Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegel
In my last column, I asked readers "Should Asian actors have been cast as the leads in 'The Last Airbender'?
The responses overwhelmingly pointed toward a "Yes" answer from most of the comments that I read. To learn more about "The Last Airbender" casting controversy visit: www.racebending.com
Also, the topic of Hollywood "white-washing" ethnic characters in movies came up, especially animated Asian characters.
After doing some research, I discovered that "The Last Airbender" wasn't the only recent movie that cast white actors in roles that were originally created as Asian characters.
For example, the character of Kyo Kusanagi will be played by Sean Farris in an upcoming live-action feature based on the video game "King of Fighters".
There's also the casting of Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" along with a British actress Gemma Arterton playing his love-interest Tamina. The movie was also based on a popular video game.
And then there's the recent announcement that Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are starring in a live-action version of the Japanese anime "Akira."
And finally, there's the casting of Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegel in the live-action adaptation of "Cowboy Bebop." (Although, I do admit that I think Keanu Reeves looks similar to the character.)
This all of course pales in comparison to the fact that last year, the producers of the movie "21" took poetic license in rewriting actual Asian American card playing MIT students as white characters.
The movie "21" was based on the best-selling book "Bringing Down the House", about a real-life team of mostly Asian American students led by an Asian American professor John Chang and his teaching cohorts. (To read about the real "21" students and their professor click here.)
Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan
The two main characters in the book, named "Kevin Lewis" and "Steve Fisher", were based on Jeff Ma and Mike Aponte, two Asian American males.
But somehow in the movie, Jeff Ma morphs into Jim Sturgess and John Chang turns into Kevin Spacey.
Not only that but the only Asian American characters in the movie are merely supporting roles played by Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira.
Several organizations such as Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) protested the movie and "Boycott 21" and other anti-"21" websites sprang up on the Internet.
According to MANAA, after the “white-washing” issue was raised on Entertainment Weekly's website, movie producer Dana Brunetti wrote: “Believe me, I would have loved to cast Asians in the lead roles, but the truth is, we didn't have access to any bankable Asian American actors that we wanted… If I had known how upset the Asian American community would be about this, I would have picked a different story to film.”
What? No bankable Asian American actors? Who was Brunetti kidding?
What about John Cho from the "American Pie" and "Harold and Kumar" movies?
Or Leonardo Nam from "The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants" movies?
Heck, they already had Aaron Yoo, who appeared in movies like "Disturbia" and "The Wackness" before signing on for the "21" debacle?
There were also a number of other recognizable Asian American actors such as Roger Fan, Sung Kang, Ken Leung, Justin Chon, and the Yune brothers, Rick and Karl available. (For a more detailed list of Asian American actors click here.)
All of these aforementioned Asian American actors were no less recognizable or bankable than Jim Sturgess, who was relatively unknown to most American moviegoers before "21" came out.
It seems to me the studio and producers were looking to find a new "hot" actor to sell with the movie release -- and Jim Sturgess was their guy.
Ironically, Jeff Ma, who is Chinese American reportedly riled up a lot of Asian Americans when he told USA Today, “I would have been a lot more insulted if they had chosen someone who was Japanese or Korean, just to have an Asian playing me.”
Really Jeff, you think that Jim Sturgess comes across way more "cool" on screen playing you than John Cho could've done? (Personally, if I was you, Jeff, I think I would've rather had the ubiquitous Keanu Reeves play me. I think most of Keanu's movies made more money than "21" didn't they? Well, you're the MIT grad Jeff, I'll let you do the math on that one!)
Justin Chatwin as Goku
But all kidding aside, "21" was just one example from last year. I'm sure there were other movies where this type of casting controversy has happened in the past that I didn't even have time to look up yet.
In addition to the controversy surrounding "The Last Airbender," this year, there was also an Asian American outcry over casting for the recent live-action movie "Dragonball Evolution" based on the Japanese anime and manga.
In the movie, Goku, the main character is played by a white actor which caused some debate over why a Japanese anime character looks so Westernized in the movie.
