Learn Chinese - Chow Yun-Fat wants to take the lead in U.S. films

ENTERTAINMENT / Movies






Chow Yun-Fat wants to take the lead in U.S. films

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-05-24 08:37





Cast member Chow Yun-Fat poses at the premiere of "Pirates of the
Caribbean: At World's End" in Anaheim, California May 19, 2007. [Reuters]

International action star and heartthrob Chow Yun-Fat, who plays the
pirate lord Captain Sao Feng in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's
End," says he'd like to snag a leading-man role in a Hollywood drama or
romance but is getting lost in translation.

Chow, whose acting range and stature in Asia have been compared with that
of Robert De Niro, voiced frustration at racial barriers that persist in
America's movie industry.

"Honestly, I prefer (to do) more dramas. In American society ... Asian
actors are not accepted as leading men," he said in an interview last
week for the "Pirates" publicity tour. "Maybe we have to wait for a few
more years."

"Pirates" director Gore Verbinski said that as soon as the writers
decided the plot would take the film to Singapore, he knew he would try
to cast Chow.

"Once we knew that, there was nobody else," Verbinski said. "Yun-Fat is a
living legend."

The 51-year-old Hong Kong actor is known to Asian audiences as a cross
between Cary Grant and James Bond, but in Hollywood he has had trouble
moving beyond the period films like "Anna and the King" and martial arts
fare like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" that U.S. audiences know best.

"He has experienced a glass ceiling in Hollywood," said filmmaker Jeff
Adachi, who explored the topic in his PBS documentary "The Slanted
Screen."

"The tragedy is that there are roles that should be offered to Asian
leading men but people are not used to seeing that ... so it's something
that studios are not willing to invest in," Adachi said.

SILENT FILM PHENOMENON

The first Asian actor to achieve stardom rivaling that of Caucasian
actors in U.S. films was Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa, who became a
silent film phenomenon after his turn as a merchant who extorts a white
woman to have an affair with him, then brands her when she tries to leave
him, in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Cheat" in 1915.

The role propelled Hayakawa to silent film superstardom, and saw him
playing romantic leads frequently opposite white actresses, said Stephen
Gong, executive director of the Center for Asian American Media in San
Francisco.

"The amazing thing that happened is that suddenly Hayakawa overnight
became a huge star and his fan base was American women," Gong said. "They
didn't know what to make of him."

Hawaiian-born actor James Shigeta also broke the racial barrier in the
late 1950s and 1960 with leading roles including "Bridge to the Sun,"
opposite Carroll Baker and the 1961 musical "Flower Drum Song."

But those roles have been less plentiful than "Yellow Peril" villain
roles, such as Ming the Merciless from "Flash Gordon," "asexual beings"
like the comic character Long Duk Dong from "Sixteen Candles," or martial
arts roles made popular by Hong Kong imports Jackie Chan and Jet Li,
Adachi said.

Film historian David Thomson said that while Chow has a shot at landing
dramatic roles of the type popularized by action star Harrison Ford, he
still faces an uphill struggle for romantic leads.

"We break down these barriers very slowly and I don't think we are doing
we are doing it quickly enough to encourage an actor like Chow to think
he will get away with it," Thomson said. "I think there is a great deal
of racism in the country too."










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