One of the most emotional moments in Jon M. Chu’s much talked-about rom-com Crazy Rich Asians almost didn’t happen. 

Luckily, the director wrote one hell of a beautiful letter to Coldplay.

Soundtracking one of the final scenes of the film, a Mandarin cover of Coldplay’s hit “Yellow,” sung by former The Voice contestant Chinese-American singer Katherine Ho, will have you in tears.

But the song almost didn’t make it into the film. In a Quartz interview, Chu said both Warner Bros. and the band were worried that although the song is not about race, the title of the song would be associated with the racial slur used against Asian people. 

“They were like, ‘Whoa, we can’t do that, what do you think people will say?’ And I told them, ‘Well, a white director couldn’t do it.’” he told Quartz.

“I wanted to take hit American songs and make them Chinese, to give audiences a sense of how we feel as Asian Americans,” he added. “That crazy blend of identities and cultures that makes up who we are. It felt to me like a critical part of what we were trying to do.”

While the studio finally gave in and approved the use of the song, Coldplay reportedly rejected Chu’s request at first. It’s not surprising, either, as the band has been accused of cultural appropriation in the past — the music video for 2012’s Rihanna-featuring “Princess of China” was slammed for stylized, generalized Asian stereotypes that weren’t necessarily related to China itself.

Coldplay’s video for their Beyonce collab, “Hymn for the Weekend,” shot in Mumbai during the Hindu festival of Holi, was also criticised for cultural appropriation, notably by the Guardian as “perpetuating hackneyed fantasies of India as an exotic playground for rich white people to explore and exploit for cultural capital and economic gain.” 

Nonetheless, Chu was determined to use the Grammy-nominated song for one of the final scenes of Crazy Rich Asians, and wrote a personal letter to Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Will Champion, Jonny Buckland, and Guy Berryman. It’s one of the most beautiful human appeals you’ll read.

Published by The Hollywood Reporter, Chu’s letter speaks to his “complicated relationship with the color yellow.”

“From being called the word in a derogatory way throughout grade school, to watching movies where they called cowardly people yellow, it’s always had a negative connotation in my life. That is, until I heard your song,” he wrote.

“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, her love. It was an incredible image of attraction and aspiration that it made me rethink my own self image.”

Chu speaks about wanting to “reclaim the color” after seeing the music video in college, writing that the song “immediately became an anthem for me and my friends and gave us a new sense of pride we never felt before.”

Wanting to impart this sense of reclamation on his audience, Chu wrote that he saw power in a recontextualization of Coldplay’s “Yellow.” 

“It will give a whole generation of Asian-Americans, and others, the same sense of pride I got when I heard your song,” he wrote. “I want all of them to have an anthem that makes them feel as beautiful as your words and melody made me feel when I needed it most.”

THR reports that Coldplay changed their minds within 24 hours.

Here’s Chu’s letter in full, and heads up, there are spoilers for Crazy Rich Asians in here:

Dear Chris, Guy, Jonny and Will,

I know it’s a bit strange, but my whole life I’ve had a complicated relationship with the color yellow. From being called the word in a derogatory way throughout grade school, to watching movies where they called cowardly people yellow, it’s always had a negative connotation in my life. That is, until I heard your song. 

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, her love. It was an incredible image of attraction and aspiration that it made me rethink my own self image. 

I remember seeing the music video in college for the first time time on TRL. The one shot with the sun rising was breathtaking for both my filmmaker and music-loving side. It immediately became an anthem for me and my friends and gave us a new sense of pride we never felt before…(even though it probably wasn’t ever your intention). We could reclaim the color for ourselves and it has stuck with me for the majority of my life.

So the reason I am writing this now, is because I am directing a film for Warner Bros. called Crazy Rich Asians (based on the best selling novel) and it is the first ALL-ASIAN cast for a Hollywood studio film in 25 years. Crazy. We were recently featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly to commemorate the fact. 

The story is a romantic comedy about a young Asian-American women (played by Constance Wu) from New York coming to terms with her cultural identity while she’s visiting her boyfriend’s mother (played by Michelle Yeoh) in Singapore. It’s a lavish, fun, romantic romp but underneath it all, there’s an intimate story of a girl becoming a woman. Learning that she’s good enough and deserves the world, no matter what she’s been taught or how she’s been treated, and ultimately that she can be proud of her mixed heritage.

The last scene of the movie shows this realisation as she heads to the airport to return home a different woman. It’s an empowering, emotional march and needs an anthem that lives up and beyond her inner triumph, which is where “Yellow” comes in. 

