Simu Liu slammed Hollywood for the “backslide” in representation for Asian actors and the undue pressure on them to perform well at the box office.
In a social media post, the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star decried the fact that Asian actors in lead roles had led studios to success but were still deemed “risky” while White actors enjoyed multiple chances to fail.
“Put some Asians in literally anything right now. The amount of backslide in our representation onscreen is f****** appalling,” he wrote on Threads.
“Studios think we are ‘risky,’” he continued and went on to name several films helmed by Asian actors that went on to do very well at the box office.
The actor named Minari (2020) starring Steven Yeun, The Farewell (2019) starring Awkwafina, Celine Song’s Past Lives (2023) starring Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, multiple Oscar-winner Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, and James Hong.
He also brought up John M Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians (2018) starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, and Yeoh as well as his own Marvel blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).
“Every single one, a financial success. No Asian actor has ever lost a studio even close to 100 million dollars but a white dude will lose 200 million TWICE and roll right into the next tentpole lead,” he said. “We’re fighting a deeply prejudiced system. And most days it SUCKS.”
Liu was responding to a post compiled by another social media user with comments from different Asian male actors on the stereotypical roles they continued to get. It was titled, “Hollywood, put more Asian men in romantic lead roles.”
The post brought up The Good Place star Manny Jacinto’s recent comments where he said he had been offered only “dad roles” or “dad auditions” after playing a single father in Freakier Friday.
“I’m like, ‘Guys, I don’t think that’s me yet. I’m sorry. Let’s pull it back,’” he told ScreenRant.
The Canadian-Filipino actor, 38, has previously talked about the outrage caused by his scenes being cut from Top Gun: Maverick, saying that while he appreciated fans being upset, he wasn’t surprised when it happened.
“It’s flattering that there was a little bit of an outcry, but it wasn’t shocking to me,” Jacinto told GQ magazine last year.
“There was this sense of where the film was going, like I can see them focusing the camera more on these guys and not taking so much time on our scenes. It kind of fuels you because at the end of the day Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise. It’s up to us, Asian Americans, people of colour, to be that. We cannot wait for somebody else to do it. If we want bigger stories out there, we have to make them for ourselves.”
The post also brought up the lack of romantic lead roles for John Cho despite fans enjoying his portrayal of Henry Higgs in the now-canned Selfie, opposite Karen Gillan.
Selfie was a modern reimagining of the 1912 George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion and its 1956 film adaptation My Fair Lady, and ended up being cancelled mid-season, despite a fan campaign to bring it back.
The post also mentioned Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim, who told the Associated Press earlier this year that he was “still waiting to play a romantic lead” after three decades in the industry.
“I’m still waiting to play a romantic lead after all these years. I’ve never gotten the opportunity and it’s one of those interesting things because I look the way I do as an Asian American and Asian men were never considered handsome or sexy,” he said.
Kim had a more nuanced take on Asian representation in Hollywood, calling out what he referred to as “overcorrection” on nationality-specific casting for Asian characters.
“Right now, there is a focus on nationality-specific casting when it comes to Asian Americans that I feel is an overcorrection,” Kim said in an interview with American Masters PBS in August. “Very often, when we’re cast, if the role calls for a Korean American, they will not see a Japanese American or Chinese American or any other Asian nationality.”
He contrasted the scrutiny Asian actors received as compared to African American actors who didn’t get asked “their country of ancestry” or non-American actors who were cast to play American icons like superheroes.
Liu too has pushed back earlier on the lack of representation, calling out an article in 2023 which suggested that he was getting the “bulk of Asian male roles in Hollywood,” after news that he was cast as Ken in 2023’s Barbie.
“Way to attempt to put us against one another. What ‘bulk’ of roles are you referring to? Are there movies I’m in that I’m not aware of? Do you really think that there is a quota of ‘Asian male roles’ that is a zero sum game? Everything I have taken post Shang-Chi was not written Asian. We’ve been able to reshape stories to get more representation onscreen. Get your facts straight,” he commented on the outlet’s Facebook post sharing the story at the time.
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