8 Asians

21: Based On Real Life (without all those Asian kids)

By Ernie | Friday, November 30, 2007 | Comments


So, the new trailer to 21 has been released – a movie based on the non-fiction book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich involving a group of MIT students that, well, brought down the houses of Las Vegas casinos. It’s a Hollywood movie, starring Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne.

It’s a true-story-turned-Hollywood movie in every fashion – promising MIT students, desperate to raise tuition money! Dramatic kidnappings! Kevin Spacey slowly turning evil! Oh, and one other little thing: the mostly Asian American MIT Blackjack team had been replaced with white actors.

According to this article from MIT’s newspaper, The Tech:

During the talk, Mezrich mentioned the stereotypical Hollywood casting process — though most of the actual blackjack team was composed of Asian males, a studio executive involved in the casting process said that most of the film’s actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female. Even as Asian actors are entering more mainstream films, such as “Better Luck Tomorrow” and the upcoming “Memoirs of a Geisha,” these stereotypes still exist, Mezrich said.

Okay, white actors and also the previously blogged about Aaron Yoo. But even then, Aaron Yoo is super attractive. If people that attractive were really on the MIT Blackjack team, well, they wouldn’t be at MIT, they’d all be actor-models. Replacing Asians with white people also prevents the explanation of why the MIT Blackjack team was consciously non-white, according to this article in Wired:

The MIT team thrived by choosing BPs [Big Players] who fit the casino mold of the young, foolish, and wealthy. Primarily nonwhite, either Asian or Middle Eastern, these were the kids the casinos were accustomed to seeing bet a thousand bucks a hand. Like many on the team, Kevin Lewis was part Asian, and could pass as the child of a rich Chinese or Japanese executive. “When you’re recruiting, you don’t recruit white kids. They look conspicuous. Asian kids, Greek kids, dark skin fits in better with lots of money in the casinos. White 20-year-olds with $2 million bankrolls stand out,” explains Andrew Tay, one of Lewis’ teammates. “A geeky Asian kid with $100,000 in his wallet didn’t raise any eyebrows.”

Fine, it’s a Hollywood movie; it’s perfectly okay to make little changes for more people to run to the movie theater, if only to suspend disbelief for a little bit. Maybe adding Aaron Yoo was a specific nod and wink to people who know the background story to acknowledge that yes, the real-life Blackjack team was more diverse than in the movie. But still. [sigh]

I hope the MIT Blackjack team have cameos in the movie. Hopefully that aren’t working as extras in a scene involving the casino’s Chinese buffet.

(Huge props, including the Wired Link: kevnull)

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  • OK, OK. I just saw the trailer a second time and it said "INSPIRED BY a true story" instead of "BASED on a true story," thus allowing a lot more, uhm, "creative interpretation." But still, my point stands.
  • 8Asians... INSPIRED by _______... ???
  • Isn't that the case.

    The same case with U-571. The Americans supposedly captured the Enigma decoder during World War 2.

    Hollywood rewriting events.
  • Ernie, don't wuss out on this one. Don't give in to fucking BS caveats of "based on" version "is". FUCK HOLLYWOOD. I mean that is just FUCKED UP. The racial money shot is here:

    During the talk, Mezrich mentioned the stereotypical Hollywood casting process — though most of the actual blackjack team was composed of Asian males, a studio executive involved in the casting process said that most of the film’s actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female.

    Yes, cuz we've never seen white guys and Asian women before, so cutting edge.

    In words of AngryAsianMan,

    That's racist!
  • I'm with Jesse on this one!
  • Marge
    Whitey's bringin' us down, man!
  • The film industry doesn't seem to have changed; since they cast David Carradine in Kung Fu.

    If they were thinking of box office receipts, there are enough Asians who would make it a success.
  • As an Asian-am that graduated from MIT, I can say there are lots of hot asian-ams that could've been cast for this...

    Kevin Spacey, why didn't you do it right?
    white male casting dude, why didn't you do it right?
    we should protest or slightly protest...

    Sophia
  • and it would have been a chance to give a bunch of Asian-ams a chance at the screen!
  • here's the MIT story on it
    http://www-tech.mit.edu/V127/N21/blackjack.html

    Jefferey K. Ma ’94, one of the actual members of the famous MIT Blackjack Team and the protagonist model in Mezrich’s book, visited the set both in Boston and Las Vegas. In fact, the crew decided to have him star as a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas in the film. “It is pretty ironic that he is playing this extra role,” according to Cid Swank, the spokesperson for the movie. “People who recognize him will notice this when they see him in the movie.”
  • It would be nice to see more actors of Asian descent to star in movies, TV shows, etc. coming out of Hollywood.

    I remember growing up experiencing a mass media world largely devoid of actors of Asian descent. I think it's important for people of all ethnicities to be able to grow up seeing themselves (or people who look like them) reflected in the media, not just as stereotypes but as real people.

    This news is very disappointing, if for no other reason that it goes contrary to the facts as they actually occurred, but also because I'd like to see some portrayals of Asians in media apart from nerds or martial artists. Although I guess if you go to MIT you're technically a nerd. ;)
  • Raj
    Pollsters tell Hollywood execs that racist white Americans wont like too many non-white faces in a movie. The same pollsters tell me that Barrack Obama has a good chance of becoming President of a majority racist white America. Something is wrong with this picture. If A is preferred to B and B to C, A would be preferred to C. Either the white American public is racist which means they wont want to watch an all Asian cast which means Obama has no chance of winning..or the public is not racist. Which one is it? I am pretty confused.
  • Farhad
    When it comes to making fun of asians it is somehow very easy for hollywood to find asians actors.

    When it is to find for a positive roles it is somehow hard for them to find asian actors.

    If their casting depends on viewers then it means the people are racist. People love to watch asians getting their asses kicked and mocked. People hate watching movies where asian guy kicks ass and kisses a white woman. They love watching white man being the leader in all scenes.
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