OLIVER’S TWIST
As the smash hit rom-com Crazy Rich Asians heads into award season (at press time it’s nominated for a best picture Golden Globe), Nico Santos, the actor behind the sharply dressed Oliver T’sien, says he’s gotten criticism that the gay character was tacked on as comic relief. But Santos (and plenty of fans) disagree, arguing Oliver is “essential to the plot.” After all, it’s his outsider-insider status as a gay member of the über-wealthy Chinese family that enables him to shepherd the film’s protagonist, Rachel (a true outsider), into the fold.
“I think it might be lost on some people,” Santos says about Oliver’s pivotal role. “They would like to brush Oliver aside. It’s like, ‘Oh, he’s just like this comic relief, whatever, small gay character.’ … [But] Oliver has had to learn how to navigate conservative Singapore and ultra-rich circles where he knows that he can’t be fully out. The fact that he has become this cunning player who kind of manipulates and knows exactly how to place himself in the right position, in the right time, at the right place speaks highly to the type of character that he is. He’s not just some sort of throwaway.”
Indeed, despite being
