Another Hollywood movie has cast a white actor as a character that was written as Asian-American
NEW YORK — Another Hollywood movie has cast a white actor as a character that was written as Asian-American. « Hellboy » is feeling the heat after British actor Ed Skrein joined the cast for the reboot « Rise of the Blood Queen, » the third film in the comic adaptation franchise previously helmed by Guillermo del Toro.
Skrein’s character, Ben Daimio, is Japanese-American in Mike Mignola’s « Hellboy » comics and his heritage is central to his backstory. Daimio’s grandmother was a Japanese Imperial assassin in World War II.
Many objected to the role not going to an Asian-American actor and called it another example of Hollywood « whitewashing » Asian characters. « I guess they want this to fail, » said actress Cindy Chu on Twitter.
The film’s distributor, Lionsgate, declined comment. A representative for Skrein didn’t respond to queries Wednesday.
The backlash follows previous controversies including the castings of Emma Stone as a half-Hawaiian, half-Chinese Air Force pilot in Cameron Crowe’s « Aloha » and Scarlett Johansson as the cyborg protagonist in the Japanese anime remake « Ghost in the Shell. » This week’s Netflix release, the Japanese manga adaptation « Death Note » also drew criticism for transferring a Japanese story to Seattle without any Asian actors.
Though Masamune Shirow, director of the original « Ghost in the Shell, » defended Johansson’s casting, many lambasted the choice. The Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) condemned what it called the « whitewashed » casting of Scarlett Johansson in the lead role, joining a backlash that surfaced last year when the first image of Johansson in the lead role in the film was released.
When the $110 million film flopped in April, Paramount Pictures said the casting conversation impacted reviews, and thus its disappointing box-office debut.
Studies have shown that diverse casts often lead to better box office. And yet the top 100 films of 2015, a USC study found, contained not one leading role for an Asian-American.
That has led to increasing frustration for many prominent Asian-American actors and produced some clever parodies. A New York digital strategist named William Yu, inspired by the « OscarsSoWhite » backlash, created the website and hashtag « StarringJohnCho. » In photo-shopped movie posters, he imagines Cho single-handedly filling the Asian-American leading-man void in everything from « The Martian » to « Me Before You. »
« With every instance of whitewashing, » Yu posted in response to the Skrein casting, « an (Asian-American) is subliminally told that they are not worth attention, not worth a place in this society. »
