Hollywood finally shines spotlight on Anna May Wong

ANNA MAY WONG

It is appropriate that it took women of Asian descent to put a spotlight on the silver screen’s first Chinese American star, Anna May Wong.

Actress Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians, The Eternals) and producer Nina Yang Bongiovi (Sorry to Bother You, Fruitvale Station) are teaming up to develop a film about Anna May Wong, the Hollywood's first Asian American movie star, who fought a lonely battle against the movie industry's penchant for casting AAPI actresses to stereotypical roles. 

Chan will play the title role of the Los Angeles-born pioneer actress who started in silent films and transitioned to speaking roles.

Golden Age icon whose career brought her international recognition even as she continued to face opportunity limitations in the industry and other forms of prejudice and discrimination.

Chan, one of the busiest movie actresses and outspoken against the epidemic of anti-Asian hate in Great Britain and the U.S., will portray the Hollywood legend and also executive produce. 

Yang Bongiovi, who has a reputation of backing productions risk-adverse Hollywood wouldn't touch, will produce alongside Working Title co-chairs Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. 

Gemma Chan's "look" at New York City's Met Gala was a tribute to Anna May Wong..

Wong's role in Hollywood is getting more attention in the last few years as the topic of diversity and inclusion in the movie industry has become a hot topic in the AAPI community. 

Her role in the early years of Hollywood was partially told in Netflix's  2020 limited series Hollywood. This year, Wong's image was used on a U.S. quarter, the first Asian American to be depicted on U.S. currency.

Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociologist wrote about Wong in her book "Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism,"  She found it remarkable that Wong spoke out in interviews on the prejudices she endured, despite there being little history for her to pull from.

“It was different because there wasn’t a lot of awareness what Asian American is and means, and she actually did speak out a lot about that,” Yuen explained to CAAM. 

“I had the benefit of all the people that came before me, all the historians, all the scholars, all the activists,” she added. “For her, she was alive during a time when there wasn’t that. She couldn’t take a course in Asian American studies.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't miss additional commentary and news, views and tips from an AAPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Sunday Read: AAPI celebrities decry rise of anti-Asian hysteria, blame Trump

From top left, clockwise" Henry Golding, Lana Condor, Daneil Dae Kim, Eugene Lee Yang, Celia Au and Tzi Ma.

The rising number of attacks against Asians and Asian Americans has pushed Hollywood's creative community to speak out against the senseless violence and the racialization of the coronavirus.

“Please, please stop the prejudice and senseless violence against Asian people,” Lost and Hawaii Five-0 actor Daniel Dae Kim pleaded in an a tweet announcing that he had coronavirus. “Randomly beating elderly, sometimes homeless Asian Americans is cowardly, heartbreaking and it’s inexcusable.”

Awkwafina, who had just returned to the US, has voluntary placed herself in self-isolation, even though she has not shown any symptoms of the virus. She tweeted:“Have been away working for the past few months in all of this devastation, and wanted to make double sure I was OK to travel before coming back home to the U.S.,” she shared on Instagram. 

“Haven’t said much about this whole thing because mostly I am just saddened by it. I worry for those who are most at risk for serious illness, the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions.”

“I am saddened by the rhetoric that has come out of this, and the cruelty that came as a result,” Awkwafina continued. “I hope that while we self isolate and socially distance to stay safe, we also stay sane and calm. Wishing everyone a sense of peace during this batshit crazy time – I will be locking myself up for the next 2 weeks rewatching the Tiger King. Love you all ❤️❤️❤️.”

Recording artist H.E.R. is joining headliners Elton John and Mariah Carey in a virtual concert Sunday (March 29) evening that will air on the Fox stations, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT

What makes it unique is all the artists will be performing from their living rooms, maintaining the stay-at-home recommendations by the CDC, thus avoiding the chance of spreading the virus in large gatherings. Proceeds will benefit coronavirus charities, including Feeding America, and honoring the first responders who represent the “strength and compassion” of America.

"We are chilled by the constant use by the president and his administration of that term," Takei said. "We have a long history of anti-Asian hatred in this country" Star Trek star George Takei, told USA Today.

"His doing that sends a cold chill throughout the Asian American community, because he's sending a signal to the haters and his constituencies, and there are plenty of them there," he said.

