By Stephanie Foo

Student Life Editor

On Aug. 17, the romantic comedy film, “Crazy Rich Asians” will hit theaters nationwide, starring an all Asian cast with “Fresh Off the Boat” star Constance Wu and rising actor Henry Goulding as the leads.

The movie is based on author Kevin Kwan’s bestselling 2013 novel about a Chinese-American woman who accompanies her boyfriend to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore only to discover that he belongs to one of the richest families in Singapore. She must deal with the expectations of his wealthy world and strict mother while holding onto her love for him.

The film marks the first major Hollywood English-language movie featuring an Asian cast and crew in 25 years. With unconventional roles given to the cast and Asian-American director Jon Chu behind the camera, the movie prides itself on expanding and redefining Asian representation in the media.

“This film is about going against the grain–putting people of colour in roles that you wouldn’t usually put them in” Goulding tells Star2.com.

With previous credits such as “GI Joe: Retaliation” and “Now You See Me 2,” Chu recognizes the importance of promoting an Asian-centric piece of media in a dominantly white industry. As an Asian-American himself, he personally relates to the conflicts introduced in the movie.

“It’s a movie that speaks to my identity as an Asian and that struggle of figuring out who I am and where I belong,” Chu explained to Entertainment Weekly.

However, casting the right leading actors from a pool of Asian actors conditioned to play minority roles proved difficult. The team scoured Canada, New York, Los Angeles, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, London, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia in search of a cast that could carry the weight of lead roles and accurately portray the culture.

Yet, controversy regarding the lack of authentic Singlish and Chinese accents remains. Criticism also includes a lack of dark-skinned people at the forefront in a multicultural setting such as Singapore and the casting of Henry Goulding, who is half-white and half-Asian as the lead.

The first trailer for “Crazy Rich Asians” was released on April 23 and currently has over six million views on YouTube.