My Weekend Crush

Well, what’s more joyful than coming out? And coming out while talking about one of the few things we can actually look forward to in 2025? Now, that’s a twofer of epically gay proportions. Kelly Marie Tran, of “Star Wars” and “Raya of the Last Dragon” fame, came out in a behind-the-scenes feature for Vanity Fair about the new even queered remake of “The Wedding Banquet” set to premiere next year.

To jog our collective memories, the movie will feature Kelly and queer Golden Globe winner Lily Gladstone as girlfriends who are trying to have a baby through IVF, who concoct a plan with their gay male friends – played by queer SNL star Bowen Yang and South Korean actor Han Gi-chan. The movie will also star LGBTQ+ ally extraordinaire (she of the 90s/early 2000s lesbian movies “Wild Side,” “What’s Cooking?,” “Saving Face” et al fame) Joan Chen as Kelly’s character’s mom and Oscar-winning South Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung as Han’s grandmother.

The stellar, and stellarly queer cast, helped inspire Kelly to come out. She told Vanity Fair:

“I haven’t said this publicly yet, but I’m a queer person. The thing that really excited me about it was I got to play a person that I felt like I knew. I don’t feel like I’m acting at all in this movie…. I’m here doing this amazing movie with these amazing people. I’ve never been in a queer space before. I’ve never truly felt this accepted before.”

Congratulations, Kelly! I am going to assume that your toaster oven is in the mail. I am always extra thrilled to welcome more gaysians into the fold. You have certainly earned your truth and your tributes after having to weather relentless online bullying already for daring to be an Asian woman in a “Star Wars” movie.

It sounds like the experience of filming the new “Wedding Banquet” reboot with “Fire Island” director Andrew Ahn has been a reaffirming celebration of queer joy. Kelly says of the new film that “the spirit is the same, and I think it’s even more queer.” And Lily called the production “just one big cuddle.” And just look at the sapphic cuteness between Lily and Kelly together. Yes! More queer! More cuddles! Queer POC actors playing queer POC roles! More sapphic cuteness!

As I was saying, now that’s something to look forward to in 2025. Happy weekend, all.