Takei has not been hesitant to pointedly criticized Trump. In a tweet, he posted: "We may not have a president, but we still have great leaders. Listen to them when they say #StayHome," he wrote.

In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Wu Assassins star Celia Au pointed out the irony that the people being attacked are also the people most active in fighting the virus. "Many Asian Americans work in the medical field," Au said. "They're already risking their lives going to work every day trying to save your life. By attacking them, they are afraid to go to work. They're afraid that on their way to work, they're going to get attacked by people. … If these people don't go to work, you're not going to get care."

Shannon Lee, daughter of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, recently wrote a not-so-subtle dig of Donald Trump who have pushed the term. "Chinese virus" when referring to the novel coronavirus — which has caused a global pandemic comprising overt a half-million confirmed cases of the disease COVID-19 and over 20,000 deaths. 

"I want us all to understand there is no 'Chinese Virus.' A virus knows no nationality, and wherever and however it started, it does us no good to point fingers, ostracize, attack or demonize Asian people," she posted on her Facebook page.

Even though, Trump later cautioned against attacks against Asian Americans, the phrase is now partially blamed for the uptick of racist attacks against Asians and Asian Americans, from hate-filled messages on social media platforms to physical assaults in public.

Lana Condor, 22, star of To All the Boys I Ever Loved and its sequel To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, was even more blunt in her social media post to Trump:

“You have no idea the ramifications your racist words & actions have on the Asian American community. You simply cannot even fathom the danger you are putting our community in. How dare you.”

“You should be ashamed of yourself. You call yourself a leader?” Condor continued. “You know what leaders do? They LEAD by setting good examples and ACTION. Something we’ve yet to see you do. You need to take notes on Chinese billionaire Jack Ma who is ACTUALLY leading – by donating tests and millions of masks to AMERICA, bc you haven’t.”

Golding's Crazy Rich Asians costar Gemma Chan used her voice to help the caregivers in the United Kingdom, which has universal healthcare.

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: star Chloe Bennet, sharing Condor's anger and frustration, said on Instagram, “I can’t tell you how many calls/texts I’ve received from family members, all of Asian descent, speaking to me about their extreme levels of anxiety, shame and fear,” ... “People are being verbally and physically attacked and Asian owned businesses boycotted. And this xenophobic rhetoric is the direct cause.”

On March 17, former Knicks player Jeremy Lin ripped into Trump's handling of the medical crisis and Trump's use of "Chinese virus,"

JEREMY LIN

“And I dont wanna hear about no German measles/Spanish flu [because] everyday Asian-Americans [including people] I know are threatened and physically attacked. I dont give a crap about the history of names [right now]. What I do know is this subtle anti-Chinese message only empowers more hate towards Asians.”

He added: “Can you honestly tell me there is ZERO anti-Chinese sentiment in all his characterizations of the virus? Can you honestly tell me Asians aren't being unfairly physically attacked today in the US? Is it that hard to use coronavirus or COVID-19? We playin the blame game in a crisis.”

From his home in the San Francisco Bay Area, Lin, who was preparing to return to China to finish off the season playing for the Beijing Ducks, tweeted:

“Excited to hoop again, but leaving the bay worried and with a heavy heart for the sick, the jobless and all those fighting fear, anxiety and stress over the unknown future. Shoutout to our medical staff in the 50 states for working tirelessly and everyone keep doing your part in slowing the virus!

He also added a message for his fans and why he's returning to China  to play ball in trying times such as these.

“The world needs basketball now more than ever. I still remember when I went through my toughest moments and worst injuries. You guys were there for me. I hope to return the favor. As all you beloved fans told me the day after my knee injury, keep fighting bc we’re #NeverDone.”

The Try Guys' Eugene Lee Yang shared a tweet posted March 13 that while at a local coffee shop, "an older woman in front of me demanded her drink get remade because her barista was Asian."

Yang tells The Hollywood Reporter that because he's a comedian, his response was rather abrasive (telling the woman while he was not Chinese, her "ugly-ass knockoff purse" was), but he understands not everyone can give that type of a response and get away with it.

"My job is literally clapping back every day online as a comedian. It wasn't hard for me," Yang tells THR. "That's not the truth or the situation for almost every other Asian American, particularly those who are elderly, those who might have a language barrier, those who are young, those who are female. They don't have that option." His biggest advice to those who experience hate amid the coronavirus outbreak is to "remember you're not bad inherently, you're not wrong."