Also, not surprisingly, Goku was the lead male character and the role went to a young Canadian actor rather than an Asian / Asian American actor or even the forever ethnically-ambiguous Keanu Reeves, who usually ends up with these kinds of roles. (By the way, if you're reading this Keanu, I love your movies! I don't know why critics are so harsh when it comes to your acting skills! Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic here. You can play me in any movie, bro! Of course, Hollywood would have to wake up and decide to make an actual Asian American movie where the lead roles aren't animated characters. And yes, folks, I'm referring to the animated movie "Up" from Disney Pixar, which features an Asian American wilderness scout named Russell, who was based on the Korean American animator Peter Sohen. Well, at least there's one Asian American leading male actor co-starring in a major summer blockbuster movie this year, even if he is only an animated little boy voiced by an Asian American child actor.)
So with that all said folks, does Hollywood "white-wash" the casting of Asian characters in movies?
I'll let you all decide that one.
FYI: There is an Asian actor starring in a major Hollywood movie coming out this year. The Korean pop star Rain will star in "Ninja Assassin" from Warner Bros. Of course, moviegoers may also recall that Rain also appeared in "Speed Racer," which was another Japanese animated series that had its main characters suddenly turn white during the casting for the live-action movie version.
Interestingly enough, a large percentage of major Hollywood studios like Sony are owned by Asian corporations. (Hmmm... it makes one wonder if all of this could be some kind of "strategic decision to appeal to western audiences" handed down from some anonymous board of directors sitting in a high-rise office building somewhere? And when you take into consideration the "branding" of movie franchises and crossover marketing of movie tie-in products to consumers, which results in hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, one could logically assume a trickle down effect is happening with the way movies are being cast in order to maximize revenues from their "product.")
Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggest other movies in which questionable ethnic or non-ethnic casting has happened in a comment box below.
Comments
Hello Mr. Moy,
I read your article "Does Hollywood 'white-wash' the casting of Asian characters in movies"? I do agree that Hollywood does do a lot of 'white washing'. However just incase you didn't know Keanu Reeves is bi-racial even though he once describe himself as a white boy. His father is Hawaiian-Chinese! That being the case I'll let Hollywood slide on the Bebop issue!
Hollywood has certainly left Asian actors out of the mix, and it isn't fair, but it will change as the Asian profile in America rises, which is happening right now.
But there really are a disproportionately few Asians in the pool of actors. Sure, an Asian playing an MIT student is practically type casting, but also explains a few things - and maybe it's a vicious circle - but one gets the sense that America's Asian youth are much more interested in taking over elite universities, and more power to them for that.
If one cares to look, Asian actors are becoming more of a presence on television, in commercials, and as newscasters. Not coincidentally, this is more the case in markets with larger Asian populations. One hopes Asian-American stars will emerge.
As much as the world (and less so America) is full of racism, it is driven further and more strongly by money. One or two Asian-American stars with the charisma to fill seats will do more than any organized boycott ever wil
With Speed Racer, I got the impression from the cartoon that the family wasn't necessarily Asian, judging from my memories of the cartoon. As for Spike Spiegel...well, Spiegel doesn't exactly sound like an Asian name.
I think with modern-day and sci-fi pieces, there's far more leeway for "racefudging", if you will, simply due to the fact that given current trends of globalization, it wouldn't be that strange to find a non-Asian member of what appears to be an Asian culture. I'm fine with Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegel, simply because it's plausible that Spike has some white somewhere in his blood.
This is not the case with fantasy, where most travel is done on foot or beast, and a person's ethnicity and their culture should be pretty much synonymous. As The Last Airbender should have been.
Addendum: this is especially if your fantasy 'verse consist primarily of people from a certain set of real-world cultures. If you got a Western-European inspired world like LOTR, then Asians and Blacks showing up is just as weird as if you got an Asian-inspired world like Avatar, but had white people.
