This is a multi choice question. You have to choose more than 1 answer or else you would have an error message and your maximum is 5.

If you don't see your choice, don't vote yet. Put your choice here and I'll add to the list.

I know we have done a Takeshi poll already but I'm interested in the big picture.

This poll is about Hollywood - not European movies. Tony Leung Ka Fai has been in a French/Vietnamese movie before. Francis Ng is said to have been invited to be a killer in a European movie soon.

This poll is spurred by the article that Shoto posted today at the Zhang Ziyi thread today. Thanks, Shoto.

And this was my reply:

This poll is about true American movies - not investment or partner to a Chinese director. It is about what kind of roles the Asian actors could have - regardless of whether they want it or not. As the top actors such as Takeshi, Tony Leung, Andy Lau said, they have not found a good script yet. So pretend you are working for Hollywood and as one of the producers, you want to bring in an Asian for a change. Who would you choose and what role would you give him?

At the moment, some of the Asians who made it to Hollywood have been Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Ken Watanabe, Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh.

I thought that Ekin Cheng would be in Rush Hour 3 as a successor to Jackie Chan a few months ago but now, Jackie has signed on for Rush Hour 3 again but there's no word of Ekin.

I personally don't think the Koreans would make it unless they could speak some English. Jang Dong Gun might not have the English skills.

Lee Byung Hun might have more English. He already has an American agent now hawking for him.

For the female side, I would think Jeon Ji Hyun and Lee Young Ae would make the typical Asian stereotype for Hollywood, again depending if they speak English.

I doubt if young singer/idols from Korea like Rain/Seven type would get in even though Rain is planning to release an American album. His English is unintelligible.

On the Japanese side, the guys probably all do not speak sufficient English.

Toru from Tokyo Raiders and Gen X Cop should be cast in an American movie as a triad boss....(what else!) for his English is slightly more intelligble.

Anthony Wong has great English since he has Portuguese blood but I don't think there is anything particular about him. Francis Ng could be a Chinatown foul mouthed bad guy :D

On the other hand, I think Daniel Wu could very well be hired as a martial artist in a Hollywood movie. Daniel is a San Franciscan so he would fit in easily.

And of all people, Stephen Fung would make the perfect helpless boy/guy - a bit crazy - wandering around the street and be taken advantage of...or be a lover boy to some great personalities' wife and be caught in a cat and mouse story.

Stephen has great English and the dimples to go with it. While he is more into directing, and even Hollywood has paid attention to his work and may collaborate, I think he could definitely play a main role in an American movie - drama style - not mafia based.

Tony Leung would be the perfect lover or person suffering from injustice where he has to run and hide, fugitive style. His English is very good. Or he could be an inmate suffering injustices, a drug addict in the streets, a psycho. The more he suffers, the better it is.... :lol: I don't think he should have a maverick /wealthy/smart businessman/ triad boss/ type of role. It would be a waste of his talents.

Andy would definitely be a good investigator police, similar to the roles of Chow Yun Fat earlier. He could also be a lover. Whatever I don't cast Tony in, I would cast Andy in. Andy should be given the superficial glory and smut looking roles.

Takeshi ? He could be in any role. I'll let the Takeshi fans speak for him.

Too bad Kimura hardly speaks English....sigh. He would bring glory to Japan if he could move onto the international arena.

i think Takeshi will, eventually, whether he likes it or not or whether we like it or not. at least he will receive more scripts from Hollywood than any other Asian stars. eventually, and hopefully, more various scripts than what Asians have gotten so far. he has everything -- the look, the talent, and the language skill. like Kimurafan said, there's no Korean star named above who can speak fluent English. if you think that Takeshi's English is not fluent, theirs is...hahaha.

but after contacting or working w/ Takeshi once, Hollywood might think that he's difficult. you know, when Hollywood chooses Asian stars, they just assume/expect that Asians are easier to deal w/ than most Hollywood stars. you don't have to pay them as much, you don't have to treat them as nobly. basically they assume that even Asian super stars would do anything in Hollywood w/ lesser conditions. well, as is well known, Takeshi is a very sensitive soul. even though he accepts the conditions that Hollywood offers and starts to work there, he'll show that he's not happy if they don't treat him well. his big eyes will tell everything even though he doesn't say a word.

