In Lulu Wang’s “Expats,” Sarayu Blue’s Hilary is seemingly perfect, put together and polished.
On the surface, the American expat Hilary presents herself as a control freak. From her surroundings to her makeup and neutral wardrobe, it’s all pristine. That facade slowly unravels as her layers are peeled back in the Prime Video six-part limited series. Behind closed doors, her marriage is falling apart, and her husband is cheating on her.
Costume designer Malgosia Turzanska used “aggressive neutrals” when it came to building Hilary’s wardrobe. Her goal was to use costumes as camouflage and protective armor for the character. “She is an incredibly strong, powerful woman. But she’s also an incredibly hurt woman, and that goes back to her childhood,” she says.
An asymmetrical David Koma jumpsuit, for example, is an outfit Turzanska wove into Hilary’s wardrobe for a dinner party scene that was...
On the surface, the American expat Hilary presents herself as a control freak. From her surroundings to her makeup and neutral wardrobe, it’s all pristine. That facade slowly unravels as her layers are peeled back in the Prime Video six-part limited series. Behind closed doors, her marriage is falling apart, and her husband is cheating on her.
Costume designer Malgosia Turzanska used “aggressive neutrals” when it came to building Hilary’s wardrobe. Her goal was to use costumes as camouflage and protective armor for the character. “She is an incredibly strong, powerful woman. But she’s also an incredibly hurt woman, and that goes back to her childhood,” she says.
An asymmetrical David Koma jumpsuit, for example, is an outfit Turzanska wove into Hilary’s wardrobe for a dinner party scene that was...
- 6/9/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
On June 6, the 2024 IndieWire Honors ceremony will celebrate 13 creators and stars responsible for some of the most stellar work of the TV season. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, the event is a new edition of previous IndieWire Honors ceremonies, this time focused entirely on television. We’re showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles celebration.
Below, Janice Y.K. Lee — the author of “The Expatriates” and producer of its Prime Video adaptation, “Expats” — shares her admiration for writer, director, and showrunner Lulu Wang, who will receive the Crossover Award at IndieWire Honors.
Do you know Lulu Wang? Have you met her? You’d remember if you had. She’s five feet of pure determination and artistry, barely a hundred pounds of steely-eyed chili crisp, a writer’s writer, a director’s director, and a fierce warrior deceptively encased in the frame of an elegant porcelain-faced gamine.
Below, Janice Y.K. Lee — the author of “The Expatriates” and producer of its Prime Video adaptation, “Expats” — shares her admiration for writer, director, and showrunner Lulu Wang, who will receive the Crossover Award at IndieWire Honors.
Do you know Lulu Wang? Have you met her? You’d remember if you had. She’s five feet of pure determination and artistry, barely a hundred pounds of steely-eyed chili crisp, a writer’s writer, a director’s director, and a fierce warrior deceptively encased in the frame of an elegant porcelain-faced gamine.
- 5/30/2024
- by Janice Y.K. Lee
- Indiewire
Prime Video is gearing up for a strong Emmy push with Lulu Wang’s emotionally charged and intricately crafted miniseries “Expats.”
It was revealed exclusively to Variety that stars Nicole Kidman and Ji-young Yoo will be submitted for lead acting accolades, while Sarayu Blue and Ruby Ruiz will aim for supporting roles. Altogether, “Expats” will vie for 24 Primetime Emmy nominations, including outstanding limited or anthology series.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of Hong Kong, and adapted from the novel by Janice Y.K. Lee, “Expats” delves into the lives of a close-knit group of expatriates, navigating their affluent, yet complex world. The narrative centers around the mysterious disappearance of Margaret’s (Kidman) son during a market visit, intertwining the lives of three American women amidst the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests.
Read: All Primetime Emmy predictions in every category on Variety’s Awards Circuit.
Lulu Wang, the creator, writer and director of the...
It was revealed exclusively to Variety that stars Nicole Kidman and Ji-young Yoo will be submitted for lead acting accolades, while Sarayu Blue and Ruby Ruiz will aim for supporting roles. Altogether, “Expats” will vie for 24 Primetime Emmy nominations, including outstanding limited or anthology series.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of Hong Kong, and adapted from the novel by Janice Y.K. Lee, “Expats” delves into the lives of a close-knit group of expatriates, navigating their affluent, yet complex world. The narrative centers around the mysterious disappearance of Margaret’s (Kidman) son during a market visit, intertwining the lives of three American women amidst the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests.
