Writer/director Lulu Wang's feature The Farewell is based on real events from the filmmaker's own life, when her grandmother in China was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, but went on unaware after the family decided to shield her from the news. Instead, the family orchestrated a fake wedding so that loved ones could say goodbye.
The film has received rave reviews and opened to stellar box office numbers. But audiences might have seen an entirely different movie if some producers had their way. Wang shares that when she first started pitching the film in 2014, producers suggested a decidedly different take on the film's fake wedding premise.
"As I was pitching to producers, they were like, 'It's obvious -- if you’re going to make a wedding movie, then the main character has to be the bride,'" Wang tells The Washington Post. "And she doesn't get along with her boyfriend anymore. And he's American. He's a white guy. But somehow she convinces him, and they come and they force this wedding. And they end up falling in love again.'"
If you were wondering what the bad alternate universe version of The Farewell might look like.
More here: Lulu Wang nearly compromised with 'The Farewell.' Then she stayed true to her story.