Constance Wu Says She Flipped Out About “Fresh Off The Boat’s” Renewal Because She Wanted To Do A Play

Three months ago, Constance Wu gave Katherine Heigl a brief break from being the poster child for primetime TV arrogance by throwing a Twitter tantrum over the renewal of Fresh Off the Boat. Constance, fresh off the success of Crazy Rich Asians, was mad because she had a big project she wanted to do. Most people assumed said big project would be another massive movie, but Constance tells The Los Angeles Times that her Twitter tantrum was triggered by a play she wanted to do.

Constance, who is currently hustling Hustlers, should have been excited when ABC announced it was bringing back FOTB for a 6th season, because who doesn’t love a big paycheck? But she wasn’t, because she really wanted to make pennies doing theater.

Though she didn’t go into detail at the time, it wasn’t another film but a play she’d been hoping to do — one in which she would have played a “not Asian-specific” role and likely worked for scale — that Wu had to give up to return to her show, for which she is under contract for another two years.

“I had this moment of heat where I got upset because I had to give up a job I had been looking forward to and had been chasing for a while.”

She also isn’t beating herself up for being emotional and dramatic, because she’s an actor, and that’s what she does. And also, because the cast and crew of FOTB totally understood that she was mad about that play and not mad that she was getting dragged back into her TV show.

“It was moving to me how many people from the show reached out to me, and even on set…to say, ‘Just so you know, we love you and we know who you are, and you didn’t deserve any of that stuff.’ Because they also know that I’m an actress — I can be dramatic. I mean, that’s our toolkit, right? I’m dramatic. I’m emotional. But they also know that that doesn’t represent me because they have a hundred episodes of behavior that proves otherwise.”

But Constance does feel a little bad that her Twitter tantrum upset anyone associated with the show (like ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke). Although – again – she’s not going to beat herself up over it, because it’s good to show your adoring fans that you’re not perfect.

“I like that people are expressing their feelings about it, because it improved my awareness of what it means to be a public figure. I’ve had a back-and-forth about it. It’s the line between being a role model but also authenticity. I think a lot of why people are lonely in this world is because they go through these Instagram feeds and everybody’s life is perfect. Nobody trips up. And sometimes I think, might it be good to see our heroes mess up a little bit and not always be perfect?”

Now you know that Constance’s beliefs about keeping it real for authenticity’s sake are going to inspire GMA’s Lara Spencer. The next time she fucks up and says something dumb on air, she’ll just turn to the camera and shrug, “Eh, nobody’s perfect, right? Wheeeee, no damage control for me!”

Pic: Wenn.com