Who else can I talk to about this, Lulu? The Farewell became 2019's little indie movie that could, earning acclaim out of the gate at Sundance last January and going on to garner awards buzz for its phenomenal cast and, last night, a Golden Globe award for breakout starAwkwafina, who made history as the first Asian actress to win Best Actress at the Golden Globes. I dont know, she replied. The decision not to tell Nai Nai about what's ailing her is part of a Chinese cultural tradition Billi feels divorced from as someone who has grown up largely in the West. And her friend saw a review of it and was so proud of her, one of her longest friends, and sent it to her. I heard this extraordinary true story, this beautiful complete story. With A $21M Opening", "Keira Knightley in 'Official Secrets' and Molly Ivins Doc 'Raise Hell' Lead New Openers", "Awkwafina Proves She's More Than a Comedian in The Farewell", "Is The Farewell the olive branch the US-China culture war needs? Moderated by Silvia Bizio. Her grandmother, nicknamed Nai Nai, who today, at 86, is still alive, welcomed the visit, still in the dark about the real premise of the film. They had all their friends over talking about literature and movies and culture and drinking and smoking, and Im a kid and I would wake up in the middle of the night and they would be like, 'come join us,' and there was just a sense of community and family and friends, and it all made sense. All rights reserved. I think my reaction was, The girl who did My Vagwants to read for this?! That lie is told by a . Nai Nai is, instead, falsely told that her recent doctor visits have only revealed benign findings. Wang, who was born in Beijing but emigrated to the United States with her parents when she was six, says that she had never heard of withholding a prognosis from a family member. I don't envy Wang in finally having that conversation to her grandmother about the diagnosis, but at least she could finally see the movie that is getting her granddaughter so much acclaim. ", It's easy to summarize The Farewell as being about one young woman's internal culture clash, but there's a transcendence to the film easily summed up by the recurring image of the sparrow. [11] In an interview with Filmmaker, cinematographer Anna Franquesa Solano stated that the references for the film included Force Majeure and Still Walking. just like Nai Nai taught her. 3 Is Yet Another Big Marvel Movie Misstep, Rachel Weisz Doubles Down in Dead Ringers, To Love Tupac Was to Fight With Tupac: Why Allen Hughes Needed to Make Dear Mama, Academy Slaps Down New Rules After Andrea Riseborough, Tom Cruise, Michelle Yeoh Controversies, Here's Where to Watch 'Scream 6' (and All the 'Scream' Movies) Online, Ryan Murphy Sets Sights on Menndez Brothers for 'Monster' Season 2, White House Plumbers Gives Watergate the Veep Treatment and Misses Big, Roy Wood Jr. Warning: Mild spoilers for The Farewell are ahead. Awkwafina (left) with Lulu Wang in New York in June. Speaking about the inspiration of The Farewell, Wang said her own struggle in balancing American and Chinese culture led her to make the film. "[11], Director Lulu Wang says that she kept the secret from her grandmother during and after film production. The film ends with the revelation that Wang's real-life grandmother, who was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in 2013, is still alive and still unaware of her diagnosis. Energetically, she wasnt going to fit in with everybody else. Its a very American show.), The episode of This American Lifedrew interest from film producers, and eventually Wangdid find the moneyto makeThe Farewell. It stars Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, and Zhao Shuzhen. 2023 Cond Nast. -People. Movies based on true stories always feature a degree of creative license. 10 Best Movies of Sundance 2019. National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Family members who had not all been in the same place for 25 years would be together again. Its kind of an interesting insecurity in the film business right now. My brother was born in America. "[30] Brian Lowry of CNN.com described it as a "small, melancholy movie that explores cultural differences and dealing with death in an utterly charming, understated manner. Lulu Wang's deeply personal, disarmingly universal story of culture clash and family grief became an indie phenomenon when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year. But look, it says in the newspaper it's calledDon't Tell Her, and that's why you didn't tell me, because I am the 'her' of the 'don't tell her.'" Later, she sees a similar bird resting on the windowsill of her Chinese hotel room. And the review said, 'The film is based on Lulu Wong's real life. That night, Nai Nai gives Billi a hngbo, encouraging