MovieChat Forums > The World of Suzie Wong (1961) Discussion > Nancy Kwan vs. France Nuyen

Nancy Kwan vs. France Nuyen

posted 15 years ago by schappe1
2 replies | jump to latest

Ms. Kwan discusses this film and her early career in the commentary for "Flower Drum Song". She makes several references to "the actress she replaced" in "The World of Suzie Wong". The interviewer finally says "let's name the actress: France Nuyen". They then discuss how Ms. Nuyen had to leave the production due to "personal problems". Per Wikipedia, she had trouble getitng over a relationship with Marlon Brando and had developed a weight problem. They had already shot all the scenes in Hong Kong with Nuyen and they had to be reshot with Ms. Kwan, who says that she was always the choise of William Holden for the role in the movie anyway.

He must have seen the road company of the play which Ms. Kwan starred in. Ms. Nuyen had created the show on Broadway after her debut in the movie version of "South Pacific".

The unwillingness of Ms. Kwan to name her predecessor and her insistance that Mr. Holden desired her to play Suzie Wong all along made me wonder if there is any ill-feeling between the two actresses. It would be too bad as they were both beautiful and talented in their own right.

[–] nycruise-1 15 years ago

I think it's more that there may be some sort of camaraderie between them - and Ms. Kwan did not want to name Nuyen to make it sound less competitive.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] stareyes24 9 years ago

I agree with your statement. Even though Nancy Kwan was excellent as Suzie, I would love to see the original footage that was shot with France Nuyen.