GEMMA CHAN is just so awesome and it is always great to see her in more things and get cast in amazing roles. As some of you may know I had the opportunity to meet and interview Chan prior to the release of “Crazy Rich Asians.” And it appears that since her awesome performance in the successful romcom she has just gone from strength to strength. More recently images of Chan have emerged from her character of MINN-ERVA in the upcoming CAPTAIN MARVEL superhero film. And you got it right, she looks so badass! Check this out!
Anyways, Chan was recently interviewed by Deadline Hollywood to talk about her character Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel as well as other things about the importance of representation and visibility in Hollywood.
Yes. I think we can’t underestimate the power of storytelling to influence a wider society’s idea of who we are. I think a big problem with what we’re seeing today with things being so divided, it’s a problem of both education, and the way we teach history. I think if we taught the history of, for example, empire and colonialism, I think we would understand much more why we are where we are, why certain countries are where they are. When black people get told to go home, or about the Windrush generation. I wasn’t taught anything in school either about the British Empire. They are here because we were there. That’s the truth. So I think people would be a lot less prejudiced and a lot less hostile if we understood history better. I think you can do that through education, but you can also do that through storytelling. There are so many stories that have been lost to history, and what I want to do is to try and find those stories. Often history’s written by the winners. I’m interested in the stories of the losers. Telling those stories and really helping to bridge that gap, and rather than people seeing it as ‘us and them’, widening the idea of ‘us’, the definition of ‘us’, to include more people.
I think it’s been such an amazing year–you’ve got films like Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, If Beale Street Could Talk. I don’t see things as just from an Asian American perspective, a win for Asian Americans, or the Asian diaspora. It’s about more than that, I think. I really wish such success for all of those other films as well, because I think it benefits all of us, white people included, not just minorities. It really is for the benefit of all.
And on her character of Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel? How was that experience for her?
It was very different to any other job that I’ve done. I enjoyed the physical challenge of it. I had to train for it. I loved working with Brie (Larson) and with (directors) Anna (Boden) and Ryan (Fleck) and the rest of the cast. They’re all brilliant. I think the caliber of the people and the talent that Marvel can attract is what’s really attractive to me. I think it’s going to be fun. I haven’t seen it. I’ve heard a rumor that we’re not going to be allowed to see it. I think it’s Marvel policy, so I guess I’ll find out what makes the final cut when I see it with everyone else. But it was fun to play something completely different. I mean, the makeup side of it was challenging, having to get there so crazily early, and then being one of the last to leave because the derig takes another hour after you’re finished, so that was really tough, but, I loved it. Brie’s a wonderful actress and she’s just a really good sort. I think Marvel’s got such an amazing team. An incredible amount of work goes into it, and they really took care.
I must say, Chan is so exquisite in all her performances. She also appears in the film MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS which in my opinion is quite ground breaking considering how white colonial style films have always been. Keep an eye out for her in the upcoming Captain Marvel film, which I am predicting will become an awesome blockbuster!
Images via Deadline Hollywood
To read the original article, please click on: Gemma Chan On ‘Crazy Rich Asians’: “We Want A Seat At The Table”; ‘Captain Marvel’ Is “Amazing” & “Very Different”
offendedaf.wordpress.com 