Culture

Fans of Kevin Kwan’s work need fear not, while China Rich Girlfriend (the sequel to box office hit Crazy Rich Asians) sits on the back burner due to busy actors and COVID-19, another one of his books has been given the green light for a movie adaptation. 

Sony Pictures has picked up the author’s newer book, Sex and Vanity,  for a feature film presentation. The book in question isn’t at all part of the Crazy Rich Asians universe, it’s a whole other can of worms, but the themes of riches, romance and race remain. 

Cue Lucie Churchill, born to a Chinese-American mother and a blue-blooded New Yorker. She has it all, money to fill her bank account, an apartment on Fifth Avenue and a wonderfully rich and charming fiancé. But not all is hunky-dory in her castle in the sky, as goes with romance novels, someone throws a spanner in the works. Of course, when all is well, that’s when Chinese-Australian hunk surfer George Zao struts back into her life. Having met and clashed on the sun-kissed island of Capri, she despised him but also couldn’t deny her attraction. 

Kwan has mentioned that this particular book is his ode to E. M. Forster’s 1908 classic A Room with a View, which had its own movie adaptation in 1985 with Helena Bonham Carter playing the lead, Lucy Honeychurch. 

It would seem like Sony Pictures wants to bank in on the high that Crazy Rich Asians brought in. The movie hit cinemas in August 2018 and made around US$240 million at the international box office on a production budget of US$30 million. Following the big monetary win, the awards season brought two Golden Globe nominations, as well as nods from the Screen Actors Guild, Producers Guild of America, a Critics’ Choice win for Best Comedy, and various production accolades such as those for hairstyling, costume design, and art direction.

Beyond thrilled that “Sex & Vanity” will be made into a film by @SonyPictures and @skglobalent. https://t.co/VoAqqp41gS

— Kevin Kwan (@kevinkwanbooks) July 9, 2020

SK Global Entertainment remains a constant, having co-produced Crazy Rich Asians and remaining on board for this new venture. With all the action-packed movies hitting the big screen like Black Widow, No Time To Die, and Mulan, it would be a nice change of pace to have some frivolous, fabulous fun.