The past two years have seen a sea change in the career of Nora Lum known professionally as Awkwafina. She spent most of the early part of this decade putting her music degree to good use as an increasingly well-known hip-hop artist (she’d been rapping since she was 13). But along the way she landed acting roles in the MTV TV series “Girl Code” and became something of a household name last year after starring in “Ocean’s 8,” “Crazy Rich Asians” and hosting “Saturday Night Live” (the first Asian-American woman to do so since Lucy Lui in 2000). Now, her career has taken another turn and Oscar is possibly in her sights thanks to a dramatic role in “The Farewell.”
READ MORE: Awkwafina shines in tale of family love and loss in “The Farewell” [Review]
Awkwafina plays the lead rule in Lulu Wang‘s impressive feature directorial debut, a tearjerker of a drama that premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. She plays Billi, the twentysomething daughter of Chinese Immigrants Haiyan (Tzi Ma) and Jain (Diana Lin). When she discovers her parents are going back home for a “last visit” with her grandmother Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), who has terminal cancer, she joins them against their wishes. Once in China, she’s shocked to learn Nai Nai has no idea of how sick she is and her doctor and the family are purposely keeping her diagnosis from her. The film was inspired by real events in Wang’s life.
The 31-year-old New Yorker sat down a few weeks ago during a break from shooting a new film to discuss “The Farewell,” the awards chatter surrounding her performance and what’s next.
Please note: There is a minor spoiler about the film in the context of this interview.
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The Playlist: You spent two years overseas studying Mandarin, is that right?
Awkwafina: Yes. I spent a year in Beijing studying Mandarin, didn’t go over too well because we were just learning numbers and such. But it gave me a basis for when I came back this time. I mean it’s hard because first of all, it’s a really intense language. I think the newspaper has something like 30,000 characters in it. So I wanted to go because I wanted to speak the language that my grandma spoke, that was really the get. I didn’t come back like fluent at all, but it gave me a basis for like learning it again. Because if I would have had to do this movie, it would’ve been really tough. Yeah.
How did this project come your way?
I didn’t know Lulu, my manager sent me the script and basically didn’t tell me anything, just like you just need to read this. It was called “Nainai” which means grandma at the time. I was just blown away by the story and then found out that it was real and listened to this American life. First of all an Asian American writer and director, I couldn’t believe that. Then the story highlights the relationship between a girl and her grandma, but not in the ways that you think. It in many major ways mirrored my relationship with my grandma. I thought that was like very kismet, that it came to me.
Was the plot point about the family not telling your character’s grandmother she was ill, something that is apparently common, something you knew about growing up?
Not at all. Yeah. I mean I was dumbfounded when I first like realized that, and it really took like filming the movie and like spending time there, literally it’s like I learned as Billy learned. I’d read the script obviously, but there’s a scene with the uncle and dad in the cantina where he breaks it down, like the lie. The way that he was saying it, even if it was in Chinese, it resonated with me because it is an act of unconditional love. It is taking the emotional burden from someone, a burden that maybe you don’t selfishly want, you know? I don’t know which side of the camp I’m on, but I can say that I understand both sides.
You get the script and you meet with Lulu, but this is really your first major “dramatic” role. Did she have you do any screen tests?
I think the producers brought my name to her and she was like, “You think this is Billi?” She made me screen test, like that wasn’t a question. I work so hard for that screen test because I wanted it so bad. I hired a tutor, we would work in six-hour sessions. Just getting the monologue, the dialogue right. Just learning the Chinese lines. I don’t like when people say it to me and then I just repeat it. I have to know what I’m saying. right? So, I had to break down the words and it was a lot. But that’s how much I wanted it.
This was a small independent movie mostly shooting overseas with an ensemble cast. Did you have any time for rehearsals or did you all just get there and jump in?
We just got there, we maybe had like a dinner, like a crew dinner or like a blessing of the movie. Then we had like a family outing with Tzi, Diana, me and Lulu. That’s it. Then we just had five weeks in China, the whole thing.
Was it harder to film the scenes in Chinese than you thought?
It wasn’t, because originally the character was supposed to have like a great command of Chinese. But obviously I don’t, so they had to, you know, dumb her down a little bit. But when I went to China when I was in college, I stayed for a little bit with my grandma’s cousin who spoke only Chinese. She didn’t speak any English, so I still had to like kind of use a little bit of Chinese to like talk to her. I evoked that when I was doing my Chinese lines. So, it didn’t feel like I was saying things I didn’t know. It literally felt like I was struggling to communicate something.
Which is what your character was doing.
Right.
Did you get to meet Wang’s grandmother, the “real” Nai Nai?
