098. The Wedding Banquet (2025): Interview with Director Andrew Ahn

Deep Cut: A Film Podcast

Director Andrew Ahn is back for a three-peat with his new film The Wedding Banquet, a re-imagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 classic.

We chat with Ahn about his updates to the original to capture the new nuances of queer lives today, get behind the scenes tidbits of his time working with his incredible AAvengers cast, and see how the original and his remake have shaped him on a personal level.

The Wedding Banquet is currently premiering in the United States, get tickets in the cinema!

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:13 Film Synopsis

00:03:00 General Reactions (spoiler-free)

00:05:42 Spoiler warning (for both films)

00:06:21 Interview begins

00:12:45 Reimagining The Wedding Banquet

00:13:38 Ahn's first encounter with the original

00:15:19 Adapting with James Schamus

00:17:14 Ahn's updates to the original

00:23:05 Stylistic shifts

00:26:13 New concerns for an evolving queer audience

00:27:48 The films’ endings

00:33:07 New families

00:34:06 The original being more subversive

00:36:00 Watching Ahn's version before Ang's

00:36:54 Connection between Ahn's features

00:38:40 Giving actors their due

00:41:29 Casting the ensemble

00:46:32 Good acting vs most acting

00:48:54 Directing a scene

00:52:01 Editing

00:53:41 Modern gay rom coms

00:55:28 Landscape and location

00:58:44 Coincidences

01:01:49 Has Ang Lee seen the remake?

01:03:19 Eat Drink Man Woman Sidebar

01:05:36 Cinematography

01:08:34 Favorite moment on set

01:11:23 Artmaking as personal diary

01:15:36 The artwork in the film

01:16:19 Directing Youn Yuh-jung

01:18:09 Good filmmaking

01:19:58 Wrap-up