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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
IS HOLLYWOOD UNDERMINING CHOW YUN-FAT?
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:07:29 PM)
f it's a sin to make ambidexterous mayhem look stylish and virtuous, Chow Yun-Fat was once eternally damned. Blame it on the camera. Its slow-mo infatuation with his every grin and grimace in John Woo classics like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Hard Boiled had made him the world's most idolized action star long before his 1996 leap to Hollywood.
Chow's Hollywood projects have undermined rather than enhanced his godlike stature.
Take The Replacement Killers (1996). Its plot was contrived and sterile to a surreal degree. Add to that the look-but-don't-touch romance with leading lady Mira Sorvino and a box office flop was assured.
The Corruptor (1998) did even less for Chow. Not only was he cast as a cop who became corrupted for no good reason, but the action was set in the kind of squalid fleshpot one sees only in the poorest of third-world countries and the Chinatowns of schoolboy fantasies. The coup de grace were jokes casting aspersions on Asian male sexuality. Strike two!
Then came Anna and the King (1999) in which Chow donned embroidered silk buffoonery to play a backward monarch held in thrall by a western schoolteacher. The reworked plot wasn't as ludicrous as the original King and I, but the remake cut Asia's top male superstar to fit the old Hollywood cosmology in which Asians are a quaint race in need of western enlightenment. Strike three!
After that Chow might have been reduced to playing wizened oriental masters dropping metaphysical pearls on young white heroes in training had Taiwanese director Ang Lee not come along to cast him as a legendary swordsman in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Despite its modest production and promotion budgets, the movie slashed all expectations and fairly flew up to become the year's most profitable release.
No coincidence, some suspect, that the role that saved Chow's chestnuts was conceived and written by an Asian and filmed with an all-Asian cast in the world's most pro-Asian nation -- China.
It isn't so much that Hollywood consciously sets out to undermine Asia's top male superstar, argue some. It's just that its imagination has been stewed for so long in its own racist malarkey that it is incapable of letting an Asian leading man play a truly sexy and heroic role. Look how it turned Jackie Chan into a tool (fool?) of Asian-male-bashing comedy in Rush Hour 2. And Hollywood may yet get its apparent wish to deep-six Chow Yun-Fat. In early 2002 Chow starts shooting Bulletproof Monk, a cult comic adaptation, in which he plays an aging master passing on warrior wisdom to a young white hero.
Is Hollywood undermining Chow Yun-Fat's action-superstar stature?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
Quit with the "fat" jokes! There is no doubt that Yun-Fat does go up and down in weight. He was extremely thin for his first American movie Replacement Killers and then for the next two he gained weight as they wanted him to gain weight for "Anna" so he would look more substantial. I saw pictures of him in Hong Kong during a visit to attend the opening of Windtalkers while he was still making Bulletproof Monk, and I've never seen him looking so fit. When he was younger he was sooo thin and it was reflected in his face, but now no matter how thin he gets his face is still round and belies how thin his body might be at that time (looks just like his mother). My sister is very thin, but her face also is round and you would think she is fatter than she really is. As he has gotten older his weight is now in his upper body, but his legs are still very thin. Lay off!!
masterwalk
Monday, November 25, 2002 at 06:19:22 (PST)
[12.81.161.183]
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a sleeper movie. This movie made very little during its first 5 weeks in the US than it did overseas. What was strange about this one was how no one really payed attention to it until its award nominations in America, then it was re-released and it made over 3 times the money it made during its first 5 Weeks.
The Cast was snubbed in preference of the Sopranos cast when award time came but still, ANG LEE did a good job with this one. I didnt appreciate the flying though. The Chinese invented rockets, not rocketpacks.
NicholiServia PHD. EMP
Monday, November 25, 2002 at 01:21:09 (PST)
[211.156.5.23]
What the?!?! Bulletproof Monk?!?! The trailer makes the movie look just horrible for Azns...he plays a, and I quote, "wizened oriental master dropping metaphysical pearls on young white heroes in training." Chow Yun Fat has been reduced to another Mr. Miyagi in 2003's Karate Kid. Great, a decade of struggle and this is all we have to show for it.
Thomas
Sunday, November 24, 2002 at 16:16:55 (PST)
[129.81.147.133]
Here's a first look at Bulletproof Monk trailer, and it looks fantastic:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/bulletproof_monk/
CYC's English has improved a lot!
IMO
Saturday, November 23, 2002 at 05:20:51 (PST)
[203.103.157.252]
Chow Yun Fat,
Lose Your Fat.