so, my point is, Hollywood better be good to him if they really want to work w/ him. otherwise, they'll get a bad name to have hurt one of the most sensitive souls in Asia. they might think that they have nothing to lose if they lose Takeshi. well, the same goes for Takeshi, hahaha. ;) woops, did i make it too obvious that i'm one of those "regulars" in the Takeshi forum? :P

I really don't know who to vote. First -- I didn't give it much thought, second -- I don't want any of them to be wasted in a stereotypical role. And -- after reading Michael Wong's words -- well, they probably would be wasted.

Hollywood has some strict rules of making movies, and I don't think any Asian would suit them for any other reason, than being an Asian. The problem is that usually they would be chosen bec they are Asians, not bec they are good actors. A director says: "I need a yellow guy for this and that", not "I want a good actor, how about this one". OF course their appearance can't be ignored, bec there are some roles they couldn't play (a descendant of Columbus for instance ;) ), but I feel like it should be a secondary thing.

I don't know who would get sooner. HW is watchingg Asian movies - that is for sure. But they are not interested in using those great people in those movies - they just want to use ideas and make remakes all around. Maybe they don't realize, that very often a quality of a movie is also bec of actors, who gave lives and souls to characters.

KEN WATANABE AS LEAD VIILLIAN 'Ra's Al Ghul' IN "BATMAN BEGINS"








Review from The New York Times online (www.nytimes.com)

MOVIE REVIEW | 'BATMAN BEGINS'
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: June 15, 2005

Near the big-bang finish of "Batman Begins," the title avenger, played by the charismatic young British actor Christian Bale, scoops up a damsel in distress, played by Katie Holmes, and spirits her away to his lair. Watching this scene, it was hard not to think how nice it would have been if Batman had instead dispatched the infernally perky actress, whose recent off-screen antics have threatened to eclipse this unexpectedly good movie. As it happens, the most memorable rescue mission in "Batman Begins" isn't engineered by the caped crusader, but by the film's director, Christopher Nolan.

"Batman Begins" is the seventh live-action film to take on the comic-book legend and the first to usher it into the kingdom of movie myth. Conceived in the shadow of American pop rather than in its bright light, this tense, effective iteration of Bob Kane's original comic book owes its power and pleasures to a director who takes his material seriously and to a star who shoulders that seriousness with ease. Until now, Mr. Bale, who cut his teeth working with Steven Spielberg on "Empire of the Sun" almost two decades ago, has been best known for his scarily plausible performance in "American Psycho," an intellectual horror movie that now seems like a prelude to this one: think American Psycho redux, this time in tights.

As sleek as a panther, with cheekbones that look sharp enough to give even an ardent lover pause, Mr. Bale makes a superbly menacing avenger. His Batman is leagues away from Adam West's cartoony persona, which lumbered across American television screens in the mid- and late-60's with zap and pow, but never an ounce of real wow. Mr. Bale even improves on Michael Keaton, who donned Batman's cape both in Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" and its funhouse sequel three years later, and gave the character a jolt of menace. What Mr. Keaton couldn't bring to the role, and what Mr. Bale conveys effortlessly, is Bruce Wayne's air of casual entitlement, the aristocratic hauteur that is the necessary complement of Batman's obsessive megalomania.

What Mr. Nolan gets, and gets better than any other previous director, is that without Bruce Wayne, Batman is just a rich wacko with illusions of grandeur and a terrific pair of support hose. Without his suave alter ego, this weird bat man is a superhero without humanity, an avenger without a conscious, an id without a superego. Which is why, working from his and David S. Goyer's very fine screenplay, Mr. Nolan more or less begins at the beginning, taking Batman back to his original trauma and the death of his parents. With narrative economy and tangible feeling, he stages that terrible, defining moment when young Master Wayne watched a criminal shoot his parents to death in a Gotham City alley, thereby setting into motion his long, strange journey into the self.

