Amazon Swears Nicole Kidman Didn’t Walk Off The Hong Kong Set Of “Expats”
Nicole Kidman’s publicist might be thinking right now that they wish they could go back in time to three weeks ago when the messiest news related to her show, Amazon’s Expats, was the reveal that she skipped a mandatory COVID-19 quarantine when she showed up for filming in Hong Kong. Because things have gotten reach-for-the-Tylenol levels of headache making on the set of Expats, allegedly. It’s gotten so bad, Amazon had to come out with a statement assuring everyone it’s not the problematic tone-deaf fiasco that it’s rumored to be.
Expats has been in the making for several years, with Nicole’s production company, Blossom Films, backing the project. It has been adapted from the 2016 novel The Expatriates, which according to Deadline, is described as follows:
“Set against the sensational backdrop of ‘The Vertical City’ of Hong Kong, The Expatriates is a drama series that explores the vibrant lives of a close-knit expatriate community: where affluence is celebrated, friendships are intense but knowingly temporary, and personal lives, deaths and marriages are played out publicly – then retold with glee.”
So this sounds like Crazy Rich White Women Overseas (With a Couple Asian Characters Thrown In For Good Measure). Deadline gave a breakdown of some of the main characters, and there’s a whole lot of white people for a movie set in Hong Kong. And that’s one of the issues that some people have with Expats so far. via Variety:
[Director] Lulu Wang and the series garnered criticism for the show’s focus on the lives of a minority group of rich, mostly Caucasian foreigners. Many of Wang’s social media posts over the summer were also criticized for a perceived sense of entitlement and indifference to Hong Kong’s political context, and claims that she is making an independent movie.
The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s leading English-language daily, labeled the production “tone deaf.”
On top of that, Hong Kong news outlets reported an alleged fight between Nicole and Lulu Wang (who also directed The Farewell) that allegedly took place while they filmed on location in a street market. Nicole has been seen filming outside multiple times, but one specific time allegedly got really messy between herself and Lulu.
1/ Actress Nicole Kidman has been snapped filming a scene in Mong Kok from the Amazon Prime Video series “Expats.” pic.twitter.com/F3JdIjSy0T
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) August 23, 2021
Sources close to production denied that there was any bad blood between Nicole and Lulu. But that didn’t stop Hong Kong press from reporting that Nicole quickly left the set due to “creative differences.” But that’s not so, according to an Amazon spokesperson. via Variety:
“Nicole wrapped as scheduled, she did not leave early. She always had other projects she was committed to. The production is not stalled or on hiatus, it was always going to continue shooting without her.”
Variety writes that Nicole was scheduled to return to Australia, then fly to the UK to film her part in Aquaman 2 (she plays Atlanna, Aquaman’s mom). Nicole might return to Hong Kong to continue filming. I can already feel the energy from pissed-off Hong Kong residents that know Nicole is definitely going to skip another mandatory 2-week hotel quarantine after all that continent-jumping.
There are no comments about this from Lulu Wang or Nicole Kidman. So we might not know if Nicole and Lulu really did get into a fight on set, or if this is just a creative rumor from some bored journalists. But if they really did get into it, I wonder what their fight was about? My guess would be wigs. I keep looking at that picture of Nicole from the set, wearing what appears to be her natural hair, and I can’t help but picture her storming off set and swearing she wouldn’t return until she was promised a bad wig.
Pic: Wenn.com