at the sf international asian american film festival opening night gala a few weeks ago.

i know, i know, it’s old news, but it’s still thrilling!
he was in the VIP area chillin with dan the automator and i couldn’t help but (gently) intrude for a photo opp. he was nice about it. i even managed to squeeze three photos out of it (thanks jason!), my crone claws clutching his arm to make sure he couldn’t escape after the second photo. i am so classless.

when i stumbled upon his GR blog about a year ago, i was curious enough to google him. my “research” led me to conclude that he is utterly fascinating, not to mention…well, uniquely gorgeous. when was the last time you’ve seen a profile like that? when i was in china i kept seeing the same l’oreal commercials featuring this megastar, which must’ve imprinted my psyche or something, because i came back fired up with a healthy obsession.

what i know is that he’s a yay area native (went to head-royce high), went to college in oregon (architect major!), has studied wushu all his life, moved to HK after graduating college to pursue modeling, is supportive of the arts, and is a huge celebrity in HK. i could care less about the celebrity part, but it’s the duality of who he is that blows my mind. if you saw him on the street here (as many did during the run of the festival), you may not suspect he’s a bigtime actor in asia. i really recommend checking out his blog. he writes about his dogs, family, friends, wild turkeys in his parent’s backyard, seeing the cure in concert, unbelievable meals, shooting movies and commercials, incredible travels, and so forth, but in a down-to-earth language both literally and figuratively familiar to us. charming too.

i’m pretty sure i’m not making any sense. but let’s be clear that i’m not just going on a maniacal fan girl rant here. the reasons why i admire daniel wu stem from deeper “issues of identity” (grasping for words from my asian american studies 101 grab bag here) and all that baggage, and not just cuz he’s a pretty face (like chang chen).

at the sold out blood brothers san jose screening on sunday, they called him and put him on speaker phone (held up to the microphone) before the movie started. he spoke of how personally important this movie was because his father grew up in the same era (shanghai 1930s) and told him romanticized stories of the time and place, and how he couldn’t be at the screening because he was celebrating his father’s birthday. he also said that san jose has the best pho (it’s true!).

you gotta love that.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under asia, events, film, yay area. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.