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Thread: yellow face/white washing.

  1. #76
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    Personally, IMO if a Japanese story is adapted to be, say, set in America with American characters, then it can't be called whitewashing. Like the Ringu remake The Ring wasn't whitewashed, it was adapted from the original. If it had been set in Japan but with white characters, or worse, white characters with Japanese names, then it would have been whitewashing.

    OTOH, if the producers are saying that Death Note could have gone to Asian actors but none could speak perfect English, then I'm calling BS. That's a bull**** copout. There are plenty of very good, U.S.-born actors of Asian descent who speak perfect American English. Did they just look over a few actors from China or Japan and decide that all Asians can't speak proper English?

    If that's really the case, then if Masi Oka is honest about it, they didn't want to cast Asian actors because they don't think it's marketable, they're too lazy to *really* look, or they're too stupid to see through the stereotypes. Yes, even some Asians and Asian-Americans in Hollywood buy into the stereotypes.

    BTW, Gene:

    Was Masi Oka ever cool?
    Last edited by Jimbo; 05-02-2017 at 09:50 AM.

  2. #77
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    Slightly OT

    I guess this goes here. The idea of Hawaii 5-0 without Daniel and Grace is lame.

    Everything to Know About the Hawaii Five-0 Equal Pay Controversy
    Cady Lang
    Jul 06, 2017

    Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, two of the stars of the long-running CBS police procedural Hawaii Five-0, will not be returning to the television series for season 8 due to failed contract negotiations.
    Last week, the Hollywood Reporter reported that Kim and Park were leaving the series after having requested and been denied pay parity with their white co-stars and fellow veteran cast members, Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan. In a Facebook post published on Wednesday, Kim wrote, "CBS and I weren’t able to agree to terms on a new contract, so I made the difficult choice not to continue." While Kim did not explicitly address the discussion about pay equity, many interpreted his remark that "the path to equality is rarely easy" as an allusion to the salary dispute.


    A MESSAGE TO MY FANS ABOUT HAWAII 5-0
    Sorry for the delay in hearing from me, but like you I’m sure, my July 4th holiday was busy with friends and family. I’m back now and didn’t want to let any more time go by without reaching out. By now many of you have heard the news, and I’m sad to say it is true. I will not be returning to Hawaii Five-0 when production starts next week. Though I made myself available to come back, CBS and I weren’t able to agree to terms on a new contra...
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    Following Kim's post about leaving the show, CBS released a statement about both actors' departure, noting that they were offered "large and significant salary increases." Series showrunner Peter Lenkov also addressed the matter on his Twitter feed, writing that CBS had offered both actors "unprecedented raises."

    Follow
    Peter M. Lenkov ✔ @PLenkov
    #H50 #HawaiiFive0 #Hawaii50 #Ohana
    12:52 PM - 6 Jul 2017
    140 140 Retweets 356 356 likes
    According to Variety, Kim's and Park's final offers were reportedly 10-15% lower than those of O'Loughlin and Caan, who also receive a cut of the series' back-end deals. Kim and Park have appeared as regular cast members since the show premiered in 2010 and have the same number of episode credits as O'Loughlin and Caan.
    Their departure raises new questions about diversity on the show, especially since series regular Masi Oka announced in January that he planned to leave the show. The absence of Kim and Park will result in a complete lack of Asian-American regulars on Hawaii Five-0 for season 8 — which may be perceived as problematic for a show set in a state where the majority of the population claims some Asian heritage.
    The conversation takes place against the backdrop of ongoing discussions about the representation of Asian-Americans and the whitewashing of Asian-American roles in Hollywood. It also falls on the heels of CBS' admission that the network needs to do a better job with the diversity of the casts and showrunners of its series.
    Kim's and Park's decision to leave the series was met with support from the industry, with everyone from Constance Wu to Courtney Love weighing in on the issue.
    Follow
    Constance Wu ✔ @ConstanceWu
    ��Here's to @danieldaekim & Grace Park standing up for equality. ��Know ur worth, ur value... & don't be afraid to stand up for it �� https://twitter.com/danieldaekim/sta...40068828839936
    11:44 AM - 5 Jul 2017
    1,712 1,712 Retweets 5,868 5,868 likes
    30 Jun
    Nancy Wang Yuen @nancywyuen
    Asian Am actors wanted equal pay as white actors on Hawaii Five-O. Kim & Park exiting cuz no deal. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-am...m_npd_nn_fb_aa
    Follow
    Courtney Love Cobain ✔ @Courtney
    Kudos to @danieldaekim & Grace Park for walking out. Hollywood needs to embrace diversity and @RossButler is proving that it can and will ✌️
    1:23 PM - 4 Jul 2017
    13 13 Retweets 54 54 likes
    Follow
    Jenna Ushkowitz ✔ @JennaUshkowitz
    "The path to equality is rarely easy. But I hope you can be excited about the future. I am" — @danieldaekim thank you thank you thank you ���� https://twitter.com/danieldaekim/sta...40068828839936
    4:37 PM - 5 Jul 2017
    36 36 Retweets 218 218 likes
    Others called for O'Laughlin and Caan to stand in solidarity for equal pay in the same manner that the casts of The Big Bang Theory and Friends did.
    Follow
    Michael Kang @KANGisMAN
    Would be nice if there was a united front for pay equality on the part of the some white "allies"? Mahalo for nothing, Alex and Scott #H5-0
    4:54 PM - 5 Jul 2017
    12 12 Retweets 30 30 likes
    Follow
    Matthew A. Cherry ✔ @MatthewACherry
    All the other actors had to do is stand with them in solidarity and the issue would have been quickly resolved. https://twitter.com/Variety/status/880871062346489857
    1:56 PM - 30 Jun 2017
    6,112 6,112 Retweets 11,232 11,232 likes
    Ain't no Jack Lord - that's all I can say.
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  3. #78
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    Pretty lame of CBS, but not surprising.

