Welcome to the battle, Black and Brown actors have been fighting this fight for decades youtu.be/4-GvHUQedEo?...

I think in trying to correct a problem, perhaps it was overcorrected and has created a situation. An all white cast is not accurate, yet neither is a cast that appears to be the United Nations. The solution... That I don't know. Stop trying so hard?

Agreed “It doesn’t require any kind of specificity in the story as it’s being told, or in the specifics of the character, because very often, it’s not even being written by an Asian person." "So they don’t know the difference in what they’re asking for, and yet casting is being very specific.”

We think that you and your genocidal blue maga cult are moral degenerates just pretending to be decent human beings.

I don't look up an actor's background to see if they fit a roll that specifically. I care more about the ability and the general look as it pertains to the entertainment value.

www.theguardian.com/film/2017/se...

My favorite part of this series was Daniel taking the piss by having everyone call out his character out for having a bad accent while speaking Korean, a fun callback to the real life comments he got from Lost.

Don’t casting directors make sure to only cast the exact nationality of the character because asian-American activists would attack them if they didn’t?

Trump, The rich & powerful piss on us 🇺🇸 Fox News & CNN tell us it's raining 🌧 🔥🔥

Cliff Curtis is going to be put out of work. He's been playing a whole host of ethnicities for a while now.

Sounds right to me. Ex: Any white actor with blonde hair (real or dyed) is a Viking. Red hair? You're a Scot. Not so with Asians.

Imagine if white actors had to conform like this: No Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber. No Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot. No Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. No Mel Gibson as William Wallace. No James Doohan (or Simon Pegg) as Scotty. No Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton or Pierce Brosnan as James Bond!

This is too hard to opine. If I see a London’s west end play I see evidence that racism can be suspended. But it is still only magic - when the thought ‘racism is over’ even occurs to be thought. Redefine entertainment instead of who can entertain.

Presumably he has had specific experiences that have shaped this thinking.

I’m a grandmother to 2 beautiful, part Korean babies and I liked the takeaway: “stop forcing Asian American actors through identity litmus tests that no one else has to endure, and use cultural specificity when it actually serves the story.”

I do like his new show Butterfly

It's complicated. Speaking only about asians, "Before" there was a lack of talent diversity, you had a handful of Chinese, Japanese, Korean actors in US. You saw same faces. It use to take me out of films because I saw Chinese actresses play historical Japanese characters, but that's what we had.

Then as productions became international, the talent pool grew, there was more "nationality" specific casting, along with it the criticisms if you casted outside of that nationality. BUT what I found interesting, Chinese, Japanese & Korean productions would cast across nationalities.

Japanese actors played Chinese roles, Korean actors in Japanese roles. If you study Asian history, you'll see many Japanese were of Korean & Chinese descent & vice versa. This modern casting by nationality doesn't doesn't make much sense. If the Asian actor can pull of the role go for it.

What takes me out of the story for example if a Japanese actor is suppose to speak Mandarin but can't pull it off, then it gets weird. This goes for any other demographic, Latin-X actors sometimes gets the same criticisms.

Toshiro Mifune was born in China but is considered a Japanese actor. One of my favorite actors is Takeshi Kaneshiro, born in Taiwan but is a Japanese citizen, has acted in Chinese and Japanese productions.

If someone were to cast a character based on me, I would not expect them to find someone 31% Scottish, 45% English, 11% Germanic, 12% French, and 1% Sardinian. Any generic old dude would. 😉😄

In my brief dealings with Daniel when we discussed optioning my book, I found him to be ridiculously intelligent, measured, and very well aware of what is (or should be) appropriate in depicting multi-cultural characters in a story. Or, to say it in less words: he's right.

I agree. I’ve said that for many roles of ethnic variety.

It is a shame that they cast a human for a Klingon though.

Lol

Love him, and I think he did a great job of explaining his POV with grace. The boxes just keep getting smaller... and that's not a good thing.

Right also I think that it's a question of one step forward two steps back unfortunately. Because if let's say we have a character written as Chinese. And we cast any Chinese actor or Chinese American actor to play that role. You have a lot of people to pick from in that case.

But if it's stipulates it has to be somebody of one specific ethnic group and only a person of that group can play that person, well then somebody might say " this is too much hassle. Let's just do a white dude."

Why are you asking me. I'm a cow.

He makes a good point

If we cast Europeans that way, Jean-Luc Picard would have been very different.

Yeah, but John Wayne was great as Genghis Khan.

It seems it's not the norm for other ethnicities, Jordi Mollà was casted again as a mexican cartel lord in the excellent MobLand. Althoug that's an English TV show, not American...

