Actor Ed Skrein, who was on board to play Major Ben Daimio in the Hellboy Reboot, has left the film after finding out that his character is originally an Asian character in the comic books. Accusing the team of whitewashing, since he, a Caucasian, was pegged to play an originally Asian character, took to social media explain why he opted out.
“It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the Arts. I feel it is important to honour and respect that. Therefore, I have decided to step down so the role can be cast appropriately,” he wrote, adding that the representation of ethnic diversity is important.
— Ed Skrein (@edskrein) August 28, 2017
Responding to Skrein’s statement, Lionsgate, the studio behind the reboot, said in a statement: “Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision. It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.”
Mike Mignola, the creator of the Hellboy comics, even thanked Skrein on Twitter about taking a stand on this.
thank you @edskrein very nicely done… https://t.co/hwCsaf9iZj
— Mike Mignola (@artofmmignola) August 28, 2017
One of the few to take a stand, Hollywood has been accused of whitewashing several times, gaining further notoriety during the Oscars in 2015 and 2016. Hollywood further got flak when in April last year, Scarlett Johansson was announced to play the lead in Ghost In The Shell, based on a Japanese Manga comic series. A petition was launched to replace the actress with a Japanese one, fueling more debate over how Hollywood chose to ‘whitewash’ the industry instead of giving opportunities to actors of other ethnicities.
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Tilda Swinton, who played The Ancient One in Doctor Strange last year, a character who is essentially an Asian man in the original comics. The project faced criticism for its casting of Swinton as the character, though Marvel and the film’s creative team maintained that their casting choice came after the character was already changed with the express purpose to avoid racist undertones.
Meanwhile, according to Variety.com, Hellboy Reboot‘s studio will now focus on re-casting Skrein’s role, with the shooting beginning this October. David Harbour is playing Hellboy. Neil Marshall is directing the movie, which also stars Ian McShane and Milla Jovovich.
Feature Image: Entertainment Weekly