Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival January 25, 2019
a Lulu Wang film
Plot (spoiler Alert)
A Chinese American woman, Billi, learns her grandmother, Nai Nai, is dying from cancer. The grandmother doesn’t know she is dying and no one can say a word about it because the Chinese saying is you can not tell a relative they are dying. Nai Nai hasn’t seen Billi for a while and Billi really wants to see her. If Billi goes to China the grandmother will suspect something is up. The family puts together a fake wedding so they can all get together and spend time with the grandmother.
Blaine: In 2013, Lulu Wang was editing a film and she was informed by her parents that her grandmother was dying of cancer. Lulu wanted to see her grandmother, but the problem was she couldn’t because of that Chinese saying about not telling a loved one they have cancer. Showing up after not seeing her grandmother for a while would just give it away to the grandmother that she is dying from cancer. Lulu also gets emotional and that would give it away too. Lulu really wanted to see her grandmother and lucky thing for her the family had an idea for how they could get together to spend time with the grandmother and that was with a fake wedding. While Lulu was in China, she thought something like this should be made into a movie. Although Lulu wasn’t completely sure because even though she thought it would make an interesting movie it would also be something sad to develop. Lulu was also concerned after realizing if she made this part of her life into a movie the grandmother might find out she has cancer. Lulu asked her parents’ opinions on what they thought and it was fine with them, just as long as she was getting paid. Lulu developed a personal story with characters based on her and her family. Lulu added humor into the story so that way it wouldn’t be that depressing. Lulu doesn’t know much about the Chinese culture because she grew up in America and studied film. Once the screenplay was done, Lulu’s parents were the first two people to read it and make sure she wrote it in a respectful way.
Lulu Wang was having problems trying to get studios to say yes to “The Farewell”. They couldn’t understand if the film was supposed to be American or a Foreign language film. Lulu had to keep repeating herself by telling each studio the lead character is Asian American, so half of the film was going to be in English and the other half would be in Chinese because 95% of it takes place in China. It was going to be about the bond between a grandmother and her granddaughter. It was also going to be about a Chinese American woman who is a stranger to the Chinese culture and experiences and learns a few things when she goes to visit her grandmother. Studios wanted changes to be made to the story, but Lulu was against that. Lulu thought the story she developed was perfect the way it was and she stuck with it. Lulu went to a Chinese film studio and they weren’t perfect either. They didn’t want Billi to be from America. There were a lot of producers who were more understanding than studios and Lulu met a producer who could help her get “The Farewell” made.
Billi is based on Lulu, but Lulu didn’t want the character to have the same personality as herself.
One of the things “The Farewell” needed in order to get a green light was an actress to play Billi. One of the producers suggested Awkwafina and Lulu couldn’t understand why a rap singer should play Billi. It made no sense to Lulu. “Ocean’s 8” and “Crazy Rich Asians” hadn’t been released yet, so she was just known as Awkwafina the rapper. The producer told Lulu to give Awkwafina a chance.
Awkwafina wanted to try out something dramatic after starting off her acting career with comedic roles.
When Awkwafina read the script for “The Farewell” she felt a connection to the story because her mom died when she was four and her grandmother helped her father raise her.
Awkwafina also learned something about the Chinese culture she never knew about and that was you can’t tell a loved one they are dying if they are diagnosed with cancer. Lulu and Awkwafina had met up for coffee to talk about the project and Awkwafina told Lulu what the script meant to her after reading it and that she was desperate for the part. Awkwafina had brought an audition tape she had made herself and gave it to Lulu. Lulu was impressed watching Awkwafina in her audition tape.
Awkwafina is someone who is very expressive, but on her audition tape she acted like someone who was the opposite of her. Awkwafina showed something more serious in her audition tape. Lulu also liked Awkwafina because she is funny and she wanted that in Billi. Lulu told Awkwafina to make Billi her own character. Awkwafina had never done a lead role before, so that was scary for her.
Awkwafina didn’t grow up speaking Chinese. She studied the language a little bit for this project, but she didn’t speak it that good. That was ok though because Lulu grew up away from the Chinese culture too and she couldn’t understand the language that well.
Lulu had trouble hiding her emotions while she was around her grandmother. Her grandmother could tell something was troubling her and Lulu couldn’t say anything. Billi goes through the same thing in the film. Billi is trying to pretend everything is alright when really they are not. Knowing someone you love so much hurts and not being able to tell them is even worse. But it’s not a complete torture. At least Billi can tell the rest of the family. It’s better to talk about it with someone than no one.
When it’s just Billi and her mother, Billi expresses what is on her mind. Billi can’t tell her grandmother what’s troubling her because it has to do with her.