Read: All Primetime Emmy predictions in every category on Variety’s Awards Circuit.
Lulu Wang, the creator, writer and director of the...
- 4/11/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Spoiler Alert: This interview contains spoilers for “Home” the series finale of “Expats,” now streaming on Prime Video.
“Keep on living” is the theme of the series finale of Lulu Wang’s “Expats.”
It wraps up the grief, loss and pain Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo) and Hilary (Sarayu Blue) have been experiencing throughout. In the final episode of “Expats,” Wang seeks to show how the women at the center of the story move forward and find peace and resolution in their lives.
Margaret and her family are planning to move back to America after dealing with the disappearance of their young son, Gus. Before that, she takes time to meet with both Mercy and Hilary at a coffee shop trying to put the past behind her so she can move on.
Meanwhile, Mercy is grappling with her unexpected pregnancy caused by her affair with Hilary’s husband David...
“Keep on living” is the theme of the series finale of Lulu Wang’s “Expats.”
It wraps up the grief, loss and pain Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo) and Hilary (Sarayu Blue) have been experiencing throughout. In the final episode of “Expats,” Wang seeks to show how the women at the center of the story move forward and find peace and resolution in their lives.
Margaret and her family are planning to move back to America after dealing with the disappearance of their young son, Gus. Before that, she takes time to meet with both Mercy and Hilary at a coffee shop trying to put the past behind her so she can move on.
Meanwhile, Mercy is grappling with her unexpected pregnancy caused by her affair with Hilary’s husband David...
- 2/23/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Executive Producer Dani Melia describes how “a scrappy team” that made filmmaker Lulu Wang’s acclaimed low-budget feature The Farewell joined forces with Blossom Films’ Nicole Kidman and Per Saari to make “this big international production” Expats for Prime Video.
Melia tells me how she and Wang had “long talked about wanting to continue working together” after making The Farewell.
Then, while they were promoting the movie in Australia, Kidman approached Wang about directing an adaptation of Janice Y.K. Lee’s book The Expatriates.
Wang was excited, and Melia recalls the director telling her: ”I need to find a way to do this with you and the rest of the crew who did The Farewell. I want my creative team onboard, and I think this should be our next thing.”
Melia says that quite a few creatives from The Farewell ended up making the leap with them.
They include Melia herself,...
Melia tells me how she and Wang had “long talked about wanting to continue working together” after making The Farewell.
Then, while they were promoting the movie in Australia, Kidman approached Wang about directing an adaptation of Janice Y.K. Lee’s book The Expatriates.
Wang was excited, and Melia recalls the director telling her: ”I need to find a way to do this with you and the rest of the crew who did The Farewell. I want my creative team onboard, and I think this should be our next thing.”
Melia says that quite a few creatives from The Farewell ended up making the leap with them.
They include Melia herself,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
The analog comeback continues for cinematography, as this week’s Cannes Film Festival boasts 19 titles shot on Kodak film, with eight competing for the Palme D’Or, highlighted by Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” (Searchlight Pictures). The multi-layered ode to journalism, with an ensemble cast consisting ofTilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Timothee Chalamet, Lea Seydoux, Benicio del Toro, Elisabeth Moss, Owen Wilson, and Frances McDormand, was shot in both 35mm color and black-and-white by go-to cinematographer Robert Yeoman.
The other Palme D’Or entries shot on film include Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” (Dp Drew Daniels), Ildikó Enyedi’s “The Story of My Wife,” (Dp Marcell Rév), Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Bergman Island” (Dp Denis Lenoir), Juho Kuosmanen’s “Compartment No. 6” (Dp Jani-Petteri Passi), Sean Penn’s “Flag Day” (Dp Daniel Moder), Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” (Dp Kasper Tuxen), and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria” (Dp Sayombhu Mukdeeprom).
Additionally,...