her to spend the money as she chooses. She never found out the truth, even when Wang first told the story onThis American Lifein 2016, nor when Wang began shooting her film in her grandmother's hometown in China. #ggforeignfilms #goldenglobesStill haven't subscribed to Golden Globes on YouTube? On the other side of the world, birds scatter from a tree near Nai Nai's apartment complex. When we met on a late spring day in Los Angeles, Wang pulled up to the cafe on a mini Segway, embodying millennial chic in an oversized navy suit and bright yellow Vans. [9][10] Filming also took place in New York. And the title of the movie is Dont Tell Her in Chinese. [7][6], Wang said that the film was based on her grandmother's illness, stating that "I always felt the divide in my relationship to my family versus my relationship to my classmates and to my colleagues and to the world that I inhabit. Lulu Wang's grandmother learned she had cancer from 'The - Resonate She was 80 years old, and my family, for reasons I'll get into in a minute, decided not to tell her. "Six years after her diagnosis, Nai Nai is still with us," reads a caption at the . And by the time we made the film, everyone was in China because they understood my perspective. Lulus very-much-alive grandmother still didnt know about her cancer diagnosis. "[8], The film was primarily shot in Changchun, China, over the course of 24 days in June 2018. It was a brilliant combo of audio theater and investigative journalism. Jian Yongbo, Kmamura Aio, Chen Han, Tzi Ma, Awkwafina, Li Ziang, Tzi Ma, Lu Hong and Zhao Shuzhen in. "We had to whisper scenes, it was real," Awkwafina explained during an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screening I moderated. Lulu Wang's new film -- one of the best of the year -- is based on her own family's story, an "actual lie," as the opening suggests. [13] In January 2019, A24 acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film for $7 million, over Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Fox Searchlight Pictures. Journey deeper into the true story behind The Farewell by watching an interview with writer/director Lulu Wang, whose family's story provided the basis for the movie. Shooting around the real Nai Nai created an extra challenge for the cast and crew who had to make sure they didn't let anything slip. The problem was no one else did. After receiving a rejection letter for a Guggenheim Fellowship, Billi discovers from her parents, Haiyan and Jian, that Nai Nai has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and is predicted to have only a few months left to live. Throughout the trip, however, she clashes with the rest of the family over their deliberate dishonesty towards her grandmother. "This was our plan," says Lulu Wang, "a giant goodbye party disguised as a giant wedding banquet." After all, her grandmother had lied to her grandfather when he was diagnosed with liver cancer when Wang was 10-years-old. Both of the encounters stick out in her mind, Wang says, because those were the only ones where each of the producers respectively said, We want to help you tell your story the way you want to tell it.. Billi intercepts Nai Nai's medical test results from the hospital and has it altered to reflect a clean bill of health, helping to maintain the lie. Where The Real Grandma From The Farewell Is In 2019 - Refinery29 The Farewell director Lulu Wang on challenging "what - Vox When Billi reveals the Guggenheim Fellowship rejection to her, Nai Nai encourages Billi to keep an open mind and not get hung up on this failure, "don't be the bull endlessly ramming its horns into the corner of the room." When Wang's grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, her family traveled to China to say goodbye, but decided to keep the diagnosis from the woman she affectionately called Nai Nai. Prior to making the movie, writer/director Lulu Wang told the story of her family's little white lie in an April 2016 episode of the. They were planning a celebration in China the next year, but it was decided the celebration would instead be in two weeks to ensure that Nai Nai was still alive. When I was explaining this to my friend she was like, 'Oh my god, thats the difference. It will open in New York and Los Angeles on July 12. She made a film, "The Farewell," based on the story of her real-life grandmother. When the movie went into production last year, not only did Wang cast her real aunt (who instigated the lie), she shot it two blocks from her grandmothers neighbourhood in Changchun and, let her visit the set. Through deception and manipulation of medical test results, the diagnosis is kept a secret from Nai Nai herself. The family, however, told Nai Nai that she was just fine, that the doctor had given her a clean