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Bowen Yang strips down in The Wedding Banquet, but is it really all him?

Bowen Yang strips down in 'The Wedding Banquet,' but is it really all him?

Bowen Yang on the red carpet and Bowen Yang and Han Gi-chan in The Wedding Banquet

From left: Bowen Yang at the 77th Annual DGA Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 8, 2025; and Bowen Yang and Han Gi-chan in 'The Wedding Banquet.'

The actor had plenty to say about the revealing scene.

Bowen Yang, best known for his comedy chops, is about to turn people’s heads by showing off a whole new asset.

The 34-year-old Saturday Night Live cast member is starring in a remake of Brokeback Mountain director Ann Lee’s ‘90s queer cult classic The Wedding Banquetthat will feature one very revealing scene.

Yang plays Chris, a commitment-phobic gay man in this mad-cap comedy about his closeted boyfriend (Han Gi-chan) plan to keep his visa by convincing his friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) to enter a sham marriage with him in exchange for paying for Angela and her partner Lee’s (Lily Gladstone) next round of IVF treatments, but “things soon get complicated when his grandmother surprises them with plans for an extravagant Korean wedding banquet,” the official synopsis reads.

In the film, Chris wakes up in horror the morning after a hookup with a surprising person and the audience is treated to a brief shot of Yang’s bare butt as he hops out of bed.

"It was something that for anyone other than [director] Andrew Ahn, I would've been like, 'Let's talk about coverage,' and 'I'm not going to show nip,' and 'I'm not going to show butt,'" Yang explained in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. "I would've gotten really granular about that. But there was just something about playing the comedy of that scene, which is such a shocking moment. And then you're supposed to believe that these two people are so good about moving past it and then immediately having to de-queer the house in a way that cleanses the stakes.”

Although the Las Culturistas host isn’t well known for showing body-ody-ody in films, he dove headfirst into the scene. "There was no hesitation in the end because it just felt so integral," Yang revealed. "I just think it's a very important part of the story, that you see these two people jump out of bed, scream at each other, and then go, 'This doesn't mean anything. Okay, bye!’"

And if you were wondering if you’ll get a glimpse of Yang’s real tush if you run to the theater to watch the film, the answer is, yes. No boy double or prosthetics were used in the making of the nude scene.

"You will be able to tell from the flat topography of my buttocks that I bare it all,” the comedian joked.

None of the cast members knew each other prior to filming, but Yang said that Ahn’s direction helped to “accelerate this connection, this intimacy, and this sense that these were four people who knew each other for a long time.”

When Yang landed the role, he was already familiar with the original film, having watched it while in college. "I would go to the library at NYU and I would just post up with the DVDs — oh my gosh, this is really aging me," Yang quips. "I remember being pretty blown away by this idea that films that you didn't realize were out there have been impactful in the culture and in cinema. I just remember watching it at a time when I thought my parents would never accept this thing about me. I'd come out to my parents, then I went back in the closet after conversion therapy. It gives me this check-in point now to where my family just accepts that part of me and embraces it.”

Despite his traumatic past with conversion therapy, Yang’s relationship with his family has made a full 180-degree change, and they even press him for information about his love life. "I never thought we would get there. When I think back on the movie, I do think about the strides that have been made just within my family alone."

The Wedding Banquet is in theaters now, or can be rented on Fandango at Home. Watch the full trailer below.

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Ariel Messman-Rucker

Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.

Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.