REPORT: "Ghost In The Shell" Studios Tested CGI To Make White Actors Appear Asian

[t hedge coke]

Because for a YEAR all we heard was RESPECT the source material with Michael B. Jordan and Fantastic Four.

Funny that when minorities are getting screwed over-we can ignore that rule.

Frigging Pieface got racebent. He has to be called Pie or Pieface for decades, but make a movie... cast a brown guy, doesn't matter what kind. And, not one single argument from any of these folks that raaaage over a black guy cast in a traditionally white role. Black guy in Asgard, they all lose their cool, but all-white Egyptian gods? Well, of course. All-anglo Hebrew fairytales? Of course, of course. Black Tulip O'Hare? "I don't see why she has to be..." Johnny Storm "has to be white." The Ancient One "has to be white to protect from racism." Iron Fist "has to be white" because nobody else can ever be an outsider or have racial tension with another race. White supremacy groups actually called for protests over the Bullet to the Head adaptation because they fired a problematic white actor and hired an Asian they already wanted to work with as his replacement. But, white people, white people can play anything.

If they cast three black actors in the major roles, from three different countries, does anyone think we'd still be hearing "It's to Americanize it. It's how it has to be"? Twenty-First Century, and "Americanize" still means using white European nationals, white Americans, white anybody, and never Asian Americans. Asian Americans are just too dang Asian to be in a movie about Asians.

[Eisenhorn]

They shouldn't waste their time. Makoto and her friends barely look Asian in the manga and anime.

Exactly. People keep spouting stuff like they've actually read Ghost In The Shell or are even familiar with Manga. There are entire Manga series where the characters are basically caucasian in appearance. Heck, Appleseed, which is from the same creator as GITS, has a female protagonist who's blonde and works in a city called Olympus. You don't see Japanese fans bellyaching on forums or Reddit like they've been slapped.

As much as I'd like to see more roles given to people of different ethnicities, I'm perfectly fine with "Major"/Kusanagi being played by Scarlett. There is probably a good economic reason for casting someone as popular as her. Maybe it's chicken-and-egg -- we don't have bankable Asian stars because they're not given the opportunity. That's perfectly fair -- but just looking at Kusanagi:

tumblr_nv8x4jm2WN1uat1nto1_540.jpg

How far away does she really look from the way Scarlett does in an appropriate wig? Paint that suit black and give her red hair and it's the Black Widow from Avengers. If anything, I think ScarJo is probably the pinup girl for a lot of Manga creators.

Besides, the truth of the matter is that GITS is a sci-fi story, not an American or European or Japanese story.

I'm more concerned about how good the story adaptation will be, whether the CGI won't be overwhelming, whether it'll be like Bladerunner, whether there's going to be input from Masanori Ota, etc.

[t hedge coke]

"Barely look Asian." Because white cartoon characters look so... white?







Johnny Storm barely looks white anyway. He has the same hair color as Sailor Moon, who's Japanese. And, he's got eyes and fingers and stuff, just like you're average black guy.

I bet all those comic book artists are hot for Michael B Jordan anyway.


These arguments are always weak. Steeped in "Everybody wants to be white" or "a circle with two dots for eyes and a line for a mouth looks white to me."

[Angilasman]

I assumed they'd localize the story: change the setting to, say, future NYC, and create western equivalents to the Japanese characters - but a predominately white cast for Japanese characters set in Japan? That seems like several stupid decisions made on top of each other.

[TheInvisibleMan]

this was a poor decision, but one borne of cultural ignorance, greed, and outdated studio dogma

suits wanted a NAME for the lead, plain and simple..get a NAME or the movie doesn't get made

[TheInvisibleMan]

This is so stupid.

Is it impossible now to cast Asian actors for Asian roles?

Surely there are good enough Japanese actors for this role??

are there Japanese actors that will put asses in seats? is the right question

right now, in the American audience, there isn't

[t hedge coke]

are there Japanese actors that will put asses in seats? is the right question

right now, in the American audience, there isn't

Other than the lead, do we recognize the name of the other white people involved in this movie? Do they scream "buy a ticket now!"? Really?

I'll give you the lead, there, but the guy playing Batou? The director? The screenwriter? Really? I'm not seeing much name recognition and very little promise of quality going on there.

[thales]

this was a poor decision, but one borne of cultural ignorance, greed, and outdated studio dogma

suits wanted a NAME for the lead, plain and simple..get a NAME or the movie doesn't get made

Eh, that's not completely true. Studios have had no problems casting relatively unknowns to the play the leads in movies like Thor (Liam Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hunger Games (Jennifer Lawrence), Maze Runner (Dylan O'Brien), Twilight (Kristen Stewart/Robert Pattison), Kingsman (Taron Edgerton). Avatar had Sam Worthington (who?) as star. The issue of NAME for the lead only ever comes up when the lead is a non-white character.

[MichaelC]

Eh, that's not completely true. Studios have had no problems casting relatively unknowns to the play the leads in movies like Thor (Liam Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hunger Games (Jennifer Lawrence), Maze Runner (Dylan O'Brien), Twilight (Kristen Stewart/Robert Pattison), Kingsman (Taron Edgerton). Avatar had Sam Worthington (who?) as star. The issue of NAME for the lead only ever comes up when the lead is a non-white character.

