Matt Damon defends being cast for 'Great Wall'

Maybe the English should complain that Damon is not English. Let's call it "pink face" or something (after the flag colours). I am heartily sick of inauthenticity in movie fantasy. Whatever next? And now the Chinese are involved in big budget movies to "project cultural influence", well, next thing is the English will play all the baddies. Oh, they already do in Hollywood?

I don't care about the whitewashing part of the movie, just a shame Matt Damon took part in this cr*pfested crouching tiger hidden dragon on steroids

The Chinese co-made the movie - so blame the Chinese for whitewashing themselves

Come on! With a little scotch tape, he'll look as Chinese as anyone else! What's the problem?

The time honored Hollyweird 'tradition' of casting a white lead and several other white actors in a sea of Asian actors in an ancient story set in Asia.

47 Ronin anyone? I thought Matt Damon's best part was in Team America.

Will there ever be a movie starring an Asian mercenary fighting monsters in a medieval European setting? I doubt it'll happen any time soon. I realize the reasoning behind the casting (money), but it does suck for Asian actors.

Are the SJW still harping on about Damon being cast? Also didn't the director Zhang who is Chinese decide to cast Damon. Seems to be westerners are annoyed about this rather than the Chinese, even though his role is a European guy going to China to steal gunpowder.

adventure fantasy about a Chinese army battling monsters,

Seems like a serious film, must see :-)

Well, once the Chinese film market begins to dominate the globe in terms of sales, I think we'll probably start to see way more Asian leads (most likely all Chinese). For these types of high budget, international movies Hollywood actors will still dominate as Hollywood has a stranglehold on the global film market.

The real question is whether global audiences will even take to Chinese produced films in the first place, seeing as the Chinese government heavily censors non-Commie and critical content, so the films may be too drab and silly for audiences used to fairly open Hollywood and indie films. I doubt the government will ease up, so expect to see mostly period films or fantasy films like this

As some comments have pointed out, first the Chinese director was involved in casting Matt Damon. But it does seem to be early days yet for China projecting cultural influence towards the West.

As@MrBum says,

Will there ever be a movie starring an Asian mercenary fighting monsters in a medieval European setting? I doubt it'll happen any time soon.

But it could be happening under the radar. Indian movies (Bollywood) have been making lots of productions set in exotic 'Western' locations for a few years now, and productions are not so cheap.

It will be when the productions get the same kind of hype in China - what are THEY going to call it, the same kind of political correct Xenophobic expression like 'yellowwashing', or something anachronistic like that - that some kind of cosmic world cinematic balance will be achieved.

It's just a bloody movie anyway - it is not real.

The Great Wallet might not have much interest outside China

Matt Damon criticized “outrageous” stories in the era of fake news as he responded Tuesday to accusations that his role in the new China-Hollywood co-production “The Great Wall” should have gone to an Asian actor.

Critics are always off the mark. Matt Damon is just doing his job... acting. It is a movie for crying out loud... if you don't like what the movie is about, who is in it, blah blah blah, then don't watch it. Just another non-issue to write about and get people to complain about :

Damon, 46, plays an English mercenary in the upcoming $150 million adventure fantasy.

Why would you give a Asian actor the part of an "English" mercenary?

Well I jolly well hope the dragons are all played by Chinese pixels to make up for this outrage

Why would you give a Asian actor the part of an "English" mercenary?

Why make the main character of a Chinese fantasy epic an English mercenary?

We couldn't use Mongols, so we had to use mythical monsters instead......and White people for diversity........you know, we're sensitive.

comon hes playing an englishman in a fantasy movie, replacing mongols with monsters. I mean how authentic do you want to be!!

The thing is the Chinese had their chance to showcase Chinese talent in a blockbuster Chinese movie and they opted for an American. The role that was tailored for Mr. Damon didn't necessarily have to be a European mercenary.

If you want to talk discrimination, how many A-list Hollywood actors can you name who are Asian?

Seems to be westerners are annoyed about this rather than the Chinese, even though his role is a European guy going to China to steal gunpowder.

Things get complicated when you compare global and domestic markets, but a lot of Asians in China and Japan don't see the big fuss about whitewashing in Hollywood movies because they figure their own movie industries do the same in reverse. It makes sense for them because the homogeneity in their movies reflects the homogeneity in their own populations, and many often have a misconception that America is as homogeneous as their own country. It's not.

There's little opportunity for minority (Asian in this case) actors in Hollywood as it is, so when a seemingly obvious one comes along and goes to a white actor, it hurts. It's not about authenticity, it's about getting a break. I understand the studios concern for making money, but audiences won't get used to buying minorities as leads until they start seeing more of them. Similarly, I don't think we'll have a large pool of good minority actors until acting becomes a realistic career choice for them.

I always wondered why chuck connors got the part in that 1962 movie, instead of them choosing from among that great pool of fine apache actors.

Ah now i get it, he is an American playing an Englishman in a Chinese movie, we need a proper Brit to play the role! :P

Looks pretty cheesy to me.

Ah now i get it, he is an American playing an Englishman in a Chinese movie, we need a proper Brit to play the role! :P

Looks more like Robin Hood goes to China

Verry much so

To those who find the idea of an English mercenary in (fantasy) ancient China offensive (despite it being perfectly plausible - far more so than dragons in ancient China) - did you also rail against the (also prefectly plausible) writing of a saracen (played by Morgan Freeman) into the Robin Hood story? If not, why not? I thought a saracen in Robin Hood was fine and I think an English mercenary in ancient China is fine.

It's not whitewashing to cast a white actor to play a white character. The issue here, if indeed there is one, is why did they bother to contrive a plot involving a white character in ancient China? The obvious answer is that they wanted to make an English language movie for greater international appeal and greater profits. Big deal? Not in my book.

Yaaaa~wn.

A caucasian actor portraying a caucasian character certain does not seem to be very PC concept for a fantasy movie.

"I felt there was room for me to play and put many elements of Chinese culture into it." Uh, you mean propaganda?

At least change his name from Matt Damon to "Mah Dah Mon".

"I felt there was room for me to play and put many elements of Chinese culture into it." Uh, you mean propaganda?

China has a long history, and very distinct culture with lots of facets.

You've boiled down their political system to be their entire culture. A very shallow comment.

They are pissed that the Chinese director chose a white man to play a white man in his film? Because Logic... yeah.

So what if China took a page out of Hollywood's playbook? Good for them.

Hollywood has problem. In USA, Chinese and other Asian people prefer steady jobs such as doctors and technologists.