💯: “If you’re telling a story about a Chinese American immigrant family, then yes, cast Chinese American actors. But if your script is basically “generic spy thriller with daddy issues,” maybe don’t start gatekeeping based on whether the actor’s grandparents were from Seoul or Seto.”

At the same time, and unsure if it proves/disproves his point, Matt Damon playing Odysseus & tom holland being cast as a main character in a Greek tragedy is ridiculous. It’s like Hollywood uses the same twenty people for main roles, and the “white ones” are almost always the wrong kind of white.

Is that a recent photo?! Does he have a painting of himself in the attic that’s getting older?? Beautiful man!

Well, I'm not Asian American, but what he says makes sense to me.

Same here, I’m not Asian so I’m more than open to taking cues from those who are. I’m old enough to have lived through decades of embarrassing casting of non-Asian actors in ostensibly Asian roles , mostly with predictably cartoonish results.

Here's the interview on American Masters: www.pbs.org/wnet/america...

What do you think, George?

I think a lot of people just read the headline before replying.

Didn’t actors go to acting school specifically to be able to embody characters different from themselves? Also, what about mixed race actors and characters?

Does seem to be a thing with going over the top to push certain identities in TV & film, just let the people be people, everyday people, normal people...

There is no room for nuance these days! /s

So, make some.

No argument here.

Hey, I still want them to bring back Apu

He's right. "Overcorrection" is writing token generic "Asian" characters that are just there to be generic Asian without having any story or character of their own. This can happen with any minority. Compare it to having a character with red hair as their only character trait.

Very thoughtful take. Back in the 70s there was a pool of Asian actors you would see repeatedly on shows like H50, MASH, later Magnum....there didn't seem to be a distinction. But a big point is what he said about not having Asians as the writers.

🤷 it's going to be pretty hard to keep everyone happy.

He's got good arguments. If we've gone from John Wayne as Genghis Khan to "I don't know...you look more South Laotian than North Cambodian," pendulums remain a problem.

Is he really saying "overcorrection"? I read it as "casting some asian person to have one" with little regard for the fact that Asia is the biggest, most populated continent with a WIDE range of different cultures. Is it three thousand years of recorded history or more? We can do better!

If it was unclear: We need to actually read and think about what he is saying. Context matters. I support him. As a Scandinavian, seeing the pop culture presentation of Norwegians and Vikings feels a bit off at times, but that is a very minor inconvenience in comparison, I would assume.

As a white person I dont have a voice in this discussion and I am absolutely fine with that!

I can't speak for those of Asian descent. I can speak for Native American Actors. For decades they overlooked Native Actors for roles of Native People. Does it need to be a Lakota playing a Lakota? Probably not at this point. At least they are getting a Native actor to play a Native Person.

In Canada, the natives play all kinds of roles, including police chef!

Oh I know that, but this was about how it used to be that Native People didn't play Native People until more recently.

Thurson Howell the Third was an "Indian Cheif" on Ponderosa.

Yes, a white guy playing a Native instead of a Native playing a Native.

Like in the new Harry Potter serie on HBO, they just started filming a month ago. The new professor Snape, will be interpreted by a black guy!🤦‍♂️

Ah ok!

Instantly makes me think of the famous ad that employed a jewish american to play the teary eyed “chief” for the anti littering campaigns

You’re thinking of Iron Eyes Cody. He was Italian though, not Jewish. But he also spent his entire career claiming he was Native American (it was only revealed after he died that he was not, in fact). So it wasn’t really the ad campaign’s mistake.

Funny how half remembered always feels like all remembered. You right as hell

The call not to be too worried about cultural appropriation when it comes to nuances is something minorities have to make. As a white male European, I have been told (not necessarily incorrectly) that my opinion is not required on those topics, so I have the luxury of it not being my problem.

A character needs specific aspects for that specific role. You can't cast a 5ft actor for a Michael Jordan biopic. Or a white female, even if she's 6ft7. So he's right; if "overcorrection" actually limits the number of roles for Aisan actors, it's counterproductive.

There are cinematographic workarounds for the height concern, forced perspective and such. And there's method acting workarounds for the other things, if the actor is committed enough. Like, Forrest Whitacre making his character just be a weeb for Ghost Dog.

Well let's turn it around: do Asian studios make the same distinctions when filling roles that require caucasian actors? Do they hire Italians to play Italians? Or Nordic actors to play vikings? I'm guessing not. I'm sure all white people look the same to them.

LOL we’ve gone from “Hey let’s get Micky Rooney to play that Japanese guy in Breakfast!” To “No, you don’t understand we’re casting a Hokkien speaker from Singapore, she looks more like someone that speaks Teochew!”

