I guess I seem to be saying the same things over and over again so I'll just compress all my arguments in one post:
TOP TEN REASONS WHY IT IS UNNECCESSARY TO CAST JAPANESE ACTRESSES:
1. As a big budget movie, it is important to protect your investment and as of right now, there are NO recognizable Japanese actresses of name value. So even if they wanted to cast Japanese actors, they have NO ONE TO CAST. The Last Samurai had Tom Cruise so it wasn't a risk casting Ken Watanabe.
2. Chinese can pass for Japanese. There are no significant physiognomical differences between them. Any Japanese person watching this movie WILL NOT be able to tell the actresses are not Japanese (until they see the end credits for their names). Anyone who think they can are full of shit. Hollywood makeup artists are really good.
3. Actors should be able to play roles of varying ethnicities. Limiting yourself to one is limiting your range. There is not ONE single good actor in America who has not played a different ethnicity other than their own.
4. Gong, Zhang, and Yeoh are amazing actors and they will get the job done. If you hire an employee, the only question you need ask is: will they get the job done? If they will, that's all that matters.
5. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS RACE. Every evolutionary biologist knows this. There is only one race: The human race.
6. If it takes away roles from REAL Japanese actresses, then TOUGH SHIT FOR THEM. If they are good enough actresses, they will find a way to succeed. There is no such thing as luck in Hollywood. Giving them roles just because they are Japanese is unfair to other actors (like Gong, Zhang, and Yeoh).
7. I have no problem with Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffanys or Peter Sellers is his Asian roles. If you cannot laugh at yourself, you cannot love yourself. Plus, there were simply no "name" Asian actors available back then.
It is not Hollywood's job to find actors. It is the actor's job to find Hollywood. If there are no Asian actors working in Hollywood, don't blame Hollywood, BLAME THE ASIAN ACTORS.
8. To answer a Tim's question,
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I will pose one more question out there to Mr. David Ren: If you were to find yourself at an audition for a character who is of Chinese-descent, and you did the best job you could and truly felt that you were just as good as anybody else there or better, but instead they gave the role to a Japanese person or a Korean person simply because they either felt that person "looked" more Chinese (in their eyes) or they had more box-office draw or film experience, would you not take offense to that in some way?
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No, because if they didn't cast me, then I wasn't that good. Period. If I walked in and completely BLEW THEM AWAY, made them laugh, made them cry, made them COMPLETELY BELIEVE I AM THE CHARACTER, to the point where they are thinking "That was incredible!", I would get the role no matter WHAT I LOOKED LIKE.
9. Film is art. The director is painting the canvas. He needn't be sensitive to everybody's feelings. If he wants to offend you, that's okay. Lots of great art works are offensive. In fact, if you are offended, he has provoked you in some way, and he has succeeded. He can cast monkeys in the Japanese roles if he wants to. If you aren't happy, just don't attend the movie. Go to a Garry Marshall movie instead.
10. BECAUSE THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY.
David
