BEIJING: Acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou has responded to criticism from an Asian-American actress over the casting of “white man” Matt Damon as his movie’s lead, saying the role was never conceived for a Chinese actor.
Damon of the “Bourne” franchise will star later this year in the $150 million Chinese-Hollywood fantasy movie “The Great Wall,” an English-language movie set in China involving menacing supernatural monsters.
Constance Wu, who stars in a US comedy series centered on immigrants called “Fresh Off the Boat,” posted on Twitter last week: “We have to stop perpetuating the racist myth that a only (sic) white man can save the world.”
“Our heroes don’t look like Matt Damon,” her post read, listing alternatives such as Pakistani schoolgirl turned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi and South African president and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.
“The Great Wall” is the first English-language movie by Zhang Yimou, the director of the romantic Kung Fu drama “House of Flying Daggers,” and the opulent opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“For the first time, a film deeply rooted in Chinese culture, with one of the largest Chinese casts ever assembled, is being made at tent pole scale for a world audience.
“I believe that is a trend that should be embraced by our industry,” Zhang said in a statement posted on Entertainment Weekly’s website on Thursday.
“Our film is not about the construction of the Great Wall. Matt Damon is not playing a role that was originally conceived for a Chinese actor. The arrival of his character in our story is an important plot point,” he was quoted as saying. Zhang said actors portraying the movie’s other four “major heroes” are Chinese.
The casting of Damon hasn’t sparked any controversy in China, where producers are increasingly entering into co-productions with American and other movie makers to improve their filmmaking techniques, and where the government is pushing for Chinese films to be global hits. Hollywood has been drawn to China by the country’s deep-pocketed financiers and its box office that is now the world’s second biggest.
“The Great Wall” is due to be released in December in China and in early 2017 in other countries, including the United States.
Chinese director Yimou defends casting of Matt Damon
Chinese director Yimou defends casting of Matt Damon
Vince Zampella, video game pioneer behind ‘Call of Duty,’ dies at 55
Vince Zampella, one of the creators behind such best-selling video games as “Call of Duty,” has died. He was 55.
Video game company Electronic Arts said Zampella died Sunday. The company did not disclose a cause of death.
In 2010, Zampella founded Respawn Entertainment, a subsidiary of EA, and he also was the former chief executive of video game developer Infinity Ward, the studio behind the successful “Call of Duty” franchise.
A spokesperson for Electronic Arts said in a statement on Monday that Zampella’s influence on the video game industry was “profound and far-reaching.”
“A friend, colleague, leader and visionary creator, his work helped shape modern interactive entertainment and inspired millions of players and developers around the world. His legacy will continue to shape how games are made and how players connect for generations to come,” a company spokesperson wrote.
One of Zampella’s crowning achievements was the creation of the Call of Duty franchise, which has sold more than half a billion games worldwide,
The first person shooter game debuted in 2003 as a World War II simulation and has sold over 500 million copies globally. Subsequent versions have delved into modern warfare and there is a live-action movie based on the game in production with Paramount Pictures.
In recent years, Zampella has been at the helm of the creation of the action adventure video games Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
