Henry Golding, who stole hearts everywhere as the dashing leading man in last year’s blockbuster hit Crazy Rich Asians, has turned his talents to another venture—producing. Golding recently launched his own production company, Long House Productions, which already has two action movies lined up.
The naming of Long House Productions, which Golding founded in partnership with China’s Starlight Cultural Entertainment Group, pays tribute to Golding’s mixed heritage and multi-cultural upbringing, which he is very proud of.
A traditional home for the indigenous Iban people is called a “long house”. While Golding’s dad is British-Jewish, he is half-Iban on his mother’s side. Golding was born in Sarawak, Malaysia, and his Malaysian roots run deep, hence the name of his very own production company.
Long House Productions already has two exciting feature films lined up, with 32-year-old Golding in producing and starring roles for both.
The production house’s first project, an action-adventure film called The Inheritance, is based on an original story idea by Golding and Alistair Hudson, who is writing the script.
The second film under Long House Production’s banner is an action-thriller called (Hoof) Harrington’s Greatest Hits. Veteran television director James Strong (of Broadchurch and Amazon’s Vanity Fair) will be leading the charge to take the story of an elite assassin that is being targeted by an ex-target’s arms-dealing father to the big screen.
The Hollywood Reporter stated that Golding holds the distinction of being the first actor signed to Starlight’s S$100 million development and production fund, which works with some of the biggest and baddest directors in the business—James Wan, Jon M. Chu, Sam Raimi, F. Gary Gray, Roland Emmerich and Robert Zemeckis.
Why Golding? Starlight CEO Peter Luo put it succinctly—”The reason why we are having a deal with Henry is that we see him as a class of one.”
That is high praise for Golding, who spoke passionately why he is in the entertainment business.
“For me, it’s the real passion we all have for entertaining and telling stories. I am excited to bring the unique stories that come from my experiences and the time I’ve spent living in Asia, London, America, and all over the world, to the movies that I work on and the material I look forward to developing. Working with Peter and everybody at Starlight, we are able to make that possible.”
Golding’s life reflects his multi-cultural upbringing. He was born in Sarawak, spent his early years in Terengganu, and moved to Surrey, England, when he was a boy of eight. When he turned 21, Golding went back to Malaysia, this time pursuing an acting career in Kuala Lumpur.
While his early years in the industry were spent hosting travel shows, his performance in Crazy Rich Asians was his breakout role in feature films. Since then, it’s all gone up for Golding, who then starred opposite Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor. He worked with Feig again on holiday romance movie Last Christmas, due to hit theatres in November, where he stars opposite Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke. Golding will also be coming out in Guy Ritchie’s STX action-thriller The Gentlemen, alongside Hollywood big names Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell and Charlie Hunnam. -/TISG