Most Americans don’t know the difference, they think all Asians are Chinese! He is correct, unless the story is specifically about one particular culture, the door should be open to cast whomever wins the role.

God he is gorgeous

Those cheekbones! *swoon*

He really needs to play automatic lead.

*romantic

If it happens like in the example he gave, then I agree. That's way too specific.

There's a little bit of an asterisk I'd personally place there, though. There's a particular Japan/rest-of-East-Asia divide that's pretty meaningful partly due to WWII. If a Japanese company cast Japanese actors to play Korean or Chinese roles, I would be very wary of their intentions.

As you say, the example he gave is as good as it comes - it's a Korean empowering someone to play a Korean role, so all's good. And much of what he complains about is a problem, because it hinders the ultimate goal of more Asian representation in Hollywood. But there's complexity to be aware of.

So it would depend on the role?

I think it depends on the the reason the role is specifically Asian, the history of the studio, directing, and casting director filling the part, the nation within which the studio is based, and probably other factors I can't think of.

Why does anyone give a flying fuck who play acts any role, unless you're a fucking idiot racist asshole? All the actors were men, even in female roles, once upon a time. And now assholes have an issue with drag. I hate humans stupid fuckers.

As someone with some experience in character development (not professionally), I have had characters go sideways on me. So, if an Asian actor comes in and blows the pants off of an audition but isn't exactly ethnically "right" for the story...

...you readjust and tailor the character for the person. You need to be flexible and adjust details as needed, because ultimately, a backstory of a spy from Seol or Tokyo isn't fundamentally different if cultural elements are irrelevant within the story. Gods this is so stupid and easy to solve.

As a white guy, I'm not sure it's my lane. It feels rather case-by-case, and varies by the particular story and particular ethnicity in question, and that takes more sensitivity than I expect a lot of these huge businesses are capable of.

As a white guy, I think nobody cares if the generic Europeans in the cast are English playing Germans or Italians playing Spanish, or whatever. Especially since, these days, they'll all be Australians doing spot-on American accents, anyway. For the Asians, it should be similar.

If it's a movie about a specific conflict between two countries, I think it might matter more, but if they're "generic Europeans," then I'd agree. It really does depend on context. And the nuances of accent entertain me. Even tiny little England contains multitudes if you listen closely.

I think he's spot on.

Generally agree, and feel it goes beyond the Asian/Asian-American sphere in casting

Yeah, I can see this. I mean, they didn't insist upon all Italian American actors to play the Corleones. I'd say if the actor is comfortable playing somebody of a different ethnic group. I think actually also the opinion of the screenwriter would matter a lot.

I totally agree. Here in Canada, we are way behind on this issue, especially in French-Canadian media where we are practically invisible. Only African-Americans get the goodies.

I'm white, so it's not up to me, but it makes sense to me, Whitey McWhiterson. What's bang on the money is that white people are not held in a box of parts that only reflect their country of origin. White execs should hesitate to cast Japanese as Korean, but only if specificity in the story exists.

...there is some historical context complicating the relationship between Japan and Korea. Mostly, it's due to Korean food being far hotter, in the spicy sense. And to a smaller degree, the Imjin War memorialized in Kyoto by the salted noses of nearly 70,000 mainland defenders of Korea.

If the story isn’t specific about a country or its people then casting doesn’t. If the story is about the Shogunate then maybe the cast should be Japanese. Also every country has an ethnic variety, maybe a small one,

so casting directors might want to do some research and not let their bias get in the way

What he says is spot on. However, it would have been nice to have English subtitles for the long stretches of Korean dialogue in Butterfly. Probably Netflix's fault, though.

"German? Get me some pale person shouting angry gibberish!" (It's never even a European)

The end of the article seems more relevant than the headline: "Kim’s takeaway is as simple as it is overdue: stop forcing Asian American actors through identity litmus tests that no one else has to endure, and use cultural specificity when it actually serves the story."

Using race as an “ornament” vs using using race as a character to move the story forward. When are they gonna do the same for Desis 😂😂😂😂

Methinks I don't give a damn.

It’s George Takei casually asking for opinions on a topic or issue he’s likely just shared or is about to discuss, inviting his followers to weigh in with their thoughts.

I like that JMS cast him as a man named "Matheson" on Babylon 5 - Crusade.

I think the USA thinks of the rest of the world as being locked into their own national / ethnic groups, while most, especially in cities, have a wide mix of ethic and religious groups. Even Obama was surprised when France won the FIFA world cup, and felt like the players looked like him.

He's correct.