I agree with your thesis that Hollywood tends to "white-wash" movies, particularly if an "Asian" (I assume you mean East or Southeast Asian) lead character is involved. However, utilizing the Price of Persia movie as support for your argument falls a bit flat. Do releaze that Persians, even fictional ones, are part of the Indo-European/Caucasian ethnic group, who have intermixed to the east and west of their homeland for eons. Mr. Gyllenhaal could easily fit in with the students currently protesting in Tehran, as well, as play a video game character from the ancient, ethnically diverse Persian Empire.
Sharon, yes I know Keanu's part Chinese-Hawaiian... I only used him as an example of how Hollywood would rather have a multi-racial ambiguous looking actor than an actual Japanese, Korean or Chinese actor in those kinds of roles based on anime or manga.
Hello Mr. Moy,
Since it is a question you pose here, I will say yes. When executives in Hollywood (and many others in America - namely people who are Caucasian) look at the animated sources of these movies, they take advantage of the vagueness of the cartoon style - it allows for more people to relate to a character that could, whether at a stretch or no, look like them. However, that does not necessarily mean that said character was intended to be the race - whatever race - of the reader. As these adaptations are usually produced by white men in the movie industry, whitewashing is usually the result.
The fact remains, however, that many people simply do not see cartoon/anime/manga characters as whatever their race may be, and the answer is usually Asian. There are some great links on this subject, but as the commenting system won't allow me to post them, I won't put them here.
P.S. Also just wanted to point out that Rain, the only Asian lead in "Speed Racer," played the villain.
Someone mentioned this in regards to Jeff Ma's statement, and I thought I'd share: "I guess this boils down to what bugs you more: 1) whitewashing, or 2) the "all look same" stereotype."
Larien, Thanks... I am aware that Rain's character in "Speed Racer" turned out to be sort of a villain working for his corporate family empire. Ironic, that is what I was pointing out about Hollywood being owned by Asian corporations... and quite possibly the casting of movies being affected via trickle down theory from the powers that be making a "strategic decision to appeal to western audiences" in order to maximize revenues for the company products, which in this case are movies and the movie-related products they sell like DVD, Books, CDs, T-shirts, action-figures, video games, etc...
Yes they do. It's unintentional but they do.
However I must say, I love the Speed Racer movie and I was sad that it did so bad money wise.
Knowing the Wachowskis, I am actually 100% sure that they were going by the looks of the characters and in reality, I always saw the speed family as White. But back then, it was more cartooning then the "anime" we would know in the future.
The thing about Rain was they knew he was good, but they were so impressed with him that they wanted to give him his own movie. They also wanted to revive the Ninja Flick like POTC did to Pirates.
IMO, the Wachowski's when they have their say are some of the most progressive writers and casters in Hollywood. If rumors are true, like in Bound, Rain and the African American woman kiss and they wrote again "this is were they kiss, and we aren't cutting it!"
Jordan, thanks for your comments... At least Rain might kiss the girl in this movie... Unlike Jet Li in Romeo Must Die... I think that the last known major movie or TV with an Asian American male lead kissing or having sex with a non-Asian woman might be Will Yun Lee in The Bionic Woman TV series... If anyone knows of other movies or TV shows where an Asian man actually has sex or kisses a non-Asian woman I'd love to hear from you? Are there any?
In response to GenghisQuan, you have a valid point about "race-fudging" when it comes to casting anime movies with real actors. However, that does not explain away what happened with the movie "21" where the Asian American lead characters ended up being white... I mean would they have done that to Coach Carter by making him white instead of having Samuel L. Jackson... Or how about if they had rewritten the Denzel Washington character in Remember the Titans as a white man and his family instead of black? Where do you draw the line when it comes to movies based on real-life... Recently, Mena Suvari played a young woman named Brandi, who, after a night of partying, strikes a homeless man with her car, sending him through her windshield, and leaves him to die in the movie "Stuck" It was based on the real-life story of Chante Mallard, an African-American woman. Suvari is the blonde, blue-eyed girl from “American Beauty” But for the movie, she has her hair in cornrows to play the part.
I've really enjoyed your recent articles covering Asian Americans in Hollywood.