Billi wants to move to China and be there for her grandmother before she is gone, but the family doesn’t think it’s a good idea. No body in the family loves the grandmother more than Billi and she wishes she could tell her grandmother the truth about her having cancer, but she can’t and that depresses her. Awkwafina is terrific in that scene where she breaks into tears and tells her mom the truth because she shows a lot of emotion.
“The Farewell” was given a twenty six day shooting schedule. Two days in New York and twenty four days in China.
Shooting in China felt different compared to New York because it had a different culture. Awkwafina felt uncomfortable while they were in China because it was a completely new place that she was unfamiliar with. Lulu wanted Awkwafina to use that for her performance because Billi is supposed to feel uncomfortable. Billi grew up in America and it is hard for her to be in a country that is different.
For the rest of the ensemble, Lulu spent a lot of time in China getting to know actors to see who would feel like they were a member of the family. Lulu was looking for professionals, but no one too big because any famous actor in China cost a lot. The only big actor Lulu was able to get was Tzi Ma (Rush Hour). Tzi was an obvious choice for “The Farewell” because he’s an actor with a lot of experience. Tzi plays Billi’s father, Haiyan. For Awkwafina, Tzi had that same kind of spirit as her real dad. So working with Tzi made Awkwafina feel like she was working with her dad.
The cast met with Lulu’s family while they were in China and got to know them. Tzi Ma and Diana Lin, who plays Billi’s mother, became friends with Lulu’s parents as they were spending time with each other and getting to know them. The parents gave a lot of details about themselves and Tzi and Diana thought a lot about them. Tzi and Diana really appreciated all the help they got from Lulu’s parents.
Actors don’t know what to expect when they see the film they were apart of fully finished. Tzi Ma asked Lulu if making a movie like this was a good idea, but when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, he thought it was a fantastic film. And Diana Lin didn’t know how good “The Farewell” was going to be until she watched it at Sundance. Both Tzi and Diana were completely amazed and proud to have been apart of a project like “The Farewell”.
Lulu wanted to cast her great aunt as herself in “The Farewell”, but the great aunt wasn’t so sure about that. She thought she would be a terrible actress and ruin the film. Plus she would have to recreate an emotional experience. But Lulu was positive her great aunt should play herself because only she can bring her own spirit into the character. The producers talked to the great aunt and were able to talk her into doing the part.
Lulu’s grandmother is still alive and still doesn’t know she has cancer. At the end of “The Farewell” it shows some footage of Lulu Wang’s grandmother and it says she is still alive six years after she was diagnosed with cancer. Doctor’s said she had three months to live, but they are not always right. Lulu did tell her grandmother she was making a movie that takes place in China, but the plot was top secret. The grandmother is not even allowed to see “The Farewell” or else that’ll just give the secret away that she has cancer and everyone’s been lying to her for the past six years. The grandmother assumed Lulu’s movie was going to be about the family getting together for the wedding.
The grandmother allowed Lulu and her crew to use her apartment to shoot scenes for “The Farewell”. She knew Lulu was having trouble finding the right apartment to use for the film. The grandmother even offered to move out of the apartment until they were done using it. But Lulu didn’t want that. The grandmother could stay in her own apartment while they were shooting scenes, but they had to be very careful that the secret didn’t get out.
Lulu retraced her footsteps and shot “The Farewell” in actual spots where she was at when this fake wedding was happening.
“The Farewell” wasn’t easy to make because of it’s tight schedule and Lulu wanted to do things artistically along with her cinematographer, Anna Franquesa Solano. Lulu had to remain calm and not feel rushed. The hardest scene to shoot for Lulu was the scene towards the end where Nai Nai is telling Billi that she has to go back to America and think about her future, even though she doesn’t know what’s going on with Billi. It was difficult for Lulu and Anna to figure out how they were going to shoot that scene in the right angles and they had to figure it out fast because time was running out on the shooting schedule.
It takes a lot to edit a scene together. The director will be playing around with the footage for the scene with it’s editor in order to try and figure out how it would look in the best way. Lulu Wang struggled with that during the editing process of “The Farewell”.
At the end of “The Farewell”, Billi is back in New York and she makes a sound out loud and according to Lulu Wang that ending is saying Nai Nai’s with Billi in spirit.
In the beginning, Lulu Wang’s family wasn’t sure if her screenplay would get made into a film when she told them about it. Lulu’s parents attended the Sundance Film Festival where “The Farewell” premiered and they were both very proud of what Lulu had accomplished in making something as special as “The Farewell”. Lulu’s mom realized her daughter is a talented artist.
Lulu Wang had to go through a lot just to get “The Farewell” made. People had a few doubts about it and Lulu wasn’t so sure of it herself at first, but then she felt positive it was a story that had to be made into a film. She wouldn’t change anything about it because she felt positive how it should go. Lulu Wang is another one of those filmmakers I would say is an inspiration.