The other Palme D’Or entries shot on film include Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” (Dp Drew Daniels), Ildikó Enyedi’s “The Story of My Wife,” (Dp Marcell Rév), Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Bergman Island” (Dp Denis Lenoir), Juho Kuosmanen’s “Compartment No. 6” (Dp Jani-Petteri Passi), Sean Penn’s “Flag Day” (Dp Daniel Moder), Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” (Dp Kasper Tuxen), and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria” (Dp Sayombhu Mukdeeprom).
Additionally,...
- 7/6/2021
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
One of the first decisions writer/director Lulu Wang and her cinematographer Anna Franquesa Solano had to make on the “The Farewell” is what aspect ratio they would use to compose shots of the film’s family ensemble, which is often gathered in the same room. When Wang was on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, she explained her initial instinct was to go with a narrower, taller frame that tended to be the choice for family drama films and that would also highlight the uniquely tall ceilings in her China locations.
“But then we came across this idea of shooting the family as you’d shoot a landscape because that’s really what it was, a landscape of a family,” said Wang. “[The way] to portray the family as a unit and still be close to their faces was to go wider.”
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts to the Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast
The...
“But then we came across this idea of shooting the family as you’d shoot a landscape because that’s really what it was, a landscape of a family,” said Wang. “[The way] to portray the family as a unit and still be close to their faces was to go wider.”
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts to the Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast
The...
- 1/2/2020
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
The Farewell is a Chinese American dramedy directed by LuLu Wang about a Chinese American millennial, Billi, who's played by Awkwafina, who discovers her grandmother Nai Nai, played by Shuzhen Zhao, has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and has two months to live. However, her entire family plans on keeping this a secret from Nai Nai, allowing her to live her last two months without the anxiety of knowing her death date. The family throws a fake wedding in China so that everyone can secretly bid their goodbyes to Nai Nai; however, Billi feels that her family's way of going about it is cruel and unethical. She strongly believes Nai Nai has the right to know, but her family brushes this off, claiming she is too emotional due to being raised in the West. Wang claims that the film was partly inspired from her own grandmother's illness and the...
- 7/30/2019
- by Juliet Poucher
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Ever since the Sundance Film Festival, buzz has been building for The Farewell. Poised to be one of the fest’s potential awards season players, the heartfelt drama is opening this week and should begin accruing a number of new fans. Those at Sundance did not overhype this one, as it’s a tremendously good movie, one that will undoubtedly make you smile. Not quite the tearjerker you might be expecting, it’s still deeply emotional, yet handled so well it never seems even a little bit manipulative. It’s one of the better films of 2019 so far could certainly end up on Oscar’s radar. For Billi (Awkwafina), her grandmother Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao) is a huge figure in her life, even if the former is living in New York City, while the latter is in China. They talk often on the phone, exhibiting a close relationship. While visiting...
- 7/11/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
IndieWire reached out to the cinematographers and directors behind the scripted narrative features premiering this week at Sundance to find out which cameras, lenses, and formats they used, and why they chose them to create the looks and meet the production demands of their films. Here are their responses.
Films in U.S. Dramatic Competition are below, Premieres are on Page 2, Next Page 3, Midnight Page 4. Films appear in alphabetical order by title.
Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
“Before You Know It”
Dir: Hannah Pearl Utt, DoP: Jon Keng
Format: 3.2K Prores 4444
Camera: Arri Alexa Mini
Lens: Cooke S4i
Keng: The cast was made up of primarily women across all age groups, so I wanted a lens set that would render their faces well without being overly clinical and sharp. The S4s have a very pleasant way of compressing people’s faces, even at wider focal lengths. I chose...
Films in U.S. Dramatic Competition are below, Premieres are on Page 2, Next Page 3, Midnight Page 4. Films appear in alphabetical order by title.
Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
“Before You Know It”
Dir: Hannah Pearl Utt, DoP: Jon Keng
Format: 3.2K Prores 4444
Camera: Arri Alexa Mini
Lens: Cooke S4i
Keng: The cast was made up of primarily women across all age groups, so I wanted a lens set that would render their faces well without being overly clinical and sharp. The S4s have a very pleasant way of compressing people’s faces, even at wider focal lengths. I chose...
