‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu talks about ‘what makes art beautiful’ in the age of artificial intelligence

Manisha Krishnan: Yes. So it sounds like you’re probably an extrovert. You’re not fundamentally closing the door to working with AI?

John Chu: I don’t know.

Manisha Krishnan: Yes. That’s fair. I want to talk a little about it Crazy rich asians Because I love that movie, but I also kind of wonder, did you have concerns about being typecast to do Asian projects? This movie means a lot to the representation. Did you also feel a great responsibility when you undertook this project?

John Chu: Yes. I mean there’s a reason why I did it because I was so afraid to talk about being Asian American. Because first of all, as soon as you call yourself, “Oh, you’re an Asian American director,” and I feel like, “Oh, they’re going to send him all the Asian scripts.” And I was afraid of that. I just wanted to be seen as a director, and I don’t have all the answers to my cultural identity crisis.

And so at that moment, whatever year it was, I was doing it Now you see me 2. I spent a decade making films, working with these great actors, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson. And I realized I was saying, “Oh, I can spend time with these people. Oh, I think I deserve to be here now after a decade of doing this.” Then I looked around and said, “Oh, anyone could make this movie.” And I had to come back to myself as a student, “Okay, what do I want to say with this thing that I now know how to use?”

And it was about my cultural identity crisis, which is something I thought about a lot when I was at Chef Chu’s restaurant, in the restaurant. My parents, when I would see people coming in and treating servers the way you want to be treated, but they would treat my parents poorly, sometimes, not all customers, but just sometimes I would see that. And I’m so angry at my dad, “Kick them out, buddy. What are you doing?” And my parents sat me down and said, “Listen, we’re ambassadors here. We’re the first Chinese family this family has probably ever seen. So they think we follow a certain way and they treat us a certain way. But first, we’re taking their money…”