the joke his parents did not laugh and so you know I wanted to ask you about your own family you know yet whether in the US or Singapore in Texas what did they thought about your in a way I was a newfound success but happening these last five six seven years was there a reaction bin you know you're Asian pears the stereotype so a little bit of truth and stereotypes I know my own family it's like they never compliment you but you know you're loved and appreciated how is your family reacted to all this my mom is sort of like so what you know and she reads the books and she she's in Texas where she's in Texas but she spends a lot of time ins you know part of the urgent Singapore as well okay and because she knows his crowd so well it's not really exotic to her it's not really interesting to her just like why are you writing about my friends and why is this interesting you know but I'll tell you my brother uh who has never ever complimented me on anything uh-huh my entire agenda book order no never never mentioned the book you know last week he sent me an email of congratulations for the first time Wow now break because he heard I was speaking at Milken we like your brother he works for Georgia bank that impressed him for the first time ever time didn't impress another time special that speaking at the mill i brighter it he couldn't quite believe it that it was why do we want to talk to you so he's been great in support yeah what are you hearing from your Singaporean friends are they excited or they're like where's the Singlish or we're hearing when you they've seen nothing you know from my Singapore friends are very excited cuz they they've known the struggle I've had for the to five years getting this movie under the big screen and they're all very excited and I think you know we'll see what the massive reaction will be sure so tell us about the next already out the the other two books everyone's heard of now about crazy rich Asians what are the names of the other two books well it's a trilogy and it was always meant to be a trilogy when I first started writing it I had this whole story math out of this family but I also my idea was to use this family and all the drama and the romance and the backstabbing and scandals to really tell the story of different regions of Asia so crazy rich Asians begins in Singapore okay where you have a look into the old money culture that secret invisible wealth that Singapore of signature as in the Straits Chinese and the overseas Chinese and also of Asian Americans of an Asian American experiencing this world through the eyes of Rachel and the next book China rich girlfriend goes into the world of Chinese wealth mainland China you know as Rachel gets pulled into finding her family in China and you get to see all the and the level of spending and a lot of how they live you know these modern-day Chinese oligarchs and then the third book rich people problems takes not you plug your book just out in paperback just out in paperback yesterday yeah rich people problem house and this is the end of the trilogy it is the end of trilogy but here you get to meet the wealthy and Thailand the wealthy in the Philippines the wealthy in Malaysia and then it circles back to Singapore as well so hopefully in the three books you get a grand tour of Asia and really see the diversity and how different these different wealth cultures are and how they're you know sort of rubbing up against each other they're competitive against each other and also supportive of each other you know for me actually I've read all three books it is amazing because it really it is almost the theme of this Milken's to global conference it's about a world in transition but it's actually also about in Asia in transition you know something we lump Asia all together but from that Southeast Asia focus of the original book to the great wealth as we saw in the slides that's being created in China not just old families but women are creating great wealth and it's reading to some of the other markets it was mentoring you that said to me earlier about where the book is successful and in-demand with us I guess is number one oh yeah I mean us is definitely my number one market and how are they buying it online or what have you seen with the books and now they're buying it in all sorts of ways I mean online books have become really the future so I think something like sixty percent of my cells now are online yeah Wow okay and you know the rest you know physical books are hopefully not becoming the relic but you know you can see the sales change and then you know all over Asia of course the Philippines yeah it was really interesting you were saying to me earlier that one of the biggest markets and big interest you know was from the Philippines is I don't maybe cuz Philippines were Mary we're so like similar in many ways well all of the superfans the Filipinos yes why is that because they are the most Western eyes of the Asian cultures you know having had the Spanish influence of the American influence so they get all the American jokes but they also understand all the Asian you know they get both sides of the story um it doesn't hurt that I have some crazy mixed Filipinos well it's funny Kevin does I used to live in the Philippines for four years and in the third book you actually name some of my friends they are not cleverly disguised you name them by name but it's really flattering and one of the big questions in the Philippines is is super celeb interviewer media star Chris Aquino in the movie er can you say you can't she is definitely in the movie playing herself was another carry the highlight of the movie is she really because this is gonna go viral in the Philippines when she mentioned Chris Aquino I hope so she doesn't need my help so it's but we're lucky