Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran as Lee and Angela in The Wedding Banquet (Custom cover by Sportskeeda/Original image via Universal Pictures)

"As cartoony and goofy"— The Wedding Banquet actress Lily Gladstone says this is what she wanted for a long time

Modified Apr 16, 2025 15:47 GMT

After 2024's Jazzy, Lily Gladstone is returning to the big screen in the upcoming romantic comedy The Wedding Banquet. She appears as Lee, a queer woman in a committed relationship with Angela, portrayed by Kelly Marie Tran.

In an interview with The Seattle Times published on April 9, 2025, Gladstone opened up about her character in the movie. She revealed that The Wedding Banquet gave her the chance to reunite with comedy, a genre that she fell in love with when she began acting.

Gladstone always aspired to star in a romantic comedy with an ensemble cast, and this movie presented the perfect opportunity for her to do that while also representing the Native American population.

"Even though Lee is sort of the straight man to everyone else’s chaos, getting the chance to be as cartoony and goofy as I am naturally was really nice. … This ensemble was so tremendously wonderful to work with, everybody so supportive of each other."

The Wedding Banquet is a remake of the eponymous 1993 film. Ahn directed and co-wrote the screenplay with James Schamus. This remake follows the story of two queer couples, Lee and Angela and Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-chan).

Lee, Angela, and Min come up with a plan to carry out a fake wedding between Angela and Min to raise funds so that Lee can get pregnant via the expensive in vitro fertilization, and Min can secure a green card.

Chaos ensues when Min's partner Chris, Angela’s gay-activist mother May (Joan Chen), and Min’s very traditional Korean grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung) intervene.

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Lily Gladstone worked with The Wedding Banquet director to give Lee a specific identity

In Martin Scorsese's 2023 masterpiece Killers of the Flower Moon, Lily Gladstone appeared as an Osage woman named Mollie Kyle who survived the Osage Indian murders. She became the first Native American actress to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Gladstone has often advocated for Native American representation in cinema. The Wedding Banquet remains no exception. When she started working on the project, her character Lee had a different name and had no specific background.

So, Lily Gladstone worked with director Andrew Ahn to give Lee a Pacific Northwest story. Lee is a member of the Duwamish Tribe. In the film, Lee even delivers a heartfelt speech about her deep connection to the land and the family home she now shares with her longtime girlfriend, Angela.

Speaking about it during the above-mentioned interview, Lily Gladstone noted,

"I haven’t seen Duwamish representation on screen. When I talked to Andrew about making it locally specific, I talked about how indigenizing my character was important to me — when you have an opportunity to carve space where there’s not space, you take it."

Lily Gladstone stated that there are many themes in the film that reflect communities currently facing intense scrutiny and challenges. She further said that the movie will make "a safe and necessary space" for not only the queer community but also the immigrant families.

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The Wedding Banquet will be in theaters from April 28, 2025.

About the author

Ankita Shaw is an Entertainment Writer at Sportskeeda. While she has a Bachelor's degree in Physiology, her interest in films, television shows, and books has propelled her into the world of entertainment journalism.

With a passion for storytelling, she has worked as a writer for the digital publication TheThings and served as a full-time Entertainment News Writer at Animated Times, accumulating over one and a half years of experience. As an entertainment reporter, she enjoys reading and writing about the personal experiences of celebrities, with a particular emphasis on their human side beyond fame, wealth, and glamour.

Outside of her professional commitments, she is an aficionado of compelling narratives and enjoys watching films across diverse genres. In music, her favorite is the British-Irish boyband One Direction. She is fascinated by their creative output, which evokes joy and positivity through themes such as self-discovery, heartbreak, and love.

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