Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan revealed that he requested for Heart Evangelista to audition for the film adaptation of his book.

"I have requested that we get you to audition because I really felt we needed representation from as many Asian countries as possible," Kevin revealed to Heart in an interview in the latter's YouTube vlog.

Kevin shared that Heart was among his top choices of actors to audition.

"And you know we were casting internationally and I said, 'You know there are so many talented, amazing Filipino actors who are huge stars.' You were on the hot list. So that was how it started," he said.

Heart confirmed that she indeed audition for Crazy Rich Asians.

"I did audition for Crazy Rich Asians. I never really got to say that," the actress stated in the vlog.

Heart and Kevin then met in Paris when the author was asked to do a Harper's Bazaar special titled "These are the Real Crazy Rich Asians." Heart was one of the Asians featured in the video which went viral.

In the same vlog, Heart asked Kevin on how the Crazy Rich Asians book came to life.

The author shared that he started writing it when he was taking care of his father.

"It was really a passion project. I really felt... especially after a very difficult time with my father. He was very ill for about two years and I spent a lot of time with him and we spent a lot of time talking about memories of Singapore, of my childhood," he said.

"I wanted to know about his childhood because he truly grew up in a world that no longer exists. He grew up with a chauffeur carrying his suitcase, his briefcase into kindergarten every morning, imagine that? I wanted to know more about his life and that inspired me to really put these memories down on paper," he added. 

Kevin went on to share that he came up with these short stories inspired by his father's stories.

"So the idea was to do something almost autobiographical but then what happened was it just transformed into these short stories that are very fictionalized. They are really not based on my family but there's the inspiration point," he said.

The best-selling author said that it was never meant to be published until he showed it to his friend whom he worked with on a book project for Oprah.

"She said, 'So what do you do to unwind?' I was like, 'You know, believe it or not to unwind I've been writing a novel just for fun. And she said, 'Why don't you show it to me?'" he shared.

Photo credit to @kevinkwanbooks Instagram

"And I gave it to her and she flipped out and she said, 'Why is this not with an agent?" he added. 

The first Crazy Rich Asians book was released in 2013 and instantly became a bestseller. It was followed by two other books, China Rich Girlfriend in 2015 and Rich People Problems in 2017.

READ: Heart Evangelista and Chiz Escudero dazzle in Paris dinner 

The movie adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians was directed by Jon Chu in 2018. It starred Henry Golding as Nick Young and Constance Wu as Rachel Chu.

Kevin confirmed that a sequel is happening.

"We've been working so hard on getting the script perfect. That's what it all comes down to. We were really wanting that the story is right and the script is amazing," he said.