As far as an Asian American actor who has kissed a non-Asian female on screen, there are probably a few here and there (Shanghai Kiss), but the only consistent person I can think of is Sessue Hayakawa (1920s).
I see the lack of Asian American representation as a chicken-egg situation. Studios only want to back bankable stars for ROI reasons and movie goers only want to pay to see bankable stars for their own ROI reasons. That's natural, but the biggest problem for Asian Americans actors is that AA movie goers generally don't pay to see AA stars. Justin Lin explained it very well at an Asian American leadership conference we held a few years back. He said that when studios profile Asian American movie goers for their taste in movies, their movie profile tastes are identical to Causians.
What this means, monetarily, is that Asian Americans have no proclivity to seeing themselves on screen.
Case in point, Finishing the Game, which had a massive guerilla marketing campaign/presense at Sundace - Box office: $44k. Ping Pong Playa - Box office: $80k. Even Better Luck Tomorrow had a final box office of $4 million. Where is the support?
Contrast this to African Americans, where African Americans movie goers fervently bolster African American movies. Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? (12% on RottenTomatoes) - Box Office $88 million. Thus studios get a hefty ROI, fund more African American casts and on the flip side, younger African Americans see more of themselves on screen and more importantly, see filmt as a lucrative career to follow. And this is part of the chicken-egg problem. If AA's don't see themselves as bankable in Hollywood, why follow that career?
I've heard Ang Lee himself say that he advised his son not to become an actor. In Ang's defense, this is true of a lot of high profile director/producers because Hollywood is tough place to survive.
Too bad that doesn't roll over to Hollywood backing productions with larger (more than one or two) lead black actors and higher concepts. The majority of the pictures you refer to are stereotypical comedies marketed only to the Black community. They aren't even intended to cross over into the wider market. If the only choice of images I get to see of myself on television or film are gangster, buffoon, or side-kick, I'd rather not bother.
Ack, I wrote out this long response, realized it wouldn't fit and tried to break it into pieces but given the layout of the comments, I don't think it'll read well. So rather than clutter your comments, I'll just email you my response instead.
James,
Thanks for your comments... You have valid points... I have heard that line of reasoning from other AA in Hollywood.... BTW you can hit me up @edmoy on Twitter or email edmoy@live.com
Unfortunately, yes it does.
Also something you may want to know of, Keeanu Reeves is set to star in a retelling of the story "47 Ronin" a tale based on true events in 18th century Japan, and the studio has apparently said his half-Asian (As in his half-Chinese, half-Hawaiian and never marketed) heritage will be an asset to the film. I can't help but think it's similar to the recent movie "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li" where a character specifically stated to be Chinese or Japanese is played by a half-Asian actor/actress that can easily pass as white.
In all honesty, many of us in the protest movement for The Last Airbender didn't realize this was such a huge problem until it struck something we all knew and loved, it brought down a sort of curtain of safety and really opened our eyes. I think the shock of it is part of what led to such an organized response against the movie.
I definitley agree that Hollywood white washes the hell out of Asian characters in their movies but in the particular instance of Spike Spiegel, I actually believe that he's not actually asian in universe wise. Faye is definitley Asian, Ed too, but Spike and Jet could be African American and Jewish. I don't even mind Keanu playing Spike, as long as he gets Spike's swagger and mannerisms down.
Thanks for the comments... I think Keanu can play Spike... I have no problem with that but I use it as an example of how Hollywood prefers non-ethnic specific actors who can pass for Asian to play the lead roles as opposed to actually casting an Asian or Asian American actor...
Sharkman thanks for the info... I had heard something about that project before... yes it harkens back to the Street Fighter movie with Kristin Kreuk playing Chun Li... again an ambiguous ethnic looking actress even though the part calls for a decidely Chinese character from the video game. Again the "race-fudging" where the charcter looks Caucasian enough in the video game for them to cast a non-Chinese actress
On the subject of "race fudging" and cartoon/manga/anime characters looking more or less racially ambiguous, these are some interesting links:
a) shati.livejournal.com/239195.html
b) matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/faceoftheother.html
c) youtube.com/watch?v=JKTvFhRbBt8&feature=channel_page&fmt=18
Thank you, by the way, Mr. Moy, for all your replies. :)
SpeedRacer was ambigous enough to be played by white characters. It was a tad annoying to turn the only East Asian character into the quisling.
