AAPI stars shine bright at Hollywood's Unforgettable Gala

The cast of 'Fresh Off the Boat' was honored with The Legacy Award at the Unforgettable Gala.

ASAM NEWS

Asian Americans in Hollywood gathered to honor their own at the 18th annual Unforgettable Gala last weekend in Beverly Hills. 

Put on by Character Media (formerly Kore Asian Media ), a who’s who of Asian American and Pacific Islander entertainers featured in 2019 came together to celebrate the icons in the entertainment industry.

Awkwafina won the best actor/actress award for The Farewell, the film’s Lulu Wang won in the director category and its entire cast received the Vanguard Award, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s almost rebirth time,” said Tzi Ma who played Awkwafina’s father in The Farewell. “We’re not stuck with all the flash and the special effects. To be able to tell a story with no thrills and just people talking, and 80 percent in a foreign language, something’s going on.”

Other winners, according to Deadline, included NBC Superstore's Nico Santos for TV actor, Charles Melton as breakout star for The Sun is Also a Star, Maya Erskine as breakout star in TV for Hulu’s Pen 15, Ali Wong for comic performance in Netflix’s Always Be My Maybe, and Bobby Hundreds as digital influencer.

The entire cast of Fresh Off the Boat won the Legacy Award which wraps up its sixth and final season February 21.  The show's stars Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, Ian Chen, Chelsey Crisp and Lucille Soong were all on hand to accept the award from Ken Jeong and Ming-Na Wen.

“It seems to have inspired other people to tell their stories, one story can’t represent a whole,” Constance Wu of Fresh Off the Boat said to The Hollywood Reporter. Wu said she felt a mixture of sadness that the show was ending, but also happiness that it inspired other stories to be told.

The cast of 'The Farewell' won the Vanguard Award and Awkwafina (left, front) was named Best Actor/Actress at the Unforgettable Gala last Saturday.

The Unforgettable Gala through its 18 years has become the AAPI equivalent to the entertainment industry's awards shows that often overlook the work of AAPI artists. 

"This year, we have seen more Asian American faces on screen and more Asian American projects green-lit than in the decades past. It is more important now than ever that we take this moment to award these individuals who are paving the way, because of course – we still have a long way to go," states the evening's program.

Simu Liu, who emceed the show with singer/rapper/songwriter Amber Liu (no relation) included a zinger aimed at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, according to Variety. The actor, set to  star in Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” noted that the voting body of the Golden Globe Awards nominated Awkwafina for best actress in a motion picture musical or comedy for her performance in “The Farewell” and the film itself for best foreign language film.

“Awkwafina is also having a really good year. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in The Farewell, or as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association calls it, ‘That movie with all the foreign people that speak Asian,'” Liu cracked, echoing a criticism that the film — while mostly in Mandarin Chinese — is an Asian American story, written and directed by an Asian American and starring an Asian American.

Writer Adele Lim who won for Crazy Rich Asians last year reminded people what the night is all about.

“We have all these stories that we’ve been sitting on and burying because we’ve been told over decades that it’s not gonna sell. We’ve seen over the few years that it’s simply not true. That’s a bigger truism we can take to the bank.”

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

Crazy Rich Asians director supports script writer's protest

Director Jon Chu, left, supports Adele Lim's decision to reject co-writing sequels to 'Crazy Rich Asians'

A week after the new broke that the Crazy Rich Asians movie's co-writer, Adele Lim, had decided to not write the sequels because of a huge 10-1 pay disparity, CRA director Jon M. Chu wrote a lengthy tweet in support of her decision.

“For those of you who are asking, you bet your a— I stand with Adele!” Chu wrote. “I believed in her before we ever shot the movie and believe in her beyond. As many of you can imagine, negotiations are tough and more often than not messy — no matter who you are in this industry.”

Chu, 39, went on to explain that a second offer was made to the Malaysian American writer but by that time, Lim had moved on to other projects and ultimately rejected the offer that was reportedly fairer.

