HOUSTON – The action-packed dark comedy “Lucky Grandma” has been getting rave reviews, and one of the co-writers of the film is a Sugar Land native.
Her name is Angela Cheng and she shared details about the movie and how she made it into the film world after graduating from Clements High School.
“I went to film school in 2002 and I’ve always wanted to make movies. I’ve always dreamed about it and kind of made my way in. I moved to New York to try to make films and here I am,” said the writer and filmmaker who used to perform stand-up comedy as a child for the Taiwanese immigrant community in Houston.
Cheng has shown a knack for telling stories about ordinary people with both her short film “Ten & Two” and “Lucky Grandma,” directed by Sasie Sealy.
“Lucky Grandma” is about an 80-year-old superstitious grandma who lives in Chinatown, Manhattan and she’s told by the fortune-teller that she has a lucky day ahead of her and that she should keep her eyes open. She goes to the casino, gambles and spoiler alert, she loses all her money. But then she finds a bag of money on her way back home and realizes this must be her lucky day,” said Cheng about the comedy movie that takes a darker turn when grandma Wong, played by Tsai Chin, “finds herself in the middle of a Chinatown gang war.”
The film, launched on May during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been recently named one of the best films of 2020 so far by Vulture and Indiewire Magazine.
Thank you to @vulture for featuring Lucky Grandma in this article of the Best Movies of the Year So Far! Watch #LuckyGrandma now: https://t.co/yq4frAoMhe https://t.co/CY6ypI5iuE
— Lucky Grandma (@LuckyGrandma88) July 8, 2020
“We’re really proud. We didn’t know what to expect because of COVID, but there’s been such a community of independent theaters that still wanted to keep watching movies alive, so “Lucky Grandma” is part of the virtual cinema releases during these unprecedented times and people have been able to enjoy watching the movie in the comfort of their own living rooms. So, we count ourselves very lucky but also very proud that it’s finally out there for the audience to see,” said Cheng, who continues to write screenplays and one of the projects she’s working one it’s about real estate in Houston.
“My dad is an architect and has been working in Houston for years and I have a particular interest in real estate and property development. I know it doesn’t sound sexy for a screenplay but it’s about a con artist,” said Cheng.
You can rent the “Lucky Grandma” online now on Alamo on Demand or Kino Marquee virtual theaters.
You can also rent or buy the movie on iTunes.
For more information, click here.
To see Cheng’s complete interview, watch the video above.