For more than 50 years, the kitchen at Chef Chu’s, in Los Altos, California, has produced one crowd-pleaser after another … including a certain Hollywood director. Before he’d bring “Crazy Rich Asians” and “In the Heights” to the big screen, Jon M. Chu was the kid folding napkins in the corner of his dad’s Silicon Valley restaurant.
His immigrant parents, from China and Taiwan, immersed him in American culture, such as the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” Chu said they would sing “Over the Rainbow” all the time: “This idea of dreaming of some other place beyond the walls of my bedroom was instilled in us, ’cause that’s what my parents thought when they came to America,” he said. “It’s the promise of something more. My mom would call us the Asian Kennedys, and she would dress us the same. So, we have these, like, epic family photos!”
His mom, Ruth, said her son didn’t want to be a director: “He wanted to be an actor. But realized he’s not tall and not handsome enough!”
“That’s mommy talk,” said dad Lawrence. “That’s how we talk in the family. Very straightforward.”
Less straightforward was the 44-year-old’s actual path to the red carpet, as he details in his memoir, “Viewfinder.” It all began with the June 1992 Sharper Image catalog, and an ad for an audio/video mixer, “where you connect VCRs together and your stereo together, and you could make a movie.”
Home movies at first, and later his own remake of “Titanic.” Film school came next, and Chu scored meetings with Steven Spielberg, and two movie deals by age 23.
But this is Hollywood, so when the deals fell through, he was jobless. His mom once again got straight to the point: “I got a script for a sequel to a dance movie,” Chiu said, “And I told my agents, ‘Oh, I don’t do direct-to-DVD. I got discovered by Spielberg!’ I told my mom that story, and she’s like, ‘When did you become a snob?’ What? What? She’s like, ‘If you’re a storyteller, storyteller can tell a story in any medium.”
What followed was a decade of documentaries (“Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” “Believe”), dance projects (“Step Up 3D”), and action sequels (“G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “Now You See Me 2”). The critics weren’t always fans, but you couldn’t argue with the box office.
And yet, Chu was not satisfied. “I had pushed away talking about being Asian for so long, because if I did, all of a sudden I’m an ‘Asian director,’ and I’d always be seen as that,” he said. “But I started to feel a little empty. Like, what is the thing that I most want to say? I had not actually revisited my path, where my family comes from.”
The result: 2018’s “Crazy Rich Asians,” a hit at the box office and with the critics. Based on the bestselling novel by Kevin Kwan, it was the first American film with a mostly Asian cast in 25 years.
For inspiration, Chu knew where to go: Chef Chu’s kitchen. “I knew the things I wanted to draw from here,” he said. “I wanted Eleanor to be in an environment like this, because to me this is them, like, playing jazz with making food.
“I wanted that power to be shown as Eleanor walked around the island,” Chu said.
Chu followed with the film version of the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical “In the Heights.”
Translating struggle and ambition to the silver screen with sumptuous visuals and elaborate numbers seemed to be Chu’s calling.
He’s now landed in Oz, directing the film adaptation of the Broadway mega-hit “Wicked.” Part one, out this fall, stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
Kent said, “‘Wicked’ has this line, ‘It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap.’ When I heard that, it sounded a bit like you.”
“It was the whole reason I did the movie,” Chu said. “It’s all about striving for that dream and being able to fight through the uncomfortable things to get there.”
The son of immigrants with big dreams is a familiar story; but Jon M. Chu knows the path to a Hollywood ending is not always what it seems.
For example, his view of “The Wizard of Oz” has changed since he was a kid. “I think that that Yellow Brick Road is no longer the path that you just keep following, because there is no wizard there that’s gonna give you your heart’s desire,” he said. “Life is a series of walking adventures. And as you’re walking, smell the flowers and feel the air. And maybe you’ll realize you’re actually flying.”
Story produced by Dustin Stephens. Editor: Emanuele Secci.
