Kevin Kwan, author of the best-selling novel "Crazy Rich Asians," said Hollywood almost whitewashed its upcoming movie adaptation.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he explained that even before the book hit the shelves in 2013, he has already had film producers knocking on his doors. One of them thought that turning the main protagonist into a Caucasian woman was the right move.
"They wanted to change the heroine into a white girl. I was like, 'Well, you've missed the point completely.' I said, 'No, thank you,'" he said of the encounter.
"Crazy Rich Asians" is the story of a Chinese American woman, Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), who comes back to Asia after a long time to meet her boyfriend's mega-rich family and friends. It would be the total opposite of the usual stories of Asians coming to the United States for the first time and getting the ultimate culture shock. Kwan added that using a Caucasian for the role would have totally changed the story.
The author said that he knew he made the right decision of shutting down the said producer during his many book tours. He remembered sharing this experience to his fans and hearing them exclaim how very wrong it was to use a Caucasian lead for an Asian role. "To hear that reaction really confirmed for me what the audience wanted," he said.
Whitewashing is nothing new to Hollywood. Just last August, backlash erupted after "Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen" cast English actor Ed Skrein to play the role of Ben Daimio, a character of Japanese American descent.
This prompted several media outfits to collate the worst cases of Hollywood whitewashing in recent years. This includes Scarlett Johansson, who played a supposedly Japanese character for "Ghost in the Shell," and Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, a character traditionally portrayed as an Asian man in "Doctor Strange."
Good thing for Kwan, he found the right producers to entrust the film with in the end — Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of "Hunger Games."
"Crazy Rich Asians" will hit theaters on Aug. 17, 2018.
