Former Disney Channel star Brenda Song revealed this week that she was unable to get an audition for Crazy Rich Asians because she was “not Asian enough”.
The actress revealed she’d been hoping to audition for the romantic comedy, thinking she’d be perfect for the romantic comedy that featured an all Asian cast.
Speaking with Teen Vogue, Song said, “A lot of people don’t know this, but I never got to read for Crazy Rich Asians, ever,” she said. “Their reasoning behind that, what they said was that my image was basically not Asian enough, in not so many words. It broke my heart.”
“I said, ‘This character is in her late to mid-20s, an Asian American, and I can’t even audition for it?’ I’ve auditioned for Caucasian roles my entire career, but this specific role, you’re not going to let me do it? You’re going to fault me for having worked my whole life?’ I was like, ‘Where do I fit?”
Now, the movie’s director Jon M. Chu has responded to Song’s interview on Twitter.
He wrote, “Would these words ever come out of my mouth? Nope makes no sense. I feel horrible she thinks this is the reason. The fact is I love Brenda Song and am a fan. I didn’t need her to audition because I already knew who she was!”
He also responded to another post about Song’s comments and said, “Nope. I love @BrendaSong and that sucks if anything of that nature was ever communicated. It’s gross actually. The fact is, obviously I know who she is and didn’t need her to audition. I’m a fan of hers! Nothing more nothing less. Bums me out she thought it was anything but.”
It looks like there was a miscommunication as Chu appears to be a fan of Song’s and is disappointed she would think she didn’t get an audition for not being “Asian enough”.
Who knows, maybe this will lead to another role in one of the sequels?
Song now stars in a comedy series produced by Margot Robbie called Dollface with Kat Dennings and Shay Mitchell.