- 1/29/2019
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Stretched across continents, but no less profound and idiosyncratic, the family ties that give life to Lulu Wang’s sophomore feature “The Farewell” are informed by the director’s own anecdotes about her loved ones. As personal as few other titles in the lineup, the film premiered Friday afternoon at the Sundance Film Festival.
“Based on an Actual Lie,” announces the opening frame of this intergenerational dramedy first made public on NPR’s radio program “This American Life” in a story titled “In Defense of Ignorance” back in 2016. Ironically, the reasoning behind the elaborate falsehood is where the movie’s noble heart resides.
Told mostly in Mandarin, Wang’s bittersweet triumph gives rapper turned comedic actress Awkwafina the melancholic part of Billi, a Chinese-born writer who moved to America when she was 6 years old. She is, essentially, Wang’s avatar. Already unsure about her future enterprises, Billi takes a brutal hit when her beloved grandmother,...
“Based on an Actual Lie,” announces the opening frame of this intergenerational dramedy first made public on NPR’s radio program “This American Life” in a story titled “In Defense of Ignorance” back in 2016. Ironically, the reasoning behind the elaborate falsehood is where the movie’s noble heart resides.
Told mostly in Mandarin, Wang’s bittersweet triumph gives rapper turned comedic actress Awkwafina the melancholic part of Billi, a Chinese-born writer who moved to America when she was 6 years old. She is, essentially, Wang’s avatar. Already unsure about her future enterprises, Billi takes a brutal hit when her beloved grandmother,...
- 1/26/2019
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Wrap
If not for a cell phone that’s promptly taken away from our juvenile protagonist, you might think “Buck Run” takes place in the late ’70s or early ’80s. Evidently, it was that era which saw the last spasm of prosperity in the film’s rural Pennsylvania setting, as any home improvements seem to date back at least a couple decades. A thick haze of economic hopelessness and all the related woes it brings hangs over this gritty indie drama from director Nick Frangione (“Roxie”).
While the film is compelling in atmospheric and textural terms, it’s less successful as storytelling, as David Hauslein’s script proves excessively reluctant in parceling out much explanatory detail in this tale of a newly motherless boy’s strained reunion with his ne’er-do-well deer-hunter father. The result is a mixed bag that’s less than satisfying, albeit still distinctive enough to warrant a...
While the film is compelling in atmospheric and textural terms, it’s less successful as storytelling, as David Hauslein’s script proves excessively reluctant in parceling out much explanatory detail in this tale of a newly motherless boy’s strained reunion with his ne’er-do-well deer-hunter father. The result is a mixed bag that’s less than satisfying, albeit still distinctive enough to warrant a...
- 1/12/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Stars: Gabe Fazio, Bradford West, Stuart Rudin, Noah McCarty-Slaughter, Sophie Auster, Suzanne Didonna, Kadah Binkley | Written by Toni Comas, Charlie Williams | Directed by Toni Comas
Deep inside the heart of middle America lie many different beliefs; beliefs in God, in country, in justice, and in America itself. Some of those beliefs extend beyond what are considered the norm – the paranormal, the unexplained, the unnatural. This is where the Spirit Doctors come in, two paranormal investigators who help those who feel their houses, and their very lives, are in upheaval due to supernatural forces. Michael (Gabe Fazio) actually has the gift of second sight and the ability to communicate with the dead, while Josh (Bradford West) deeply wishes he does and has convinced himself he can. And on one fateful summer’s day, they find themselves dealing with events that make them question the nature of what they do, and uncover...
Deep inside the heart of middle America lie many different beliefs; beliefs in God, in country, in justice, and in America itself. Some of those beliefs extend beyond what are considered the norm – the paranormal, the unexplained, the unnatural. This is where the Spirit Doctors come in, two paranormal investigators who help those who feel their houses, and their very lives, are in upheaval due to supernatural forces. Michael (Gabe Fazio) actually has the gift of second sight and the ability to communicate with the dead, while Josh (Bradford West) deeply wishes he does and has convinced himself he can. And on one fateful summer’s day, they find themselves dealing with events that make them question the nature of what they do, and uncover...
- 7/31/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
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