Will Heart Evangelista be in the next Crazy Rich Asians movie?

After Heart Evangelista revealed that she auditioned for Crazy Rich Asians, speculations followed if she “might be” (take note: in quotation marks) in the cast of either of the next two books both also authored by Kevin Kwan, China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems. With her Chinese ancestry and oriental looks, Heart can beautifully blend into the Crazy scenario.

Contacted by Funfare, Heart’s husband was mum about the possibility of Heart being cast in a Crazy movie, simply saying, “Don’t know.”  Heart didn’t return Funfare’s call.

Heart is good friends with Kevin with whom she bonded when the Crazy author visited the Philippines.

Heart Evangelista with Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan

Here’s an entry in Heart’s IG:

@Iamhearte: I woke up to one of the most amazing features in my life! My last trip to Paris was a very special one because not only was I there for couture week but I had been invited by @kevinkwanbooks who has now become a dear friend! He was doing a special “Crazy Rich Couture” feature for Harper’s Bazaar US and asked me if I would be interested in being part of it. I had the honor of being featured alongside some of the most incredible and stylish Asian icons. I am beyond grateful to Kevin and the entire Harper’s team for being such a dream to work with! I’m so incredibly proud of this project and would love for you to see it too! Grab the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar US or click the link in my bio! X@harpersbazaarus.

Well, Funfare did as Heart suggested and we are printing excerpts of a story by Kevin Kwan himself relevant to Heart’s participation in the project together with such Asian icons as Feiping Chang (who “epitomizes a certain breed of international Asian that is hybrid of East and West…a native of Taiwan who grew up in Sydney and Singapore before moving to New York where she worked as an investment banker”) and the Yeoh twins Rachel and Michelle (“who descended from a distinguished Malaysian-Chinese family”). The article subhead reads: Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan travels to Paris to meet the Asian style icons who are shaking up the staid world of couture.

Here’s the excerpt:

The first show I attended was Schiaparelli. As I arrived at the Palais Garnier to meet Heart Evangelista, a swarm of paparazzi descended on us like locusts. Heart hails from a Filipino-Chinese clan that founded the Barrio Fiesta food empire and is married to Francis Joseph “Chiz” Guevara Escudero, a member of the Philippine Senate who was a leading candidate for vice president two years ago. But her illustrious social standing isn’t the only reason the photographers were clicking away: Heart also happens to be one of the most popular actresses in the Philippines. It didn’t hurt that in her round tinted sunglasses and sequined ombré dress, she looked like a modern-day incarnation of Audrey Hepburn. Images of her went viral before the fashion show was even over, with her fans furiously speculating about why she was in Paris and whether she might be in the Crazy Rich Asians film.

As the models came billowing down the catwalk beneath the opera house’s glittering chandeliers and Belle Époque frescoes, I could see how Heart connected intuitively to the fashion with an artist’s eye. “Every time I go to the couture shows, it inspires my art,” she told me. An accomplished painter who has hosted several sold-out exhibitions, Heart landed on a surprise hit when she began painting on Hermès handbags. “I had an orange lizard skin Birkin bag and I was eating french fries at Chili’s, and I didn’t realize I was getting grease all over the bottom,” she says. “I tried to clean it, but it was just impossible to fix, so I thought, ‘Why don’t I paint on it?’ I sketched a yellow bird on a branch of flowers, and people started raving about it. A lot of women have their bags stained somewhere—one woman’s daughter had scribbled all over her Birkin—so all these clients started coming to me and asking, ‘Can you paint on my bag?’ Heart’s bespoke Birkin bags now have a cult following.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)