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SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS
Restaurateur and author Eddie Huang will add 'movie director' to his resume. |
ASAM NEWS
Author and chef Eddie Huang will enter the world of directing for the first time with a coming-of-age film set in contemporary New York City, Deadline reports.
The movie, Boogie, which is also written by Huang, tells the story of a young Chinese American basketball phenom who struggles to balance the expectations of his immigrant family and his own dreams to play in the NBA.
Newcomer Taylor Takahashi will play Boogie, while Pamelyn Chee (Prescient, Beyond Skyline) and Jorge Lendeburg Jr. (Spiderman: Far From Home, Love, Simon) are set to co-star.
Huang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants and chef and owner of the acclaimed restaurant Baohouse, said a lot of his existing work has presented the Asian American experience “like a triumphal arch.”
“Planet Asia needed me to stand out here with my two arms up, but I’m in my Purple Phase now,” Huang said in a statement Monday. “Boogie is the reflection of my ancestor’s spirit and values as I’ve always felt them navigating me through this American life.”
Huang’s debut screen project will be produced and domestically distributed by Focus Features.
“[Huang] lays waste to expectations and shapes the ground of our culture with every new endeavor he embarks upon, and we couldn’t be any more proud or excited to a part of bringing his voice to the world,” Focus chairman Peter Kujawski said. “Hold on tight and watch what he does here.”
Huang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants and chef and owner of the acclaimed restaurant Baohouse, said a lot of his existing work has presented the Asian American experience “like a triumphal arch.”
“Planet Asia needed me to stand out here with my two arms up, but I’m in my Purple Phase now,” Huang said in a statement Monday. “Boogie is the reflection of my ancestor’s spirit and values as I’ve always felt them navigating me through this American life.”
Huang’s debut screen project will be produced and domestically distributed by Focus Features.
“[Huang] lays waste to expectations and shapes the ground of our culture with every new endeavor he embarks upon, and we couldn’t be any more proud or excited to a part of bringing his voice to the world,” Focus chairman Peter Kujawski said. “Hold on tight and watch what he does here.”
Huang's 2013 memoir, "Fresh Off the Boat," of growing up as part of an immigrant family was translated into the TV series with the same name.
Despite the groundbreaking nature of the show featuring an Asian American family, he was dissatisfied with the sanitized version of what he felt was "his" story. Huang left the series after the first series over creative differences.
He subsequently hosted a series of travel/food shows, Huang's World, on the Vice network, and Cheap Bites on the Cooking Channel.
In an interview on CBS' Sunday Morning, he explained that in almost everything he does, he tries to smash the model minority myth imposed on Asian Americans.
Having an Asian American with dreams of becoming a pro-basketball player is a continuation of that goal.
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Views From the Edge contributed to this report.
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