    I'm not really a fan of the show. I've seen episodes here and there over the years, and always found Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park to be far more interesting as both characters and actors than the guys playing McGarrett and Dano. The latter 2 guys I found annoying and whiny with their nonstop banter. Looks like Hawaii Five-O will be just another generic cop show with white and black leads.

    If the treatment Daniel and Grace were given had been given to black actors, this would be raising a gigantic stink all over the news and Hollywood.

  4. #79
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    5-0 up

    Curt Into the Badlands reference in more of the 5-0 story on our yellow face/white washing thread. Interested to see what Kim and Park might say eventually, but I do respect them playing it cool by being quiet about this so far.

    In Hollywood, Asian American actors see few lead roles, and pay discrepancies when they land one


    Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park have quit the CBS show "Hawaii Five-0" in a dispute over claims they were paid less than their white counterparts. Pictured are Scott Caan, left, Alex O'Loughlin, Park, Kim and Chi McBride. (CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)

    Meg James and David Ng

    Korean American actor Edward Hong has played characters in dozens of TV shows and movies over the years, including as “Math Olympian Dude,” “Chinese Man #2” and, in a top-rated network sitcom, “Male Night Nurse.”

    Soon, he will appear in the independent film “Please Stand By” as the “Cinnabon Guy.”

    “In Hollywood, there are a lot of opportunities, but it is always for small roles with one-liners,” Hong said in an interview. “If you want to be a store owner, the nail salon lady or the IT-tech guy, those are the parts, but rarely do we get a chance to be the main character.”

    He’s not bitter, he said, just realistic about the plight of being an Asian American actor in Hollywood.

    Decades of racist caricatures — think Mickey Rooney playing the buck-toothed Mr. Yunioshi in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” — have given way to an industry that is more inclusive, but where leading roles remain scarce. This week served as a stark reminder that even those who have reached some of the highest levels in the entertainment industry still face obstacles. Two prominent actors — Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park — quit CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0” amid claims they were paid less than their white counterparts.

    The controversy has motivated actors to be more vocal about what they say have been decades of inequities.

    “The path to equality is rarely easy,” Kim wrote in a message on Facebook, thanking fans for supporting him on “Hawaii Five-0.”

    Two years after the #OscarsSoWhite campaign shined a harsh light on Hollywood’s hiring and casting practices, some progress has been made. The film and TV industries have shown a heightened awareness of diversity and greenlighted more films with diverse casts. Television programs headlined by minorities, such as Fox’s “Empire” and ABC’s “black-ish,” have turned in strong ratings performances. Netflix’s “Master of None” stars the popular comedian Aziz Ansari, whose parents emigrated from India.

    There are few other Asian Americans in leading roles beyond ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat,” loosely based around the experiences of an Asian immigrant family in the 1980s, ABC’s “Designated Survivor,” which depicts a determined FBI agent played by Maggie Q and AMC's martial arts drama “Into the Badlands,” which stars Daniel Wu as a talented warrior.


    Grace Park, left, and Daniel Dae Kim quit CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" amid claims of pay inequity. CBS says both were offered "significant salary increases." (CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)

    But problems persist, particularly for Asian Americans. Filmmakers have tried to fend off charges of “whitewashing” even as they continue to rely on white actors to portray Asians on screen. Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of a Japanese manga, “Death Note,” stirred controversy when a producer, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, said the production searched for Asian actors but “couldn’t find the right person,” in large part because actors from Asia “didn’t speak the perfect English.”

    That came after an outcry over Scarlett Johansson’s casting as the heroine in “Ghost in the Shell,” this year’s remake of a classic Japanese anime. In Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” last year, Tilda Swinton played the Ancient One, a character that is an Asian man in the original comics. Even the starring role in the big-budget Chinese period action film “The Great Wall” went to Matt Damon.

    “There is a bias against Asian Americans,” said Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociology professor at Biola University who studies race and ethnicity in film and television. “I feel like we are invisible in society. We are nondescript and in a way dehumanized by not existing in scenes or having speaking roles. We are just part of the backdrop.”

    Asian actors have been getting more work these days, in large part because of the flow of money from China. Movie studio executives hoping to enhance a film’s financial prospects in China, the world’s second-largest film market, have rounded out their casts with Asian faces. But those are often background roles.

