From W.H.Y.Y. in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend.

Today, China's influence on Hollywood and how China has censored American films and rewarded

and punished American film studios, it's the price Hollywood paid for access to Chinese audiences.

We'll get answers to questions like, why did the Chinese poster for Star Wars,

The Force Awakens, shrink the size of one of its stars, John Boyega, who's black, and when

the queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody was released in China, how did they make Freddie Mercury not gay?

We'll talk with Eric Schwarzel, here reports on the film industry for the Wall Street Journal.

Also, we'll hear from Megan O'Rourke, she's been reporting on Long COVID, she'll talk about how

research into Long COVID offers insights into other mysterious chronic illnesses, including the

one she has, and Justin Chan will review The Batman.

When you watch a big budget film, you may not be thinking about how China influenced the story,

the characters, and the product placements, but after this interview, you'll probably be on the

lookout for those things. When China started allowing in American films, opening up a huge market

and big profits for Hollywood, in return, Hollywood had to make sure the films that wanted

China and China wouldn't offend the Chinese government. China exerted its power to reward and

punish American studios, leading to Chinese censorship of American films and American studios

self-sensoring. How that's reshaped the American film industry and its big budget movies,

is the subject of the new book Red Carpet, Hollywood, China, and the global battle for cultural

supremacy. My guest is the author, Eric Schwarzel. He reports on the film industry for The Wall Street

Journal. Eric Schwarzel, welcome to Fresh Air. How did you start noticing the Chinese

influence on American films when you started to be The Wall Street Journal's reporter on the Hollywood

industry? It started in small ways. I joined the journal in 2013, and I would have this morning

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