A few days ago, we reported that Malaysian born screenwriter, Adele Lim, who co-penned the screenplay of the highly successful Crazy Rich Asians has left the forthcoming sequel of the film. The decision was made after Lim discovered that her co-writer, Peter Chiarelli, was getting paid eight to ten times more than her (approximately $US 110 000 vs $US 1 million). This sparked major discussions and debates across the web on the wage parity between men and women in Hollywood, particularly women of colour.
Now, Crazy Rich Asians helmer, Jon M. Chu has released a statement on Twitter explaining his stance on the issue. In his statement, Chu said that he definitely stands with Adele and fully supports her decision.
“For those of you who are asking, you bet your ass I stand with Adele! I believed in her before we ever shot the movie and believe in her beyond… I’m proud that she was able to stand up for her own measure of worth and walk away when she felt like she was being undervalued.”
While Chu is disappointed that he won’t be working with Adele for the sequel, he believes that the conversations Adele’s decision has sparked are far more quintessential than any ol’ movie.
“I am of course frustrated that we all can’t do the next one together but I think the conversation this has started is MUCH more important than ourselves (and the movie sequels, frankly) so who am I to get in the way of that?”
Check out Jon M. Chu’s full statement here:
For those of you who are asking… pic.twitter.com/1SoFLrUBbF
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) September 9, 2019
Adele Lim previously expressed that women and people of colour often are regarded as “soy sauce” — hired to sprinkle culturally specific details on a screenplay rather than credited with the substantive work of crafting the story.
The Malaysian born writer is currently working on a screenplay for Disney Animation Studios titled Raya and the Last Dragon, which is set to hit theatres in 2020.
