In the promotion for her latest film, the recent remake of The Wedding Banquet, celebrated South Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung has revealed that once she threw a very gay wedding banquet of her own.
Released in 1993, Ang Lee’s breakout feature The Wedding Banquet was a critical and commercial success. While not the sole factor in easing anti-LGBTQ+ stigma, the film definitely contributed to the mainstream visibility of the Taiwanese queer community. In 2019, Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. Hopes are high that the remake could have a similar impact in South Korea.
The original film followed Gao Wai-Tung (then newcomer Winston Chao), a gay Taiwanese immigrant to New York, who marries his tenant Wei-Wei (May Chin) to appease his parents. When the parents visit to throw a wedding banquet, he struggles to hide his true relationship with his partner Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein).
The remake, which was released on April 18, makes notable updates to the now classic film, such as focusing on South Korea and showing two Asian men in love. Directed by Fire Island’s Andrew Anh, The Wedding Banquet (2025) stars Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-chan, Joan Chen, and Youn Yuh-jung.
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Yuh-jung is a winner of multiple awards, including many firsts for South Koreans, and her recent celebrated performances include the miniseries Pachinko and the film Minari, for which she won an Oscar. But although Yuh-jung’s career has spanned five decades, The Wedding Banquet was especially personal for her.
“My first son came out as gay in 2000,” she explained in an interview with South China Morning Post. “When New York legalised gay marriage, I threw a wedding for him there. The whole family came to New York because it was still secret in Korea.”
“I still don’t know what the reaction would be back home,” she added. “Maybe they will throw the book at me.”
In South Korea, equal marriage rights, non-discrimination protections, and same-sex adoption rights have not been codified into law. While same-sex intercourse is not outlawed for the general public, it is in the military, where every physically able man is legally required to serve for at least a year and a half.
The combination of a sympathetic queer film and solidarity from a famous South Korean actress could have a major impact in shifting the tide. In the meantime, filmgoers can watch Yuh-jung channel her real-life experiences through a fictional grandmother supporting her gay grandson.
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