Movies and Mystery Peoples pt. 2
Nov. 22nd, 2009 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yelosonEnded up re-watching The Debut, and being the geek that I am, looked up what Wikipedia had to say:
Right after Gene finished shooting the first 10 mins of his thesis project, he sent the movie script to potential financial backers and was turned down. Gene and John went around Hollywood, "shopping" the idea of The Debut to all the major Hollywood studios(Disney, Warner Bros., MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Columbia, Universal). Most of the studio executives didn't know what a Filipino/Filipino American was and told him the film needed a white actor in a lead so the film can be marketable.
Um. Living in California (or anywhere on the West Coast) and you don't even know WHAT a filipino IS? Seriously?
Also:
The most difficult role to cast was finding the love interest of Ben. Most of the females that auditioned were, light skinned Filipinas or Half Filipino/European females or as Gene puts it, "Miss Saigon Girls." Actress Joy Bisco was chosen after she heard at a club they were looking for dark skin Filipino American actresses.
Colorism, roles for darker women, etc. Guh.
Right after Gene finished shooting the first 10 mins of his thesis project, he sent the movie script to potential financial backers and was turned down. Gene and John went around Hollywood, "shopping" the idea of The Debut to all the major Hollywood studios(Disney, Warner Bros., MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Columbia, Universal). Most of the studio executives didn't know what a Filipino/Filipino American was and told him the film needed a white actor in a lead so the film can be marketable.
Um. Living in California (or anywhere on the West Coast) and you don't even know WHAT a filipino IS? Seriously?
Also:
The most difficult role to cast was finding the love interest of Ben. Most of the females that auditioned were, light skinned Filipinas or Half Filipino/European females or as Gene puts it, "Miss Saigon Girls." Actress Joy Bisco was chosen after she heard at a club they were looking for dark skin Filipino American actresses.
Colorism, roles for darker women, etc. Guh.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 08:56 pm (UTC)I'm a Filipino-American! And my family are Filipinos! And there are Filipinos all over the west coast and in Hawaii! And a coming of age story about a Filipino-American boy is NOT going to work with a white actor as the lead. wtf does he know about family ties to another country, about family honor and not shaming ourselves or our family (and extended family) with our actions, or marrying a guy that your parents need to approve of because they need to approve of him and his family, or our food and our culture and our music, or about...argh!
Though, I'm honestly not surprised they don't know what a Filipino is. Probably thought we were all Mexicans. *grumbles*
I had to go double check on what Joy Bisco looked like, but huh. She's not that dark skinned for a Filipina, to be honest. My sister is a shade darker in skin tone and I was definitely darker skinned when I was younger. Either way, I'm glad they made the attempt to look for dark skinned Filipinas because there is the thought that the fairer you are, the pretty you are (which I've gotten plenty of talk about from my mother *sighs*).
Anyway. I need to go buy that movie. I keep procrastinating.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 09:05 pm (UTC)