Donnie Yen claims his stereotypical Asian characters in ‘John Wick’ and ‘Star Wars’ were changed
Action film actor Donnie Yen has made the claim that his character in the upcoming fourth film in the John Wick franchise had to be changed after it called out the script and its writers for creating Asian stereotypes.
Yen recently made the claim in an interview with GQ, telling the magazine that even though he is a big name with several wide-ranging acting credits to his name, his Hollywood roles have often been limited to bit parts in a number of action films or that his characters are typecast, like several other Asian actors.
In John Wick: Chapter 4, Yen noticed that a number of Asian stereotypes could be found in his character. Yen will play an assassin by the name of Caine, whose first name had initially been penned down as “Shang or Chang”. It was these names that seemed to rile Yen up first of all.
“Why does he always have to be called Shang or Chang?” Yen said. “Why can’t he have a normal name? Why do you have to be so generic? Then the wardrobe again – oh, mandarin collars. Why is everything so generic? This is a John Wick movie. Everybody’s supposed to be cool and fashionable. Why can’t he look cool and fashionable?”
After his initial disappointment, Yen confronted the film’s director Chad Stahelski to ask him if he could change both the look and name of his character. He added, “One thing I pointed out is he was a stereotype. Typical master. Doesn’t smile.” Yen suggested to the director that his character should be blind with a strong sense of humour.
Still, Yen looks proud to be a part of John Wick, and a level of anticipation is building to see Keanu Reeves return to the role on screen. Yen concluded: “I had a very respectful experience working on John Wick. Overall, I enjoyed making the film.”
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