I'm working on the part where, last I checked, Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi didn't speak English at all. And they are acting in an English-language movie? Are they going to be the kind of geisha that doesn't say anything?
(Also, you know, Mandarin accents in English sound nothing like Japanese accents of same, and Michelle Yeoh's accent is distinctively like neither of them.)
Ken Watanabe at least speaks reasonable English (and I think Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is an American of Japanese ethnicity, right?). Unless there is some optical poptitude planned, to distract one from the dialogue, this movie may have worse problems than the whole political "pan-Asian" issue.
No, Zhang Ziyi speaks English now. Don't know about Gong Li.
I'd imagine that their English is better than their Japanese, so it's a small blessing.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was born in Japan, but is American.
I'd imagine that their English is better than their Japanese,
Dunno why, but this sure made me snerk.
As most have said, I'm still getting the vibe of "hey, who's hot right now *and* Asian? Whaddya mean, there's a difference between 'em? At least we didn't cast anyone white!"
My husband is watching Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Talk about racial miscasting. Willem Defoe makes a terribly corny Mexican. Right up there with Charleton Heston in A Touch of Evil.
Worse than John Wayne as Genghis Khan?
Only Pauly Shore can credibly claim to have been worse than John Wayne as Ghengis Khan.
OTOH, Ricardo Montalban was the best Khan.
Only Pauly Shore can credibly claim to have been worse than John Wayne as Ghengis Khan.
I dunno. Zero Mostel once played Kublai Khan versus Desi Arnaz, Jr's Marco Polo. [link]
I would think that any Mexican with a sense of ethnic pride would be more irritated by Antonio Banderas playing a Mexican, considering he's a born-and-raised Spaniard, and there's still no love lost between Spain and Mexico.
Once Upon A Time In Mexico
is such a feverishly ethnic pride movie, though. I wonder what sort of box office it and
Desperado
did in Mexico.
