Thanks to their insights, he developed a deeper understanding of Singaporean culture, which helped him refine small but meaningful details — such as choosing the East Coast Lagoon Food Village, a beachside hawker center, as a location for a casual outing in the film.
"What I found interesting about Singapore is that it's an incredible melting pot. It isn't very big, but you have Chinese, Malay, Filipino, Indian — all these cultures living together in one place. You'll find an Indian hawker stall with Malay and Chinese food stalls right next to each other. That's one of the things I love most about Singapore — how it's this wonderful blend of people," he says.
While the lavish lifestyles — exemplified by the opening scene, in which a tycoon's wife buys a luxury hotel after being prevented by snooty receptionists from checking-in to her reserved suite because she turns up rain-soaked — were among the film's most captivating moments, Chiarelli says he discovered something more meaningful through the writing process.
"The film feels like a dream world, one you can enter even if you can't live it in real life. Though it's like an invitation into the super-rich world … what interested me the most was the idea of how similar everyone is, money or no money. Money lets you do fun things, like ride private jets, but at their core, people are people. That's something I really believe in, and I think it's one of the reasons I keep coming back to writing about these things."
For a Chinese audience, the film's most familiar face was Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian woman to win an Academy Award in 2023 for Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once. In the film, she plays Eleanor Young, Nick's strict, intimidating mother.
Chiarelli is full of praise for Yeoh. "She's a force of nature. You can't take your eyes off her. In real life, she's the warmest, most loving, kind person."
When asked about the key to writing a successful comedy, Chiarelli — who is also known for blockbusters like Now You See Me 2 — explains one of the challenges he faced. "It's funny — when I was writing, I wanted as many people as possible to enjoy the film. Some phrases were funny in English but not in Chinese, or they might even be offensive in Chinese."
So he imagined writing the film for his aunt — a person who knows little about Singapore — and set the simple goal of making her laugh, an approach he says gave him confidence that the script would resonate with other international moviegoers, too.