to have her in the movie and yeah I mean it really isn't amazing actually a story arc I mean yeah we're talking really about how do you describe in a sentence this movie and it's about a family it's a love story it's about a family but it's also about indeed an Asia in transition world change in living beyond about a family in transition you know that models in the past century has been hit by crazy rich wealth and how do you adjust to that yeah how do the new generations adjust to the responsibilities of wealth in an ever-changing world yeah so early we had a in another interview that the question came up what would you say now - you're 23 year old self laughter this wealth and fame you know what have you learned what advice might you give through 23s or an other aspiring writer Rio never solid and that was probably the advice at the Milken Institute 23 years total or 21 years ago and all hey we're gonna open it up for questions in a little bit but anything else you wanna share with me about the movie or the book or what lies ahead for you well I'm a new challenge now is a TV show after writing three books I'm really the new challenge is to really create for TV TV such an amazing think we're in a golden era of television and as a chance to tell new stories and really expand them uh-huh in a way that you can't with movies so is there a deal in the works sorry I'm making making a TV show with St acts entertainment and it's gonna also have a lot of east-west influences okay and that's all I'm allowed to say about it and what's the target date you can even say that right now I can't even say that right adventure yeah that is hopefully gonna be another great success hey so I do want to open it up to questions and I think we have a mic or two does anyone in this audience have a question this gentleman in the back it's okay oh you're with uh my name is rich Greene I know him but we don't know you who are you I'm with ICM partners yeah and a question for you you mentioned the responsibility that comes with this newfound wealth where does philanthropy land with the with the Asian wealth now and is it is it regional or is it global you know that's a very interesting question and I think it really varies from family to family and country to country I I do think Asians as a whole lag behind the West in terms of philanthropy just because you know the tradition is is to really keep the money in the family and every Asian parent their goal is to die leaving as much money as possible to the next generation so that that legacy and and then just you know intergenerational wealth is is so paramount to many many Chinese families but we're beginning to see you know a more volition in philanthropy now in China with you know li kai-shing the richest man in Hong Kong has a foundation now he's really committed to really doing a lot of great things absolutely actually in the past there there was a great tradition of philanthropy in the 40s and 50s with the first generation of Asian tycoons there's a very famous man named Tong cocky you know who was the Malaysian rubber tycoon and he made all his money and gave most of it to China its Open University in Des Moines you know today the Fujian province so there was that tradition been kind of lost but hopefully coming back hello I'm Maria more I'm from the Royal House of below from the Philippines I'm also friends I'm a relatives to the sultanate of sulu have you discovered the hidden treasure of the salut I have not I would I would love to know much more about it so I want to find out if you know about it well you should talk after this maybe that's another book in there yeah hey but on this discussion of wealth and Asia actually can we go - I think it's slide 7 the last slide maybe we can't go to sightsee slide number 7 no anyway so but slide number 7 supposed to be if we could see it it's heroness so this book has gone global this is a tie the tie edition of friend of ours Shane open house it has brought this house and it's actually very interesting and so I wanted to put this up because when we talk about wealth and Asia there's so much focus on Chinese well versus other wealth and in English where did this title come from you know as grammar fiends were like well there's no comma between crazy and rich so it's not crazy and rich agents it's crazy rich like filthy rich rocks and all so where did that come from this is my title yeah your title and I'll talk about the title yeah you know it was really play on words I mean I wanted a word that would would supersede ultra rich ok and I thought crazy rich and it sort of fits in with you know the whole fun aspect and the satirical aspect of sure yeah in Thai however the Thai translation title is called the Revenge of the peonies or edge of the peonies and edge of the peonies because I think peonies for the ties they really symbolize the Chinese women Chinese women and so you know talking to her friend who helped put this edition together it was fascinating because he said you know one crazy-rich doesn't work well in Thai but also in many parts of Asia you're not Asian you're Tom and I know who those other Asians are those crazy people out there but they're not Thai people right and so and so this if you look you know peony is a very Chinese kind of flower but in the middle it's actually if you look close a silhouette of a woman right and so how many languages is this book out in now 1919 Wow and what comes next is there yet a Chinese address there will be a Chinese Edition this Europe Wow okay yeah so for me it's also about the stereotypes there's many stereotypes also in Asia yeah about Chinese or Japanese or arteries and my hope is that this also addresses that I hope so too yeah hey there was a question here in the front hi my name is I'm RAM from the Milken