The rising incidents of racism against Asians gave other celebrities the incentive to launch the "Wash The Hate" campaign, which encourages people to wash their hands, to stem the growth of the coronavirus.

Sparked by an incident that occurred to actor Tzi Ma while visiting a store when a man drove his car past him while saying, "You should be quarantined." The incident shocked the actor, who plays the father in the new incarnation of Mulan, 

Mulan's Tzi Ma spoke with THR about a recent visit of his to Whole Foods in Pasadena. The actor said a man drove a car past him while saying, "You should be quarantined."

"This is in Pasadena, a really diverse community. I was really caught off-guard, and that taught me a lesson," Ma tells The Hollywood Reporter. "I should always be on guard in these troubled times."

The Asian American communications agency IW Group teamed up with Ma to create the social media campaign -- #WashTheHate.

The campaign hopes it will encourage people to practice the CDC recommendation of washing one's hands frequently. But there's another message in the movement.

"We’re hoping this campaign sends a message of solidarity and compassion to the world," Ma shared in a statement. "Hatred and division aren’t going to prevent this virus from spreading and will only make an already difficult situation even worse. We’re calling for everyone — regardless of their race or country of origin — to recognize that we’re all in this fight together."

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.

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Gemma Chan cast in major role in Marvel's 'The Eternals'

Sersi, left, as depicted by Marvel Comics, is Gemma Chan's character in upcoming movie, The Eternals.

As Marvel launches it's next phalanx of superheroes for Disney Studios, Crazy Rich Asians co-star Gemma Chan joins the cast of The Eternals, as Sersi. The announcement was made during Disney's D23 Expo when the studio revealed details about their upcoming projects.

It is the second Marvel character played by the Chinese Brit. Chan played the blue-skinned villain, Minn-Erva, in Captain Marvel.

She joins a star-laden cast, including A-listers Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden and Salma Hayek. Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley) who will play Kingo, one of the Eternals, a race of powerful beings are thousands of years old and who have influenced the course of human history.

On its webpage, Marvel describes the character Sersi:

Sersi is a member of the Eternals, a species diverted from humanity by experiments conducted by the Celestials one million years ago. She is at least 5,000 years old and became legendary around 1,300 B.C., when the Greek hero Odysseus and his crew, fresh from the Trojan War, came to her island Aeaea. Sersi transformed Odysseus' crewmen into pigs for attempting to menace her. Odysseus, however, managed to ward her off with the aid of the goddess Athena, and Sersi turned his men back to normal. Odysseus spent a year on Aeaea; she also encountered Odysseus' son Telemachus when he came following his father's path. Centuries later, Sersi still considered Telemachus to be the love of her life.

Over the centuries Sersi often interacted with humans, visiting Rome during the reign of Nero, helping Merlin expose an impostor (Merlin Demonspawn) in Camelot, visiting France during the French Revolution, and befriending the English poet Thomas Chatterton.

In recent years, the Celestials returned to Earth to judge humanity, the Eternals, and their other creation, the Deviants. Sersi became involved in the struggle, enjoying the adventure, but caring little for combat. By this time, Sersi had become a famous entertainer in New York, hosting parties at her loft for film stars, super heroes and other influential people. She often entertained with her powers, which her normal human guests believed to be stage magic. Sersi's super-hero friendships eventually led her to join the Avengers in search of adventure and romance, first pursuing Captain America and later the Black Knight. Sersi was a sublime yet powerful teammate until she was driven insane by Proctor, an alternate-reality Black Knight whose Earth had been destroyed by his world's Sersi. Sersi eventually slew Proctor and left the Avengers, operating in the extra-dimensional Ultraverse for a time before returning home and regaining her sanity. She continues to live in New York, occasionally aiding the Avengers and her people against their foes, but preferring her life as a socialite.

The Black Knight mentioned prominently in Sersi's bio is being played by none other than Kit Harrington, fresh off Game of Thrones, so expect sparks to fly between those too.

Sersi's role iis central n the storyline. The Hollywood Reporter reports that "one aspect to the story involves the love story between Ikaris, a man fueled by cosmic energy, and Sersi, who relishes moving amongst humans." 

