'Crazy Rich Asians' Director Jon M. Chu Breaks Silence on Writer Adele Lim's Salary Dispute

Jon M. Chu, the director of the hit film Crazy Rich Asians and its upcoming sequel, is breaking his silence on screenwriter Adele Lim‘s salary dispute with the studio.

Adele, who co-wrote the first film, has decided not to participate in the sequel after she was offered significantly less money than her co-writer Peter Chiarelli.

THR reportedly that the offers were $800,000 to $1 million for Peter and $110,000+ for Adele.

“When I discovered she was unhappy with the initial offer, the producers, myself and studio executives leapt into action to ensure we got to a place of parity between the two writers at a significant number. It was both educational and powerful to hear all facets of the debate. Unfortunately by the time we came up with several different ways to satisfy everyone’s needs, a lot of time had passed and she declined the offer,” Jon wrote in an open letter posted on his Twitter account. “These things happen in negotiations, and I’m proud that she was able to stand up for her own measure of worth and walk away when she felt like she was being undervalued.”

Jon says he will definitely work with Adele in the future and he’s still leaving the door open for her to rejoin the Crazy Rich Asians sequel. He also asked fans to not attack Peter Chiarelli.

“The door is always open for Adele and if there’s another shot at making it work I know we are all for it but that’s a personal and private conversation between ourselves,” he wrote.

Click inside to read the full open letter from Jon M. Chu…

Jon M. Chu’s Full Statement on Adele Lim

For those of you who are asking, you bet your ass I stand with Adele! I believed in her before we ever shot the movie and believe in her beyond. As many of you can imagine, negotiations are tough and more often than not messy — no matter who you are in this industry. The studio always comes in at a low offer and the talent always comes in at a high one then everyone enters the process knowing there’ll be lots of back and forth to find where we meet. But because I am close with Adele, when I discovered she was unhappy with the initial offer, the producers, myself and studio executives leapt into action to ensure we got to a place of parity between the two writers at a significant number. It was both educational and powerful to hear all facets of the debate. Unfortunately by the time we came up with several different ways to satisfy everyone’s needs, a lot of time had passed and she declined the offer. These things happen in negotiations, and I’m proud that she was able to stand up for her own measure of worth and walk away when she felt like she was being undervalued. I have experienced this several times in my years of making movies trying to keep a creative team together on budgets both big and small. It’s always heartbreaking and never fun. I will work with Adele in the future and respect the hell out of her. She was my sister and co-conspirator all the way through the film. I am, of course, frustrated that we all can’t do the next one together but I think the conversation this has started is MUCH more important than ourselves (and the movie sequels, frankly) so who am I to get in the way of that. I agree with Adele that parity for women and people of color is crucial to the continued enlightenment of our industry and we still have a long way to go. What I discovered personally through this process is there are still things to debate amongst ourselves (like value of experience vs lack of opportunity, tv vs film writing, work experience vs life experience, creative contribution valuations etc) which I am sure won’t be simple answers but I know we must try to figure it out to keep the needle moving. What I do know is we, as a community, should not go after my friend Pete Chiarelli in our movie. He wrote two drafts of the script months before I ever joined the project with Adele, and came back to work on the movie right before we started shooting. He is a good man, a creative force and has been a pro in the business for many many years, doing many uncredited re-writes (as those in the industry know go to only the most trusted writers.) He is not the author of the film in the end, Adele isn’t the author of the film in the end… and I certainly am not. We did this together along with many people from the producers, the cast, our editor, our production designer, Kevin Kwan, our sound team, our music team and many many more. It’s why I love to make movies. And sometimes we all have to do what’s best for our own self worth. That said, the door is always open for Adele and if there’s another shot at making it work I know we are all for it but that’s a personal and private conversation between ourselves. In the meantime, Thank you for being loud, thank you for caring and your support. More to do. More to say. More to learn.” -Jon M. Chu