Institute so first I'd like to thank you for the what you've done in bringing you know helping bring Asians to Hollywood and really elevate Asians and on screen but do you think it's enough what what we have now what more needs to be done to really make it more normal to see an Asian person or other cultures as well on the Hollywood screen as well as not in a stereotypical character character especially well the fact is is this only the first project to come on in 25 years and I don't think there's that many other projects in the pipeline yet tells me that it's really not at nearly enough not even that at the beginning of enough considering you know how agents are presented in our population here in the US and around the world so I hope this you know in some small way well will help bring forth a lot of great things to come hey for that the the issue of stereotype you know is this the played a devil's advocate is this also like the next bad stereotype you know I'm no longer the mathematician violin player now I'm the billionaire out of control Chinese tourists well your thoughts on that right I mean it's very much we talk a lot about in Asia the rise of China really is impacting Asia tremendously positively negatively there's a positive negative Chinese tourists you know what about that whole issue of stereotypes then is this part of the issue then Hollywood will only make it because they want to reinforce a different kind of stereotype now well in my books I really try to present very rich multi-layered characters who are individuals and who have different motivations and hopefully that helps to break the stereotypes I hope there isn't a stereotype in my book mmm-hmm you know so you don't walk down the street and go oh that's just a crazy situation spending all their money Louie Vuitton sure you see beyond that to the lives of these people and their passions and their concerns and their problems - sure yeah other questions anyone up here that's one over there we'll do this one first and then over there yeah hi one of what's your name and I'm Josh barro I'm with business insider what are your themes in in the book is some of these families going to significant lengths try to avoid publicity and attention their names out of the press and such and I realized that you know it's not precisely the same names but have you gotten any reaction from those folks who sort of you know why did you write a best-selling novel about us it's it's drawing attention that we didn't want if I have I'm not even aware of it because they're so quiet and they don't want to draw attention to it you know what I mean so there there is this you know a Murtaugh you know this they don't talk about it the first rule of being crazy regime is to never admit your equation we are saying crazy a change in them it's like Fight Club yeah you don't talk about so I have not personally experienced any blowback of the sort but I have met many you know very significantly wealthy Asians around Asia who come up to me and say oh I know I'm in your book you know like I found it being in your book they're proud of you being in my book and they're not because I know everyone who is in my book so they're people claiming to be in my book now so I take it as a compliment that I haven't you know it's a satire it's a fun book and I'm not out to you know there's no access to grind I'm not revealing any deep dark family secrets but hopefully I'm giving people you know a really fun entertaining ride and a peek into this world yeah absolutely hi hi my name is Elsie I'm from Indonesia and I want to thank you as well for your bringing to light Asians I think you have a question about the stories that were left out of this book are you eventually going to release those you know it's interesting I've actually been thinking about them because um crazy rich Asians was actually about 250 pages longer than than it is now you know some stories had to be left on the cutting-room floor huh because there's a psychology to the thickness of a book if you can imagine that you know when I first was trying to get the first book published publisher said it needs to be about this thick if it's this thick no one will read it as a first novel you know unless you know you're in your third Norvell and your Cormac McCarthy or something like that so you know we'll see we'll see if those stories end up somewhere else yeah maybe in a TV show yeah but the stories are in the book right it's just to simplify it for the films are just not in the film or there was some footage you film for the film and it was edited out or I really I don't think I can talk about it like so but you know when it was actually amazing it'll be like the director's cut totally I'll be another 22 I think John's cut was his first cut was three and a half hours long oh my god yeah you know and then he had to bring it down to two Wow so so there Elsie there is I think another film coming out there yeah all right so there was another question back there yes please hi I'm Helena from Temasek from Singapore I'm also an Asian American from originally from Hong Kong I'm now living in Singapore and I also want to say thank you for writing the book and what you're doing just wondering do you intend to be in Singapore and Hong Kong you know to promote your book or the movie or we'll see they have to invite me inviting him that's my other question I think we can have this awful I think there was a question over there yes my oh oh yeah hi born in Russia raised in us a lot of this resonates and all of the stories can you tell us a story that didn't that was maybe too far-fetched to make it into the book in the movie hmm a story that was too I mean there were so many there was a storyline involving you know a business scam and I'm mistress that was sort of