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August 02, 2005
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA MISHMASH
Hello Ziyi, the Zhang Ziyi website is posting photos from MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA here, and they also link to an IMDB.com thread from some folks who saw it at an advanced screening in Pasadena. And an extra has kept a diary of their time on the shoot here.
Ah, there's nothing better than an American movie, about Japanese people, cast with Chinese actors, who all speak English.
August 2, 2005 at 04:51 PM in News | Permalink
Comments
Why doesn't anyone ever complain about Caucasian actors playing characters of different nationalities or ethnicities? Is this only an issue for people of color/non-Western nations? I can see why it is, particularly within America cinema, but I do think it's odd that you *never* hear similar complaints about, say, MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD or GLADIATOR.
Posted by: Steve | Aug 2, 2005 8:15:36 PM
The cast of Chinatown-themed Flower Drum Song was mostly Japanese. Compared to the controversy about Chinese actors in Memoirs of a Geisha, no one made a big deal of Miyoshi Umeki portraying a Chinese immigrant, Mako as a Chinese in Sand Pebbles, or Tamlyn Tomita as one of the Chinese daughters in Joy Luck Club.
Posted by: oj | Aug 3, 2005 12:14:30 AM
some people may not be able to tell the difference, but to others (like me) the physiological differences between different asian ethnicities are generally pretty obvious. now i can't tell a swede from a german from a finn, but i'd think that if white people could discern that they'd be calling for more ethnic accuracy as well in terms of casting for caucasian roles.
Posted by: rickmond | Aug 3, 2005 2:49:31 PM
thanks rickmond, the only one to post an intelligent comment on this so far. the rest of you...culturally illiterate morons-thanks for referencing flower drum song to support your idiocy-that movie's how old? Sand Pebbles? seriously? get a clue.
Posted by: Steve Lee | Aug 4, 2005 9:30:29 AM
The latest craze in China, HK and Taiwan is the Korean wave. I suppose we should all be pissed that Korean actors are being hired in droves by Chinese film makers to portray historical Chinese characters, such as the hot Jang Donggun speaking Korean-accented Mandarin in The Promise.
Posted by: oj | Aug 5, 2005 10:53:05 PM