Chinese-American author Amy Tan on film of her life Unintended Memoir, and The Joy Luck Club movie sequel
- A film about Amy Tan’s life by James Redford, son of cinema legend Robert, was made more poignant by the director’s death from cancer before its completion
- The pain of Redford’s death echoed the sorrow in the author’s own life, whose tragedies, hardships and trauma have shaped her writing
When James “Jamie” Redford, son of cinema legend Robert, wanted to make a film about Amy Tan, the Chinese-American author was not initially convinced.
“I was reluctant to do this, because I’m trying to move toward more privacy as I get older,” Tan, 68, tells the Post from her home in Sausalito, California. “But Jamie was somebody I knew through friends and he was so compassionate, very kind. He was charming and persistent and he got me to agree, promising that everything would be subject to my approval.
“I asked him why he wanted to make this documentary, because frankly, I don’t think I am that famous a personage representing anything that would be worthwhile making a film like that,” she adds.
Tan is the bestselling writer not only of The Joy Luck Club, but also The Bonesetter’s Daughter, The Hundred Secret Senses and many more, including two children’s books. The story of her life, and the life of her family, has been incredibly dramatic. Mostly she says she did not want the film to be a fawning story of praise, rather that it should tell a universal story of family.
“When somebody asks you about the deepest things from your life and your childhood and looks at you with a non-judgmental, non-pitying response, but with compassion, and brings up some of the same questions in all of our lives, that was most important. So Jamie gave me the reason to say OK. He was wonderful and we became very close.”
What makes the resulting film prescient is that Redford knew he was not long for this world, and that made Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir all the more important for him. The filmmaker died from cancer last October aged 58 when the film was in the final stages of editing.