bill of health. "It went into this whole conversation where I was like, 'Yeah, [in China] I had my grandma and then my other grandma and uncles. THE FAREWELL director Lulu Wang tells the harrowing tale about how she kept the content of her film about her grandmother a secret from her grandmother while shooting it right under her nose in her grandmothers neighborhood in China. The result was a segment on an episode of the long-running radio series titled In Defense of Ignorance that debuted in April 2016. Zhao Shuzhen plays Nai Nai, the 'Farewell' character everyone loves Filmmaker Lulu Wang Based 'The Farewell' On Her Family's Real - NPR Wang and cinematographer Anna Franquesa Solano. And the title of the movie isDon't Tell Herin Chinese. A wedding for Billi's cousin from Japan, Hao Hao, has been planned in China as an excuse to unite the family to spend what is expected to be one last time with Nai Nai. Shereturned to her hometown in China and even Nai Nais house! Films take so long to make. THE FAREWELL director Lulu Wang tells the harrowing tale about how she kept the content of her film about her grandmother a secret from her grandmother while. Why isnt your protagonist the bride in the wedding? Director Lulu Wang On 'The Farewell' And How We Break Bad News - NPR Wang already had one film under her belt her 2014 debut Posthumous which, by her own admission, hadnt quite turned out the way shed hoped. No, at least not according to Wang, who says that she told her grandmother that the film was about their family, emigrating to America, and returning for a reunion in the form of a wedding. (Wang toldThe New York Timesno one was too concerned about Nai Nai finding out the truth fromThis American Life, explaining They thought it was this niche thing. Casi Moss/Courtesy of Big Beach. "[29] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter commented, "its moments of sweet sentimentality are fully earned and heartfelt. The podcast became a sensation with audiences and suddenly her personal story was just right for film. She decided to write out the tale of deceiving her grandmother as a short story. Can you spoil The Farewell? While shopping around the idea for the movie, Wang says that a lot of companies wanted her to make the Billi character the bride, in addition to other changes that would make it less true to her own story. When Wang pitched her setupa Chinese-American woman returns to her home country with the other expatriates in her family under the guise of a wedding, but with the true intent of seeing the family matriarch before she diesshe was met with a flood of criticism from both Chinese and American financiers: Who is this movie for? Theres a version of this movie in some alternate universe where the laughs are broad, your heartstrings are constantly under attack, everyone learns a life lesson, and youre left with the recognizable taste of saccharine in your mouth. This news won't be shocking to anyone who listened to Wang'sThis American Lifeepisode from 2016 about the same subject, but it nevertheless acts as a welcome surprise given that the conclusion otherwise felt tragically cathartic. I went to bars -- I never went to bars as a 6 year old, obviously. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. It will be an all-Asian cast, I want to shoot in my grandmothers town, and my number one market is not the Chinese market the minute we try to change it to fit both sides of the equation, were sunk. And they just said, OK, well try to aim for it being a Sundance film then. They knew what the sweet spot was. Both Big Beach and Weitzs production company Depth of Field ended up coming on board. But she was suffering a crisis of faith in the film industry she had worked so hard to be a part of. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. As she told The Hollywood Reporter, the fact that a script which was then named Nai Nai, the Chinese word for grandmother, and was written by an Asian-American woman had come across her radar was too unique to pass up. Billi assures her parents that she will not reveal the cancer diagnosis to Nai Nai. Wang explained to. Then she made a movie about it so it went through the entire history of our family, and my grandma read it. Filmmaker, alumna Lulu Wang '05 will discuss "The Farewell" at virtual event March 25. Things that we don't see. Wang and her family would have liked to keep it that way, but due to Chinese-language reviews published ahead ofThe Farewell's upcomingrelease in China, Wang's grandmother found out the truth. Awkwafina, was asking to audition. So she fashioned the film accordingly, resisting requests from American and Chinese backers to make a broader, more sentimental film. But if I sort of compromised, and it didnt do well, and I left the industry, I would forever regret it.. