Wang's grandma's sister tries to make sure her grandma, who is mostly confined to her home nowadays, doesn't read reviews or find out too much about the movie. Unknown to Nai Nai, her lingering illness has been diagnosed as lung cancer and she has only months to live. They were planning a celebration in China the next year, but it was decided the celebration would instead be in two weeks to ensure that Nai Nai was still alive. When Wang's grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, her family traveled to China to say goodbye, but decided to keep the diagnosis from the woman she affectionately called Nai Nai. When she saw Shuzhens work, however, she had a gut feeling that she was the one. She notes, Her energy was that perfect balance of strength and warmth that I was looking for.. My reaction is the Oscar, the Academy Award? Billi, who was raised in the U.S., has to come to grips with her family's decision. Can we talk about this?". Related: A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood True Story: What The Mr. Rogers Movie Changed. A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. And the people in my life I would talk to, if I talked to my American friends, would have the American answer, and then my family would have the Chinese answer. In real life, Im a softer person. is nai nai from the farewell still alive. Thats kind of also what Billis character is [going through]. You will get a reply from us Your email address will not be published. Lulu Wang's Nai Nai is still alive and even came to bless the set on the first day of shooting, but she never learned the truth. The first kaiten mission . Now The Farewell is opening in theaters around the country and Nai Nai is still, happily, alive and. autobiographical episode of This American Life. She also told NYT that her family was not concerned about Nai Nai hearing about her diagnosis due to the popularity of the podcast because it was a very American show., In 2016, Wang gave an update on her grandmother at the end of the podcast saying, Its been three years now since Nai Nai was first diagnosed. As there are quite a lot of main characters in The Farewell, getting your head around them all can be a little confusing especially because in Chinese there are so many different words to describe family members! Goes Out newsletter, with the week's best events, to help you explore and experience our city. "I said something that she responded to which was: 'In China, I felt whole because I had my entire family and then I came to the U.S.,'" Wang says, "She was saying she's never felt whole in her life. I thought, this is crazy. She resisted. Why are you struggling to do this?" Email Address * Thats way above my pay grade, so to speak. And so, I mean, even now she is still around and the movies coming out in China, and the title, LW: Oh, gosh. It's something that Wang wonders. is nai nai from the farewell still alive When Wang's grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, her family. We ended up shooting in her hometown and had to tell everyone in the crew and the cast not to tell her. While it's beyond taboo in the United States for a doctor to withhold information from a patient something one of Nai Nai's doctors not only does, butprescribes the Chinese culture firmly believes that mental and emotional healthform a direct link to physical health;as one character explains in The Farewell, people don't die from cancer, they die from the fear. Her grandmother was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in 2013. But there's a twist at the very end that comes in the form of a reveal after the breathtaking final shot, and Wang herself thinks it's worth keeping quiet about it.