    “The Chinese actors say: ‘We are just flower vases. We don’t speak; we just stand there and look pretty,’ ” Hong said.
    Asian Americans say they face unique challenges because of ingrained stereotypes, including a perception that Asians are not complainers and thus will show up and dutifully do the work. “We are always the model minority,” Hong said.

    The Chinese actors say: ‘We are just flower vases. We don’t speak; we just stand there and look pretty,’ ”
    — Edward Hong, Korean-American actor
    Several people interviewed said part of the problem is that Asians don’t fit the studio chiefs’ vision of a leading man.

    “I don’t believe people in showbiz are inherently racist,” said Christine Toy Johnson, a New York-based actress who has a recurring role on FX’s “The Americans” and recently appeared in guest spots on CBS’ “Madam Secretary” and USA’s “Mr. Robot.”

    “There are different lenses with which we see things,” she said.

    Ren Hanami, chairwoman of the SAG-AFTRA guild’s Asian Pacific American Media Committee, said she believes the problem is “systemic.”

    “Most of the heads of studios are white men, and there will be some women and people of color,” Hanami said. “And then you have the creators of the show — most come from writing and Ivy League schools. All the people making those decisions are writing about themselves.”

    USC’s Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative last year found that just 28.3% of all speaking characters were from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups — a much lower percentage than the population at large. Asian Americans were particularly invisible. At least half of movies and TV shows, including on streaming services, “fail to portray one speaking or named Asian or Asian American on screen,” the USC report found.

    Hollywood executives are “still stuck in a mid-20th century mindset,” said Chris Tashima, an L.A.-based actor and Oscar-winning short-film maker. “It’s the default for the creators of content to think ‘white’ when they’re thinking of stars.”

    “Why aren’t there any Asian American stars? You need to cast the person for it to happen,” Tashima said.

    CBS has been blistered by criticism before for its formula of casting white men in lead roles, then building shows around them. Although “Hawaii Five-0” boasts a large and diverse cast, the network considered Kim and Park supporting actors to the show’s two white leading men, Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan.

    Both had major acting credits before landing their parts on “Hawaii Five-0,” a 2010 reboot of the popular 1960s detective show that consistently ranks in the top 20 in ratings. Kim was a fan favorite on ABC’s “Lost,” and Park, a Canadian actress, was a main character on “Battlestar Galactica.”

    “CBS promoted ‘Hawaii Five-0’ from the outset as an ensemble show with four co-stars, and it was clear that the two Asian American co-stars played absolutely crucial roles in the series,” said Daniel Mayeda, an entertainment attorney at Leopold, Petrich & Smith. “Without them, there is little to distinguish ‘Hawaii Five-0’ from any other cop show on the air.”
    continued next post
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  5. #80
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    Continued from previous post


    CBS considered Kim and Park supporting actors to the show’s two white leading men, Scott Caan, left, and Alex O’Loughlin. (CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)

    Contract renegotiations stalled this spring when the television studio, CBS Productions, tried to lock in deals to bring the actors back for the show’s eighth season, which begins production next week. Both refused after being offered less money per episode than O’Loughlin and Caan.

    This week, CBS and producers rejected the notion that Kim and Park were treated unfairly. Kim, for example, was offered a huge jump in salary — to about $195,000 an episode, which was $5,000 an episode less than what Caan and O’Loughlin receive, according to a person close to the production who was not authorized to divulge details of the sensitive negotiations. Kim also was offered a new production deal on CBS’ lot in Studio City. His pay before the offer is not known.

    “Daniel and Grace have been important and valued members of ‘Hawaii Five-0’ for seven seasons,” CBS said in a statement. “We did not want to lose them and tried very hard to keep them with offers for large and significant salary increases.”

    Kim and Park declined to comment.

    Peter Lenkov, co-creator and executive producer of “Hawaii Five-0,” on Thursday stressed that the show was proud of its large and inclusive cast.

    “The truth is this: Both actors chose not to extend their contracts,” he said. “CBS was extremely generous and proactive in their renegotiation talks. So much so, the actors were getting unprecedented raises, but in the end, they chose to move on. No one wanted to see them go — they are irreplaceable.”

    Park, who lives in Vancouver when not shooting the show in Hawaii, had asked to dramatically reduce the number of episodes she appeared in, according to the knowledgeable source. “After being away from her family for seven years, I understood Grace’s decision to leave,” Lenkov said.

    Critics on social media said the studio’s insistence it had offered the actors significant raises illustrates they had been underpaid for years.

    There is little hard data proving Asian Americans in Hollywood are systematically underpaid. The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said it doesn’t track compensation beyond union minimums because the information is often kept under wraps by the studios, agents and individual actors.

    Experts said this week’s furor over the “Hawaii Five-0” salary gap, and Kim’s taking a stand on the issue, could mark a turning point.

    “Five years ago, this wouldn’t have gotten this kind of attention,” said Janet Yang, producer of “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “The Joy Luck Club.” She and others credited the #OscarsSoWhite controversy for encouraging Asian Americans to stand up for their rights.