based on a true story that I'd heard mm-hmm that did not make it into the first book but it was it was a very famous window hmm but in the second book there's there's a mystery so there's all kinds of things going on for that one yeah yeah can't say more can't say more handsome yeah next day well hi I'm a teacher actually a little fish out of water here at the conference what should i but my name is JD gladden and I am wondering I'm really curious about your mission to harness the creativity of the next generation and I'm wondering particularly with Asian culture but even in American culture how you plan to or if you have any ideas for combating some of the sort of more rigid mindsets around just getting into Stanford and sort of checking boxes in order to do that that's a really interesting question I you know I'm still trying to really answer that question for myself and see how I can be meaningfully part of the solution to that because I think it is something that's so important you know fostering creativity especially in immigrant communities where there's so much emphasis on just financial success you know how do we take that and balance that with you know personal fulfillment and I think that's a theme that's actually in the book a lot the struggle between you know for a lot of Asians you know what are you doing for yourself versus what you doing for your family and for your community and so there's that pressure but I think there can be a balance you know and and so I'm looking for ways to do that either through you know fundings fellowships for emerging writers or you know starting mentorship programs with other artists for high school students and I'd love to to have your ideas on that hi my name is amanda Bressler and i don't a consultant i'm american born and bred I loved your book so thank you for your insights my question is if you looked at how wealth is represented in other cultures and what sticks out to me is that there are some communities where presenting that side of the culture would be very it would create a lot of negative imagery anti-semitism or you know racism and you know if that was ever a consideration and if not what makes it so unique in the Asian culture where there's a sense of pride and it hasn't yet devolved into you know conspiracy theories and you know those kinds of problems yeah I think it's a paradox because I think you know you have Asian families that will still remember World War two and even the period before that of where if you were wealthy people came after you you know so I think that's why there's so much secrecy about in Asian wealth and amongst the high number of families to really really be off the radar they don't want to be targets they don't want to be the tall poppies that stick out on the other hand I think Asian culture is always celebrated you know the prosperity and success and so how do you balance that both so you have some families are very very flashy you know who are constantly celebrating their wealth yeah and then you have some families are just completely off the radar you know we talk about the evolution of Asia we talk about all the great challenges of this 21st century corruption you know rule of law some people always joke the worst thing is to show up on that Forbes list of billionaires because then they know who they're going after yeah alright hey there was an interesting slide about women billionaires after you get your thought you know we've just so much focus on our Milken in school conference also about gender equality the role of Lavina Asians got a lot of strong women and I remember what Constance will again wrote you know like August well maybe have a sense a special sense the women in Asia and how they're evolving can you share some thoughts also about that the issue of like Asian women did that come up again there's the old stereotypes you stereotypes for well the interesting thing I found is that you know there's a stereotype that it's a patriarchy but in my experience it's the women that actually control the money is that Chinese I think the Chinese the men make the money but they go home and they give it to the wives and the wives really control the family purse that's been my experience it's what I've seen in multiple high network families you know in in short stages oh yeah I think what's happening in China is different because you know with with they're opening up of their markets it almost leveled the playing field for everyone there so if you were an enterprising woman with an idea you could really get things done well you saw the number of that Chinese women so you see that you see you know the the ideas the entrepreneurship the ambition in play there it's less so in other parts of Southeast Asia because I think those those wealth cultures are already much more entrenched and I've been happy you know developing for the last hundred years 200 years but in China it's it's you know it's it's become this really there's an openness actually to the market and how money is made and how businesses are made you know or formulated hmm questions anyone over here on the my left hi my name is Susan Lee from the broad foundations on this issue of stereotypes I think a way to combat that which is be getting more stories out there so obviously it's not one that's being held to a standard and I think we've you've talked around this issue but just from your experience and the obstacles that you encountered in getting the film made the way that you wanted it to get made what are some of the specific challenges that still exist and what can be done or what are the things that you think need to happen whether its economic metrics or content or larger trends to get more stories told you know I think Hollywood is at the end of the day it's a big business they believe