Racially Charged Casting in Comic Book Adaptation: The Weapon

David Henrie to play as Tommy Zhou (aka The Weapon), an Asian-American from Hawaii's Chinatown. Are they serious?

No more innovative locomotion in Hollywood's steam engine.

" I'd ask them how they would feel if an African American man played Gandalf or Asian Americans played the elves in Lord of the Rings. or how they'd feel if an African British girl played Hermione in Harry Potter I've gotten some awkward stares from those questions. After that, I then explain it's the exact same thing happening, only with Minority actors being replaced with Caucasians."

This is a weird response, since this has absolutely been done, casting non-white actors to play characters who are thought of as white or who had been in other versions (Mos Def as Ford Prefect in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film, who was played by a white actor in the television series, for example). It's also a very different thing - being white isn't often integral to a character (there's absolutely no reason Hermione couldn't be black, for example), so while it would very likely shake people up because it disrupts their default-to-white worldview, there's nothing about it that harms the visibility of white people in media or fundamentally alters the characters or themes of most works of fiction. (The only time I find it bothersome is when "colorblind" casting results in genetic impossibilities or ignoring the historical realities of racism.) Casting whites as characters who were originally POC is problematic even if the character's race/ethnicity isn't terribly important to their identity, background, or the plot/themes of the work, because it reduces the visibility of minorities in the media, the number of good roles for minorities and basically outright says "white people are more marketable and that's all that's important".

This is kinda like when David Carradine was cast as the lead in Kung Fu. He did a good job and all, but it was supposed to be Bruce Lee. I mean really, Bruce F'en Lee! Who wouldn't want to have a backlog of episodes of Kung Fu with Bruce Lee in it? We miss out when racial stupidity takes over.

...could 'racially' be spelled correctly please?

This seems to be more of an issue of ethnicity, which is merely represented by the physical appearance of the lead actor. If it was just 'race', then one could argue there should be indifference, though the bias towards those of European descent is annoying. I hope this case gets the exposure it deserves to bring about necessary change.

It's as ridiculous as casting Sean Farris to play a Japanese guy called Kyo Kusunagi. Will he be in yellowface or will he be an adopted son, by his Japanese father?

Should we be grateful that Hollywood managed to cast Wesley Snipes to portray Blade rather than giving the role to someone like Tom Cruise? Hollywood where reality is invented.

Its going to be a shitty movie anyway.

http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Weapon/index.php?p=220256

For everyone not familiar with the source material, you can actually read it online for free. (legaly) and if you do I think you'll see why this is as irksome as it has been for media advocacy groups. If a role that is this intrinsically Asian can be replaced than what roles are there for Asian Americans other than villains and chinatown extras?

This has pissed me off for the last few years. I mean, Street Fighter had the chick from Smallville as Chun-Li, and immediately I was like "Are they serious? She doesn't look anything LIKE Chun-Li!" To add insult to injury, there was an Asian female playing a cop in that movie and she could have been a more believeable Chun-Li.
Dragonball Evolution is another example. How is it that Goku is CLEARLY a muscular Asian man with spiky black hair... Why is he being played by a blonde white kid? Why? Yes, that movie was crap, it looked like teen angsty, Gossip Girl-With-Superpowers garbage, but it was SUPPOSED TO BE DRAGONBALL!! There was another live action movie made before the Hollywood trash version, from somewhere in the East(I cannot remember exactly which country, Thailand or India perhaps) and that movie was 1000x better than the Hollywood version because it's not trying to be something that it isn't. It's Dragonball with an Asian cast playing Asian characters. It's a storyline that happens within the scheme of Dragonball's universe(Not some high school Action/Comedy/Drama for the tweens and teens).
Stop white-washing every role and start casting Asian actors to play Asian parts. Aren't there enough roles out there for white people without taking some from Asian actors?

I'm always torn on issues like this... on one side, they should stick with the original ethnicity of the character; there are REASONS writers write things, they painfully obsess over every detail! I can see why people would be angry when they are just taking a white dude and making him look Asian....I'm sure there are many Asian actors!

On the other side, the movie studios want the best actors and the ones who will draw crowds; should it matter, then, what race the actor is who gives the best read? Then in some cases, they've taken the opposite approach, like casting a black Nick Fury in the Marvel movies even though he was originally white (though there are many alternative realities in the Marvel universe and they did introduce a black Nick Fury in the Ultimate series but that's a whole other can o worms AND who can be mad at Sam Jackson? Not me!)

This is the type of thing my fiancee calls "Creative Indifference", which I really think is a great term!

*very sarcastic voice* OH NO!!!! what will we ever do now? the whole moral integrity of the human race is declineing. what is to come of us?

i was going to make a 'last samurai'/tom cruise quip but then i just remembered seeing the movie trailer for 'prince of persia' starring.. jake gyllanhael?

I HAAAAAAAAAAAATE shit like this! In the words of Chappelle, "it's like having the last black man on Earth played by Tom Hanks."

If the racial/cultural background is important to the nature of the character,....it should be retained. Nick Fury,....for instance,...could really be of any ethnicity,...as long as he retained that "american soldier" core. I would say it is a case by case thing. I am not familiar with "the Weapon", so I cant judge.