When filmmaker Andrew Ahn set out to reimagine The Wedding Banquet, he wasn’t just updating a classic queer rom-com—he was telling a love story rooted in his own experience. “Yeah, this one was really personal in a different way,” he told Gayety. “I made this for my boyfriend, and we’re in this phase of our lives where we’re thinking about how to grow our family. This question of marriage and this question of having children… So this one feels really close and makes me a little vulnerable in this process.”
Originally released in 1993 by director Ang Lee, The Wedding Banquet broke barriers as one of the first queer Asian films to find global success. Ahn’s version keeps the heart and spirit intact, while adding modern layers of intimacy, humor, and cultural nuance.
This time around, the story centers on Min (Han Gi-Chan), a closeted man who proposes a fake marriage to his best friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) to help fund her IVF journey. But when his traditional grandmother flies in for a surprise wedding banquet, the secret spirals out of control.
Ahn leaned into his own experience to guide emotional beats—especially for the film’s couples. “I remember talking to Kelly and Lily [Gladstone] about how people say ‘I love you,’” he explained. “My boyfriend and I have a special way of saying it. I had them create together how they say ‘I love you’ as a couple. And that shows up in the film in this really beautiful way.”
When asked for his favorite line, Ahn lit up: “I really love when Kelly Marie Tran yells, ‘Everything in this house is gay.’ Because I think a lot of queer people would really understand that—we just somehow end up accumulating so many gay things.”
From the artwork to the DVD collection, everything in the film’s home set was intentionally chosen to reflect a queer household. “We worked with our production designer, Charlotte Royer, our prop master. We also worked with our actors to just pull together a house of gay things… It’s a home that I wish I lived in. It’s super cozy queer.”
Backed by a cast that includes Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, and Han Gi-Chan, Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet is a poignant, funny, and deeply personal story about building the life you want—and the love that makes it possible.
Catch it in theaters on April 18. Watch the full interview with Andrew below.
