A follow-up to the '90s classic could be in the works!
Between Crazy Rich Asians and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, it’s a great time for films telling Asian-American stories. And, thankfully, it looks like we’re just getting started.
On Wednesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences celebrated the 25th anniversary of the beloved film The Joy Luck Club in Beverly Hills, California. The cast was reassembled to mark the occasion and discuss the changing landscape for films telling minority-centric stories. That’s where the film’s producer, Ronald Bass, shared some promising news with ET – that scripts for a both a TV series and a film sequel are currently being circulated around Hollywood.
“Both the series or sequel, if they happen, will be the same cast 25 years later,” Bass said. “In other words, the mothers are now grandmothers. The daughters are now mothers and they each have a millennial daughter of their own. So, now it would be a three generation – what’s that like in mother-daughter relations? Today’s world versus first, second generations and immigrants.”
When asked which is more likely, the 76-year-old Oscar winner said "there’s a pilot script written, so someone’s just got to pick it up. But, the harder thing, as you know, for selling television versus features – that’s why I work in both – is that for television, they say it’s a million buyers but they actually have to put it on the air. For someone to buy your script for a feature, anybody can make one if you make it at the right price. Anybody can release them. So, I would always say a feature’s more likely to go than a series.”
The original film, based on Amy Tan’s bestselling novel, tells the story of a group of women in San Francisco made up of Lindo Jong (Tsai Chin), Ying-Ying St. Clair (France Nuyen), An-Mei Hsu (Lisa Lu) and Suyuan Woo (Kieu Chinh), who meet to play mahjong and tell stories. In a series of vignettes, viewers learn about their past and their relationships with their children.
Time will tell if this potential sequel or series will make it to the big (or small) screen. But the timing certainly feels right.
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