The sequel to “Girls of Heaven” 30 years after the original

Author Tan (70) and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Ron Bass (80’s “Rain Man”) are back together again. In 1993, Chinese-born director Wayne Wang (73) filmed the best-selling novel about four women from China who start a new life in San Francisco, with a cast of almost exclusively Asian actors who were little known in Hollywood. The producers said they wanted to bring back the actresses in front of the camera from the original movie. No director was initially named to continue the generational drama.

A cast of Asian descent is a rarity in Hollywood. This was the case as recently as 2018 in the turbulent comedy “Crazy Rich Asians” about love, intrigue and traditions in Asian culture. Director John M. Cho (The Incredibles 2) caught Constance Wu, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan and Henry Golding on camera.