Donnie Yen on Asian characters: ‘Why do they always have to be called Shan or Chang?’

We have become accustomed to characters played by Asian actors with Asian names: Katie Leung as Cho Chang in “Harry Potter”, Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Quan Wang in “All at once and everywhere”; Billie Wang, played by Awkwafina, is the protagonist of ‘The Farewell’ or Jackie Chan, which Kevin Chan for the international market in the saga of ‘Police Story’. It may seem normal, but, in a sense, they are stereotypes and so Donnie Yen pointed it out.

The Chinese-born actor makes his “John Wick” debut as Caine, a blind ex-assassin and old friend of Wick who originally went by the name “Shang or Chang”. Yen, in an interview with GQ magazine, confessed it due to his criticism of the film’s script for including Asian stereotypes, he achieved changes in his character: “The name was Shang or Chang, why does it always have to be called Shang or Chang? Why can’t it have a normal name? Why do you have to be so generic? And then again the wardrobe- oh Mao collars. – Why is everything so generic? It’s a ‘John Wick’ movie, everyone should be cool and stylish. Why the [su personaje] Can’t you be cool and trendy?”. It was at this time that ‘John Wick 4’ director Chad Stahelski agreed to change the character, allowing Yen to pay homage to Bruce Lee.

But this it wasn’t the first time that Yen tries to eliminate stereotypes in Hollywood. He also criticized the initial idea for the character of him in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, a blind fighter who was first described in the script as a martial artist. Yen stated that: “One thing I’ve pointed out is that he himself was a stereotypethe typical teacher who doesn’t smile”. The film crew also responded positively to his criticisms, giving the character more comedic touches, allowing Yen to tweak the character (it was his idea to blind him) and give him his signature touch of humor.

Yen got his start in Hollywood with a job as a martial arts choreographer. One of his first jobs was in “Blade II” where he was hired by Guillermo del Toro to choreograph the fight scenes and to play Snowman. The actor indicates that the director’s treatment was excellent, but that the producer’s disrespectful comments made him feel that way “he didn’t understand or appreciate what he was doing”. Furthermore, Yen pointed out that, in his acting jobs, Hollywood has always offered him secondary characters as a wise warrior or dour general, while in China he could play a drug lord, a soldier or the protagonist of a love story.

Inspiration in visual techniques

Although Hollywood has treated Asian actors differently, on numerous occasions it has been inspired by Hong Kong visual techniques: some camera tricks, wire work… in fact the “John Wick” saga itself would not exist without the influence of John Woo and other Asian directorsas Yen pointed out: “If you look at all the big Hollywood movie visuals for TV, Netflix, Apple or whatever, all of these movies, in one way or another, are [influenciadas] for Hong Kong films”.