It would be such an honour to to use your song that gave me so much strength throughout the years, to underscore this final part of our film. And for me personally, it would complete a journey that I’ve been going through, fighting to make it in the movie business.

I know as an artist it’s always difficult to decide when it’s ok to attach your art to someone else’s — and I am sure in most instances you are inclined to say no. However, I do believe this project is special. I do believe this is a unique situation in which the first Hollywood studio film, with an All-Asian cast is not playing stereotypes or side-players, but romantic and comedic leads. It will give a whole generation of Asian-Americans, and others, the same sense of pride I got when I heard your song. I know it’s recontextualized but I think that’s what makes it powerful. I want all of them to have an anthem that makes them feel as beautiful as your words and melody made me feel when I needed it most.

Your consideration would mean so much to me and our project. 

I can show you the movie if you want to see the context, or talk to you if you have any questions. Thank you for taking the time to listen.

Much love,

Jon M. Chu

#MeToo advocate Asia Argento, one of the first women to accuse disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, paid off an ex-child actor who accused her of sexual misconduct, according to legal documents obtained by The New York Times.

Jimmy Bennett, who was 17 at the time of the encounter, alleges that he was assaulted by Argento in a California hotel in 2013, when the actress was 37. (The age of consent in California is 18.) Bennett’s lawyer notified Argento last November of his intention to sue for $3.5 million for emotional distress, lost wages, assault and battery – a month after she went public with her allegations against Weinstein. The Italian actress agreed to pay him $380,000.

Three people familiar with the case told the Times the documents were authentic.

USA TODAY has reached out to Argento’s representative for comment. Bennett declined comment to the Times.

Argento, 42, and Bennett, now 22, co-starred as a teenage mother and her son in the 2004 film “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” which Argento directed and co-wrote. 

The actors stayed in touch on social media, and Bennett says she assaulted him when they met up on May 9, 2013, at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, California. The documents say she gave him alcohol and pulled his pants off for oral sex and intercourse. According to the Times, Argento noted the occasion on Instagram: “Happiest day of my life reunion with @jimmymbennett xox.”

In October, the actress told The New Yorker that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at a hotel in France, where she was attending Cannes Film Festival in 1997. Weinstein has said their relationship was consensual.

This May, Argento gave a fiery speech about sexual assault at the closing ceremony of Cannes. “This festival was his hunting ground,” she told the black-tie crowd. “I want to make a prediction: Harvey Weinstein will never be welcomed here ever again. He will live in disgrace, shunned by a film community that once embraced him and covered up for his crimes.

“Even tonight,” she continued, “sitting among you, there are those who still have to be held accountable for their conduct against women, for behavior that does not belong in this industry, does not belong in any industry. You know who you are. But most importantly, we know who you are. And we’re not going to allow you to get away with it any longer.”

Contributing: The Associated Press and Andrea Mandell

 

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It’s going to be a little while longer until we see the third season of Stranger Things, but when it does, expect it to hark back to Chevy Chase at his most prolific.

David Harbour, who plays Chief Jim Hopper in the series, told Variety the new episodes will be inspired by the 1985 action-comedy Fletch.

“The Duffers are so specific each year with the movies. And Fletch is one movie we get to play around and have some fun with this season, which you wouldn’t expect from Stranger Things, and you wouldn’t expect from the Spielberg universe, and you certainly wouldn’t expect from a darker season,” Harbour told the publication.

Fletch features Chase as a wisecracking newspaper reporter who is offered a large sum of money to kill a terminally-ill millionaire, but then discovers his target isn’t sick at all.

Likely to channel the character of Fletch is Jake Busey, who will play Bruce, a “journalist for The Hawkins Post, with questionable morals and a sick sense of humor,” according to a character description released by Netflix.

Given Stranger Things has made its mark with its frequent nods to popular films of the ’80s, namely The Goonies, Gremlins, Ghostbusters and The Terminator, it’s no surprise that the upcoming film looks to the hottest films of 1985’s summer.

Oh, and it’s apparently going to be summer of love for Hopper and Joyce too.

Fear the Walking Dead

type

TV Show

genre

Drama, Horror

run date

08/23/15

performer

Kim Dickens, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Lennie James, Garret Dillahunt, Jenna Elfman

broadcaster

AMC

seasons

4

Current Status

In Season

SPOILER ALERT: Read on only if you have already watched Sunday’s “Close Your Eyes” episode of Fear the Walking Dead.

