Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang premiere starry 'The Wedding Banquet' remake in London

Record ID: 1985902

  • Title: Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang premiere starry 'The Wedding Banquet' remake in London
  • Date: 19th March 2025
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 19, 2025) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF CHEN POSING FOR PHOTOS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, JOAN CHEN, SAYING: "It's much better now. It's still rare, though, very rare. It's a great opportunity for me and to be able to work with Ahn and work with all this young great talent, it really brings me more v
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Andrew Ahn BFI Flare Bobo Ye Bowen Yang Han Gi-chan James Schamus Joan Chen Kelly Marie Tran Lily Gladstone The Wedding Banquet The Wedding Banquet 2025 The Wedding Banquet film
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA005980818032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Actors Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone say their romantic comedy "The Wedding Banquet" speaks to a new generation.
    A remake of Ang Lee's Oscar-nominated 1993 film of the same name, "The Wedding Banquet" is directed by Andrew Ahn and co-written and produced by James Schamus, who also co-wrote and produced the original movie.
    Set in Seattle, it centres on two couples and close friends, Angela and Lee, played by Kelly Marie Tran and Gladstone, and Chris and Min, played by Yang and Korean newcomer Han Gi-chan.
    Angela and Lee are trying for a baby, but costly IVF treatments block their dream of becoming parents. Min, the heir of a wealthy Korean business family, is reaching the end of his student visa stay and proposes to his long-term partner Chris, hoping to carry on as a cohabiting couple. When commitment-adverse Chris turns him down, Min offers to fund Angela and Lee's treatment in exchange for a green card marriage.
    "It's been 32 years since the original film came out. A lot has changed in queer life," said "SNL" and "Wicked" actor Yang at the movie's London premiere on Wednesday (March 19). "I feel like Andrew updated this in such a clever way to check in with how we feel about marriage these days as queer people."
    Gladstone, who was Oscar-nominated for her performance in Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon", said she was looking for a lighthearted comedy. She described the movie as a gift to her mother, who miscarried and lost a baby boy before giving birth to her.
    "Knowing how much miscarriage and infertility affected my mum and affects a lot of women that I know, I wasn't sure I was ready to go to that place to explore any of that," Gladstone said. "That little lifelong pang of knowing that there may have been a brother that I missed out on, but getting to reconcile and find a version of what we both feel he would have been like in this film was just a little extra magic."
    Schamus said he had not wanted to revisit the original movie and that Ahn's fresh take compelled him and Lee to give their blessing to the project.
    "This is not a nostalgia trip for me," said Schamus. "It's a reminder that every movie you make, every filmmaker you work with, every actor you get the chance to be around as they create these characters, you're being born again. It's a new life. So I'm very blessed to have been able to experience 'The Wedding Banquet' twice. But it's not the same thing."
    Ahn was initially hesitant to make the movie. Lee's version was the first gay film he saw as a youngster, Ahn said, and marked him as a person and filmmaker. Getting to tackle the themes of marriage and children which many in his community were wrestling with convinced him to give it a try.
    "Pressure, that's there. But because I found something really personal to talk about in this new film, I felt like I had a creative North Star that I could always rely on. And I didn't have to worry about the legacy of the original," Ahn said.
    "The original film is so great, there's nothing to improve upon it for me. And, so I wanted to do something a little different, but building off of the philosophy of the original," said the filmmaker whose previous films include "Driveways" and "Fire Island" and who also directed two episodes of Season 3 of hit TV series "Bridgerton".
    "Star Wars" and "Raya and the Last Dragon" actor Tran said the movie was timely.
    "I will say specifically, especially in the US, we are at a time right now when the queer community is being really persecuted, and so it feels, I am both full of joy and also well aware of what a hard time it is for the queer community so to be here celebrating queerness means a lot to me," she said.
    The film also stars Oscar-winning South Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung as Min's grandmother, whose unexpected arrival creates additional tension and chaos among the couples and veteran actress Joan Chen as Angela's activist mother May.
    Chen, whose long career includes appearances in films and TV shows including "The Last Emperor", "Twin Peaks" and "Lust, Caution", said appearing in the movie gave her closure. Chen said Lee had cast her in the original movie but delays and changes in the production meant she missed out on the role. The new film also reawakened her passion for her profession, Chen, 63, said, adding that opportunities to star in predominantly Asian US productions such as "The Wedding Banquet" had been few and far between in her youth.
    Han, 26, makes his international debut with the movie. Getting to work with Youn and the famous cast was "unforgettable", he said.
    Wednesday's premiere marked the opening of the 39th BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, which runs through March 30 with a programme made up of 56 features, 81 shorts and a television series from 41 countries.
    "The Wedding Banquet" begins its global cinematic rollout on April 18.
    (Production: Marissa Davison, Hanna Rantala)
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