    “More people are emboldened now,” Yang said. “The African American community has led the conversation for so long, and now it’s expanded to other minorities.”

    Social media and the rise of niche entertainment channels, YouTube and streaming services such as Netflix also have spurred traditional Hollywood players to be more inclusive.

    “Because you have so many platforms where people can tell stories from underrepresented faces and voices, audiences are driving all these decision-makers to reevaluate all the things they greenlight,” said Adam Moore, SAG-AFTRA’s national director of equal employment opportunity and diversity.

    Johnson, the actress, couldn’t recall auditioning for a lead in any pilot in the 20 years before “Fresh Off the Boat.” “That tells me a lot about where we are,” said Johnson, though she says there’s still room for improvement.

    Tashima, the Oscar-winning filmmaker, agreed. “Growing up, I always felt second-rate because I wasn’t like the kids you saw on TV,” he said. “I’m seeing a lot of change now. It’s not as much as we want.”
    What bugs me the most about this is that it's Hawaii, which is so Asian. Imagine if this were a show about Chinatown. It's kind of like that.
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  6. #81
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    What bugs me the most about this is that it's Hawaii, which is so Asian. Imagine if this were a show about Chinatown. It's kind of like that.
    I've read some of the online articles about this, and in the comments sections, the vast majority of comments by whites and/or non-Asians reflect the same mentality that creates this inequality in the first place:

    "They should have taken the raises CBS offered to them and shut up."

    "If this were in Asia, could a white person get equal billing?"

    The first type of comment is idiotic and full of condescension. The second is idiotic and ignorant. There is NO Asian country that claims to be as much of a multi-cultural 'melting pot' as the U.S. does. Not even Malaysia or Indonesia. Not to mention that Asian-Americans are AMERICANS, not Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, etc., nationals. BIG difference.

    Gene, Hollywood could set a cop drama in freaking Tokyo and it would star white actors.

    Even though they've headlined Hawaii Five-0 for so many years, there is still absolutely nothing about Scott Caan and Alex O'Loughlin that screams 'star material'.

  7. #82
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    I feel ya, Jimbo

    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    Gene, Hollywood could set a cop drama in freaking Tokyo and it would star white actors.
    Isn't that what Ghost in the Shell is?
    Gene Ching
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  8. #83
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    Daniel Dae Kim Responds

    AUGUST 06, 2017 11:23am PT by Lesley Goldberg
    Daniel Dae Kim Responds to 'Hawaii Five-0' Controversy


    Courtesy of CBS
    Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim on 'Hawaii Five-0'

    "It's possible to be grateful and respectful of colleagues and still maintain a steadfast sense of your self-worth," the actor told reporters at TCA, where he was supporting ABC's 'The Good Doctor.'

    Daniel Dae Kim made his first public remarks about his exit from CBS' Hawaii Five-0 and the controversy that arose after the network declined to offer salary parity for the actor and co-star Grace Park.

    Kim and Park, who were both series regulars on the procedural's first seven seasons, made the decision to leave the series ahead of its upcoming eighth season after the network and producers CBS Television Studios did not offer them the same deals as white co-stars Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan.

    "That was a really important part of my life for seven years, and I'm really grateful to CBS and everyone involved with the show for giving me the opportunity. I've known [CBS Entertainment president Kelly] Kelly and [CBS' senior exec vp programming] Thom Sherman for a while, I met Thom all the way back from the days on Lost. I know them and I like them, and I'm grateful to them for the words that they said on the panel the other day. That said, it's possible to be grateful for the opportunity and respectful of the colleagues and the people that I work with and still maintain a steadfast sense of your self-worth," Kim told reporters Sunday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, where he was supporting ABC's The Good Doctor (which he executive produces). "All good things come to an end. I close that chapter on Hawaii Five-0 and I begin this new chapter on The Good Doctor. And I couldn’t be more excited to be back at ABC where I started my career in earnest and to be working with such incredible people. This is the start of something new, and I'm really grateful for that, too."

    A CBS insider in July stressed that Kim and Park's contract dispute had nothing to do with race. Kim, the source asserted, was offered a raise to come within 2 percent of what Caan and O'Loughlin make — minus the duo's lucrative points of the show's backend. Negotiations with Park, meanwhile, were complicated by the actress' desire to only do a handful of episodes and be written out of the show. But the CBS source noted a substantial increase was still offered to her.

    "Not going to talk specifics of the deal or the negotiation. We love both those actors and did not want to lose them. We made very, very strong attempts to keep them and offered them a lot of money to stick around," Kahl told reporters earlier this week at TCA. "We wanted them to stick around. It’s an unfortunate byproduct of having a successful, long-running show, that sometimes you lose castmembers. We didn’t want it to happen, but it’s happened on CSI. It’s happened on Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order: SVU. Pretty much any network who’s had a successful, long-running show, at some point there’s some cast turnover. We didn’t want it to happen. We tried our darnedest to keep them."

