Chinese-Australian ANZAC hero whitewashed in TV production
For all those offended by the very white casting in the upcoming Avatar The Last Airbender Movie With No Asians Except For The Slumdog Millionaire and The Daily Show's Brown Correspondent (Both Playing Villians), particularly Australians, how's this one over a real life Chinese-Australian historical figure?
A FURORE has erupted over a new mini-series about the deadliest sniper at Gallipoli, Chinese-Australian Billy Sing, who is played by a white.
Director Geoff Davis has cast his son Josh in the lead role, while Sing's Chinese father is played by the veteran actor Tony Bonner, who came to prominence as a blond-haired helicopter pilot in the Skippy TV series.
{...}Davis said the problem in casting Sing as a Chinese-Australian arose when he couldn't find a 60-year-old Chinese actor to play his father.
"Asking Tony to play it as Chinese would not only have been racist and demeaning. It was also financially irrelevant -- we could not have afforded the make-up," he said. "Whatever his genetic background, his culture was Australian. To me, he's very representative of every Australian whose parents were not born here.
"A lot of people are sitting at the back of this bus attacking the driver. A lot of people feel they own the story of Billy Sing. But they've probably got more resources than me -- if they want to tell that story, then tell it."
Davis said his critics misunderstood his intention to "create a fictional story validated by having people perform true deeds, in the tradition of the historical novel".
An interview with the director here indicates that they did try for fifteen months to find a Chinese actor to play the father and he is aware of the controversy of dropping every reference to Billy's Chinese heritage. I do note that this is a small, almost no budget production, and the cast are apparently working on a deferred fees agreement where they will only be paid if the project makes money, so looking overseas for actors would have been out of the question. That being said, Australia has almost 700,000 people of Chinese ancestry - that's 3-4% of the total population. I have trouble believing that there isn't one Chinese man out there who could have filled the role (especially in the eastern states), even if they aren't a trained actor.
I'm torn. As a Chinese Australian I'm insulted, but then again I know how hard it is for film-makers on a shoe-string budget and having a known veteran actor come in willing to take the role for free or reduced cost would have been hard to turn down.
EDIT: An Asian-Australian blogger has been following the production of this project for a while, and raised the whitewash issue. The director actually replied to him and after reading that I'm no longer feeling sympathetic to she shoe string budget issue since the director didn't even bother making an effort to approach any of the many Chinese communities in Australia and see if any of them wanted to get engaged (and hey, maybe contribute some money) and help find someone to act the part, and just relied on adverts.
Any thoughts from the Asian immigrant Australians (or anyone else) on flist?
A FURORE has erupted over a new mini-series about the deadliest sniper at Gallipoli, Chinese-Australian Billy Sing, who is played by a white.
Director Geoff Davis has cast his son Josh in the lead role, while Sing's Chinese father is played by the veteran actor Tony Bonner, who came to prominence as a blond-haired helicopter pilot in the Skippy TV series.
{...}Davis said the problem in casting Sing as a Chinese-Australian arose when he couldn't find a 60-year-old Chinese actor to play his father.
"Asking Tony to play it as Chinese would not only have been racist and demeaning. It was also financially irrelevant -- we could not have afforded the make-up," he said. "Whatever his genetic background, his culture was Australian. To me, he's very representative of every Australian whose parents were not born here.
"A lot of people are sitting at the back of this bus attacking the driver. A lot of people feel they own the story of Billy Sing. But they've probably got more resources than me -- if they want to tell that story, then tell it."
Davis said his critics misunderstood his intention to "create a fictional story validated by having people perform true deeds, in the tradition of the historical novel".
An interview with the director here indicates that they did try for fifteen months to find a Chinese actor to play the father and he is aware of the controversy of dropping every reference to Billy's Chinese heritage. I do note that this is a small, almost no budget production, and the cast are apparently working on a deferred fees agreement where they will only be paid if the project makes money, so looking overseas for actors would have been out of the question. That being said, Australia has almost 700,000 people of Chinese ancestry - that's 3-4% of the total population. I have trouble believing that there isn't one Chinese man out there who could have filled the role (especially in the eastern states), even if they aren't a trained actor.
I'm torn. As a Chinese Australian I'm insulted, but then again I know how hard it is for film-makers on a shoe-string budget and having a known veteran actor come in willing to take the role for free or reduced cost would have been hard to turn down.
EDIT: An Asian-Australian blogger has been following the production of this project for a while, and raised the whitewash issue. The director actually replied to him and after reading that I'm no longer feeling sympathetic to she shoe string budget issue since the director didn't even bother making an effort to approach any of the many Chinese communities in Australia and see if any of them wanted to get engaged (and hey, maybe contribute some money) and help find someone to act the part, and just relied on adverts.
Any thoughts from the Asian immigrant Australians (or anyone else) on flist?