Great movie that satirises Asian roles in Hollywood and beyond

A "meta" detective series in which a struggling Asian waiter becomes the unlikely hero of a police procedural-style criminal conspiracy, Interior Chinatown satirises Hollywood's stereotypical treatment of minorities - while also nodding to the progress the industry has made.

The new show, out on Disney-owned Hulu next Tuesday, is based on the novel by US author Charles Yu, who is of Taiwanese descent.

Yu's 2020 best-seller delivered a humorous take-down of racism in US society through the adventures of Willis Wu, a Hollywood extra reduced to playing roles like Background Oriental Male.

Yu now serves as the TV series' creator and show-runner.

"I grew up watching TV in the '80s and '90s, and I just never saw Asians on TV. It's as if they didn't exist," he said.

They existed in real life when I'd go outside, but they weren't somehow in my screen. And so, that sort of shaped me in wanting to tell this story."

A decade ago, Yu's literary creation would likely have been ignored by Hollywood.