    In a heartfelt post on his Facebook page shortly after the news went viral, Kim revealed that he wanted to return for Hawaii Five-0's upcoming eighth season, but after he asked for salary parity with co-stars O'Loughlin and Caan, CBS and CBSTVS could not come to terms that worked for both stars. Sources note the duo's offer came in less than that of O'Loughlin and Caan, who both have a cut of the show's lucrative backend.

    In a note on his Facebook page, Kim thanked fans, the cast, crew and creative team and singled out how important playing Chin Ho was to him: "As an Asian-American actor, I know first-hand how difficult it is to find opportunities at all, let alone play a well-developed, three-dimensional character like Chin Ho. I will miss him sincerely. … [T]hough transitions can be difficult, I encourage us all to look beyond the disappointment of this moment to the bigger picture. The path to equality is rarely easy."

    CBS' Kahl and his top lieutenant Sherman were hammered on the network's lack of inclusive casting and male-dominated lineup issues during their time before the press at TCA. "We are absolutely moving in the right direction," Kahl said, citing a 60 percent lift in non-white series regulars and ongoing efforts to include more people of color behind the scenes. "We are making progress."

    To make up for Kim and Park's departures, Hawaii Five-0 has enlisted Meaghan Rath, Beulah Koale and Ian Anthony Dale for season eight. Dale has recurred on Hawaii Five-0 since season two as Adam Noshimuri, the husband of Park's Kono and a trusted confidant and resource for the team who will now be recruited by McGarrett (O'Loughlin) to work for Five-0.

    Meanwhile, Kim told reporters he is content serving as an exec producer on The Good Doctor but has had talks with producers about a potential onscreen role as well. "I'm really content being behind the scenes on this show," Kim said. "At some point, I'd love to play with them. It'd be a nice opportunity. [Showrunner] David [Shore] and I have talked about it … but right now were working on the first few episodes."

    Following the panel, Kim was asked two pointed questions about how close CBS' offer was and if he'd ever return to Hawaii Five-0 and declined comment on both before he was rushed offstage and away from a pack of reporters.
    'We tried our darnedest...'
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  9. #84
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    Oh Hell

    Here we go again. :roll eyes:

    ‘Hellboy’ Casting Of Ed Skrein As Japanese Character Draws Whitewashing Backlash
    by Dino-Ray Ramos
    August 23, 2017 6:13pm


    REX/Shutterstock

    The latest casting of Ed Skrein in the upcoming Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen has raised a lot of eyebrows — specifically in the Asian American community. The British actor is set to play the role of Ben Daimio, who, in the Mike Mignola comic books, is a Japanese American whose heritage has a heavy influence on his character.

    Skrein took to Twitter to express his excitement in the role in the Hellboy reboot of an Asian character, whose grandmother was a Japanese Imperial assassin in World War II. True to Internet form, a backlash ignited and it wasn’t long until a flood of comments filled his feed.

    One commenter said, “You’re a talented actor; why would you take away a role from an Asian colleague?” Asian actor Simu Liu (Taken, Kim’s Convenience) chimed in saying “Hey Hollywood, how many box office flops does it take for you to learn how to cast properly? #hellboy #whitewashedout” while Stephanie Sheh, an actress who does voiceover work in anime, said “Here we go again. Why Hollywood do you keep forcing me to boycott your films. #whitewash #hellboy.” Amidst the backlash, Hellboy creator Mignola chimed in saying, “Thanks and happy you’ve signed on.” Lionsgate declined to comment about the casting when contacted by Deadline.



    Ed Skrein‏ Verified account @edskrein Aug 21
    Excited to join the #Hellboy cast as Ben Daimio. All praise due to the creator @artofmmignola 🙏🏼 #BPRD
    There was less of a concern of dragging Skrein and more of focus on why something like this would happen again after Hollywood’s recent track record of casting white actors as Asian and Asian American characters — which hasn’t gone over to well. Most recently Netflix’s adaptation of the manga Death Note was under fire for whitewashing, using white actors as a replacement for characters of color. The original source material follows a Japanese teen named Light Yagami, but in the reboot, he is played by a white teen in Seattle named Light Turner, played by Nat Wolff. In addition, his love interest is named Mia Sutton who is played by Margaret Qualley. In the manga, her name is Misa Amane — who is also portrayed as Japanese.


    Netflix

    Previous to Death Note, there has been numerous amount of “whitewashing” of Asian roles that have lit a fire under the Asian American community. Emma Stone portrayed Allison Ng in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha. With a last name like “Ng” it is obvious that the character is Asian. Her heritage in the movie is revealed as one-quarter Hawaiian, with a half-Asian father. The casting of Tilda Swinton as “The Ancient One” in Doctor Strange was appreciated for its gender-swapping but was frowned upon because the character is traditionally Asian.

    Other “whitewashing” controversies that have been hovering over Hollywood include Scarlett Johansson in the starring role in the live-adaptation of Ghost in the Shell as the Major, who, in the original source material has the Japanese name Major Motoko Kusanagi. Matt Damon in The Great Wall was another source of controversy as well as the announcement of Black Sails actor Zach McGowan as the star of Ni’ihau, a film based on a true story set during WWII when Shigenori Nishikaichi, an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service pilot, crash-landed his Zero on the eponymous Hawaiian island after participating in the attack on Pearl Harbor. McGowan will play Ben Kanahele, an island leader who saves Nishikaichi before learning his part in the attack. Kanahele is Pacific Islander and McGowan is of Jewish and Irish descent.
    Gene Ching
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  10. #85
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    Color blindness?