The Eternals will be directed Asian American Chloe Zhao, whose previous movies have been indies, The Rider and Songs My Brother Taught Me. The superhero movie is set to hit the screens in November, 2020.

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'Crazy Rich Asians' Gemma Chan: A force for change

Gemma Chan's star was already on the rise when she go the role of Astrid in Crazy Rich Asians. That landmark movie starring an all-Asian cast made her career skyrocket.

In January, Chinese Brit took the role of what would traditionally cast with a white actor. In a bit of creative casting, chan portrays Bess of Hardwick in director Josie Rourke’s diverse film Mary Queen of Scots.

She was chosen by Vogue's guest editor, Her Royal Highness Duchess of Sussex (Meghan Markle) for the cover of the September issue of that magazine's British publicaiton.

“I know the perception is that it’s got a lot easier to make films by or about minorities or women, but it’s actually still difficult. I would like to see a real increase in the diversity of people who are in a position to make decisions,” she tells Vogue.

“When you think about who actually has the power to get a project green-lit, it is just a handful of people in Hollywood, and even fewer of those are women, or people of colour or other minorities,” she says. “Until we address those systemic imbalances all the way up the chain, we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

In March, Captain Marvel was released in which Chan was cast as the blue-skinned mercenary Minn-Erva. Recently Chan reportedly signed on to a yet-to-be identified role in Marvel's The Eternals earning the distinction as the only actor to be cast as two different characters in the Marvel universe. 

Between movie assignments, she was able to take part in Channel 4's I Am series. In I Am Hannah, she plays a woman in her mid-30s who reaches a crossroads in her life. Facing impediments both within and beyond her control, Hannah is confronted by a crisis of aspiration and identity.

Watch this clip depicting what happens when the use of a dating app goes off-track and hostile.

WATCH the entire episode here. I Am Hannah is available for viewing for a limited time so be sure to watch it while you can.

Channel 4 is the British equivalent of our Public Broadcasting System with some differences. Channel 4 was set up by the government with a unique model that aims to stimulate the independent production sector, drive innovation in broadcasting and to commission programs that showcase Britain in all of its diversity and to stimulate debate.

Channel 4 was set up with a unique model as a ‘publisher-broadcaster’, meaning that we do not have any in-house production, but instead commission content from production companies throughout the UK.

Unlike PBS, Channel 4 is a self-sufficient business that reinvests all profits back into programming, at zero cost to the taxpayer. A ‘Robin Hood’ model of cross-funding means programs that make money pay for others.

Chan realizes that “Crazy Rich Asians” has opened doors for herself, a door that she wants to keep open for others, Chan added that she does not want to be “the only successful Asian actress or British Asian actress.” Towards that end, she has launched her own production company.

“I’m sure there’ll be many obstacles but I just feel like I don’t want to squander this opportunity, like, oh, we’ve done this amazing film and that’s it for another 25 years. I want the opportunities to keep coming.”

“I’m very interested in developing stories and going into producing things that are not necessary for me to act in,” the 36-year-old star said, according to the South China Morning Post. “And it’s about finding those. Stories that haven’t been told that have been lost to history.”

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Asians sparkle in the glamor and camp at the Met Gala

Gemma Chan and Awkwafina (above) were among the Asians and AAPI celebrities who attended the star-studded 2019 Met Gala held in New York Monday night. 

Other models and stars who glimmered and glowed at the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art included Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Mindy Kaling, Lana Condor, Eva Chen, Darren Criss and more.

Click to "E" online for more photos.

Beauty is more than skin deep, says the editor who put Gemma Chan on 'Allure's' cover

We shouldn't be all that surprised that actress and model Gemma Chan is on the cover of Allure magazine's April issue. At the helm of the magazine is editor-in-chief Michele Lee, an Asian American trailblazing journalist.

Allure is leading the way for magazines after being named Magazine of the Year for its groundbreaking covers such as the July 2017 "This Is American Beauty" cover featuring model Halima Aden in a hijab.

I like the way the beauty magazine sneaks in social commentary in its articles supposedly about fluff personality profiles and beauty tips. Read deeper and you find yourself immersed in a discussion about identity, politics and race. 

