'Crazy Rich Asians' Casts Its Leading Man

The Jon M. Cho-directed feature film based on the novel of the same name, Crazy Rich Asians, has officially cast its' male lead. A newcomer to the silver screen, Henry Golding, is set to star in the Warner Brothers film alongside Fresh off the Boat's Constance Wu and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Michelle Yeoh. The women will play the girlfriend and mother of Nick Young, Golding's character respectively.

Crazy Rich Asians follows Rachel Chu, an economics professor who agrees to be a plus one for her boyfriend, Nick's best friend's wedding in his hometown of Singapore. On the trip, Chu finds out that Nick is not just someone she thinks is an eligible bachelor but is also one of the most eligible bachelors in Asia. It turns out Nick is from a family that is super wealthy and they don't appreciate the "lower-class" Chu. And unfortunately for Chu, her boyfriend's mother is totally comfortable expressing her ill will dramatically. But Nick's family isn't the only problem, it seems that every single woman in the elite and incredibly rare social class Nick and his family belong to is jealous of Rachel and hope to ruin the couple's fledgling relationship. With the family and friend tension as well as the apparent lack of communication between the new couple, it seems this movie is going to cover a lot of feelings in the best way.

The filmmakers had a goal to showcase an all-Asian cast in Crazy Rich Asians (which makes sense because the characters are Asian) so they had to search for their cast on a worldwide level. That worldliness is made apparent in the choice of Henry Golding, a new find with an international background. Golding's father is from England while his mother hails from the "Iban" tribe of Sarawak, Malaysia. While he has never acted in a feature film before, the Singapore-based young talent who grew up in London has experience hosting on television travel shows.

It's awesome that the production team behind Crazy Rich Asians is putting such thought and care into their casting choices. By diversifying their pool to international talent, they are creating the perfect setting for a story about cultural miscommunications and biases. Crazy Rich Asians is sure to be a hit!