“Spa Night” and “Fire Island” filmmaker Andrew Ahn is set to direct Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang in a new take on “The Wedding Banquet” that has been described as a “reimagination” of Ang Lee’s beloved 1993 film.
The new project, which was announced on Thursday by co-producers Bleecker Street and Shivhans Pictures and begins filming in May, is based on a new script by Ahn and frequent Lee collaborator James Schamus, who co-wrote the original film.
Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet” won the Golden Bear at the 1993 Berlin International Film Festival and helped cement his status as a notable figure in the global film community. The film stars Winston Chao as a gay Taiwanese man living in America who agrees to a marriage of convenience with a female friend, only to find his life complicated when his overbearing parents travel to America to plan his wedding banquet. The film embodies the tension between Confucian values and encroaching Western culture that defines so many of Lee’s early films.
Ahn’s updated take on the material follows two same-sex couples and focuses on family dynamics in the Korean community. The official synopsis for the new film reads: “When Min’s boyfriend Chris rejects his spontaneous marriage proposal, he convinces his best friend Angela to marry him instead, paying for her partner Liz’s IVF treatments in exchange for his green card. Their plans for a subtle city hall elopement are turned upside down when Min’s grandmother makes a surprise trip from Seoul to throw them an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.”
“It warms my heart to see how my film from so many years ago has inspired a new generation to reimagine a new and different version,” Ang Lee said in a statement announcing the news. “I look forward to seeing what Andrew Ahn and his wonderful cast create.”
In addition to Yang and Gladstone, Ahn’s “The Wedding Banquet” will feature “Minari” star Yuh-Jung Youn, Kelly Marie Tran, and Joan Chet.
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