Chow Yun Fat Fan
Friday, November 22, 2002 at 05:26:14 (PST)
[131.111.243.37]
I can definitely see that Chow Yun-Fat is NOT being used to his potential in Hollywood--and yeah, I'd rather see him star in a film other than Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt ANY day--PUH-leez! Hollywood still suffers from an excess of old racial stereotypes about Asians, and it really shows in their choices--my god, look at Jackie Chan! I'm not even Asian, but I was embarrassed for him in Rush Hour! Chow has a physical presence that most any actor would envy,and he was SUPERB in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And OK, lusting after a skinny wench in Anna and the King seemed kinda weird--but he gave a power and masculine grace to the role that had me feeling warm all over. Personally, I am looking forward to John Woo's upcoming film, which I've been hearing about since last December, Men of Destiny, where Chow will play a Chinese railroad worker--I can see him bringing much dignity and strength of character to the role. He's charted to be paired with Nicholas Cage, who plays an immigrant Irish--first enemies, then friends--so we'll see how Hollywood handles him this time...
ChinaSweetheart
plieadesqu@aol.com
Sunday, November 17, 2002 at 00:50:29 (PST)
Money is still the bottom line. There are way more caucasian than other ethnic audience. It makes business sense. If making asian movies or putting asian actors in movies would make huge profits, believe me, it would happen.
jeff
Tuesday, October 29, 2002 at 21:15:54 (PST)
Your comments are too true! Ang Lee, John Woo and other Chinese directors need to produce more fims that they control the final content to preserve the strong image of Chow Yun Fat that we all recognize and enjoy.
Ben from Kansas
bcseymore@aol.com
Tuesday, August 27, 2002 at 21:53:29 (PDT)
I don't think we should hold hollywood to any high diversity standards. Hollywood is notorious for being the least progressive social forum. This stuff about hollywood putting away chow yun-fat is no surprise. Hell, even mtv does a better job than hollywood. At least they have that Korean reporter.
f hollywood
Friday, August 23, 2002 at 01:43:03 (PDT)
Yeah Hollywood probably are sitting on some good talent.....but currently the movie business is global so that means having a leading man who can sell films from venezuela to paris....bottom line is white guys are the most bankable"
_maxdacat
I was just watching E.T or some such on tv last nite and they had Ben Affleck
and his bud Matt Damon. These two are prime examples of banking on talentless white guys. After their one solid hit a few yrs back these guys have cranked out dud after dud after dud. I see many of their duds at Blockbuster that didn't even make it to the big screen or was so crappy it was quickly removed.
But these two guys are what Hollywood wants to project to the world as what leading men are. And they're throwing good money after bad in seeking that ever elusive hit. Despite all the millions thrown out to hype these guys, it just isn't working. Since they're all White, who are we to say how they should spend their money? Even if it's for great white hopes. So when people keep telling me Hollywood is all about the bottom line, something smells fishy
Toy Sunner
Wednesday, August 21, 2002 at 21:55:55 (PDT)
BRITISH BORN CHINESE IN UK,
I absolutely agree with you. I do and will continue to support Asian Hollywood directors. They do tend to have a much different style. That's what audiences are looking for, something new.
You're right on the mark.
Ray
Monday, August 19, 2002 at 15:08:22 (PDT)
Chinese Valley Dude,
Yeah Hollywood probably are sitting on some good talent.....but currently the movie business is global so that means having a leading man who can sell films from venezuela to paris....bottom line is white guys are the most bankable.....admittely this might change once the whole of China start going to the movies regularly.
maxdacat
Monday, August 19, 2002 at 07:50:54 (PDT)
Hollywood are in the business of creating stereotypes, and its a difficult thing to change, particularly when its that precisely thats helped create its success.
You should remember that Hollywood is not the only production company in the world. As an audience, we vote with our feet to watch want we like. Theres a demand for Asian actors in American films because of the increasing interest in Asian directors and the Hong Kong film industry.
One mistake that Hollywood don't want to make (again) is to miss out on a potentially big Asian star; oh, how they must have weeped when Bruce Lee died. Bruce Lee made Asians popular on the big screen, unfortunately they cast David Carradine the lead role in Kung Fu, a part that would have accelerated Lee's career faster. Most asian roles were performed by white guys before then. Now any chinese actor is typecast as the kung fu sidekick.
If one is really honest, most Chinese actors speak awful english, Hollywood don't produce movies with subtitles. Hollywood are renowned for making highly polished glossy products, you know what to expect before the film even starts. Most audiences these days are looking for something different, they look towards overseas directors to give them a fresher experience (besides, most of the Hollywood scripts are remakes of obscure European movies).
Gerard Depardieu became famous by making French movies. Bruce Lee became famous by making Chinese movies. The way forward is to support the asian directors and actors by seeing their films, don't let Hollywood hold you ransome.
BRITISH BORN CHINESE IN UK
Monday, August 19, 2002 at 07:16:34 (PDT)
Chow Yun Fat really needs either a Hark Tsai or John Woo, even Ang Lee would probably have a better role in mind for him. These crazy carry overs like Replacement Killer and Corruptor are pretty lame compared to their HK counterparts.
He needs another angst ridden role like A Better Tommorrow, God of Gambling, or even dare I say it....Peace Hotel.
AC Dropout
Friday, August 16, 2002 at 11:39:09 (PDT)
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