in the bottom line so they want to see the success absolutely before they'll greenlight another movie or our whole slew of movies so it's it's really about the money ultimately but it's also about people coming out to support these projects you know and I think for a long time Asians I think because we've been so bad or down in this culture there's a suspicion towards anything that you know pretends or purports to be Asian I know where my book first came out I don't think Asian Americans were the first they weren't the early adopters you know it was kind of the New York fashion crowd and just you know women who read fiction that really were the first people that embrace the books you know I had a friend that was in line at a book festival and she had whole stack of my books and she's a Texan you know native Texan and there was an Asian lady very well-dressed behind her and she looked at the books and she goes that's a racist book and my friend said what are you talking about this is not a race you know so she told her about the book and the woman ended up buying a copy you know but I think there is this hmm you know there's a garden a garden as' but that comes from decades of us being disappointed by what we see and how we're represented in mainstream culture so I hope you know bit by bit that will change and like it or not this movie has become that lightning rod that people are hoping will break open the dam so we'll see you know is that one of the challenges with the Hollywood when there's a great success it's like there's five of the same film I think for the next like five years so maybe they're all kinds of some of the books but again I think we do need to tell stories beyond I have a story of crazy Rajesh there's actually so many great Asian American authors that have not yet had a great agent at a film treatment and a film but there's a diversity of Asian American stories and I hope you know you're leading the way there kudos to you thank you I hope so yeah I think we have time for just one or two more questions anyone else yes sir Hey hi Kevin hi thank you and congratulations on the book tell us what you are oh I know who you are my name is Jim quick quick learning I help people learn quickly alright I'm done I ran I ran this morning sessions on the master your mind and memory but um we have him like a million subscribers I'd be I'd be interested in interviewing you to promote the book to our book club speed reading blog but on but also on creativity I'd love to collaborate there's something we could do personally to move that initiative because that's something that I'm very passionate about also as well fantastic great thank you anyone else we have five minutes so yeah one year yes sir hi I'm Davidson golly I have a question about casting it seems like there's sort of a chicken and the egg problem with a casting of Asian rolls and I was only if you had any thoughts on the casting process and where it's headed you know I I think that there's such a diversity of talent out there and as we saw in our movie when we began casting it you know I think we wanted to see what was out there sure and as we began to explore the depth of talent we found all these amazing you know there's amazing things happening with comedians Asian comedians like Jimmy O yang who's a star of Silicon Valley Ronny Chang who's on The Daily Show aquafina there they're all in my movie because you know we just we found them and they did auditions and they were so amazing that we were like we have to showcase this other slice sure these amazing comedic talents who can improv like there's you know it's it's amazing and so I'm hoping that this movie and other movies and other projects that that happened really open up the casting field to all types of actors you know not just the really beautiful ones with chiseled ABS as great as Henry is that's not the photo shop for digitally and and not at all what you're early were laughing about you know it's like every Asian star I I know it's kind of in your film but my hope to the question that there actually was a casting processing meeting there were so many other Asian actors and actresses job they weren't able to make it into the film indeed they're out there but we need the properties and things to give them up there and hopefully they're not just cast because they're Asian I mean that's the other bigger challenge we and think about Asian actors and I hear clear they're all playing Asians but you can play a role that's not just read but I think it was also important for example you you so seldom see Asian men in American movies as romantic leads or as objects of interest yeah you know Asian men are usually computer geeks or doctors or things that so to see an Asian heartthrob shirtless you know that was I think an achievement sure in a way because it hopefully will help you know break the stereotypes and on that note us to heartthrobs asian-american heartthrob yeah bring this great session to a close hey Kevin you know I mean the the Milken is to global conference it's really a diversity people around some of these great issues or changing world you were gonna do something similar in Singapore in September about navigating this world in transition we hope you can make it but certainly I'll be tuning in to the film and I hope everyone watching this online or in this room also since the date August 17th August 17 yeah thank you so much Kevin for joining us at the Milken - thank you thank you for danger in his book in that pavilion over there if you want to get a copy at all

Channel: Milken Institute

Views: 96,743

Rating: 4.8164644 out of 5

Keywords: asia, entertainment and sports, crazy rich asians, CRA

Id: k26Q1XI6Rpk

Length: 54min 58sec (3298 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 09 2018