Yes, I did. She would come to set all the time and she was very warm. I think the crew at one point were like using her bathroom because we were shooting by her house. [Laughs.] There’s a scene where I’m hugging grandma goodbye and it was fricking waterworks. I was telling Lulu, I was like, “I’m not able to cry. Just don’t expect me. I’m not going to.” I was crying so hard that after we cut I would have to go to a corner and just like catch my breath. Real Nai Nai came up to me and was like, “Why are you crying?” It was so like meta. It was crazy. It was crazy.
The movie was something of a sensation at Sundance. I don’t know if you saw it before you went to the festival, but can you talk about the experience of seeing it with the audience for the first time? Because most people really didn’t know what they were in for. I mean there was no trailer, there’s no teaser. It said it was a “drama” in the program, but a majority of the audience know you from “Crazy Rich Asians.”
I think it takes people by surprise. I think the notion I [personaly] can’t see is that it’s too sad or it’s going to be so sad. There is humor in it that I think that people really get. When I was watching audiences come out of “Crazy Rich Asians” screenings, there were tears but of joy. like a bittersweet joy. You know, representation is a beautiful thing when you realize you’ve been lacking it your whole life. That’s where those tears came from. But for “The Farewell” some people come out of it just trembling, trembling, sobbing. Like because they just did that. They just buried their grandma, one woman came up to me, she was a little bit older and she said that in the 80s she did this, and she had no one to talk to about it. For her, it felt a little bit like less isolating I think. I think that representation can be broad and it can be very specific and it can be both.
So, this is a stupid question and probably more appropriate for Lulu, but the real Nai Nai must have found out about her diagnosis right?
I don’t know.
She’s seen the movie?
She hasn’t.
Oh.
Yeah, Nai Nai I think saw bits of it, but she was in the movie so she obviously knows.*
After the critical reaction to the picture, has this film sparked more interest in dramatic roles or do you just want the best thing that comes along?
I just want to do anything that speaks to me, that moves me. That’s right. I mean it’s not fair to say that I don’t like to do scripts because they suck, it’s like, “Maybe that’s not right for me.” I can say that after “The Farewell,” maybe I’m not as like scared of drama as maybe I was. I was very insecure about it.
I know you’re currently shooting Tate Taylor’s “Breaking News In Yuba County,” is that a comedy or a drama?
More of a comedy. It is an original story written by Amanda Idoko who’s like incredible. It’s more of a dark comedy I’d say than like a drama, yeah.
You also were announced as part of the cast of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix adaptation of”The Prom,” is that correct? I know you’ve done rap and you have a music degree, but do you sing?
I mean, not to anyone’s delight. [Laughs.] I’ve dabbled. Sure. I don’t think I’m as limber as I want to be, but hey, I’m open to it. I saw the musical on Broadway, I thought it was fucking incredible. I loved it so much. So I mean, it’s the dream come true. I hope it happens.
Was that report premature?
Yeah, I mean there’s been a conversation, but I don’t know if I would like officially confirm it.
Got it, totally understand. Circling back to “The Farewell,” your performance is incredible and there’s been a lot of talk for you in terms of awards season. What do you think of this sort of speculation?
I mean, it’s pretty great. It’s crazy. I’m always more of a…I would call it like practical pessimism in that like if people enjoy my performance like that’s awesome. But when I got cast in “Oceans Eight” I really didn’t believe it for a long time. But I think that for this, like what I want out of this is for people to be moved, right? It’s bigger than me and my performance, it’s the whole cast and it’s the story and it’s the timing of the story I think. So I hope that people recognize that.
Can you talk about just working with the cast in general? You said you didn’t have a lot of time to rehearse. How did you guys bond to make those scenes, especially with Billi’s immediate family, so effortless?
I think it was really natural. Everyone knows what it’s like to go, well not everyone, but people have gone back to China. I met relatives that I can’t communicate with, but there’s love and there’s a connection. I think that it was very similar with this cast. Like we know why we’re all here, we know that we’re playing a family. We might not be able to communicate as such. But the feeling is there, and the more that we shot scenes, I think that the empathy in all of us came out. That made it very real. So like when I would cry, Diana would cry because she saw me crying. Like not because she wanted to cry. It just, you know? I felt like instantly that they were my family. There are elements of reverence in Chinese culture, respecting your elders is like a very, very important part of their culture. We all really wanted to protect all the grandmas and each other, you know? So that was really cool.
*According to A24, the real Nai Nai has yet to see the movie, but Little Nai Nai has seen the film just recently and was very pleased with the finished product.
“The Farewell” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday.