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. This felt like a real-life screwball comedy, but as the situation unfolded what was really interesting was how emotional the whole experience had been for me, but also how undramatic it was from an external perspective. is nai nai from the farewell still alive But while Wang's family's story has been broadcast on This American Life and on theater screens nationwide, The Farewell still hasn't hit China, and per IndieWire, the real Nai Naiwho is still alive despite the three-month prognosis given to her in 2013still hasn't seen it nor been told what exactly the movie is all about, though she does know it's "loosely based" on the family. Starring Awkwafina (Oceans 8, Crazy Rich Asians) as Billi, a young Chinese American woman wrestling with her familys request to keep her Nai Nai in the dark, The Farewell delivers an exquisitely nuanced, slyly funny exploration of the machinations of family life, one that transcends the absurd screwball elements the elaborate deceit, the hastily arranged marriage thrown up by the culture clash at the heart of the real story. [28] Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote, "Wang movingly tells not just a story about the negotiations of familial love, but also of the immigrant experience, of revisiting one's homeland to, in some senses, say goodbye to it. She shares a tearful goodbye with Nai Nai as the visiting family members return to their homes in Japan and America. Like Wang herself had been, Billi is a struggling artist living in New York. She was so full of joy. Little Nainai is certain her big sister is still alive because of her decision to lie to her, because we gave Nainai joy instead of . "I just didn't want to make any compromises on this particular story," she said, emphasizing that her goal was to make the film as authentic as it could be. never to see her grandma again, the fade to black blooms into footage of the real Nai Nai still alive and zesty six years later. Based on the real life . July 12, 2019, 12:15 PM. Then Wangs relatives fast-tracked a cousins planned wedding as an excuse for everyone to visit the elderly matriarch one last time. I have a fat face and Im going to ruin everything. Finally, one day I sat my great-aunt down and said, Listen, we all love you, but if this is going to be difficult for you emotionally. And she told me, No, I have to do this. Is that the question? But look, it says in the newspaper its called Dont Tell Her, and thats why you didnt tell me, because I am the her of the dont tell her., But we havent talked about it, so Ill see what happens when I see her.. Yes. Wang's own "Nai Nai," or grandmother in Chinese, was diagnosed with cancer and her family decided to keep the diagnosis from her. ', It turned out, however, that, like Wang, Lum had been partially raised by her Chinese grandmother. is nai nai from the farewell still alive. The experience of working with This American Life had been so amazing and so pure. A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies. Meet Awkwafina, the Breakout Star of 'Crazy Rich Asians' Lulu Wang's Grandmother Has Just Learned That 'The Farewell' Is About Her. Maybe she could get it published in The New Yorker, she thought. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodwards Daughters Appreciated the Fuck Hut Detail Too. The lie was her familys decision to withhold this information from her (a custom in China), even bringing Wangs cousins wedding forward by a year so theyd have an excuse to visit her en masse one last time without raising any suspicion. The Farewell review ScriptUp | Script Development for Film & TV In The Farewell, Billi (Awkwafina, left) returns to China to spend time with her grandmother who doesn't know she is dying thanks to an . There was just one problem. When Nai Nai visited the set, everyone still had to continue the lie; Wang told theTimes that Nai Nai thought that the movie was loosely based on our family, with everybody coming back to China for a wedding., Wangfinished the movie and premiered it at the Sundance Film Festival to enormous acclaim. "I very much felt the way that Billi in the movie feels, which is that it's wrong to lie," Wang told People magazine. To me, its a very American story because Im American, and its just about me going back to a place where I dont understand and Im trying to understand, she said. It's a little astonishing that Wang was able to keep that secret from her grandmother, through the shooting ofThe Farewelland as the film garnered praise at film festivals and award shows. Shed finished Crazy Rich Asians but it hadnt come out. In 'The Farewell,' The Bad News Bearers Keep A Secret. Coronation Street actress Barbara Young dies aged 92, Nurses strike continues: Major