Wayne Wang
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Wayne Wang (Template:Zh; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong-American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese-American filmmakers to gain a major foothold in Hollywood. His films, often independently produced, deal with issues of contemporary Asian-American culture and domestic life.
His best known works include Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985), Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989), the Amy Tan literary adaptation The Joy Luck Club (1993), Chinese Box (1997), and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007). Other films include the Harvey Keitel and William Hurt–starring comedy Smoke (1995), the family film Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), the romantic comedies Maid in Manhattan (2002) and Last Holiday (2006), and the controversial erotic drama The Center of the World (2001).
He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Bodil Award, a Silver Bear, two Golden Shells, with BAFTA Award, Sundance Grand Jury, Golden Lion, and César Award nominations.
Early life
Wang was born and raised in Hong Kong, and named after his father's favorite movie star, John Wayne.<ref name=times>Lim, Dennis. "Wayne Wang, Bridging Generations and Hemispheres." New York Times. 12 September 2008.</ref> When he was 17, his parents arranged for him to move to the United States to study, to prepare for medical school. Wang, however, soon put this plan aside when his "eyes were completely opened" by new experience. He turned to the arts,<ref name=times/> studying film and television at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>
After graduating from film school, Wang returned to Hong Kong and briefly worked on a popular soap opera at RTHK<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> before being fired and returning to the United States.<ref name=":0" /> While in San Francisco, he taught English to new immigrants in Chinatown.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
Career
Wang has also collaborated with the author Paul Auster on the films Smoke (1995) and Anywhere but Here (1999),<ref name=":1" /> which deviated from his typical subject matter of Asian American life.
In 2001, Wang released his film The Center of the World without a MPAA rating because he refused to make cuts to the film's sexually explicit scenes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wang has said the film's commercial and critical failure set his career back and led him to work on less personal films<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Wang has also worked within the mainstream Hollywood studio system on the films The Joy Luck Club (1993) and Maid in Manhattan (2002). Despite these being his some of his most financially successful films,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wang has described the experience as largely negative, and after the production of Last Holiday (2006) resolved to work exclusively on independent productions.<ref name=":1" />
He won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September 2007 for A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
In 2016, he won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
He is married to actress Cora Miao, a former Miss Hong Kong. They live in San Francisco and New York City.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Legacy and impact
Wang is widely regarded as a pioneering figure in Asian-American cinema. His earlier works, such as Chan is Missing (1982), are often cited in film scholarship as foundational works that were instrumental in establishing a distinct Asian-American narrative in American filmmaking.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> The film's cinema-verité approach, nonprofessional actors, and its focus on the street level everyday life in San Francisco's Chinatown distinguished Wang as one of the first filmmakers to center the experiences of Chinese-Americans in a detailed and nuanced character driven depiction.<ref name=":3" /> Some scholars have argued that the film's influence warrant recognition beyond its value as an early Asian-American milestone, instead to consider it one of the most significant American films of its era, irrespective of its ethic categorization.<ref name=":3" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Wang's mainstream breakthrough came with The Joy Luck Club (1993), which he directed. It was only the second major American studio film to feature a large majority Asian cast, following Flower Drum Song (1961).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> While Flower Drum Song holds historical significance as an early major Hollywood production featuring an large Asian ensemble cast, some scholars and critics have noted that its influence on Asian-American cinema and storytelling was limited; the film offered little engagement with Asian and Asian-American identity, did little to alter industry and public attitudes towards Asians and Asian-Americans in Hollywood and the country, and did not lead to increased opportunities for Asian and Asian-American narratives.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
By contrast, the Joy Luck Club marked a significant cultural shift in expectations about Asian and Asian-American representation in Hollywood as it presented complex Asian-American characters and family histories.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally, its commercial success demonstrated the viability and potential of Asian-American narratives in mainstream films.<ref name=":5" /> Furthermore, unlike Flower Drum Song whose crew was almost entirely non Asian and instead white writers and crew<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>, The Joy Luck Club had a significant number of Asian and Asian-American behind the camera.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite AV media</ref> For example, an Asian-American writer, Amy Tan; costume designer, Lydia Tanji; and a Chinese-American Editor, Maysie Hoy.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4" /> For these reasons, Wang's work has become a major reference point for later conversations and discussion of representation, paving a way for subsequent Asian-American narratives such as Crazy Rich Asians.
Filmmakers of the next generation, like the Crazy Rich Asians director, John M. Chu, have directly mentioned and cited Wayne Wang's work such as The Joy Luck Club as being a formative experience. He recalls that when he was a child, his parents took him to a Sunday matinee, and it was the first time he had seen households resembling his own depicted on the big screen. He and his family "went to dim sum afterwards and sat for three or four hours talking about the story and learning about our own parent's journey."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While developing Crazy Rich Asians, he recognized that it carried a historical weight as the next major studio film to follow the path opened by The Joy Luck Club.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":4" />
In recognition of Wang's achievements and impact, he has received several lifetime honors, including the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Diego Asian Film Festival.<ref name=":2" /> His films continue to be felt and studied for their contributions to Asian and Asian-American representation on and behind the camera as well as to the evolution of American independent cinema<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | A Man, a Woman, and a Killer | Co-director with Rick Schmidt |
| 1982 | Chan Is Missing | |
| 1985 | Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart | |
| 1987 | Slam Dance | |
| 1988 | Dim Sum Take Out | Outtakes from Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart |
| 1989 | Eat a Bowl of Tea | |
| Life Is Cheap... But Toilet Paper Is Expensive | ||
| 1992 | Strangers | Segment "Small Sounds and Tilting Shadows" |
| 1993 | The Joy Luck Club | |
| 1995 | Smoke | |
| Blue in the Face | Co-director with Paul Auster | |
| 1997 | Chinese Box | |
| 1999 | Anywhere but Here | |
| 2001 | The Center of the World | |
| 2002 | Maid in Manhattan | |
| 2005 | Because of Winn-Dixie | |
| 2006 | Last Holiday | |
| 2007 | The Princess of Nebraska | |
| A Thousand Years of Good Prayers | ||
| 2009 | Chinatown Film Project | Film exhibition at Museum of Chinese in America<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Segment: "Tuesday" |
| 2011 | Snow Flower and the Secret Fan | |
| 2014 | Soul of a Banquet<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Documentary film |
| 2016 | While the Women Are Sleeping | |
| 2019 | Coming Home Again |
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1949 births
- Living people
- American film directors of Hong Kong descent
- American film editors
- Film producers from California
- American male screenwriters
- Hong Kong film producers
- Film directors from California
- California College of the Arts alumni
- Hong Kong emigrants to the United States
- Chinese emigrants to the United States
- Writers from New York City
- Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
- Film directors from New York City
- Screenwriters from California
- Screenwriters from New York (state)
- Film producers from New York City