Alicia and Charlie not only had to survive each other when they both holed up in an abandoned house to escape the storm outside this week on Fear the Walking Dead, but they had to survive the zombies and deluge of water making their way in as well. While Alicia threatened to kill Charlie at one point and then almost gave her a mercy killing at another when they found themselves trapped in a flooded basement, the two eventually made it out alive — and possibly as friends instead of foes.

What was the inspiration for what felt like a contained two-character horror movie? How did they shoot that flooded basement scene? And what happens next for these two — along with everybody else? We asked showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss all that and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Usually your episodes have a lot of characters and go back and forth between an A and B story, but you’ve had a few of these almost two-person play type episodes. First off, tell me about embracing that structure, which we also saw earlier with the “ Laura” episode?
IAN GOLDBERG: The two-character episodes are some of Andrew’s and my favorite ones because it really allows them to focus on the emotions and the characters and to put characters into situations where we can really just explore new textures to them. They’re in their own movies. That was something we found so exciting about episode 405, “Laura.” One of my favorite episodes from The Walking Dead is “The Grove” — the episode with Carol and Tyreese. That’s a common reference point for us. So it’s a challenge to craft those episodes because you really have to hone in on the very specific emotional moments between the characters.

And “The Grove” was directed by Michael Satrazemis, who directed this episode and the “Laura” episode you guys were just talking about. So, clearly, that’s no accident to have him working on these.
ANDREW CHAMBLISS: No, it’s not. We knew we wanted to tell this story between Alicia and Charlie and we knew we wanted someone to direct that who really could focus on these performances that are very nuanced and have a definitive arc that goes throughout, and Michael Satrazemis has done that on Walking Dead. He did that for us on “Laura,” so when we were conceiving this episode, he was the person we wanted to direct it.

“Laura” was more of a love story, but this had a lot of classic horror movie elements — being trapped in a house with monsters, ending up in a basement, almost drowning. Did you get that feeling like it almost could work as a standalone horror story?
IAN GOLDBERG: Yes, and a big reason for that is, of course, the contained nature of it and the storm raging outside and just sort of those elements. But really, the horror comes from the darkness that both Alicia and Charlie are wrestling with, and their feelings towards each other. They are the last people in the world that they want to be trapped in a house with, and that’s exactly what inspired the episode for us is to put two people who absolutely do not want to be together, and putting them in that situation and seeing how the pressure cooker informs their behavior. It was a challenge and we’re thrilled with how it turned out.

We see Charlie has the gun presumably to possibly use on herself and we see her let that walker on the branch grab her. Is she trying to end it and is she trying to mend some fences and right some wrongs before she does, like returning The Little Prince book to Luciana?
IAN GOLDBERG: Charlie is wracked with guilt. She’s tormented by everything that we saw her do in the first half of the season and she’s looking for redemption. Like so many of our characters, she’s looking to make up for those things and she’s not sure how she’s going to do that. Giving The Little Prince to Luciana is a step in that direction, but it’s really just a step.

And it’s also interesting to think about it from Alicia’s point of view because yes, Alicia sat across the campfire from Charlie is episode 408, but there is a lot unresolved between them. It’s not like suddenly all is forgiven. Charlie’s killed Alicia’s brother. Charlie was the Vulture who first led the rest of the Vultures to the stadium. So many of the tragedies that happened to Alicia, Charlie was at the center of. So there’s not a great deal of trust from Alicia to Charlie. She doesn’t forgive her. She doesn’t trust her and that’s why there’s so much that comes out between them in this episode because there’s just a lot to be worked out.

We learn about Charlie’s past here and what happened to her family. Explain how this works in terms of building a character’s backstory. How much do you know when you first introduce the character, like at the start of the season with Charlie, and how much do you fill out when you get to that script and time where she actually reveals it?
ANDREW CHAMBLISS: When we first introduced Charlie, she was a young woman who had been on her own in the apocalypse for a while, and had lost her family, and had been adopted by the Vultures and really saw them as her family because they were the first people who she really came across, and we knew there was some loss in her past that dealt with her parents and her family, but we didn’t know specifically what it was.

And it really wasn’t until we were digging into the meat of 410 that we started to really wonder what it would be like for a kid who lost their parents so young and had to live in the zombie apocalypse on her own. And the detail that we came up with for this episode that we thought was really cool was what it would be like for someone who’s that age to see their parents turn and just thinking how that would become almost an indelible memory. And as Charlie says to Alicia, she can’t actually remember what her parents looked like before they turned, and that just seems like such a horrific way to have to live in this world where the people who you wish were there to protect you, you can’t even remember what they were like. And it kind of leads to her obsession with collecting all these photos of this family and trying to save them just in case whoever knew them might come back looking for them because deep down, I think Charlie is hoping that somewhere out there, she’ll be able to find some pictures of her parents so she could remember what they were like.