On Sunday, Lim made it clear that she remains personally close to the Chu, the cast and crew of the ground-breaking film. Close friendships developed among many members of the cast and crew because they rallied around the common cause of Asian and Asian American representation and inclusion in the Hollywood studio culture.

When CRA first showed success at the box office and was praised by critics, Chu said, "It's more than a movie. It's a movement."

So it was surprising that the CRA cast, crew and producers didn't rally around Lim's cause. Monday, Chu tweeted his message in response to the controversy:

Shortly thereafter, actress Gemma Chan joined in and retweeted Chu's post. "Pay disparity disproportinately affects women and POC and there is still a long way to go ..." Chan wrote.

Breakout actress, Awkwafina, also tweeted out her support:

Lim rejected the first offer which was about one-tenth of the $1-million offered to co-writer Pete Chiarella. After he leaerned of the pay disparity, Chiarella reportedly agreed to give up some of his pay in order to lessen the pay gap.

However, by that time, Lim had moved on. She signed a four-year deal with Disney and was already working on the animated tale of Raya and the Last Dragon based on a Southeast Asian myth.  Filipina Canadian actress Cassandra Steele and Awkwafina will be doing the voices of the main characters. The film is set to be released in November 2020.

Chu ended his tweet by saying that the door remains open for Lim to return to CRA's sequels with the hope that the contract dispute did not reflect their professional and personal relationship.

Chu concluded: “That said, the door is always open for Adele and if there’s another shot at making it work I know we are all for it but that’s a personal and private conversation between ourselves. In the meantime, thank you for being loud, thank you for caring and your support. More to do. More to say. More to learn.”

UPDATED: Sept. 10, 4 p.m. PDT to include Awkwafina's comment.

_________________________________________________________________

Screenplay writer leaves 'Crazy Rich Asians' sequels

Screenplay writer Adele Lim will not be working on the Crazy Rich Asians sequels.

A treatment for the sequels to Crazy Rich Asians has reportedly been handed over to the studios, but it doesn't involve Adele Lim, who co-wrote the CRA screenplay with Peter Chiarelli.

Lim has withdrawn from the project over the issue of pay disparity, according to The Hollywood Reporter. For the CRA sequels, Chiarelli was reportedly being paid about $1-million and Lim was offered about one-tenth of that sum.

"Being evaluated that way can't help but make you feel that is how they view my contributions," Lim tells the Hollywood Reporter.

Warner Brothers hired Chiarelli to adapt Keven Kwan's first book into a movie. Malaysia-born Lim was added to the writing team to make sure the script adhered to cultural correctness since the movie takes place in Singapore and significantly, has an all-Asian cast.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Warner Bros. searched for another Asian or Asian American writer to replace Lim but finally offered Lim a new contract more cloasely aligned with Chiarelli.

Chiarelli reportedly offered to share part of his salary to even out the disparity but Lim rejected to offer.

"Pete has been nothing but incredibly gracious, but what I make shouldn't be dependent on the generosity of the white-guy writer," Lim tells THR. "If I couldn't get pay equity after CRA, I can't imagine what it would be like for anyone else, given that the standard for how much you're worth is having established quotes from previous movies, which women of color would never have been [hired for]. There's no realistic way to achieve true equity that way."

Writing fees are usually based on previous credits. Chiarelli had written several movie screenplays but Lim's previous credits have been for television.

For now, Chiarelli is working with director Jon Chu in adapting the next two books in Kwan's trilogy for the movie sequels that will be filmed concurrently. Chu was not involved in the contract dispute with Lim, reports THR. They have reportedly gave Warner Bros. a 10-page treatment for the upcoming project.

Lim has also moved on. She has signed a four-year deal with Disney. Her first project is writing the screenplay for the animated story of Raya and the Last Dragon, based on a Southeast Asian myth.

___________________________________________________________________