Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. There's a stereotype of Asian parents

that they're all super strict tiger parents who only care about math and science. And in my experience,

yeah, sure, they are super strict, but they can be open to other fields, which is what I appreciated

about this interview with director John Chu,

best known for the movie Crazy Rich Asians. He's got a new memoir out titled Viewfinder,

and in this interview with Empair's Elsa Chang, he talks about his mom finding him in the

late night, early morning hours editing movies instead of studying. And of course, she's mad,

but from there, this story takes a

slightly different turn than what we've maybe come to expect from Asian parents. That's ahead.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky

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On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

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Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

When the movie Crazy Rich Asians came out in 2018, I, like almost every Asian I knew,

rushed to the theater to see the first Hollywood movie in decades, starring an all-Asian cast.

I'm sorry to tell you, but Rachel has been lying to us about her family and her mother. What are you talking? I hired a private investigation. Now, at the time, I didn't know much about the director, John Chu. But what I did know, long before I ever read his new memoir, Viewfinder, is that he and I grew up in the same town in Silicon Valley.

I have been dying to tell you, John, I grew up in Los Altos as well.

Basically, yes.

At the same time you did, basically, I graduated high school in 1994.

So I think I'm a few years older than you, right?

...