“American Born Chinese” is an action comedy streaming series that premiered on Disney+.
Let’s find out some trivia and facts about the new TV series.
- American Born Chinese is an American action comedy television series
- It is created by Kelvin Yu for Disney+
- It follows tenth-grader Jin Wang (Ben Wang)
- Jin is struggling to fit in with his peers
- He is tasked with showing new exchange student Wei-Chen (Jimmy Liu) around
- Then, he is unexpectedly thrust into a battle between mythical Chinese gods, including Sun Wukong (Daniel Wu) and Guanyin (Michelle Yeoh)
- The series is based on the 2006 graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
- Yang drew inspiration from his own adolescent years in the 1990s
- Incorporating elements from Chinese folk tales and mysticism found in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West
- The series consists of eight episodes
- It premiered on Disney+ on May 24, 2023
- Critical response upon its release was mainly positive
- Commentators referred to it as one of the best offerings on Disney+
- Critics praised the way it moved across cultural boundaries
- Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel entitled American Born Chinese was an adaptation of the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West
- According to series creator Kelvin Yu, the characters belong in the same category as other famous Disney legends such as the characters from the Marvel universe and Disney’s own princesses
- Yang was influenced by his own experiences as a Chinese American teenager growing up in the 1990s’ middle America between two cultures
- The graphic novel became landmark literature for Asian American millennials when it was published in 2006
- Yang was approached by Hollywood for the first time in 2007
- It turned out that the reason for the initial interest was a search for properties that would promote “the word China or Chinese” leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, said Yang
- Throughout the years, there would be inquiries but Yang observed that “the world needed to change in order for there to be an appetite for a story about an Asian American protagonist”
- Then Yang met Fresh Off the Boat producer Melvin Mar who introduced him to Kelvin Yu (Bob’s Burgers)
- Yu was aware of the difficulties of bringing the graphic novel to life onscreen
- He presented suggestions and ideas about how to expand the story and work with the complex plot line in a way that would speak to a new generation
- On October 4, 2021, it was reported that Disney+ had greenlit the adaptation of Yang’s graphic novel and ordered it straight to series with Destin Daniel Cretton attached to direct
- Yu and his brother Charles Yu were announced as writers of the series
- Asian-American fashion designers Prabal Gurung and Phillip Lim joined the production in April 2022 to work alongside costume designer Joy Cretton
- And in May 2022, Lucy Liu revealed on social media that she had been added as a director
- Melvin Mar, Kelvin Yu, and Gene Luen Yang would go on to serve as executive producers on the series
- In February 2022, it was reported that Michelle Yeoh, Ben Wang, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, Daniel Wu, Ke Huy Quan, Jim Liu, and Sydney Taylor were cast in starring roles
- Stephanie Hsu joined the cast of the series in May, playing Shiji Niangniang
- With Poppy Liu added in June
- The recurring cast, including Hsu and Liu, was announced in February 2023
- American Born Chinese brought the cast of the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once back together although the reunion wasn’t planned
- Principal photography had wrapped by the time Everything Everywhere All at Once was released and gained popularity internationally
- Yeoh, who plays the Chinese deity Guanyin, had come on board after receiving a call from director Destin Cretton
- Quan, who plays Freddy Wong, and producer Melvin Mar already knew each other
- When Quan was offered the role, he initially passed on it due to fear, telling the creative team “that this is the type of portrayal that we do not want to see in 2023”
- After conversations with the team, he learned that as the series progresses, the audience would “get to meet the actor who plays Freddy Wong and understand the struggles that he went through — and also what it means to have this type of stereotypical portrayal of Asians, and what is does to a normal kid like Jin Wang (Ben Wang)”
- Principal photography began in Los Angeles on February 8, 2022, and wrapped on July 6, 2022
- The majority of the exterior shots were filmed in Los Angeles County, California
- With well-known landmarks such as Los Angels County Museum of Art, Griffith Park, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and the Arboretum of Los Angeles featured in sequences
- The city of Altadena also provided a backdrop for the series
- Reportedly, the production used a real high school or college as base camp for scenes taking place at the fictional Sierra Mona High School
- The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 95% approval rating
- With an average rating of 7.5/10
- Based on 39 critic reviews
- The website’s critics consensus reads, “Jam-packed with inventive flourishes and grounded by lovable actors, American Born Chinese musters epic elements from Chinese mythology to tell a deeply relatable coming of age story”
- Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100
- Based on 26 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”
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