It’s official: American Born Chinese has officially started production. First announced back in 2021, the Disney+ action/comedy series starring Michelle Yeoh and directed by Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings‘s Destin Daniel Cretton is now moving at full speed to bring to life the story of a teenage boy who’s trying to come to terms with his immigrant roots while finding himself in the middle of an epic battle between Chinese gods.
The announcement was made via Instagram by Melvin Mar, an executive producer who has already brought to life other series like Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. and ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat. Mar has also produced comedies such as Jumanji: The Next Level and Bad Teacher. The executive producer shared a photo that reveals a small crew that participated in a blessing ceremony in order to celebrate the start of production of American Born Chinese.
Blessing ceremonies are fairly common on production sets, as small rituals that invite positive energy into the work environment and help all members to share a moment before getting to work. Blessing ceremonies are also frequent in horror film sets, though the purpose is to protect the crew from negative energy that may be evoked and fend off spirits that might get angry with the subject matter of the film in production. As American Born Chinese deals with comedy but also Chinese deities, it probably doesn’t hurt to have a small ceremony to kick production off.
In the series, Yeoh plays Guanyin, a woman who helps her nephew get through high school while hiding her true identity as the all-powerful Buddhist bodhisattva of Compassion. The BAFTA nominee was featured recently in Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings and Gunpowder Milkshake, and she is attached to star in several highly anticipated projects including Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Witcher: Blood Origin, and mega-blockbuster Avatar’s next four sequels.
Yeoh’s nephew, teenage boy Jin Wang, will be played by Ben Wang. The actor made his acting debut in the MacGyver reboot series, and ever since then has guest starred in The Last O.G., Search Party, and in the Hulu film Sex APPeal. Wang (the character) is a child of Taiwanese immigrants who is struggling to figure out his identity in America.
Cretton directs the series after helming the upcoming HBO thriller series Tokyo Vice. After that, the director is jumping on Scenes for Minors, a Disney+ series that centers around Cretton’s own experience as a foster care worker. The director is also working on Shang-Chi 2, to which he’s already attached to write and direct. This is all part of a multi-year deal signed between Disney and Cretton, which grants the filmmaker creative control over several projects
Disney+ is yet to announce a release window for American Born Chinese. Check out Mar’s post celebrating the start of production below:
via Collider