Anais Gutierrez
Actor Ed Skrein stepped down the ‘Hellboy’ reboot following whitewashing accusations. Skrein took to social media on Monday to announce his decision and wind hist thoughts on the issue.
In recent years, Hollywood’s whitewashing accusations have increased and recent critics have highlighted a much-needed conversation.
Giving voice to inclusivity
Last week Lionsgate and Millenium’s ‘Hellboy’ reboot cast was announced, including David Harbour, Ian McShane and Milla Jovovich.
Also announced was the cast of British actor Ed Skrein, who was booked to play Ben Daimio. In the ‘Hellboy’ comics, Daimio is an Asian American special operation soldier. Daimio’s Japanese ancestry was solidly established in the comics, his grandmother was a Japanese Imperial assassin during World War II.
When the cast was announced, the news immediately sparked a whitewashing uproar, similar to the ‘Ghost in the Shell’ and ‘Doctor Strange’ backlash.
On Monday, Skrein announced his decision to stepped aside from the role as he considers is the right thing to do. He also pointed out that when he accepted the role he was unaware of the character’s original heritage.
“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.”
The actor said he feels it is important to respect the character’s heritage as originally written and for that reason, he is leaving the film.
“I have decided to step down so the role can be cast appropriately,” he said.
“Representation of ethnic diversity is important, especially to me as I have a mixed heritage family. It is our responsibility to make moral decisions in difficult times and to give voice to inclusivity.”
Skrein’s decision was backed by ‘Hellboy’s producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin, who made a non-committal statement about the future casting of the role.
“Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision,” they said in a statement. “It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.”
The original ‘Hellboy’ movie was directed by Guillermo del Toro and was released in 2004.
The reboot is will be directed by ‘ ‘The Descent’s helmer Neil Marshal, and is set to start shooting in October.
— Ed Skrein (@edskrein) August 28, 2017
Appaluding the decision
The actor, who previously appeared as Daario Naharis in ‘Game of Thrones‘, was also lauded by fellow actors. ‘Iron Fist’ actress Jessica Henwick said his decision was “immense,” while ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ star Ming-Na Wen called the actor a “rockstar.”
‘Hellboy’ creator Mike Mignola and ‘Stranger Things‘ actor David Harbour, who is playing Hellboy in the upcoming reboot, also praised Ed Skrein. Guy Aoki, founding president of MANAA, the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, a media watchdog group based in Los Angeles.
“We’re pleasantly surprised that Skrein volunteered to not do the role after understanding how much of an uproar it created in the Asian-American community. We want to thank him for that,” Aoki said Monday.
“We think it’s a model for other [non-Asian] actors to follow. If you get offered a role that was supposed to be an Asian role, you might want to politely decline and suggest that they get someone who’s more appropriate for it.”
thank you @edskrein very nicely done… https://t.co/hwCsaf9iZj
— Mike Mignola (@artofmmignola) August 28, 2017
Hey internet. Thank you for your voices.
An injustice was done and will be corrected.
Many thanks to @edskrein for doing what is right.😈👊🙏 https://t.co/tUvP6YibgG
— David Harbour (@DavidKHarbour) August 28, 2017
Love this guy! 😘😘😘@edskrein, you are a rockstar! Now let's hope the recast is as morally and ethnically correct! https://t.co/19aCQDulsM
— Ming-Na Wen (@MingNa) August 28, 2017
Whitewashing history in Hollywood
This isn’t the first time Hollywood has come under fire for hiring a non-Asian actor to play an Asian character.
Among the other controversial castings were Emma Stone as a part-Hawaiian, part-Chinese woman in 2015’s ‘Aloha’ and Tilda Swanton as The Ancient One, a usually Asian character, in ‘Doctor Strage.’
More recently, Scarlett Johansson made headlines for her casting as a cyborg in ‘Ghost in the Shell,’ a 2017 remake of a Japanese anime film. “She is essentially identity-less,” Johansson said of her Ghost in the Shell heroine. “I would never attempt to play a person of a different race, obviously.”
The film, in particular, was heavily affected by the whitewashing controversy that the film performed poorly at the American box office.
Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ also faced backlash for its cast. The role of Aladdin was filled in July with Egyptian-Canadian actor Mena Massoud while English actress Naomi Scott plays Princess Jasmine, which didn’t go over too well with some critics on Twitter. However, fans of the Disney movie were pleased to discover Tunisian-Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari signed on to play the role of the villain Jafar in August.
Each of those castings ignited a firestorm of criticism on social media as well, and the films underperformed at the box office.
While executives brushed off those previous controversies, Skrein’s move might develop a possible game-changer in Hollywood.
The industry excuse for whitewashing is often that bankable star names are needed to make a project commercially viable. Yet few of these examples have been hits, and with more and more critic targeting the issue, the industry will have to respond.
Source: The Fader
