“I received an email and when I saw that I didn’t even look at the name,” LiLi recalls, in an exclusive interview with. “I just saw Anna May Wong and Damien Chazelle in the same email and I just said, ‘I have to have this. This is mine. I need it.’”
Eventually, she found out that the role was actually a fictional character based on Wong, the trailblazing Chinese-American actress and producer who appeared in more than 60 Hollywood films from the 1920s to the ’40s. By that point, she had already done her research, visiting the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and diving deep into online rabbit holes. She admits to being a bit disappointed by the switch, but ultimately found it liberating.
In preparation for the role, Lili spent three days with Chazelle building the character from the ground up. She also worked with costume designer Mary Zophres to recreate some of Anna May Wong’s actual looks for the film. Even after all that work, though, they were still tinkering even as production got underway. Initially, Chazelle wanted Lady Fay’s voice to be delicate and soft-spoken, in contrast to the bombastic high energy of Robbie’s Nellie LaRoy.