    I never watched this as an anime so I don't plan to tune into it as a Netflix live action. Anyone else here into Death Note?

    AUGUST 26, 2017 9:00am PT by Rebecca Sun
    'Death Note' Is What Happens When Filmmakers Don't See Race
    American adaptations need to realize that multiculturalism, not high production value, is its greatest strength.


    Courtesy of Netflix
    Lakeith Stanfield in 'Death Note'

    American adaptations need to realize that multiculturalism, not high production value, is its greatest strength.
    [Warning: This story contains minor spoilers for Netflix’s Death Note.]

    Like fellow manga adaptation Ghost in the Shell, Netflix’s Death Note has been dogged by whitewashing criticism since castings were first announced. In translating Japanese source material for an English-language audience, Hollywood renditions have unfailingly employed white protagonists, despite the existence of English-speaking Americans of Japanese or other descents.

    Unlike Paramount’s Scarlett Johansson-starring flop, though, director Adam Wingard’s Death Note transplants the setting from Japan to the U.S. (specifically, Seattle — where, it must be said, Asians are the second-biggest racial demographic in real life). Still, the casual Netflix surfer who watches Death Note unaware of its history is unlikely to notice the absence of Asians; other than a white American cop’s inexplicable decision to name his son "Light," Wingard successfully erases all traces of cultural context from his film. Unfortunately, he does too good a job with it, because Death Note takes place in a country wholly unlike our own.

    In Death Note, teen serial killer Light (Nat Wolff) is pursued by the mysterious private detective L, a fellow teen genius as defined by his behavioral quirks as he is by his staggering intellect. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting actor for the American L than Lakeith Stanfield, a breakout for his eccentric performance as Darius on FX’s Atlanta and surely one of the most idiosyncratic and gifted talents of his generation. And the prospect of seeing a young black L lead an international coalition of law enforcement and intelligence officers on a manhunt for a global mass murderer is full of rich dramatic promise and adds potential layers of commentary to the original mono-cultural Japanese version.

    But L’s blackness is never addressed, often distractingly so. When Light's father Detective Turner (Shea Whigham) meets the great L, masked by a pulled-up turtleneck, he says, “I figured you’d be older … and that I could see more of your face.” Turner the character may have refrained from noting L’s race out of a sense of politeness, but Death Note’s curious color-blindness is to its own detriment. The film offers several visuals seemingly without awareness of their resonance in the real world: a hooded L appearing on the national news, L brandishing a gun as he chases Light through the streets, Det. Turner putting L in a chokehold. It’s not that those images are offensive to include; on the contrary, they are startling and fascinating and could have elevated Death Note, if only the filmmakers understood their import. As Indiewire’s David Erlich wrote in his Death Note review, “Why go through all the trouble of setting Death Note in America if you’re not going to set it in the real one?”

    Obviously, Death Note is supernatural fantasy. But great speculative fiction bends physical circumstances and rules while reflecting real-world truths about the human condition and how we interact with one another. That’s why audiences can easily suspend disbelief about rich white people who hypnotize and hijack black bodies through neurosurgery, and yet the most terrifying part of Get Out is near the end, when a police cruiser comes upon the bloodied black male protagonist on a lonely road. Director Jordan Peele understood that we don’t watch movies and TV shows in a vacuum.

    Wingard ambitiously compared Death Note to Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning The Departed, based on Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs. But The Departed succeeds because its characters don’t just happen to be white. They are specifically white: The film uses Infernal Affairs’ cops-and-gangsters premise to tell a story steeped in Boston’s Irish-American community. It has the ring of authenticity.

    Death Note is what happens when filmmakers are color-blind but not color-conscious. In many cases, color-blind casting has been used to justify certain decisions, such as when Hellboy executive producer Christa Campbell explained that film’s recent decision to cast white Brit Ed Skrein as Japanese-American comic-book character Ben Daimio. “Someone comes and does a great audition [to] get the role,” she wrote in a now-deleted tweet. “Stop projecting your own **** onto us. We are all one. We don’t see colors or race.”

    And that’s a shame, because America’s greatest storytelling strength isn’t high production values. It’s multiculturalism — access to an array of backgrounds and identities, and an ability to find out what happens when they collide. It’s a huge advantage that multicultural nations have over more culturally ****genous ones. Death Note, like all the manga adaptations that have come before it, fails to make use of this tool, reducing its primary task to linguistic shifts and superficial face swaps.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  11. #86
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    It's actually quite funny, regarding Hellboy producer Christa Campbell's remarks. Since it's primarily Asian-Americans complaining about whitewashing a definitely Asian character, she's essentially giving the typical white person's response: "STFU and know your place."