Let’s talk about this flooded basement scene. You keep writing these things that must sound cool when you dream them up and certainly look cool on screen, but they also must make your production team bang their head against a wall trying to figure out how to stage it.
ANDREW CHAMBLISS: Yeah, it was definitely a challenge. Everyone dove into this one full force. We talked to Mikey Satrazemis when he was on set shooting stuff and we didn’t realize that he’s in a wetsuit standing in the tank where they actually built the basement set. It wasn’t a small feat to flood the basement, but for us it was very important to have Alicia and Charlie in what they thought were their final moments being in this very intimate space where they were finally able to get past everything they had going on between them, but also everything that they had going on internally. We were super excited that we were able to actually pull it off in a real tank with this basement set built and water up to their necks.

So where do Alicia and Charlie go from here?
IAN GOLDBERG: Well, they’ve both been on quite a journey within the episode. The fact that they are together at all is amazing, but they go to try to find the rest of the group and realize that they’re not there and things aren’t going to end as happily as they imagined they would have. And they’ve got a distance to go, and it’s going to be hard to maintain this sort of brightness that they found within each other when the reality of the world and how the hurricane has wreaked havoc on the world really hits them at the end of the episode. So, it’s now taking that forgiveness and the new hope that they found in each other and carrying that forward when the situation is a bit bleak.

You dropped this nugget into last week’s season premiere where they came across a box of supplies clearly left by a stranger or strangers. But then no follow-up on that this week. Are we going to learn more moving forward about who left that stuff?
ANDREW CHAMBLISS: It is safe to say that we most definitely will learn more, and we may even learn more next week.

What else can you say about next week’s episode?
IAN GOLDBERG: We’re going to meet some new faces next week who are going to lend a very different flavor to the show. There’s going to be a lot of comedy. Episode 410 was a very dark episode and with the episode 411, it’s going to be much lighter in tone and a lot of that will come from some new cast additions that we’re excited for people to check out.

For more Fear the Walking Dead scoop, follow Dalton on Twitter @DaltonRoss.

BOSTON — Give Simone Biles all the medals.

No, really.

The Olympic champion not only won her fifth title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Sunday night, she swept all four of the event titles. Even her “worst” event, uneven bars. Biles is the first U.S. woman to do that since Dominique Dawes in 1994.

Fast-forward a couple of months, and there’s a chance she could at least claim a medal on every event at the world championships in Doha, Qatar. That’s almost unheard of.  

Biles finished with a two-day total of 119.85, more than 6½ points ahead of Morgan Hurd — who just happens to be the reigning world champion. She’s only the second woman to win five or more U.S. titles, joining Clara Schroth Lomady, who won six in the 1940s and ‘50s.

Biles is so spectacular, it’s pretty much a given that everyone else is competing for second place when she’s around. In fact, her 2016 teammates would joke about competing in the “non-Simone division.” The talk going into the Rio Games was not whether she’d win the all-around title — that was a given — but if she could win gold on floor exercise, vault and balance beam.

She came close, winning floor and vault, but took the bronze on beam.

A medal on uneven bars was never in the cards. Oh, her bars were fine, good enough for the Americans to put her up in the unforgiving three-up, three-count format for team finals. But they weren’t good enough then to even get her into the bars final, let alone win a medal.

Now, however, they are.

While Biles took a year off after Rio to travel and enjoy the perks of being an Olympic champion, longtime coach Aimee Boorman moved to Florida. That mean Biles needed to find a new coach when she returned in November, and she began training with Laurent Landi who is as close to an uneven bars whisperer as the sport has.

MORE GYMNASTICS:

Landi coached Madison Kocian, who won a world title on uneven bars in 2015 and the silver medal in Rio.

He’s done wonders with Biles in the short time they’ve worked together. In addition to upgrading — she added two new skills during the routine and added a full twist to her dismount — Biles’ routine now looks effortless. Before, you could almost see her mind working through every skill as she did it, and it appeared similarly labored.

Now she floats from one skill right into another. Nothing is rushed, nothing is a struggle. Or, if it is, no one can tell.

Biles will have competition from the Russians, Chinese and Nina Derwael of Belgium, who just won the bars title at the European championships. Maybe even her own teammate, Riley McCusker, who scored higher than Biles on Sunday night but couldn’t beat her two-day total.

But Biles will most definitely be in the mix for a medal on uneven bars. And everywhere else.

