Color me
impressed. When the newest whitewashing
controversy hit the Internet with news that white British actor Ed Skrein had
been cast as the Japanese-American Ben Daimio in a reboot of Hellboy, I was disheartened but
certainly not surprised. In amongst my
anger and disgust was a tinge of “here we are again – of course,” because Hollywood has proven time and again that this
is what they’re about. Well, that’s
still true for Hollywood at large, but the same can’t be said for Ed Skrein.
Christa
Campbell, an executive producer for the film responded to the controversy with,
“Someone comes and does a great audition
to get the role. Stop projecting onto
us. We are all one. We don’t see colors or race” (how do people who say
they “don’t see color” not realize it’s a bad thing when they’re literally
using it as an excuse for why color has been erased?) It’s the usual BS, nothing we haven’t heard
before and not the quote we’re looking at today. Instead, we’re looking at both of words and
actions of Skrein, who actually demonstrated what a lot of whitewashing
filmmakers claim about their touted “commitment to diversity”: he stepped down from the film so the role
could be cast more appropriately (and it was just announced that Daniel Dae Kim
will be taking the role – so pumped to
see him with a major role in a comic book movie!)
I won’t
quote Skrein’s statement about his decision in its entirety, but I do want to
highlight this part:
“It is
clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds
significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue
a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the Arts. I feel it is important to honour and respect
that. Therefore I have decided to step down so the role can be cast
appropriately.”
It’s
still messed up that any of this happened in the first place, but this is a
response to applaud, and I’m thrilled to be able to share a story with a happy
ending on Dear Hollywood Whitewashers.
Skrein is a class act, and I wish him nothing but luck in his future
endeavors.
It’s
important to note here that Ed Skrein isn’t a big name. He has some face recognition in fandom
circles – he played Original Recipe Daario on Game of Thrones, and more recently, he was in Deadpool – but he’s definitely no Scarlett Johannson, Emma Stone,
Christian Bale, or any one of numerous A-listers who’ve played a part in the
continuation of this practice. In
turning down this role, he had more to lose than one of them would have, in
both exposure and money. But he still
turned it down. I won’t discount the
possibility that he recognized how this conversation has been going in recent
years and realized the smarter move was to get out, although, for my money, his
statement reads as very sincere. But
regardless of the reasons, this is huge.
I’m not aware of anyone at the center of a whitewashing controversy
doing this before, and I have to give Skrein credit where credit is due.
This is
what I was talking about in a previous post on this subject. White actors (especially white stars, but Skrein proves that you don’t need
A-lister clout to do the right thing) may not be able to force studios to
change their minds in how they cast.
However, there’s one thing that each individually can decide to do, and
that’s not contribute to the system.
They can say no. I hope the
actors who’ve already said yes and been through online shitstorms are watching
Skrein, and I hope they regret the choice they made. I hope the actors who’ve never yet had to
think about this decision look at him and see that there’s a better way. (For that matter, I also hope producers and
filmmakers in general are seeing how the tide turned in this story and realize
how much more benefit there is in not perpetuating lazy, racist casting
practices.)
Will the
change here affect more than just this movie?
Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: this was good news, and when it comes to
whitewashing in Hollywood, we don’t get much of that.
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