    OTOH, if it were African-Americans complaining about a whitewashed character, she's have said, "We sincerely apologize to the African-American community for our insensitivity and stupidity at miscasting such an incredible black character with a white actor, and promise from the depths of our hearts to never do it again. There is no excuse for our ignorance, and we are doing everything in our power to change and give African-American actors the opportunities they richly deserve."

    The difference between a condescending response and full-out a$$-kissing is in the general perception of a specific group/demographic, and the perceived amount of public backlash and media outrage they are likely to receive from it.
    Last edited by Jimbo; 08-28-2017 at 08:55 AM.

  12. #87
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    Back to Hell

    Good play for Ed. He now becomes a hero. Let's see if they recast Daimio as Asian.

    Ed Skrein Leaves ‘Hellboy’ Reboot After Whitewashing Backlash; Lionsgate & Millennium Respond
    by Dino-Ray Ramos
    August 28, 2017 12:42pm


    REX/Shutterstock

    Last week, Ed Skrein was excited to announce he would be playing the character of Major Ben Daimio in the upcoming Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen. In the comics, the character is of Asian heritage, and the news prompted immediate backlash from the Asian Pacific American community. Today, Skrein took to Twitter responding to the public outcry, saying he is stepping down from the role and that, “I must do what I feel is right.”

    In a statement to Deadline, Hellboy producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin, Lionsgate and Millennium said: “Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision. It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.”

    Read Skrein’s full statement:

    View image on Twitter

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    Ending his tweet with “I hope it makes a difference,” Skrein made it clear he was listening to the APA community and is aware of the importance of inclusion and proper representation in the arts. His thoughtful response and decision to leave the project may be the start of more projects to follow suit when casting roles meant for people of color.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  13. #88
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    Thumbs up

    Great decision by Ed Skrein. And he did it quickly, too.

  14. #89
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    Chloe Bennet


    RISING STAR
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/agents-...nese-last-name
    TV’s only Asian-American superhero opens up about the need for representation onscreen—and why her band of SHIELD agents totally belong in Marvel’s movies.
    MELISSA LEON
    04.05.16 1:34 AM ET

    Four years ago, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD star Chloe Bennet was known professionally as Chloe Wang, aspiring actress and teenage dabbler in Shanghai pop stardom. In the states, however, Hollywood casting agents were less than welcoming.
    At least until she changed her last name.

    “Oh, the first audition I went on after I changed my name, I got booked,” Bennet tells The Daily Beast, in an interview timed to Marvel’s Women of Power month. “So that’s a pretty clear little snippet of how Hollywood works.”
    That audition was for the role of Hailey, an office assistant on ABC’s Nashville. That same year, Bennet was cast as the lead in Marvel’s first cinematic universe TV show, the Joss Whedon-created SHIELD. Over three seasons, Skye, a headstrong young “hacktivist” who gets recruited by SHIELD and eventually discovers her real identity, the half-Inhuman Daisy Johnson (aka Quake), has evolved into what is still a rarity on TV: a superhero who happens to be both female and Asian-American.

    “I wish people talked about that more,” Bennet says. “I don't know if it’s good or bad, but when Supergirl came out, people were like, ‘This is the only superhero on TV that’s a female!’ And I was like, ‘Hold on! I’m pretty sure Daisy’s been here.’ And I also happen to be half-Chinese and I’m so proud of that.”

    “I want to be clear because some of my Asian-American fans seem to think I did that [changed last names] because I didn’t want to known as Chinese, but it’s so the opposite,” she adds. “I just wanted to be known as me and let my personality define who I was, rather than my ethnicity.”

    Bennet—who is loud and funny and blunt in conversation—then launches into her SHIELD audition story, told with a mixture of endearing self-loathing and pride.



    “When we were down to seven girls [up for the role of Skye], it was this completely diverse group of girls I was up against. And it was really about who was right for the part,” she says. “We were testing and we came out of the room and I was up next and Joss Whedon was there and said, ‘Hi.’ I got kind of nervous and looked at him. He just looked really tired. And I was like, ‘You look like ****’—this right before I went in for my last audition.
    “He started laughing and was like, ‘Well, I am tired,’” she says, groaning at the memory. “And I was like, ‘I mean, you look tired in a good way, like you’re really busy! And accomplished!’ It was so Skye Season 1 that I think he was like, ‘Yup, that’s her.’”
    Because of Marvel’s “cinematic universe” design, SHIELD takes place during the events of the comic book movie franchise’s big-screen exploits—meaning that whatever havoc the Avengers wreak in their city-smashing adventures has real-world consequences for the show’s on-the-ground SHIELD agents.



    When Captain America: The Winter Soldier revealed that the evil Nazi organization HYDRA had been embedded within SHIELD since shortly after World War II, the show, whose entire first season built up to the events of Winter Soldier, took that and ran with it, spinning out two seasons of intrigue.
    But while Marvel’s movies often affect the show, SHIELD’s narrative rarely bears weight on the big-budget blockbusters—even when the stories it’s telling should. In the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, for example, Marvel’s superheroes choose whether to submit to official government oversight, a measure (called the Sokovia Accords, the onscreen version of the comic books’ Superhero Registration Act) pushed on them by a United Nations panel.
    Incorporating SHIELD’s ongoing Inhumans storyline would actually raise the stakes of the movie: The presence of hundreds if not thousands of undiscovered Inhumans (people with the ability to develop superpowers) would give governments extra incentive to push the Sokovia Accords on all superhumans. Recent interviews with Civil War directors Joe and Anthony Russo, however, indicate the directing duo are entirely unconcerned with what’s going on in the world of SHIELD.