disruption for NHS services in England, Additional flight to evacuate Britons from Sudan today, Ryanair cancels 220 flights over May 1 bank holiday due to strikes, Hardcore coronation fans already camped outside Buckingham Palace, One dead and seven injured in Cornwall nightclub knife attack. "I got to see the city in a different way because I think when you look back on places that youre from or the places where you spent a lot of time as a child, you are viewing it through a romantic lens and a nostalgic lens," she says. Released in July, The Farewell centers on a family telling a big lie in order to keep an even bigger secret. "Six years after her diagnosis, Nai Nai is still with us," reads a caption at the end of the movie. Sharing her story first as an episode of the NPR podcast and radio show This American Life back in 2016, Wang realised the amount of internal conflict that she was struggling with as she tried to respect her familys wishes and process her own grief at the imminent loss of her Nai Nai was what made the story interesting. How a filmmaker turned a real-life fib about death into a funny, bittersweet movie about her family and scored a genuine crossover hit, 'The purpose of the lie was to bring joy. Fearing Billi will end up exposing the lie to her grandmother, Haiyan and Jian tell her to remain in New York City. The events dramatized in the movie happened to Wang in 2013. In real life, Lulu Wang's cousin had recently married a Japanese woman. She wasnt suspicious; everybody on the crew knew not to tell her. Within two weeks, with the help of another production company, Big Beach, The Farewell was financed and Wang was busy banging out a script. She says that "life is not about what things one does, but more so about how one goes about doing them". Based on Wang's own experiences,The Farewelltells the story of a Chinese family who decides not to tell their grandmother that she has Stage 4 lung cancer, and the Chinese-American granddaughter (Golden Globe winner Awkwafina) who struggles with this decision. Things went smoothly as they made the festival circuit, because "it's an American festival, so it's never going to leave the country, and your grandma doesn't go on the internet, she doesn't read English, so it's fine.". with her cast and crew toshoot the movie there. Filmmaker Lulu Wang and star Awkwafina on "The Farewell," the family drama "based on an actual lie" about a woman visiting her beloved grandma in China. She knew it was about the family that was obvious. It was 2016, and Lulu Wang was done with filmmaking. But: What if the main character is the bride, she breaks up with her white boyfriend, they have to get married to keep this lie to Grandma going, and then guess who falls back in love, and., Its like, I see the film youre envisioning because that film already exists! Wang adds. It's a family drama centering on a young Chinese . The Farewell True Story: What Happened To The Real Nai Nai - Screen Rant When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. And then I met a friend from college for dinner right after and I just started crying. Released in July, The Farewell centers on a family telling a big lie in order to keep an even bigger secret. The only caveat: Nobody could tell Nai Nai the truth. Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. [34], Santa Barbara International Film Festival, "12 Cultural Easter Eggs in The Farewell, Explained", "Sundance Unveils Politics-Heavy Lineup Featuring Ocasio-Cortez Doc, Feinstein Drama", "Lulu Wang, the Director of 'The Farewell,' Explains That Surprise Ending", "10 Directors to Watch: Lulu Wang Shows Another Side of Awkwafina in 'The Farewell', "Awkwafina Leads 'The Farewell'; Marc Maron Brandishes 'Sword of Trust': Specialty Box Office Preview", "Lulu Wang's Grandmother Learned That She Has Cancer From The Farewell, Lulu Wang's Film About Not Telling Her Grandmother That She Has Cancer", "A24 Near WW Deal For Sundance Buzz Title 'The Farewell', "Sundance: Awkwafina Drama 'The Farewell' Lands at A24", "A24 Seeks Summer Box Office with Release Dates for 'The Farewell' and 'Last Black Man', "A Full Mandarin-Subtitled Version of 'The Farewell' is Coming to Theaters This Weekend", "Counterprogramming 'Crawl' & 'Stuber' Collateral Damage In Superhero Summer As 'Spider-Man' Climbs To $45M+ Update", "Hooray For 'Hollywood': Quentin Tarantino Sees His Biggest B.O. And so thats why I made the film.. The grandmother is at the hospital for a test but doesn't tell the girl so not to worry her. She resisted. Come along for the ride! What was hard about the experience first time was that no-one seemed to take my side, says Wang. Lulu Wang's indie hit, starring Awkwafina and Zhao Shuzhen, may be an awards contender, but that doesn't mean the film is easily categorized.