Ridley Scott has been criticised by the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans for ‘white-washing’ Asian roles in his hit adventure The Martian.

The film, which is based on the bestselling novel by Andy Weir, features a diverse set of characters, two of which are Asian yet are played by white and black actors on screen.

“This feelgood movie, which has attracted Oscar buzz, shouldn’t get any awards for casting,” said Guy A0ki, MANAA founding president, in an open letter released on Thursday.

The anger focuses on the character of Mindy Park, who is described as Korean-American in the book and played by white actor Mackenzie Davis, and Dr Venkat Kapoor, an Asian-Indian character who is a Hindu yet embodied by black actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and renamed Vincent.

"So few projects are written specifically with Asian American characters in them and he's now changed them to a white woman and black man," MANAA founding president Guy Aoki said in a statement.

"This was a great opportunity to give meaty roles to talented Asian American actors — and boost their careers — which would've enabled our community to become a greater part of the rescue team. This feel-good movie, which has attracted Oscar buzz, shouldn't get any awards for casting," Aoki added.


The group also referenced Scott's film "Exodus: Gods and Kings" for casting white actors in the lead roles and Middle Easterners in secondary roles.

In addition to the 2014 film, the statement noted "21" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender" casted white actors in most of the roles written as Asian American.

More at http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015...ng-asian-roles
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http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.2391252

Originally posted by KyIe

It a privately funded movie so they can cast whichever the f*** characters they want. I will never understand the outrage over "whitewashing" movies EXCEPT if the movie's plot directly pertains to a certain race, sexuality etc.

Originally posted by #JC

Maybe those white actors did better at the casting calls?

Originally posted by #JC

Maybe those white actors did better at the casting calls?

Originally posted by Shelter

It's a big budget movie, they need it to be a hit, so they need big known actors.

Originally posted by KyIe

It a privately funded movie so they can cast whichever the f*** characters they want. I will never understand the outrage over "whitewashing" movies EXCEPT if the movie's plot directly pertains to a certain race, sexuality etc.

Originally posted by getback

at least it has a black man
still a great movie regardless

Originally posted by Exzime.

So by your logic, if there's a casting call for Mulan the movie, and asian actors are lacking during the casting calls - then lets just scrape the whole idea of Mulan being an asian character simply because white actors could portray her so much better.

Originally posted by Desperate Fantast

Probably should go see a neurologist then.

Originally posted by Desperate Fantast

And Mackenzie Davis is your idea of a "big known actor"?

Originally posted by KyIe

You're missing the point. Nothing in this movies core plot is affected by race hence it shouldn't be an issue. Mulan's entire plot revolves around Asian cultures and values so obviously Asian actors should be cast in those role. There is a key difference between just simply not having characters of a certain race in a movie or video and actively removing other races from a plot that should require them.