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A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen
by Jon M. Chu
From visionary director Jon M. Chu comes a powerful, inspiring memoir of belonging, creativity, and learning to see who you really are.
Long before he directed Wicked, In The Heights, or the groundbreaking film Crazy Rich Asians, Jon M. Chu was a movie-obsessed first-generation Chinese American, helping at his parents' Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley and forever facing the cultural identity crisis endemic to children of immigrants. Growing up on the cutting edge of twenty-first-century technology gave Chu the tools he needed to make his mark at USC film school, and to be discovered by Steven Spielberg, but he soon found himself struggling to understand who he was. In this book, for the first time, Chu turns the lens on his own life and work, telling the universal story of questioning what it means when your dreams collide with your circumstances, and showing how it's possible to succeed even when the world changes beyond all recognition.
With striking candor and unrivaled insights, Chu offers a firsthand account of the collision of Silicon Valley and Hollywood—what it's been like to watch his old world shatter and reshape his new one. Ultimately, Viewfinder is about reckoning with your own story, becoming your most creative self, and finding a path all your own.
"Chu and McCarter enliven the standard-issue celeb memoir beats with bits of wisdom aimed at aspiring filmmakers ("Stock Your Pantry"; "Check the Projector") and welcome humor. Film fans—especially those with hopes of working in the business—will enjoy this." — Publishers Weekly
"Inspirational and practical ..As he recounts, Chu really came into his own with Crazy Rich Asians, the first full-length movie to allow him to explore his heritage, and In The Heights, which gave him a chance to do the kind of musical he had always longed to produce...The author is a reliable guide through many of the less-glamorous aspects of being a director...Entertaining insights from a unique film industry insider." —Kirkus Reviews
"Just like in one of his movies, Jon M. Chu weaves a magical spell and takes us on a wondrous journey through his childhood, his family life, and his cinematic adventures as one of the most visionary talents working in Hollywood today. Viewfinder is a fascinating and heartfelt story that will inspire every reader." —Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians
"This memoir on the career of Jon Chu will be an inspiration for new aspiring filmmakers as well as a treasure map to the X that will mark the spot for finding their own careers in moviemaking!" —Steven Spielberg
"Jon M. Chu's Viewfinder is a riveting chronicle of a singular filmmaker's journey, exploring serious matters of visibility and viability while embracing all the vitality and verve of Hollywood and beyond. It's a must-read for aspiring artists and dreamers of all kinds." —Ava DuVernay
This information about Viewfinder was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jon M. Chu is known for his visually stunning blockbuster films, including In the Heights and Crazy Rich Asians, which was nominated for numerous awards, including two Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy; a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble; a PGA Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures; and four Critics Choice Awards, winning one for Best Comedy. Born the youngest of five children in Los Altos, California, Chu continues to use the influences of his childhood (family, technology, food, music, and movement) to tell personal stories in a variety of mediums that connect with audiences from around the world.
Jeremy McCarter is the co-author, with Lin-Manuel Miranda, of the #1 New York Times bestseller Hamilton: The Revolution. He is the author of Young Radicals, the founder of the acclaimed audio storytelling company Make-Believe Association, and the literary executor of the novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder.
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