In Allure's cover article about Chan, who zoomed to worldwide fame for her role in the historic movie, Crazy Rich Asians, the Chinese Brit, who studied law before deciding to become an actresss, talked about representation in Hollywood. Here's an excerpt:

"Due to the dearth of Asian actresses with significant fame, Chan has become a de facto standard-bearer for Asian representation in film and TV. I assumed that she would be tired of talking about it after doing so in nearly every interview during her Crazy Rich Asians press tour and countless others. She is not. She is fully Chinese by heritage, but Chan describes her racial identity as 'compound. I feel British, and European, and English, and Chinese, and Asian.' She brings up the Internet trolls who took issue with her playing Queen Elizabeth’s confidante, Bess of Hardwick, in the period piece Mary Queen of Scots because she isn’t white.

“'Why are actors of color, who have fewer opportunities anyway, only allowed to play their own race? And sometimes they’re not even allowed to play their own race,' Chan says. 'In the past, the role would be given to a white actor who would tape up their eyes and do the role in yellowface. John Wayne played Genghis Khan. If John Wayne can play Genghis Khan, I can play Bess of Hardwick.'”

“'I feel like Hamilton opened minds a lot. We have a black man playing George Washington. They describe it as ‘America then, told by America now.’ And I think our art should reflect life now,' Chan says. And life then, too. Last year, Chan worked on a documentary about the Chinese Labour Corps. 'I studied the First World War three times at school. And I never heard that there were 140,000 Chinese in the Allied effort,' she says. 'We would not have won the war without them.'”

"I never heard about those Chinese laborers, either. In large part, it’s because of the images that remain. Chan tells me about a mural made to commemorate that war. It was massive, she says. There was a whole section dedicated to the Chinese, but it was painted over when the Americans joined the war effort. 

“They left one kneeling Chinese figure, which you can still see,” she says. “If people understood that, my parents [might not] have been told, ‘Go home, go back to where you came from’ multiple times. If we portray a pure white past, people start to believe that’s how it was, and that’s not how it was.”

RELATED: 9 things Gemma Chan hasn't done before

Chan landing a cover of a prominent beauty and fashion magazine is no accident. Since taking the helm of Allure in 2015, Lee has transformed Allure into an innovative, multi-faceted brand that champions diversity and challenges old-fashioned beauty standards. She was named Adweek’s Editor of the Year in 2017, while Allure was named Magazine of the Year for their groundbreaking covers.

Just as earth-shattering as using a hijab-wearing model on its cover,  was the Allure cover that featured a blond Asian model and an article on hairstyles featuring Asian models. Lee acknowledged the importance of the magazine’s Hair Issue, which features models Fernanda Ly, Soo Joo Park and Fei Fei Sun on its covers:

"When I look at how people of color are treated in typical magazines—if you look at either ads or editorial—I feel like there’s always the token person, she said in the Columbia Journalism Review. "To me, having three Asian women on the cover just seemed so much fresher and so much more modern. In hindsight, after it had closed, I really do see it as sticking our stake in the ground and being like, 'Tokenism is a thing of the past.' The more modern way for us to feature diversity is that you can’t just have like the one token person of color thrown into the mix.

“My preteen self couldn’t even fathom seeing an Asian face on the cover of a mainstream magazine, or leading a TV show or headlining a movie,” the Asian American journalist continued. “So being able to feature three game-changing Asian models, especially after a pretty sad track record, has significant meaning to me."

ALLURE

Editor-in-chief Michele Lee's groundbreaking influence in the magazine world.

"When I started, Allure had a lot of great things going for it," said Lee in an interview with The Blonde Misfit. "My big goal, though, was to refresh its message on every platform, to focus on being more culturally relevant and to examine what modern beauty even is today. To me, beauty is incredibly diverse and it’s intertwined with personal identity, so we’ve had great success in showcasing that."

(As an editor for almost three decades, I've always tried to tell the up-and-coming journalists of color to not be ashamed of the communities they might have come from and that their experiences are just as valid and important as anyibody else's. I encouraged them to seek to tell the stories of those people most often overlooked and ignored by other journalists who might have had.)

Lee and others who have been able to climb their way to a position of influence have the responsibility to keep that door open so others can help 

are doing what we all should be doing, pulling up others -- either as journalists or as subjects -- so that they can rise up to become the best person they can be and all the while, passing on their good fortune to those they can help reach their own goals. 

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Allure: Gemma Chan tries 9 things she's never done before

The fashion and beauty magazine Allure is featuring Gemma Chan on its April, 2019 cover. The article shows that the British Asian  actress is more than a pretty face in her comments about "whitewashing," "yellowface" and telling the truth in history.

