‘The Farewell': How Lulu Wang Cast the Film’s Two Biggest Roles

Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” is a movie about family, with the core relationship being the one between New Yorker Billi (Awkwafina) and her beloved Chinese grandmother or Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen). The process of casting the two main roles was as different as the actors themselves: Awkwafina, a breakout movie star from the States, and Zhao, a veteran TV actress from China. In a recent director’s Q&A, Wang revealed she was reluctant when she was first pitched Awkwafina for the role of Billi — who is based on Wang herself. Also Read: 'The Farewell': Lulu Wang Takes Extreme, Endearing Lengths to Maintain the Film's Big Lie “When her name was brought up it was before ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and ‘Ocean’s Eight,’ so I only knew of her from her rap videos,” Wang recalled. “I had been auditioning different actors and my producer said, ‘Have you considered Awkwafina because she’s read the script?'” “And I was like, ‘The rapper from Queens? To play me? In a dramatic film? Are we making the same movie?” Wang said, half-jokingly. “I thought my producer was pushing her because she was an influencer and had a lot of followers.” “I was very resistant at first...