Heh, bringing up "Twilight" reminds me that the main Amerind character is played by a white guy.

[Jaylarue]

Eh, that's not completely true. Studios have had no problems casting relatively unknowns to the play the leads in movies like Thor (Liam Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hunger Games (Jennifer Lawrence), Maze Runner (Dylan O'Brien), Twilight (Kristen Stewart/Robert Pattison), Kingsman (Taron Edgerton). Avatar had Sam Worthington (who?) as star. The issue of NAME for the lead only ever comes up when the lead is a non-white character.

Well, first Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who was a well established Australian actor before Thor. Chris Evans is pretty well known for several roles prior to Cap, including Johnny Storm. Jennifer Lawrence just rocks and kills it, so she is a given. However, I would argue that movies like Twilight, Hunger Games and Maze Runner are all based on teen novels with a huge built in audience, so it wouldnt really matter who they cast. Japanese Anime is not widely embraced. This outrage about casting Scarlett is just silly.

[Rogue Star]

If having a white person play an Asian is the only way to get money to make this-you should not be making it.

Just the fact that they hired her and then tried to change her race CGI-speaks volumes.

It's just funny like comics-no name white folks are given shots to be stars but we can't do the same for minorities.

As for "deal with it" comment-yes folks will deal with the industry by STAYING HOME.

Your main movie goers are POC-sooner than later they will stay home. Ask Gods of Egypt how they are doing with that lily white cast.

Because for a YEAR all we heard was RESPECT the source material with Michael B. Jordan and Fantastic Four.

Funny that when minorities are getting screwed over-we can ignore that rule.

Kinda off topic - this sort of reminds me of the times when a movie about Jesus or Moses comes out and I say to people, "You know the Hebrews were actually dark skinned people right?" And people respond, "I don't care what color he was, I love him." And then nothing ever changes. The same goes for the Egyptians. All I get from people is "It doesn't matter."
If enough people don't care, Hollywood won't change a thing. I mean, have the Egyptians and Hebrews ever been played by people of the correct ethnicity?

[JediKage]

Well, first Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who was a well established Australian actor before Thor. Chris Evans is pretty well known for several roles prior to Cap, including Johnny Storm. Jennifer Lawrence just rocks and kills it, so she is a given. However, I would argue that movies like Twilight, Hunger Games and Maze Runner are all based on teen novels with a huge built in audience, so it wouldnt really matter who they cast. Japanese Anime is not widely embraced. This outrage about casting Scarlett is just silly.

Not sure what your point is they weren't guaranteed box office. Chris still aren't outside of Marvel besides Pratt.

No Asians will put asses in the seat because they never get a chance at the lead. Even when the role is an Asian character.

[Arfguy]

I'm wondering why they didn't just give the characters North American names, just to keep things simple. Why couldn't they base the movie in like New York or something? Does the live-action movie with white actors have to be taking place in Japan with them having Japanese names?

This just seems like a really complicated way to try and make a "faithful" live-action adaptation to an animated movie/TV show.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

this was a poor decision, but one borne of cultural ignorance, greed, and outdated studio dogma

suits wanted a NAME for the lead, plain and simple..get a NAME or the movie doesn't get made

BINGO! Spoken for truth! I can't for the life of me understand why people either fail to comprehend that simple rationale, or chose to ignore same.

[JediMindTrick]

American does not automatically mean white as default, though. America is the most diverse country on the planet.

But the other thing though is that in Americanizing it, nothing else has changed. She's still playing a Japanese character with a Japanese name in a movie set in Japan. Not only is that not believable, it's also robbing a Japanese American actor of work (where they get so little work in the first place). Hiring the "best actor for the role" is misleading because if race is a fundamental part of that identity, then casting a white actress -- no matter their credentials -- means that actress isn't coming from the same source of fundamental knowledge that the role demands. The best actor for the role should have a few basic similarities with that role; a white actor who has never known systemic and institutional racism can't draw from those experiences to play Malcolm X.

I've barely paid attention to this movie as its being made and didn't realize they were keeping the asian setting and name. I'd assumed it would be set in some sort of version of San Francisco or some such. So when I said Americanizing that was my assumption, if they are keeping the other things then yes I agree they should have gone with an asian actress.

As to Chloe Bennett changing her name from Chloe Wang (I've been aware of this for years), I think it probably had less to do with racism than her name is an instant dick joke (something I'm very familiar with in my life due to my name). Like many actors / actresses she changed it to something innocuous. What drives me absolutely crazy with Chloe Bennett in terms of her race is nothing about her but rather how those who complain about racial casting only count her as a minority when it suits their purposes. I can recall when Agents of Shield was first cast there were were many right her on CBR complaining that the show only cast one person of color as if Chloe doesn't count (in fact the show cast four person's of color counting Chloe in major roles right from the start of the first season and added more later). But then later I've seen some count her as a minority. In my mind, she counts just as much as someone like Barack Obama especially given her real last name and the fact she looks asian.