Did you managed to spot the various local hotspots in “Crazy Rich Asians”? One of the standout moments was seeing Malaysia’s Carcosa Seri Negara transformed into the fictional home of the colonial-like Tyersall Park mansion.
The historic building was previously in bad shape, but thanks to the crew of “Crazy Rich Asians”, the venue was left better than before filming took place.
A producer from Petaling Jaya-based company Biscuit Films, Magen Appathurai, was responsible for pitching Carcosa Seri Negara as the backdrop to Nick Young’s grandmother’s giant mansion.
“The movie producer Tim Coddington called and showed me pictures of mansions in Thailand. He asked if I could find any locations like that in Malaysia?” Appathurai recalled. “I said we had more in common with Singapore in terms of food, language and the way we looked. It would make more sense to try and create Singapore in Malaysia.”
Ultimately, the “Crazy Rich Asians” producer forgo Thailand and the production company spent more than 5 weeks filming in Malaysia. Approximately 120 local crew members were involved in the process.
KK Tan of the Asian Heritage Museum (AHM) recently told Free Malaysia Today that Carcosa Seri Negara hasn’t been properly maintained for quite some while. “It is baffling that the previous tenant failed to understand the significance of this place at all. Nothing comes close to this heritage site,” Tan was quoted as saying.
So when the “Crazy Rich Asians” cast and crew came to film last year, Tan revealed that the Hollywood team actually helped them in reducing their workload by repairing and cleaning up various locations at the site.
The goal is now to turn Carcosa Seri Negara into a regional peace museum and cultural centre. “Our aim is to turn Carcosa into an Asian peace museum to fight extremism and cultural terrorism, while Seri Negara will be transformed into an arts, culture and nature centre,” Tan added.
Curious to know what other locations in Malaysia were used in “Crazy Rich Asians”? Click on this link here.
