‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and ‘Wicked’ were big hits, and got a director Jon M. Chu lots of criticism and praise. However, there was a point in his life where he doubted himself where he thought he would never make it. In one of his recent interviews, the award-winning director opened up about his self-doubts before his film became a box office success.
Jon M. Chu questions himself as a filmmaker
While speaking to the audience at Building Worlds: From Script to Spectacle at Canva Create 2026 earlier last month, the acclaimed director explained how his career has been so far. PEOPLE revealed at the event how, even though he’s receiving a lot of praise right now, at one point in his life, he didn’t feel like he’d get to the point where he questioned himself.Speaking about the same, he added: “When you said my list of films, it lit up, and you said Crazy Rich Asians. That was a big point in my life. I didn’t think I deserved to be in Hollywood. I was discovered and I was very lucky. And when you win the lottery, you don’t think you really know how you got there. So you can’t win the lottery again.”He also added that he had a great team to support him in his projects and work, revealing that they had stood by him for a long time. Adding more context, “I said, ‘Nobody’s going to see this movie.’ I actually said to my team, ‘I’m going to make a movie. I’ll take five years, and I won’t earn you any money.’ Fortunately, they did well.”
How the creative process works for Jon M. Chu
He also explained in the panel discussion how he goes about his creative process and how his imagination takes the front wheel. “Either it turns me on or it doesn’t, or I have to go on a journey to find myself connecting with it. Other times, I’m like, ‘I have to tell this story,'” she added. With no established process, the ‘Wicked’ director said he has no basis for his story and can’t tell anyone how things will go.
