Ali Wong and Randall Park are doing what I’ve been asking them to do for the past year and change—they’re making a romantic comedy for Netflix and I honestly can not wait.
Deadline reports that Wong and Park have signed on to make an untitled romantic comedy written with Michael Golamco about “two childhood friends who find themselves in vastly different socioeconomic situations when they fall in love as adults.” Love a good rom-com! Love any movie that addresses “vastly different socioeconomic situations” in a way that will hopefully feel fresh and funny!
Seeing two Asian American actors paired together as romantic interests for each other should not feel revolutionary in 2017 but unfortunately, it does. Constance Wu, who plays Jessica Huang on Fresh Off The Boat, once said that Asian actors competing for roles with white actors for a white audience have to “train like it’s the Olympics.” What’s nice about Netflix is that their pockets are very, very deep; they’re able to throw money behind projects that they think will work without being beholden to traditional audiences who are buying tickets and seeing movies. That’s not to say that getting a movie on Netflix is a downgrade; the freedom afforded by the platform means that artists can take risks that they wouldn’t otherwise take in the confines of the traditional studio system. It’s a win for Netflix and more importantly, a win for the artists, too.
Randall Park is a wonderful foil as Louis Huang on Fresh off the Boat; Wong, who worked on the very same show, made Baby Cobra, one of the funniest, raunchiest stand-up specials in quite some time. I have great faith that this will be good! I’d love for it to be good. Please don’t let me down.
