Filmmaker Spotlight: Lulu Wang
In this installment of Filmmaker Spotlight, we’re featuring someone who Nicole Kidman personally pursued to direct her upcoming series on Amazon. More on that later, though, because first, we want to give you some backstory on the filmmaker.
For those unfamiliar with the name Lulu Wang, it’s high time you get acquainted. The classical pianist turned filmmaker broke onto the scene at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, where her family drama The Farewell debuted. A24 picked it up, and the film went on to win a slew of awards that included a BAFTA, a Golden Globe for its star Awkwafina and a place on the American Film Institute’s list of top 10 films from that year.
The Farewell was only Wang’s second full-length film, succeeding her 2014 feature debut with Posthumous, and it was a deeply personal sophomore endeavor. The drama is a fictional retelling of her family’s attempts to keep its matriarch from learning of her own cancer diagnosis. Awkwafina portrays Billi, the character based on Wang, who goes to China to see her grandmother under the pretext of traveling for a family wedding. The same events happened in real life for Wang, who, like the character, struggled with her family’s decision to spare its matriarch from the anxiety of learning she could only have months left to live.
Yet even though The Farewell was based on Wang’s own life, she still had to fight to get it made on her terms. The filmmaker held out against American financiers who wanted to add a prominent white character to the film’s plot and eventually spoke with a potential backer from the Chinese film industry. “This Chinese producer was like, You need a white guy in your movie,” Wang recalled during an interview with IndieWire. Refusing to compromise the film’s authenticity, Wang turned to This American Life to share a personal essay on her story. And thanks to her episode, producer Chris Weitz came on board and helped secure financing for The Farewell to be made in the way Wang wanted.
As for her new projects, Deadline recently confirmed that the onscreen adaption of Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates is in pre-production, with Wang set to direct all episodes of the upcoming Amazon series based on it. Kidman’s Blossom Films is producing the project, and as previously mentioned, the A-lister personally reached out to Wang about directing the series. The filmmaker detailed to IndieWire how Kidman was a fan of The Farewell, which contributed to her being Kidman’s top choice. “You’re the first person to read the scripts,” Wang recalled Kidman telling her. “You’re the only director I can see doing this.”
Additionally, Wang is slated to direct a feature adaptation of Alexander Weinstein’s sci-fi short story collection entitled Children of the New World. According to Wang, her upcoming film will center on how technology helps form modern relationships. So with some big projects on the horizon and no signs of Wang slowing down after the success of her sophomore feature endeavor, the rising filmmaker has certainly earned her spotlight.
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