Paradise Hills: how Awkwafina and Alice Waddington shaped this weirdly wonderful film
- Director Waddington talks about casting Awkwafina, and working with a mostly all-female cast
- Paradise Hills, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, is based on a story written by Waddington
Spanish director Alice Waddington is a natural-born eccentric and a confessed genre-loving nerd. She also happens to be gorgeous and, having worked in the fashion world, wears the most original and stylish of clothes. With her raven hair and bright red lips she recalls a young Elizabeth Taylor.
It was natural then that the 29-year-old, who came from advertising before making her well-received short film, Disco Inferno, should want to make a statement with an eclectic array of forceful stunning women in her debut feature, Paradise Hills. The cast includes Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina, real name Nora Lum, who as we are well aware from her recent hit film, The Farewell , has been spreading her dramatic wings.
“When I first Skyped with Nora, Crazy Rich Asians hadn’t come out,” Waddington recalls. “But I remember talking to her and thinking she’s one of the funniest people I’ve heard or seen in my life.
“I had this hunch that she was going to be awesome in the film and that she was going to perform well, not only comedically, but it was going to be interesting to see a dramatic side to her. Her character has both things and that’s what makes her so cool.”
Paradise Hills, which like The Farewell premiered in Sundance Film Festival in January, is the most unusual of stories in that it is told visually.