21 however was complete rubbish and I refused to watch the film.
I'd go for Keanu Reeves for Spike/Cowboy Bebop. Not so sure with 47 Ronin. I suppose, they can get away with it.
I remember reading the Brandon Lee did not want to play his father, Bruce Lee, in Dragon, due to his mixed parentage. He did not feel that he looked Chinese enough to play a Chinese.
Brandon was also calling for more roles for Orientals in Hollywood.
Basically Asian Americans on your side of the pond need to learn to patronise more Asian American movies.
@Larien:
Thanks for the links. What strikes me is that the youtube video. Are Anime characters Caucasian or Japanese? We still get the same answer of "THe series was created by two Americans."
The mind boggles
As someone pointed out that would be akin to saying Mark Twain could not have written TomSawyer/Huck Finn due to the non-white characters.
Or perhaps Jules Verne could not have written about Capt. Nemo and the adventures 20,000 leagues under the sea.
Larien,
Thanks for the links... I will check them out...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBda7b9tRdk&feature=channel
aang-aint-white.livejournal.com/
It's really difficult for full-Asians to get any roles in Hollywood...
...but much easier for half Asians, like Keanu Reeves, Dean Kane, Vanessa Hudgens, Lindsay Price, or Daniel Henney... so that there are many more successful half-Asians than full Asians in the American media.
But then, it seems that the ethnicity of these half-Asians becomes invisible and is not acknowledged,
while it remains a big deal for half-African American Americans, like Barack Obama, Colin Powell, etc...
Why is that?
Carol, I think its the support level within the African American community that makes Obama and Powell more powerful... Asian Americans are divided into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc... So actually its a lack of cohesive community support... although there are about 15,480,349 Asian Americans(13,549,064 of whom are monoracial Asian) that division into individual countries of origin makes it tougher to rally them as a whole... Also check James Chen's comments in this thread... he makes valid points about the lack of interest on Asian Americans in supporting films about Asian Americans...
James Chen said, "That's natural, but the biggest problem for Asian Americans actors is that AA movie goers generally don't pay to see AA stars. Justin Lin explained it very well at an Asian American leadership conference we held a few years back. He said that when studios profile Asian American movie goers for their taste in movies, their movie profile tastes are identical to Causians.
What this means, monetarily, is that Asian Americans have no proclivity to seeing themselves on screen."
After reading this, I just want to say that I am glad that Asians (in Asia) patronize Asian-made films starring practically all Asian actors and actresses. Oh, we also like to see Hollywood films too, but we don't ignore our own. Thank God.
Anyway, if Asian Americans still preferring Caucasian films is still true til this day, then it's hard to blame Hollywood for being leery of casting Asian actors, even if they want to.
I decided on the grass-roots method of creating better roles for Asian-American actors--write screenplays with better roles for them. I have not broken in to the business yet, but I've learned a lot in my 2 years following and writing about this issue. Thanks to Ed and all the others for continuing to speak out and draw attention to this issue.
As far as the "race-fudging," I think I was talking more about fictional series. Obviously you wouldn't/shouldn't arbitrarily have a character from once race being played by an actor from an entirely different race, much less the racelift that was 21.
What I was getting at with the "modern times" bit is more that you may be able to get away with using mixed-race people to portray someone from one of their races - like a half-Hispanic to play Cesar Chavez, or a half-white as Andrew Jackson.
For Brunetti the solution isn't to fix the casting, it would've been to "pick another story to film?"
Wow, what a bitchy response. That's not a solution at all. Now I know whose works I'm boycotting from now on. If story's good, but actors aren't recognizable, MARKET the story!
