Advertisement

Cloud Atlas slated for lack of Asian actors

New film from the Wachowskis criticised for its use of prosthetics to turn white actors into Asian characters

The new film adaptation of 'Cloud Atlas' has been slammed for not using Asian actors in key roles, instead using prosthetics and 'yellowface' make-up.

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans says that the move by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer - who have directed the ambitious project from David Mitchell's best-selling 2005 novel - is 'disturbing', particularly in the case of one of the plot strands based in South Korea.

[Related story: Mixed reviews for Cloud Atlas]



“Cloud Atlas missed a great opportunity. The Korea story’s protagonist is an Asian man - an action hero who defies the odds and holds off armies of attackers,” said MANAA's Guy Aoki.

“It would have been a great, stereotype-busting role for an Asian American actor to play, as Asian American men aren’t allowed to be dynamic or heroic very often.”

The role is instead played by Jim Sturgess, while Hugo Weaving and James D'Arcy also play Asian roles in the film.

“The message the movie sends is, it takes a lot of work to get Asians to look Caucasian, but you can easily turn Caucasians into Asians by just changing the shape of their eyes,” he added.

“In the modern age of movie make up, it is disturbing to see poorly done Asian eye prosthetics to make Caucasian men look Asian.”

Aoki uses the further example of a section of the film where black slaves are all played by black actors, particularly that of British actor David Gyasi, who plays a freed slave.

“You have to ask yourself: Would the directors have used blackface on a white actor to play Gyasi’s role? I don’t think so: That would have outraged African American viewers. But badly done yellowface is still OK.”

The film is out on February 22, 2013, and also stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Ben Wishaw and Jim Broadbent.