Sonny Chiba vs. Vin Diesel
The white guy’s going to show the Asian guys how to drive. He’s going to get a hot Asian girl. There will be gongs, kimonos, and giant Buddhas thrown in for no reason. Justin Lin would like to assure you that none of this is true in his new film, The Fast and The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift.
I got to visit Justin in his editing dock at Universal Studios on Wednesday afternoon. It was a lot nicer than sitting in a shoebox theater with a bunch of hacks, which is what I expected. It turned out that he was was going to show us a cut of the film, which he had just finished the day before, right off the Avid.
Justin said he cleared his schedule because he was stoked that we were interested in seeing the movie; it’s not exactly the indie, arty, or imported stuff that Giant Robot tends to favor. In fact, Tokyo Drift is already automatically hated by most Asian Americans and preconceived as yet another example of The Man’s appropriating Asian popular culture. Justin told me that the original script definitely came from an Orientalist angle, but when Universal said he could tool with the story (probably because 2 Fast 2 Furious was such a disappointment to fans of the first installment), he went for it.
First off, Justin argued that the lead character should be Asian American or hapa. The studio couldn’t handle an Asian, so it asked, “What’s hapa?” Unfortunately, none of the auditioning half-Asian actors memorized their lines so the lead wound up being a white guy after all. It turns out Lucas Black is a pretty good actor, so that was okay. But Justin made sure the love interest was not Asian, either. The studio people wondered why the white lead couldn’t fall in love with an exotic Japanese chick, and Justin’s answer was, “Just because.”
Since the lead wasn’t Asian American, he created Sung Kang’s character. Sung shines as a Yoda-like figure who gives the protagonist lessons in driving and surviving in Tokyo. The BLT vet has been cited as a favorite by test audiences, and may get some more gigs out of it.
Casting Sonny Chiba as the antagonist’s yakuza uncle was another good move. The Street Fighter from the '70s has experienced a minor Renaissance in the last decade, with Hong Kong’s Stormriders, Hollywood’s Kill Bill, and Japan’s Survive Style Five. Not bad company for a summer movie.
Hong Kong star Edison Chen didn't get the part of the main villain because he was too waify but Hawaii's talented and robust Konishiki has a nice cameo!
Other changes had nothing to do with ethnicity but everything to do with making the movie more interesting. The car races were made more dangerous, like something out of Bullitt. Scenes were shot guerrilla style to add more local action. There's a lot of darkness, like a hooker and extortion by both the villains and heroes. Guys like Pharrell and DJ Shadow contributed to the soundtrack, and Slash added strategically placed guitar riffs—kind of a modern take on how Morricone used theme music in Westerns.
Indeed, the movie as a whole works kind of like a Western: the plot, the structure, and even some of the dialogue. It’s not intended to be deep, groundbreaking, or profound, but it is a solid piece of genre work with characters that you care about and a story that unfolds in a way that’s a lot of fun and not insulting. Oh yeah, the drifting is pretty cool, too.
After the movie ended, Justin and I talked for a while about how different this experience was for him than Shopping for Fangs, Better Luck Tomorrow, or even his first studio flick, Annapolis. He says that everything really came together. He was able to take on a major project, work in the studio system, learn a lot about directing, and make the project his own.
When Justin signed onto the project, he told me that he received hate mail and threats from Asian-American activists who thought it would be a racist piece of crap. If these people can get over their assumptions and actually watch it, they’ll see that he deserves credit for busting typical cinematic stereotypes and providing kick-ass entertainment to boot.
The Fast and The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift premieres on June 4 and opens on June 16.
I got to visit Justin in his editing dock at Universal Studios on Wednesday afternoon. It was a lot nicer than sitting in a shoebox theater with a bunch of hacks, which is what I expected. It turned out that he was was going to show us a cut of the film, which he had just finished the day before, right off the Avid.Justin said he cleared his schedule because he was stoked that we were interested in seeing the movie; it’s not exactly the indie, arty, or imported stuff that Giant Robot tends to favor. In fact, Tokyo Drift is already automatically hated by most Asian Americans and preconceived as yet another example of The Man’s appropriating Asian popular culture. Justin told me that the original script definitely came from an Orientalist angle, but when Universal said he could tool with the story (probably because 2 Fast 2 Furious was such a disappointment to fans of the first installment), he went for it.