Also accompanying the online article is this video, which we present for you -- hell, just for the fun of it.

More behind-the-scenes thinking that went behind the Gemma Chan cover and Allure's Asian American editor-in-chief, can be found here.

For more on Gemma Chan as a rising star: from playing a robot to becoming a Marvel superhero, click here.

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Gemma Chan: From fasion icon to Marvel superhero

Actress Gemma Chan in real life and as Minn-Erva.

I'm going to go out on the limb and predict that this will be a big year for rising actress Gemma Chan.

That's supposed to be read as an understatement.

Gemma Chan, who starred in BBC's Humans, was not widely known outside of sci-fi nerdom. Hollywood really began to notice her with her breakout role in Crazy Rich Asians as the rich and stunning, (but nice), cousin of Nick Young, the male romantic lead.

The first role she took on after playing the beautiful Astrid Teo, who was always perfectly coiffed, wore the most expensive (but, tasteful) jewelry and always looked like she stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine, will be in a spandex suit in her next big film ... and she'll be blue. I mean, really: her skin is blue.

Chan is taking on the role of Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel, which debuts this weekend. 

“It’s not great for your skin,” Chan said. “My skin was starting to react towards the end of the shoot. Your skin’s just not meant to be under four layers of airbrush paint and the prosthetics. And yeah, you do start to react to it. It’s not ideal."

Minn-Erva is a Kree, just like Guardians of the Galaxy's Ronan the Accuser (played by Lee Pace, who is reprising his role in the movie). She is an extremely bright geneticist who, in the comics, ends up with Captain Marvel-like powers after she comes to Earth and disguises herself as "Doctor Minerva" and proceeds to mess around with Captain Mar-Vell's genes in a lab. She thinks his genetic code might unlock new potentials for the diminishing Kree race.

"I had just under three months to prepare for the role," she told Screenrant. "So I started training straight away and I started doing some kickboxing and boxing. So you have to do the fight scenes and did the choreography. And I went to sniper school and learn how to use various different weapons and did lots of drills and then I have to crawl whilst holding a rifle and all of that kind of thing. And it was good. It was really, it's always a bonus I think we can get to learn a new skill as part of your job. It's, you know, something you wouldn't normally do in your everyday life."

 “Astrid is a very refined, sophisticated character, so it was fun to play a character that was a bit less nice,” Chan tells Popsugar, adding that she practiced kickboxing exercises in preparation for the highly physical role of Minn-Erva. “There are some great action sequences in (Captain Marvel). The character "is a badass. She’s a sniper and a warrior. She doesn’t suffer any fools. She was really good fun to play.”

Fans will probably be clamoring for more of Minn-Erva in future Marvel productions after being introduced to this complex character.

When she's not busy saving the world from aliens, you can probably find Chan on red carpets and magazine covers. A former model, she is gaining quite a reputation as a fashion maven and she always looks striking. On the press tours and the awards shows circuit, her fashion choices have been killing it.

SHENEWS GRAPHIC / GETTY IMAGES

BAZAAR

On her worldwide press tour for CRA, Chan’s dazzling outfits by Jason Wu, Prabal Gurung, Simone Rocha, Altuzarra, Oscar de la Renta and others instantly transformed her into a fashion icon.

She personified Hollywood glamor with her her gowns at the SAG, Critics' Choice, Golden Globes and the Oscars. "This is Valentino," Chan said of the dress, complete with pockets. "Dresses with pockets, eh?"

Oscar night: Who needs clumsy purses when you've got pockets in this creation by Valentino.

Flipping through the fashion mags, one wonders, does she ever wear the same dress twice?

"The looks I wore did get a lot of coverage. I really enjoyed putting them together with my stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray. We put an emphasis on Asian creativity,” she told the New York Post.

In the meantime, you can also catch the busy actress in the most unlikeliest of genre's (even more unlikely than her blue appearance in a Marvel blockbuster?) - British period films. She plays Bess of Hardwick, the closest female confidante of Elizabeth I (played by Margot Robbie) in the historical drama film Mary Queen of Scots.

She is also starring in Mr. Malcolm's List. Set in early 1800s England, a young lady (Chan) engages in courtship with a mysterious wealthy suitor, Mr. Malcolm, unaware of his unattainable list of demands for his future wife. 

