I've already accepted that all Hollywood can produce is garbage, but this white-washing shit is infuriating. I dread the Oldboy remake actually getting to production.
kevnull
· 11 months ago
There's an Oldboy remake? Nooooooooo.
Even "The Departed" was frustrating. It was good but lacked so many elements that the original movie had.
heather gold
· 10 months ago
fwiw, I used to work at New Line years ago and got a pretty clear view of how this happens. I was very political and drawn to NL in part because it made films with African-American actors and storytellers.
I was told, at the time, that the focus groups showed that Latino/a people didn't prefer to see Latino/a people in films, therefor it wasn't necessary to cast them. This was around the time NL was picketed by people protesting the casting of a white actor as Frida Kahlo.
In lead roles, the whitewashing is attributed to tying the film to a "name" meaning someone who can open a film. The film financial projections are run based, in part of that actor's BO track record. If the actor is not a feature "name" (ie. already proven) that makes it highly unlikely they'll be cast.
In character roles, I don't think you can whitewash even the racism of it. The only thing i can think of is that whomever's got final casting decisions (generally white dudes) believes he's selling to other people like himself and so only picks what he believes will work.
Check out Jennifer Yu's Ping Pong Playa...I have an interview with her I'll post soon on heathergold.com/show
I think there's slightly more progress being made on TV now Shonda Rhimes clearly puts a priority on diverse casting. And, of course we have the Intertubes where anyone can make and distribute anything they want: including Asian male leads and smart women who take action .
kevnull
· 10 months ago
Wow, thanks for the detailed response, Heather. Focus groups are, in my opinion, rarely that useful at finding out useful information because it's so easy to interpret the data to mean what one wants it to. There's a big difference between not having a preference for Latino/a and translating that to having a preference for Caucasian actors.
I've seen Ping Pong Playa and loved it.
In addition, I happened to watch Sunshine yesterday and really was surprised/impressed that it featured 3 Asians in a cast of 8 and none of them were cast as character roles.
João Gonçalves aka uterrorista
· 6 months ago
Funny. I remembered that i also had the hobby to draw it. But i draw faster than the 1425425 days that ONE fight lasted.. lol
All Comments
Even "The Departed" was frustrating. It was good but lacked so many elements that the original movie had.
I was told, at the time, that the focus groups showed that Latino/a people didn't prefer to see Latino/a people in films, therefor it wasn't necessary to cast them. This was around the time NL was picketed by people protesting the casting of a white actor as Frida Kahlo.
In lead roles, the whitewashing is attributed to tying the film to a "name" meaning someone who can open a film. The film financial projections are run based, in part of that actor's BO track record. If the actor is not a feature "name" (ie. already proven) that makes it highly unlikely they'll be cast.
In character roles, I don't think you can whitewash even the racism of it. The only thing i can think of is that whomever's got final casting decisions (generally white dudes) believes he's selling to other people like himself and so only picks what he believes will work.
Check out Jennifer Yu's Ping Pong Playa...I have an interview with her I'll post soon on heathergold.com/show
I think there's slightly more progress being made on TV now Shonda Rhimes clearly puts a priority on diverse casting. And, of course we have the Intertubes where anyone can make and distribute anything they want: including Asian male leads and smart women who take action .
I've seen Ping Pong Playa and loved it.
In addition, I happened to watch Sunshine yesterday and really was surprised/impressed that it featured 3 Asians in a cast of 8 and none of them were cast as character roles.
But i draw faster than the 1425425 days that ONE fight lasted.. lol