Constance Wu was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical category. She is the first Asian woman to be nominated in a lead category in 44 years at the Globes. It’s a big deal. She knows it’s a big deal. Just after the GG nominations came out, she told Vulture:

“I feel glad this happened, and I feel hopeful that this will start the conversation on why it’s important to have Asian experiences centered in and leading stories. Sure, we’ve had a few nominations for supporting actors, which is, like, phenomenal. But they’re always supporting another culture’s story for the most part. [This] says that no, not only are you just a supporting person of somebody else’s culture, but your culture is something that we are interested in exploring and stories we’re interested in hearing. We talked about how some Asian actors think that progress will be when you take a role where race is irrelevant. And I think what’s important about this is, we’re saying not only is Asianness something we don’t want to neutralize, we want to celebrate it. It’s something we are proud of. It is something that has formed us as people. And to grow up as an Asian in a culture where you’re not the dominant culture, that affects character; there’s no way that doesn’t affect character.

[From Vulture]

I’ve talked before about my concerns that there will be some kind of dumb backlash on Crazy Rich Asians and the stars of the film because they aren’t “all Asian things to all Asian people.” Because there’s so little representation of Asian stories, Asian-American stories, Asian-diaspora stories, when there is one film or one actor out there getting recognition, people get mad if the film or person doesn’t represent all things to their community.

I’m still concerned about all that, but I don’t think Constance is as worried about it – when she did the “Actors on Actors” series with Felicity Jones, Felicity told her that she should join the Star Wars universe – yet another chance to provide Asian representation in another big franchise, right? Except Constance has no interest:

When Felicity Jones tells Constance Wu that “we would love to have you” in future “Star Wars” films, Wu doesn’t immediately jump at the chance to join the sci-fi empire. Although she loves the movies, Wu says she doesn’t want to be “stuck in a long contract” for multiple installments, especially given that she has starred in ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” for five years.

“I want to take roles that challenge me in different ways every year,” she says during Variety’s Actors on Actors series. “I’m ready for something new, so thinking about that makes me feel like it’s golden shackles.”

[From Variety]

It would be interesting to see Constance in a Star Wars franchise…but I totally understand her reasoning too. Best case scenario is that she would be able to come in for a month and film her whole part and then spend a few months promoting it. But of course the Star Wars films don’t work like that – you basically have to clear your schedule for a year, and there’s no guarantee that your character won’t be edited to hell in some post-production hellscape, and then you’re stuck in a contract for five more films. Why does ANY actor agree to Star Wars?

Photos courtesy of WENN.