First off, Justin argued that the lead character should be Asian American or hapa. The studio couldn’t handle an Asian, so it asked, “What’s hapa?” Unfortunately, none of the auditioning half-Asian actors memorized their lines so the lead wound up being a white guy after all. It turns out Lucas Black is a pretty good actor, so that was okay. But Justin made sure the love interest was not Asian, either. The studio people wondered why the white lead couldn’t fall in love with an exotic Japanese chick, and Justin’s answer was, “Just because.”Since the lead wasn’t Asian American, he created Sung Kang’s character. Sung shines as a Yoda-like figure who gives the protagonist lessons in driving and surviving in Tokyo. The BLT vet has been cited as a favorite by test audiences, and may get some more gigs out of it.
Casting Sonny Chiba as the antagonist’s yakuza uncle was another good move. The Street Fighter from the '70s has experienced a minor Renaissance in the last decade, with Hong Kong’s Stormriders, Hollywood’s Kill Bill, and Japan’s Survive Style Five. Not bad company for a summer movie.Hong Kong star Edison Chen didn't get the part of the main villain because he was too waify but Hawaii's talented and robust Konishiki has a nice cameo!
Other changes had nothing to do with ethnicity but everything to do with making the movie more interesting. The car races were made more dangerous, like something out of Bullitt. Scenes were shot guerrilla style to add more local action. There's a lot of darkness, like a hooker and extortion by both the villains and heroes. Guys like Pharrell and DJ Shadow contributed to the soundtrack, and Slash added strategically placed guitar riffs—kind of a modern take on how Morricone used theme music in Westerns.Indeed, the movie as a whole works kind of like a Western: the plot, the structure, and even some of the dialogue. It’s not intended to be deep, groundbreaking, or profound, but it is a solid piece of genre work with characters that you care about and a story that unfolds in a way that’s a lot of fun and not insulting. Oh yeah, the drifting is pretty cool, too.
After the movie ended, Justin and I talked for a while about how different this experience was for him than Shopping for Fangs, Better Luck Tomorrow, or even his first studio flick, Annapolis. He says that everything really came together. He was able to take on a major project, work in the studio system, learn a lot about directing, and make the project his own.
When Justin signed onto the project, he told me that he received hate mail and threats from Asian-American activists who thought it would be a racist piece of crap. If these people can get over their assumptions and actually watch it, they’ll see that he deserves credit for busting typical cinematic stereotypes and providing kick-ass entertainment to boot.
The Fast and The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift premieres on June 4 and opens on June 16.
posted by gr at
7:38 AM
I sympathize with Justin's uphill battle in breaking through Hollywood's stereotypical views on Asians. The Asian community needs to unclench their butt cheeks a little and realize that it's not easy being an Asian director in Tinsel Town.
Yeah. Give him a break. It's hard for Asian actors to get breaks. I just noticed that the one famous AA actress, Lucy Liu sometimes has to go for "White" rolls..check out imdb.com
Sometimes, that's just how it has to be. Anyways, maybe if we just slowly changes things..then stereotypes will be broken.
kudos to justin lin though, for taking what was without a doubt going to be a bad racist movie and throwing in a few good twists.
You can't have Hollywood with out stereotypes, they are our lens to the world, as distorting as in may be. As a Black guy living in China, I am constantly bombarded with them. Can I play basketball? Yes I can Mr. Chen, but I can also play golf. No, no, no, I can't sing, but I can dance. It's kinda funny that the lao wai here often look at how Western Culture is appropriated. If they want to make something appealing to the masses, they put a blonde haired blue eyed girl on the poster, my her skin is so white.
Check out my video blog where I tackle stereotypes in Asia first hand. http://www.tv.rsims2.com
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