Summary

The Wedding Banquet director Andrew Ahn breaks down the familial bonds and friendships at the core of the film.

Ahn discusses how he knew Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone would be perfect fits for their roles.

Ahn reveals the film that inspired him to explore queer Korean themes in his work.

Reboots and remakes are all the rage nowadays, but they can be tricky to pull off. When working with established IP, you run the risk of retreading the same tracks or veering so far from the original that you strip away everything that made it great in the first place. Luckily, Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet effectively pays tribute to Ang Lee’s 1993 version while putting a fresh, signature touch on the story, revamping it for a modern audience. The film sees a group of friends comprised of gay couple Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-chan) and lesbian couple Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) who hatch a chaotic plan: Min and Angela will get married so Min can stay in the country and Angela and Lee can get money for another round of IVF. There’s just one little problem — Min’s grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung) surprises them and insists on throwing a traditional Korean wedding banquet.
Ahn’s debut feature, a coming-of-age drama called Spa Night, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and won the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. His follow-up, a drama called Driveways, played at prestigious festivals Berlin and Tribeca. He made his first foray into comedy with the hilarious Fire Island, in which Yang also starred, alongside Joel Kim Booster, Conrad Ricamora, and Margaret Cho. His next film, A Sprinkle Of History, will feature a star-studded cast consisting of actors like Paul Giamatti, Adam Scott, and David Schwimmer.
Collider got the chance to speak with Ahn about the powerful mothers and grandmothers at the heart of the film, wanting to depict friendships between queer men and women, his favorite romantic tropes, and more.
‘The Wedding Banquet’ Director Andrew Ahn Breaks Down the Familial Bonds and Friendships at the Movie’s Core

Congratulations on this movie. There were so many elements I loved so much about it, but I feel like some of the things that touched me the most were those mothers and grandmothers and those relationships coming in. Those were things I didn’t necessarily expect going into this movie, so I’m curious if you can talk about the decision to really focus in on those themes.
ANDREW AHN: Yeah, you know, I was thinking about parenting and this queer family trying to bring in the next generation, and I realized that what complicates our relationship to parenting is how we were parented. I knew I wanted to bring in the previous generations — mother and grandmother — so it was always a part of the film at its foundation. I think, even amongst the couples, there’s this process of understanding someone’s priorities and how they want to be cared for, and that’s something Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-jung, playing mom and grandma, really have to understand about their children and grandchildren. It’s that understanding of who you really are and how you need to be loved and what you find important that I think is incredibly difficult but so important.
Absolutely. I also really love that we have these friendships between queer men and queer women — I feel like that’s something we don’t often get to see — so I’m curious if you can talk about the decision to really include that because I found that really refreshing as well.
AHN: I loved working on Fire Island, but it was just, like, boys, right? And so many boys. [Laughs] And then, when I was thinking about The Wedding Banquet — it’s kind of silly to say this, but — I thought, “Well, what if the bride in the original film was also queer and she had a partner?” And so then you have these two queer couples, and then, “What if they were friends?” It just felt authentic to me. It felt organic. And I think just an opportunity to work with incredible queer actresses like Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran — I’m so glad that I could diversify my portfolio of movies.
‘The Wedding Banquet’ Director Andrew Ahn on Casting Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone

Image via Sundance

Your cast in this is amazing, and I think it’s really cool because it allows some of them to play against type a little bit — we have Lily doing more comedy; I don’t feel like I’ve seen Bowen do so much moving dramatic work — so I’m curious if you can talk about specifically those two and why they felt right for these roles.
AHN: Getting to work with Bowen on Fire Island was such a joy. It was our first time meeting and working together, and I wanted to do it again. I just saw in Bowen this incredible facility for both comedy and drama and this real understanding of millennial indecision. I felt like he was part of my generation in this very organic way. And then Lily, I’ve seen her in interviews, and she’s such a goofball. I know she’s incredible in these dramatic films — Killers of the Flower Moon, Certain Women — but I saw this lightness and also like this kind of maternal quality that I felt was really that character, was really Lee. Even though they were playing a little bit against type, I saw how — at their core — there was something really connective to their characters, and I was excited to give them that opportunity.
It’s so fun to see.
‘The Wedding Banquet’ Director Andrew Ahn Discusses the Importance of Queer Cinema

Image via Bleecker Street

You are so inspiring to me and so many other filmmakers — I’m a fellow Outfest alum.
AHN: Oh, amazing!
It’s very exciting to see you thrive in this capacity. I’m curious if you can talk about the importance of these festivals and programs specifically for LGBTQ+ filmmakers, especially at this time in this country and in this world.
AHN: I think queer film festivals are so important — Outfest, Newfest, Framline: these are festivals that allowed me, as a filmmaker, to grow, to find my audience, to find collaborators, and to not feel so alone, not just as an artist but as a person. I saw my very first queer Korean film at Outfest, and had it not been for that movie, I don’t know — it’s called No Regrets — I don’t know if I would have wanted to tackle more queer Korean themes in my films. So I find them so important, especially now in today’s political climate. We have to rally together and find that strength in each other to motivate us so that we can go out there into the greater world more ready for the fight.
Yeah, absolutely. That’s very beautifully said. My final question is, I love that this movie feels like such a classic rom-com. We have some of those tropes of like forbidden love and opposites attract, so I’m curious if you have a favorite romantic trope.
Oh, that’s such a good question. You know, we don’t have this in The Wedding Banquet, but I do think enemies-to-lovers is so good, and I loved being able to explore that in Fire Island. But yeah, I think that one — if you pull it off? — so satisfying.
The Wedding Banquet is now in theaters.

The Wedding Banquet

Release Date

April 18, 2025

Runtime

102 Minutes

Director

Andrew Ahn

Writers

Andrew Ahn, James Schamus

Producers

James Schamus, Julie Goldstein, Daniel Bekerman, Shivani Rawat, Joe Pirro, Kent Sanderson, Anita Gou, Andrew Karpen

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