The story opens with the adult Bruce in the middle of that journey, in the far reaches of Asia, where he first rubs shoulders with "the criminal fraternity," then a clandestine brotherhood called the League of Shadows. Lead by a warrior sensei, Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe), and his aide, Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson, at his lethal best), the league invites Bruce into its fold, an offer he violently declines. Thereafter, he returns to Gotham City, where he assumes a dual identity as both the city's wealthiest citizen and its avenging angel. Intrigue ensues involving a crime lord played with brio by Tom Wilkinson, a headshrinker brought to skin-crawling life by Cillian Murphy and the last honest cop in Gotham, James Gordon, given expressive poignancy by a restrained Gary Oldman.

It's amazing what an excellent cast, a solid screenplay and a regard for the source material can do for a comic book movie. Unlike Robert Rodriguez, whose faithfulness to Frank Miller's comic sucked the juice out of "Sin City," Mr. Nolan approaches Batman with respect rather than reverence. It's obvious that Mr. Nolan has made a close study of the Batman legacy, but he owes a specific debt to Mr. Miller's 1980's rethink of the character, which resurrected the Dark Knight side of his identity. Like Mr. Miller's Batman, Mr. Nolan's is tormented by demons both physical and psychological. In an uncertain world, one the director models with an eye to our own, this is a hero caught between justice and vengeance, a desire for peace and the will to power.

That struggle gives the story its requisite heft, but what makes this "Batman" so enjoyable is how Mr. Nolan balances the story's dark elements with its light, and arranges the familiar genre elements in new, unforeseen ways. Weaned on countless comics and a handful of movies, we may think we know the bat cave like we know the inside of our childhood bedroom. But to watch Bruce Wayne stand in the atmospheric gloom of this new cavern, surrounded by a cloud of swirling bats, is to see the underground refuge for the first time. Likewise the Batmobile, which here resembles a Hummer that looks as if it had been gently flattened by a Bradley tank, then tricked out for some hard street racing with fat tires and gleaming black paint.

As is often the case with movies about toys and boys, "Batman Begins" drags on too long, but even the reflexively Bruckheimer-like finish can't diminish its charms. Mr. Nolan needs to work on his action: Fred Astaire made sure that he was filmed so that you could see the entirety of his body, advice this director should have heeded when shooting his superhero. Still, what makes "Batman Begins" the most successful comic-book adaptation alongside Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World" isn't the noisy set pieces, the nods to "Blade Runner" or the way a child's keepsake, an Indian arrowhead, echoes the shape of a bat. It's the way Mr. Nolan invites us to watch Bruce Wayne quietly piecing together his Batman identity, to become a secret sharer to a legend, just as we did once upon a time when we read our first comic.


Official Website: www.batmanbegins.com

I agree with Shoto.

I also don't think Michael Wong is a great actor - he's a bit wooden but maybe that's because he's not confident of his Cantonese, he has a slight accent which I can't define but he sounds a bit sing-songy. I've seen him in a film with Takeshi - title escapes me at present.

It'd be nice to see Tony in a good American film. His English is superb. He's certainly not an unknown in the States but I really don't think American directors take any notice of foreign stars and as Shoto says it'd be only because they need an Asian to fill some minor stereotype role or something.

You can see why no Asian stars are really interested in making it in the US. Maybe a few years ago they were - Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat - but I think they're more clued up nowadays.

Maybe they started to understand that making a career in Dream Movie World of Hollywood isn't a necessary thing to do. It's just an option, and not being in one of those movies doesn't mean someone isn't a good actor/actress.

Once I ahd written I don't care much about HW movies -- I was yelled upon that I'm shortsighted. Well, I don't care. I like GOOD movies, no matter where they are made. I won't assume a movie is good, just because it was made in HW. I will judge it AFTER watching the movie, not before :P

Here's an article about Lee Byung Hun the Korean actor. Perhaps he might get there first. :lol:

Largest American Agency Calls Lee Byung-heon “Asian James Dean”





Hallyu star Lee Byung-heon is set to make inroads into Hollywood. Recently, the largest U.S. talent agency, CAA, has praised the actor for his role in the movie “A Bittersweet Life,” calling him “the Asian James Dean."