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour. 

 

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By: Andrew Joseph | August 19, 2018 6:19 pm



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Kyle Busch had an eventful evening after finishing 20th at Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race in Bristol. While his brother, Kurt Busch, went on to win the race, Kyle found himself at the center of a controversy with his bumping of Martin Truex Jr.

Then, after the race, a fan looked to fight Kyle Busch.

Video circulated of Busch leaving his golf cart at the exit tunnel to confront a fan who was heckling him. When Busch got close to the fan, the fan threw a hard shove at the NASCAR star. Crews intervened to separate the two and Busch returned to his golf cart and left.

A Reddit user also shot video of the altercation.

You can read more from USA TODAY Sports.

Kyle Busch, Trending, NASCAR, Racing

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Each year, Purdue University’s annual Boiler Gold Rush event serves as a week-long introduction to campus for incoming freshman, and a way for the newest Boilermakers to forge long-lasting bonds while learning their way around.

But this year, the event ended with thousands of students bonding together in opposition to a comedian accused of sexually harassing a student leader in front of more than 7,000 of her peers, and the university vowing to never associate with him again.

“On Saturday night, a comedian performed as part of our BGR student orientation closing session,” Purdue officials said in a statement provided to IndyStar. “Accounts differ as to what exactly happened on stage, but some portions of the performance were clearly inappropriate and contrary to the university’s values of respect and support for all.”

“We will not work with this comedian again and are proud of our students who are standing up and voicing their concerns about the performance.”

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The comedian referred to in the university statement is Andy Gross, a ventriloquist and illusionist known for his touring show and YouTube channel that has amassed millions of views.

Uncomfortable audience volunteer

Students in attendance, including freshman Andora Fess of San Francisco, said Gross’ show was unfunny and distasteful throughout, but it took a troubling turn for the worse when he called a student up to the stage to serve as a volunteer.

“He brought up one of our supers, which is a leader in our BGR orientation program, and he proceeded to harass her,” Fess explained. “He made her stand closer and closer to him and made a joke about that giving him a erection and making his pants seem to say ‘let me out,’ referring to his genitals.”

Fess said Gross then made the student stand back-to-back with him, despite her apparent discomfort. 

While standing back-to-back, Fess said Gross made the student touch his upper thigh, and made a joke about “at least getting a feel” after performing a magic trick.

“In the beginning it was disbelief and extreme discomfort. I know I was pretty angry and just in shock that this seemingly very famous person was treating women like this at a school, and he continue to make jokes at the expense of women … he made a Matt Lauer joke,” Fess said. “It was just very distasteful, and once he started doing that, people in the audience started to get up. He came into the crowd, and none of the women would volunteer, and he just kept making sexual jokes even as the crowd was leaving.”

Purdue representative took stage

Fess said after Gross finished, a representative from the university took the stage and said the performance does not represent Purdue and its values. The Center for Advocacy, Response and Education at Purdue also released the following statement via Twitter.

“CARE was contacted earlier this evening regarding a performance during the BGR closing ceremony that was described as harassing and offensive. As a result, a CARE advocate responded to campus to offer support to students,” said the statement. “If you were impacted by this evening’s event and need to speak with someone, please remember that support is available 24/7.”

Students also made a statement by creating the hashtag #AndyGrossisGross on social media. Just moments after the performance, students and others in attendance were spreading the word about Gross and asking the university to take action.

Gross’s Wikipedia page was also altered to include the incident, and the following paragraph was added to his bio Sunday.

“On the 18th of August, 2018, Andy Gross was invited to perform in front of a group of incoming freshman at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. During the course of the event, he engaged in questionable behavior on-stage that prompted several students to walk out during his performance. Said questionable jokes included ‘sexually suggestive comments’ with a female volunteer on-stage [4], as well as tricking her to grope his butt. Later in the show, he berated female audience members when they refused to participate, and despite this, continued with questionable humor. Self aware, he quipped ‘You should call me the Matt Lauer of magic.’ More than half of the audience left the theater before the end of the show.”

No apology made

Fess said Gross did not acknowledge or apologize for the offense during his performance. As of Sunday afternoon, he has not commented on the incident on social media. 

IndyStar has reached out to Gross for comment. 

Meanwhile, Fess said she is feeling even closer to her new campus family following the fallout.

“There was a real sense of pride honestly when everyone started to leave because it’s kind of like we banded together as a freshman class already,” she said. “The students showed what we stand for as a freshman class. Stand up when you see it and call it out when you see it because their time is up.”

Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at 317-444-6138 or email him at justin.mack@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.

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