This Is Where Crazy Rich Asians Was Filmed
When "Crazy Rich Asians" came out in 2018, no one expected it to become the worldwide phenomenon that it did. The movie, which stars Constance Wu as Rachel Chu, an NYU professor who discovers that her boyfriend is part of the rich elite of Singapore, revived the romantic comedy genre and proved that diverse stories can make money and need to be told. Co-starring in the film is Henry Golding as Nick Young, the aforementioned boyfriend. The couple lives a relatively low-key yet happy life in NYC until Nick invites Rachel to travel to Singapore to attend his best friend's wedding. Unfortunately, he doesn't tell her beforehand about his intense, class-obsessed family, or the fact that he is crazy rich and comes from a family that's had wealth and influence in Singapore for centuries. What follows is a hilarious Cinderella story as Rachel navigates the strange new world with the help of friends like Awkwafina's Goh Peik Lin and some other outcasts of the Young family.
"Crazy Rich Asians" is the first modern setting movie to be made by a major Hollywood studio with a mostly Chinese cast since "The Joy Luck Club" in 1993, and it wowed both critics and audiences upon release, earning a 91% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. With such a big studio backing the film, the production had a budget of $30 million, allowing director Jon M. Chu to actually shoot most of the film on location in Singapore and in the surrounding areas (via Box Office Mojo). But where exactly were those extravagant, beautiful scenes shot?
The majority of the movie was filmed on location all over Singapore
As Rachel and Nick visit Singapore, the film showcases quite a few fantastic locations, the first of which is the Marina Bay Sands luxury hotel which features an infinity pool 57 floors up on the rooftop, which the official website boasts is the largest rooftop pool in the world. In one scene, there's a party at Gardens by the Bay, a huge nature park in the middle of the city, featuring constructed Supertrees and three waterfront gardens. Rachel and Nick stay at a hotel that is owned by Nick's friend Colin Khoo (Kevin Kwan), but in reality, this is the historic Raffles Hotel, which originally opened in 1887 and was made a National Monument in 1987. There's no green screen here. "Crazy Rich Asians" took production to these locations to fully capture the beauty of Singapore.
Along with those luxurious locations, the movie also features the Newton Food Centre, one of the first places that the couple visits. Rachel and Nick meet up with the couple that's getting married, Colin and Araminta Lee (Sonoya Mizuno), to get a variety of delicious local food at the busy market stalls. Later on, the engaged couple has their unbelievable fantasy-like ceremony at CHIJMES Hall. Another key location in "Crazy Rich Asians," featured in the second half of the film, is Bukit Pasoh Road filled with colorful shops, where Rachel and Peik Lin have a heartfelt conversation about Rachel's future before she confronts Nick's mother Eleanor Young (Michelle Yeoh) about her love for Nick (via Condé Nast Traveler).
Parts of Crazy Rich Asians were filmed throughout Malaysia
"Crazy Rich Asians" didn't stop at just Singapore, as the movie also features a lot of scenes filmed in nearby Malaysia. To the north of Singapore, Malaysia isn't more than a few hours travel, and so it's the perfect choice for Colin's bachelor party. While the shipping container party set was reportedly built in a parking lot, the more beautiful location that you can actually go visit yourself is what the film calls Rawa Island, but in reality, it's Langkawi, an hour's flight away from Kuala Lumpur. Rawa Island is a real place in Malaysia, but the production found another location to bring it to life on screen. Chu explained the shooting process for this scene to Condé Nast Traveler, saying, "We took a boat around some bends in Langkawi where all of these rocks just jut out of the water. We only took a small crew, like ten of us, to shoot the scene on the raft." As for Araminta's bachelorette party, she goes all out, and the "Crazy Rich Asians" production did the same. These scenes are shot at the Four Seasons Resort Langkawi, with luxurious beachfront villas.
Malaysia is also the setting for the iconic mahjong scene in which Eleanor and Rachel face off at the end of the movie. The scene was filmed at Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Penang, Malaysia, also known as the Blue Mansion, which is actually an "18-room boutique hotel that has been called the 'most atmospheric Chinese hotel that isn't in China'" (SCMP). But don't worry, you don't have to stay there to see the place, as there are usually three tours available daily. Another important location in the film is the opening sequence showing the Young family being turned away from the fiction Calthorpe Hotel in London, which they then buy. This scene was actually filmed in Malaysia as well, at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel in Penang, also known as the E&O Hotel (via The Star).