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Published On: Wed, Aug 30th, 2017

Hollywood racism: ‘Hellboy’ casts Ed Skrein as Asian American character, Ben Daimio

The latest casting of Ed Skrein in the upcoming Hellboy, a reboot of the franchise based on a cult comic book series, set off a firestorm in the Asian American community and opened the door to more critics of Hollywood whitewashing.

The British star will play Ben Daimio, who, in the Mike Mignola comic books, is a Japanese American whose heritage has a heavy influence on his character.

UPDATE: Disregard – Skrein is out.

Skrein says he was unaware of the character’s origin, and when he discovered that Daimio was Japanese-American, he decided to bow out of the role. In a statement, Skrein said:

“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 voice in the Arts. I feel it is important to honour and respect that. There I have decided to step down so the role can be cast appropriately. Representation of ethnic diversity is important, especially to me as I have a mixed heritage family. It is our responsibility to make more decisions in difficult times and to give voice to inclusivity. It is my hope that one day these discussions will become less necessary and that we can help make equal representation in the Arts a reality.”

Skrein took to Twitter to express his excitement in the role in the Hellboy reboot of an Asian character, whose grandmother was a Japanese Imperial assassin in World War II.

The backlash ignited and it wasn’t long until a flood of comments filled his feed.

One commenter said, “You’re a talented actor; why would you take away a role from an Asian colleague?” Asian actor Simu Liu (Taken, Kim’s Convenience) chimed in saying “Hey Hollywood, how many box office flops does it take for you to learn how to cast properly? #hellboy #whitewashedout” while Stephanie Sheh, an actress who does voiceover work in anime, said “Here we go again. Why Hollywood do you keep forcing me to boycott your films. #whitewash #hellboy.”

Amidst the backlash, Hellboy creator Mignola chimed in saying, “Thanks and happy you’ve signed on.” Lionsgate declined to comment about the casting when contacted by Deadline.”

Most recently Netflix’s adaptation of the manga Death Note was under fire for whitewashing, using white actors as a replacement for characters of color. The original source material follows a Japanese teen named Light Yagami, but in the reboot, he is played by a white teen in Seattle named Light Turner, played by Nat Wolff.

In addition, his love interest is named Mia Sutton who is played by Margaret Qualley. In the manga, her name is Misa Amane — who is also portrayed as Japanese.

Previous to Death Note, there has been numerous amount of “whitewashing” of Asian roles that have lit a fire under the Asian American community. Emma Stone portrayed Allison Ng in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha.  With a last name like “Ng” it is obvious that the character is Asian. Her heritage in the movie is revealed as one-quarter Hawaiian, with a half-Asian father.

The casting of Tilda Swinton as “The Ancient One” in Doctor Strange was appreciated for its gender-swapping but was frowned upon because the character is traditionally Asian.

Other “whitewashing” controversies that have been hovering over Hollywood include Scarlett Johansson in the starring role in the live-adaptation of Ghost in the Shell as the Major, who, in the original source material has the Japanese name Major Motoko Kusanagi.

Matt Damon in The Great Wall was another source of controversy as well as the announcement of Black Sails actor Zach McGowan as the star of Ni’ihau, a film based on a true story set during WWII when Shigenori Nishikaichi, an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service pilot, crash-landed his Zero on the eponymous Hawaiian island after participating in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

McGowan will play Ben Kanahele, an island leader who saves Nishikaichi before learning his part in the attack. Kanahele is Pacific Islander and McGowan is of Jewish and Irish descent.

Hellboy will arrive next year with David Harbour (Stranger Things) playing the titular character with Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil films) and Ian McShane (Deadwood, Pirates of the Caribbean).

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About the Author

- Stephen is a contributor and writer on The Dispatch. Stephen is the founder and editor for the Steven Spielberg Fan Club website and contributes to pop culture stories on The Dispatch, especially upcoming movie news. Beginning in 2016, Stephen took the role of Managing Editor for the Tampa Dispatch.

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  1. First look: David Harbour in ‘Hellboy’ and it pleases Mike Mignola | The Global Dispatch says:

    […] The Stranger Things star leads the reboot directed by Neil Marshall and written by Mignola, Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and Aron Coleite. Harbour is joined by Ian McShane, Milla Jovovich, and Daniel Dae Kim who replaced Ed Skrein after a whitewashing backlash. […]

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