I always figured there were few bankable Asian (or any minority) actors because they don't get as many opportunities as white actors. White actors get more roles, more experience and more exposure. So obviously, they'll gain more popularity.
Justin Lin is making it sound like AA actors' bankability is solely reliant on AA movie-goers. Do studios really believe that no non-AA viewers will want to see Asian actors? Forgive me, but I have to question the quality of those "surveys" the studios are using as excuse.
I can't help but think that movie attendance would increase if there is MORE VARIETY in actors/actresses. I'm not saying there would be more AA moviegoers, just more moviegoers in general.
Speed Racer doesn't count, because it was originally re-dubbed for a white audience, and that's the version which is better known in the U.S. Hell, the original Japanese name of the series isn't even Speed Racer.
But Keanu Reeves IS Asian!
Hey read all the comments... I already stated that he is Chinese Hawaiian in another comment box... I only use Keanu to make a point that Hollywood prefers mixed-Asian actors that can pass for caucasian or multi-ethnic look... but when it comes to roles for Asian Americans you see very few male leads that are played bt Asian American men... Look at "21" controversy... or did you just skip reading that part of the whole article FL?
Jessie said, "Justin Lin is making it sound like AA actors' bankability is solely reliant on AA movie-goers. Do studios really believe that no non-AA viewers will want to see Asian actors?"
At this time, for Hollywood, Caucasian actors are simply more popular and more marketable than Asian actors. Bigger bang for the buck, as the saying goes.
Hollywood is primarily a business, not a charity. But even so, it has done very well for black people.
As for Asians, Hollywood probably doesn't consider us in need of representation in its movies (like black people do) since there's a huge amount of entertainment media made in Asia.
Considering that the comic & animation industry in Japan alone probably dwarfs the whole of the Western Hemisphere's output, US media companies probably consider Asians as rivals.
Oh, Asia is still behind when it comes to live-action movies, but it is catching up. Have you seen Red Cliff? Am probably biased, but I think it's better than Lord of the
To Asian Americans who feel left out by Hollywood and such, please head on over to Asian movie sites. Google Asian Fanatics. Over 150k members.
There's a lot of Asian movies starring Asian actors and actresses. I understand that your preference is for Caucasian movies (probably because that's mainly what you've been exposed to), but please give home-grown Asian movies a try.
Also, please consider how anime became popular in the west. Anime fans bought anime from Japan. Now these days, even US cartoon studios are adopting the anime look.
A similar tactic can be applied to Asian live-action media. Purchase Asian dvds from Asia. Play Asian films during parties. Discuss Asian films online. This way, you'll be helping (in a fun way) both Asian cinema and actors.
It's better to get people to like Asian films simply by enjoying them. They see you watching and become curious and join in. It's best not to demand them to since they'll probably be turned off if you do.
i talked about this issue of white-wash asian characters in movies and asian american actors don't get lead roles?,Unfotunately asian and asian american actors cast in sterotypical roles as nerds,ninjas,martial arts masters,china dolls,geisha girls,japanese soliders in world war 2,worst of them all is caucasian actors wear yellowface makeup protrayed asian characters, hollywood is racist for two reasons why asian and asian american actors don't get lead roles as caucasian actors do, 1:audience wiews of asian and asian americans playing asian characters in movies?,2:not getting equal roles.
Just today I heard that a white actor (Sean Faris) will be playing the role of Kyo Kusanagi in the King of Fighters movie.
Once again, more of the same BS from Hollywood. I wonder how the racial apologists who excuse the whitewashed casting in Last Airbender will try to justify this.
Are they also going to argue that, well, Kyo Kusanagi isn't necessarily an Asian person, besides it's a movie based on a videogame?
I've heard some truly inane and lame defenses of the Last Airbender casting, and I just want to see what is pulled out of people's butts to justify this casting of Kyo Kusanagi. Sigh.......
Hollywood screwed up a lot of Asian roles, but Spike Spiegel can be played by a white guy. Nothing, besides his skin tone, makes him Asian. He doesn't have an Asian name, he doesn't clearly exhibit Asian culture, nor are any of his family members Asian. Jet Black better be black. As a side note, everyone in Avatar should have been Asian, except the sun warriors (Central/South American) and the swamp benders (Southern Americans).
