In 2018, Kevin Kwan’s bestseller, Crazy Rich Asians , transformed into a watershed moment for Asians in Hollywood. A film adaptation with an all-Asian cast, Asian director and writers, luring white audiences to the cinemas, where franchise movies reigned supreme in the summer, was previously unheard of. Kwan, the brain behind it all, found unprecedented fame, propelling him to an enviable New York City (NYC) clique of celebrity writers. But he doesn’t consider himself as one. “Celebrity is such a strange word,” he says, over a long-distance phone call from the Big Apple. “I have friends who are actual celebrities and to me that is a very special condition, which I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
The one-percenters
Kwan says he is very much a “writer in a room who lives a normal life”, and is eager for his latest book, Sex & Vanity , to release. It is his first novel after the big Hollywood success and the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy ended. But the essence of his writing and universe carries on in his latest — one occupied by the filthy rich. A modern-day rendition of EM Forster’s A Room with a View , the novel’s writing is over-the-top and impudent, the characters (mostly Asian or Asian-American) are among the top 1% (as Bernie Sanders would disdainfully call it) and romance drives the plot through exotic private islands and uppity venues in NYC.
But the book has something previously unexplored: the rift between old and new money. To most, the wealthy are a homogeneous and cloistered group but Kwan, whose lineage can be traced to the upper-class establishment of Singapore, knows the finer differences. After spending over two decades in NYC, the 47-year-old author not only understands the lives of the wealthy Asians but also the East Coast elites. “In New York, I could be a fly on the wall and observe how the elites treated people they perceived as new money,” he recalls, adding, “No matter how privileged you are, there’s always going to be someone who will think you are not good enough. The snobbery never ends.”
Fight to fit in
In Sex & Vanity, the tussle between heritage and newly-acquired richness manifests itself in Lucie Churchill’s relationship with her fiancé, Cecil Pike. In a bid to fit in, he is flashy, opulent and eager to please, while she is a goody-two-shoes who only wants to chase personal gratification. In a way, they embody Kwan’s observation of the differences between the elites in the East and the West. While the former project their affluence with big houses, cars and jewellery, the latter have made a shift towards satiating private experiences like lavish holidays, golf, collecting art or even philanthropy, he says.
It is not just Kwan’s interactions with the crème de la crème, but also his personal struggle for self-identity in the US that finds its way into the novel. Lucie, a hapa — half Chinese, half American — spends her life reconciling with her dual racial heritage, a struggle that not only impacts her self-esteem but finds pertinence in a racially-divided America of late. “This is something I have had much experience with,” says Kwan, who spent his adolescent years in Texas, before moving to New York. “No matter what, you are always going be an outsider, whether it is the world of privilege in Houston or in NYC; you are always an interloper.”
A still from Crazy Rich Asians
Asians on the map
Representation in mainstream cinema and literature, therefore, is imperative to trigger change. “ Crazy Rich Asians started a revolution,” he declares. “It took me by surprise how much it affected white Americans, and not just Asians.” In the last two years, Kwan has witnessed a gradual, if not a tectonic, shift in narratives and casting. He counts films like The Farewell (2019) and actors like Awkwafina as examples of breakout successes, and Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever among his current favourites. “I do see that Crazy Rich Asians has opened the eyes of Hollywood that our stories are financially viable,” he says. But the progress may be slower in the casting department. “The instinct for big players in Hollywood is to be as risk-averse as possible and that entails casting well-known stars and, unfortunately, there are a lot more well-known stars who are not Asians.”
Currently working as a creator and co-writer on a television series for STX Entertainment, Kwan informs that Sex & Vanity is the first in a trilogy. While the first novel is an homage to Manhattan, the second and third will be an ode to London and Paris. He is open to optioning the book for an adaptation, but says he didn’t write it with a movie in mind. “If you think about a possible film while writing, you are setting yourself up for disaster,” he says. The novel, though, reads quite like a romcom, rife with mushy dialogues and sweeping descriptions of panoramas waiting to be filmed. “I try to stay in the literary world and evoke a story visually. At the same time, I am very influenced by movies,” concludes Kwan.
