Taiwanese Superstar Jay Chou costars with some fat jewish dude.
http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2009/08/jay-chou-as-kato-in-the-green.html
This article says that the Green Hornet movie is written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, of Superbad and Pineapple Express fame. And, they chose this Chinese actor, Jay Chou, who barely speaks English to be Kato. I fear that this is gonna be a SUPER bad movie for Asian men. They are gonna probably use Kato as comedy relief, making those stereotypical Asian jokes that white people love to repeat over and over and over. The author of this article was wondering why a better English speaking Asian American actor wasn’t chosen. I wonder why? I bet they didn’t cast a more sophisticated Asian American actor simply because they didn’t want one. This movie is just gonna strengthen the stereotype that Asian guys are kung fu fighting comedy relief. Get ready for some abuse, SAMs.
Ref SAM
Run, fat jewish dude!
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Ah, lovely, beloved Jay – the Rain of the Mandarin-speaking world. See, I don’t think the filmmakers will dare to use him for the usual pot shots: he’s just too damn popular. That’s probably why they didn’t go with an Asian-American actor, they wanted someone with name recognition in Asia for the sake of international recognition.
Realize that, outside of the US, or at least in the half of the world that is Asia, Jay is a superstar, and no one has heard of Rogen (shlumphy loser humor crosses cultural appeal about as well as it crosses gender). It’d be like having Nicole Kidman playing dumb white bimbo for throwaway laughs sidekick to Fan Bingbing.
So I expect Kato to be more “cool and mysterious badass”. Which is dumb in its own way. But, granted, I wouldn’t put it past Rogen and Hollywood to be morons and destroy the international box office prospects.
Anyhow, I’ll probably skip it regardless as Rogen is so fugly and unfunny and misogynistic it makes me ill.
I had no idea this guy was so popular. That’s really intriguing. So, you think that these guys got him for international appeal? If so, that’s kind of cool.
I agree about Rogen. I’m seeing a very common trend where American TV/movies are adopting the slob, smartass characters.
hey man love your website but please get the fact straight: Jay Chou is a Taiwanese, not Chinese. Not about politics, just a FACT. Thanks.
Thanks pdxx. Did not know that. Changed the title of the article from “Chinese actor Jay Chou is Kato in THE GREEN HORNET” to
“Taiwanese actor Jay Chou is Kato in THE GREEN HORNET”
Hello!
In view of the lack of tickets to Jay’s Singapore Concert, LWSSOM is actually organising a Jay Chou Singing Competition where the winner will get 2 tickets worth $400 to the concert.
Details at http://leeweisong.wordpress.com/jaychou/ !
I just saw the Green Hornet preview, but I’m kind of bothered by the casting of Jay Chou as Kato. I don’t mind stereotypes as long as it’s not overdone, but judging from the previews, why did the filmmakers choose a foreign asian actor that speaks with an Asian accent? What’s wrong with an Asian American actor like Will Yun Lee, he’s a martial artist besides an actor and he is well known, plus he doesn’t speak with an stereotypical Asian accent. Bruce Lee didn’t speak with an Asian accent as Kato. Again, I’m not trying to prejudge the movie (because I rather see stereotypes than not at all), I am just saying, there are enough Asian American actors who are capable of taking on the role as Kato. I think I’m gonna pass on this film.
It’s all about money and marketing. It also means that most Asian American men would have done better career-wise if they grew up in Asia instead of the US.
Jay chou was likable and did a pretty good job as Kato actually (he even had a brief love interest). However, I got really irritated the fact that there were so many of those usual degrading Asian stereotypes. Even when the film was over, it seems the two characters were partners but it didn’t feel like it. I felt like Jay Chou was always going to be in the background working really hard and not get any credit. I’m not really sure if the role of Kato is supposed to be like that or if it’s purposely racist, but it doesn’t do any good if his role has a negative image.
I’m actually kind of confused why they keep changing the Japanese parts into Chinese and virtually erasing any of the Japanese essence in the story. This goes for the recent remake of Karate Kid, in which the kid did even learn karate nor did it have anything to do with Japan, it was all about Kung Fu and took place in China. This also happens in The Green Hornet, where Kato is a Japanese name. I’m fine with whichever actor gets the part. But why erase the Japanese from the story. And in the most recent Star Trek, Sulu was a Korean actor. Perhaps I’m biased, as I’ve spent many years in Japan and there might be many instances of this trend going the opposite direction. If so then I stand corrected.
Good point, Jeff. I would say in the American media, we all are just Asians! They don’t really give a damn that we’re from different Asian countries. All that matters is that we are viewed as foreigners from Asia. Sucks.
You know, I never thought about that! Kato, pronounced KayToe in the show, is actually a Japanese name pronounced Kah-toe! You’re absolutely right! I guess the reason they were ok with a Chinese guys was because Bruce Lee was the first Kato, and he made the role popular. And, lastly, I’m guessing that the Japanese ancestry part doesn’t even come out in the story anyway?? Typical Hollywood for you.