    “I think we’re all on the same page besides them,” Bennet says, sighing at the missed opportunity. “But they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do, and I’m really happy with our little show. We’ve been dealing with the topic of Civil War for a while now—at least, Daisy has. She’s a SHIELD agent but also a human and she’s completely torn.”
    If Bennet had her way, of course, Civil War would bring certain SHIELD-specific changes to the Marvel universe: “I would like us to be put in the movie,” she laughs. “That would make sense. I would like the Avengers to find out that Agent Coulson’s still alive. And Daisy’s incredibly powerful. I think you’ll see toward the end of the season her strength as a character and a leader, and her power as a superhero really expands—I’m just saying, the Avengers could use our help, if they just asked.”
    Marvel’s TV universe, in the meantime, continues to expand, with street-level heroes like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist getting their own Netflix shows. With the latter series’s casting announcement—revealing that Game of Thrones actor Finn Jones will be taking on the role of Danny Rand—a familiar refrain decrying the MCU’s lack of diversity reverberated across the Internet again.
    When asked if she was among the thousands calling for the traditionally white Danny Rand—a kung fu master—to be played by an Asian actor, Bennet answers without missing a beat.



    “One hundred percent. I actually saw that [casting] news and I can’t lie, I was a little [disappointed],” she says, before breaking into laughter again. “I love Marvel, but…”
    “I know they want to stay true to their characters but, you know, every female character in Marvel comics also has, like, triple-Z-sized boobs,” she reasons. “So if they cast actors based on the way characters look on the page, I don’t think even Scarlett Johansson—well, maybe Scarlett Johansson—would be in the movies.”
    As for Marvel’s ever-expanding movie arm—which will feature its first character of color in a stand-alone film in 2018’s Black Panther—Bennet maintains there’s room for improvement there as well.
    “I think they could do better,” she says. “You know, there are a lot of white guys named Chris. But I think they will, because it’s important. It’s the right thing to do. Marvel’s a smart company and I think they will represent their fans from around the world. They can take note from the way we’re going on the show, ’cause we’re doing a pretty good job.”
    In terms of gender dynamics, Bennet points out that “90 percent of the rescuing” done in SHIELD is by female characters and “90 percent” of the stunts are performed by women actors as well, including herself. Still, she’s anxiously awaiting her character Daisy’s introduction as a playable character in the Marvel mobile game Contest of Champions in the fall, for the sake of watching Quake in action minus the actual stunt work.
    “I’m so stoked. My brother is so jealous,” she laughs. “I’m really excited to get to do all these stunts without actually getting hurt. I’m currently covered in bruises.”
    Bruises never stopped a badass lady from rescuing those in need, of course. “[Our characters] don’t need any rescuing from men,” Bennet says. “We can handle ourselves very well, thank you.”
    Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. & whitewashing
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  15. #90
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    This would be a great play

    If this happens, I'd make an effort to support this film and I'm not that into Hellboy. It's like the Star Wars cantina scene on steroids.

    SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 2:29pm PT by Borys Kit
    Daniel Dae Kim in Talks to Replace Ed Skrein in 'Hellboy' Reboot (Exclusive)


    Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
    Daniel Dae Kim

    Skrein left the project after an outcry over whitewashing an Asian-American character.

    Daniel Dae Kim, who recently left CBS’ Hawaii Five-0, is in negotiations to join the cast of Lionsgate and Millennium’s Hellboy reboot.

    Kim will step into the role left vacant by Ed Skrein after an outcry over whitewashing a Asian-American character.

    Kim will play Major Ben Daimio, a rugged military member of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense who, due to a supernatural encounter, can turn into a jaguar when angered or in pain. The character is Japanese-American in the Hellboy comics by creator Mike Mignola.

    Skrein had nabbed the role in August but, after a social media protest, made the unprecedented move to step down later that month.

    “It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voice in the Arts. I feel it is important to honor and respect that,” he said in a statement.

    Lionsgate concurred, saying, “It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material."

    Kim is Korean-American, and the actor is no stranger to standing up for his beliefs. In June, he quit Hawaii Five-0 after a salary dispute with CBS, as he had been seeking equal pay to the show’s stars, Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan. His departure, along with co-star Grace Park, left the show temporarily without Asian regulars.

    David Harbour (Stranger Things) is starring in Hellboy, which reboots the franchise centered on the demonic hero from the Mignola comic books. Game of Thrones director Neil Marshall is helming the project.

    Kim has been acting since the early 1990s and has appeared on shows such as ER and Angel. He became a known quantity and star thanks to his breakout work on ABC’s Lost, and co-starred on Five-O since it launched in 2010.

    Kim is repped by UTA.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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