A short film (watch below) was posted on Refinery29.com in February. It will be expanded to a full length feature which will also star Chan along with Ferida Pinto.

The 36-year old actress finally scored her first starring movie role in Intrigo: Dear Agnes, due out later this year. She plays a woman who sets up the murder of her husband in the adaption of a Swedish crime novel directed by Daniel Alfredson, who made two of the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo films.

And then there's China Rich Girlfriend, the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians, which is cheduled to start filming in China in 2020. The story, based on the second book of the Kevin Kwan trilogy, will focus on Astrid's pursuit of happiness and her true love. 

CRA fans will remember towards the end of the movie, mid-credits, which features a look between Astrid and a handsome mystery gentleman. Readers of the books will know who he is, but I won't spoil things for you except that Astrid's story will be more prominent.

Hollywood is changing for Asian actors and the cast of CRA is one of the reasons. And the way the movie industry is embracing the Asian Brit spells out a bright future. “You know, I don’t feel that different,” Chan tells the NY Post. “But other people are treating me differently. The response was beyond what any of us would have hoped. I’m glad the door’s been kicked open for more Asian stories — I hope it’s not a passing trend.”
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In case you missed it: Scenes from the Oscars

SCREEN CAPTURE

Ashley Graham, Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet on the Red Carpet of the Oscars.

Thanks to Crazy Rich Asians' success and the #OscarsSoWhite movement, there were more Asians seen at the Academy Awards Sunday night. 

RELATED: Asian and Asian American Oscar winners.

Here are some additional notes from the Academy Awards that you might not have seen answers why Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu wore a yellow gown, the most embarassing question of the night, and how director Jon M. Chu saw the evening.

Let's get straight to the embarrassing question first. Model Ashley Graham was interviewing Jason Momoa and his wife Lisa Bonet and things were going great until Graham asked Momoa to perform a "haka move."

The Aquaman star was taken aback and looked to his wife as if to ask, "Really? Did she just ask me to do a haka?"

The haka is a Maori war dance traditionally used on the battlefield to intimidate the enemy, as well as when groups came together as a gesture of greeting or honor.

At the premiere of Aquaman, Momoa did perform a haka with Maori members of the cast because the film used a lot of Maori elements. Other Polynesian groups have adopted the  tradition and adapted it to their culture. The haka was a way for the Maori cast members to launch the movie. Momoa is of Hawaiian descent.

“I gotta get a haka move,” Graham asked Momoa.

“I gotta get like one haka move, like come on,” she continued insisted, as Momoa had that moment of disbelief.

However, Bonet was not having it. She was seen putting her hand up and shaking her head in as if to say it was not appropriate.

Good sport Momoa eventually gave in and gave a half-hearted haka face with his tongue stuck out. By then the interview was over and Bonet pulled on Momoa and was seen giving an eye-roll at the ignorant request from Graham.

The Internet didn't take kindly to the insensitivity of the moment.

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Constance Wu look smashing in her yellow gown. Her choice of color wasn't just to stand out from the crowd. She wanted to make a statement based on the moving letter CRA director Jon M. Chu wrote to Cold Play for the permission of using their song "Yellow" for the movie.

She wrote in an Instagram post:

"I chose this color because it made me happy and also was inspired by @jonmchu‘s moving letter to @coldplay about our movie’s closing song cover of “Yellow” in @crazyrichasians,"

Chu asked the band Cold Play why the song Yellow meant so much to him because while growing up, "yellow" was used as a racist slur to demean East Asians. But, upon hearing the song "Yellow" it was the first time the color was associated with beauty.

"For the first time in my life, it described the color in the most beautiful, magical ways I had ever heard: the color of the stars, her skin, the love. It was an incredible image of attraction and aspiration that it made me rethink my own self image," the letter continued. It immediately became an anthem for me and my friends and gave us a new sense of pride we never felt before. We could reclaim the color for ourselves and it has stuck with me for the majority of my life," Chu added.

Cold Play immediately gave permission for the song's use in the film. It was at the end of the movie as the credits rolled and sung in Mandarin by Katherine Ho.

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Speaking Jon M. Chu ... here are some posts from the Chinese American director, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan and Constance Wu taken at the awards ceremony or immediately after.

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