Bring back Bruce Lee! Ming Na Wen! Why doesn't the Asian hero ever get the Non-Asian girl at the end of movies?!?!?!?! That is the most racist thing about Hollywood.
american movies are for american people... the monroe doctrine of red carpet
How is Goku Asian? He's an alien. And even if he was not, than by your definition all anime characters should be Asian, as the term anime is used to define Japanese animation.
besides this point a agree with you that Hollywood white washes characters but the only reason for this is because in their point of view, there aren't any BANKABLE Asian stars. And probably feel that the American public will have a hard time identifying with a person from Asian descent.
White fictional characters are the majority in American fiction culture while Asians are the majority in Asian fiction culture.
BTW, you forgot one example. When they made a movie about the tsunami, but none of the victims they focused on were Asian.
"How is Goku Asian? He's an alien."
But doesn't it strike you as odd that a lot of casting directors who "just don't see color" still manage to end up picking white people for the majority of roles. That's a hell of a lot of coincidences.
"And even if he was not, than by your definition all anime characters should be Asian, as the term anime is used to define Japanese animation."
What is wrong with having an Asian default for anime/manga created and produced by Japanese people in Japan, instead of the white default that's usually seen in Hollywood?
Why is everyone complaining about racist white Hollywood producers and racist white American audiences and white washing of Asian roles when Bollywood in India has begun to white wash all Indian movies by giving major roles to white actors?
Go to google, type in Bollywood and white skin and see the results under news. These days you hardly get any Indian female actors in any Indian movies. Mostly whites from UK, Australia, Germany and the US! Pretty disgraceful!
I prefer seeing Asian character roles go to Asian actors. But that does not go to say that every character, in every movie based on anime or manga, are necessarily Asian characters, even if the source material did originate in Asia. For instance, much has been made of the casting of non-Asians in the Dragonball movie, but anyone who is familiar with Dragonball KNOWS that Goku was a Sayan, from another planet... so how could he be Asian? Spike Speigel in Cowboy Beebop was never identified as, nor did he look at all Asian, so a non-Asian cast in that role is acceptable. If you want to be a stickler for casting, then Prince of Persia should feature a Middle Eastern, not Far Eastern actor. On the other hand, casting Sean Farris as Kyo in the "King of Fighters" is a bad misstep, and casting ANYONE who is not Asian in "Akira" is wrong. I am eagerly awaiting "Ninja Assassin" and hope it's a huge hit. Maybe that will make H-wood producers more willing to cast Asian actors in their films.
I am American of Anglo descent and I LOVE watching Asian dramas and films. I am really looking forward to seeing Rain in "Ninja Assassin", and hope it's a massive hit in US, so Hollywood filmmakers will finally sit up and take notice that, cast in the right roles, Asian stars can be just as bankable as casting non-Asians. I have enjoyed Rain in several films and dramas, and he's a very talented actor in his native language roles. Really, not much of what is coming out of Hollywood is half as entertaining, original, or of as high a quality, as what I see coming out of S. Korea, Japan and China these days, and that goes double for their leading men. I'll take a Jung Ji-hoon, Lee Jun-ki or Satoshi Tsumabuki any day over a Sean Farris, Jim Sturgess, or even Keanu Reeves. Go Rain! Aja! Aja!
I dont think rain`s character Taejo Togokahn from speed racer was a villain he was still a good guy...
cause he cheered for speed in the ending of speed racer.Witch made me happy.^^
I mean The reason why they team up with Royalton was actuality a trap for the main villian. Taejo and his family were pretending to be on the villain`s side...But they were still on speed`s side....
.remember when taejo smiled at his sister with approval when they were at the table drinking...Its because they led the villan to a trap...In way I think taejo sent his his sister to give speed the invitation and pretend that her brother was still a jerk...
But he was still speed`s friend.^^
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