Out Director Andrew Ahn Says Watching His 'Wedding Banquet' Remake is 'Part of Your Fight to Resist'

Out "Fire Island" filmmaker Andrew Ahn says that watching his remake of "The Wedding Banquet" (starring Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone) isn't just a matter of appreciating cinema; it's a joyous act of resistance to the anti-LGBTQ+ forces threatening queer people at home and abroad.

Ahn and co-writer/producer James Schamus – the Focus Feature founder who also co-wrote and produced the original – "stepped into the spotlight to discuss their reimagining of Ang Lee's Oscar-nominated 1993 classic... at a 'The Makers' event held on Wednesday as part of BFI Flare, the London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival," The Hollywood Reporter recounted.

Ahn spoke up on the topic when he was asked about his thoughts regarding growing anti-LGBTQ+ repression, saying, "I wish it weren't so fraught, and it makes me incredibly anxious," THR relayed.

The"Spa Night" director went on to add that it's his hope the new take on "The Wedding Banquet" will be "an opportunity for people to build community, watch this film together, gain some strength, and then be able to go out there and fight for what is portrayed on screen."

In the 1993 Ang Lee original, a gay Chinese businessman marries a Chinese art student in need of a green card in order to stop his parents nagging him. When his parents then show up with a demand for him and his bride to tie the knot with a lavish traditional ceremony, the businessman, his American boyfriend, and the art student go through an elaborate masquerade that puts a strain on everyone.

Ahn's remake reimagines the story with a Korean textiles artist named Min (Han Gi-Chan) – the heir to a multinational clothing empire – and his Chinese-American boyfriend, Chris (Bowen Yang) at the center of things, along with their best friends, a lesbian couple (Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran) who are trying to have a child through IVF.

"I kind of did not want to touch the original film, because I love it so much," THR quoted the filmmaker telling the audience. "I saw the original film when I was eight years old, when it was in a video rental store, and my mother saw it and rented it, not knowing that it was a queer film."

Ahn added that "The Wedding Banquet" "was the first gay film I'd ever seen. And the fact that it was a gay Asian film, and a film that was told with so much humanity, I think really set me on this path to be the storyteller that I am today."

Schamus weighed in as well, saying, "I hope tonight folks will be experiencing here at BFI Flare that joy, queer joy, all joy is a superpower. It's part of your fight to resist."

Join the joyful resistance by watching the film's trailer below.