Hwang Jung-wook, CEO of the local agency, Web, said in an interview on June 15 that Lee, who is managed by Player Entertainment, will advance into the Hollywood market in full gear after one year of preparatory positioning. “Unlike other Asian actors, he will not play sinister or comic roles in Hollywood, but will establish his presence there in a completely different way," said Hwang.

Hwang said the actor had already laid a solid foundation for advancing into Hollywood back in May at Cannes when he met with CAA representatives. Next week, some 400 CAA agents will watch “A Bittersweet Life,” said Hwang.

CAA is the largest Hollywood agency, managing high-caliber stars such as Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Hugh Grant, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz and Nicole Kidman, as well as famous movie directors like Stephen Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer.

According to Hwang, a CAA agent named Jenny Rollings was impressed by “A Bittersweet Life” when she visited Cannes, France during the latest film festival. At a conference that was held the following day which was attended by Lee and Web representatives, Rollings said Lee had enough potential to make a successful debut in Hollywood, and called him “the Asian James Dean."

http://english.kbs.co.kr/mcontents/enterta...4685_11692.html

I don't think I want to see any of my favourite Asian actors being subjected to the Hollwood machine. They would not get much respect and I think it would even affect their own selfconfidence in their abilities. Hollywood is no longer the place where all the best movies are made. And indeed many of them are labelled Hollywood but they are all made elsewhere. It costs too much money to film it all here.
Any actor hoping to make a dent here would have to speak very good English to begin with. I remember when French leading men made films here and they were a success because their accent was thought to be sexy. Also the same with English actors..Just because the accent made US film makers think they were better actors. Not alway true. However, any Asian speech would have to be almost English perfect with only the slightest accent for it to be acceptable. Then I think half the charm would be gone. Well..for me anyway.

Of course there is more money to be made in Hollywood show business if the actor is successful. None of the US actors who go to Asia get paid according to Asian standards. they get US rates and are treated with kid gloves. BUT how many of them speak anything but English??? Don't even mention 'Last Samurai and that actor................. :blowup:


Actually the only Japanese young actor who speaks good English is Shingo Katori. His English accent is very good. I just wonder how great an understanding he has. I think Kimura has the understanding but he does not practise enough to have a clear English.

Well my two cents :)

Peg

I vote by Gackt and Takeshi, they are my more dear artists, besides to Tsuyoshi Domoto, I want much to them, fascinate to me, by everything, all the one of them, his voices, personality, everything, until the hidden tenderness of Gackt. I love this boys, for all :love4:

I have to admit, I don't know many of the names that are on this list. I would have to agree that HW would not treat these actors as properly as they should and therefore, we won't see them on the HW screen for some time. I think Tony Leung Chiu Wai is SUCH an amazing actor that he, by far, is the one who would best represent the talent of HK and Asia in general. I have a desire to hear Andy Lau speaking English (I never have :( ) but I seriously doubt he would go to HW - he's way to big of a star in Asia and it's obvious that he loves his celebrity too much to give it up, even if it's only temporary - but maybe I'm wrong :dunno:

You're not wrong.

Besides, he had expressed numerous times recently he is NOT interested on HW.

As for hearing his English - watch Wesley's Mysterious File - he speaks English 1/3 to 1/2 of movie there :)

:squint: Oooh, thank you for telling me about the movie, I've added it to Netflix list, yeah!!

Yeah, I would like to think that there are directors, producers, etc. that would treat foreign stars properly, but it's doubtful. What a shame. HW is severly lacking in so many ways, I am thankful for the Internet, Netflix & imports dealers.

I can't seem to vote (it gives me an error) but here are my 5 choices:


1. Takeshi Kaneshiro
2. Takuya Kimura
3. Woo Ji Tae (he's not on the list)
4. Won Bin
5. Rain

There are. In Europe. Luc Besson treats Jet Li with respect and Jet Li made 2 movies with him so far... I hope that's not end of that co-operation :)

Luc Besson is an awesome director!! I do like him...he is the reason I fell in love with Jean Reno - years ago!!