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NEWS: Hiro Mizushima to Star in Live-Action Black Butler Film

There were also comments about how the story takes place 130 years later, which means there's no Ciel, which also means there's no reason for Sebastian to be a butler since he became a butler because of Ciel. ^^;;;;

These were my exact thoughts after reading it would br 130 years after the main story. I really have no idea of what the plot could be about.

I'd imagine it's harder to blame Japan for "yellowwashing" when they likely don't have enough white actors in Japan who speak Japanese well enough.

I'd imagine it's harder to blame Japan for "yellowwashing" when they likely don't have enough white actors in Japan who speak Japanese well enough. That's not an issue in Murrica, we have Asians, we have Asians who can act, and a lot of them live on the West Coast or are already working in some capacity related to film and theater. That goes for any race or ethnicity and why whitewashing today is old fashioned and stupid. I don't blame Japan for casting Japanese actors in white roles.

walw6pK4Alo wrote:

I'd imagine it's harder to blame Japan for "yellowwashing" when they likely don't have enough white actors in Japan who speak Japanese well enough.

Not nearly as much as minorities in America, but there's enough in Japan, both white and black. I've met some, mainly in the commercial ad industry. Enough to support a few --not many but a few-- projects at a time. The world is becoming smaller, and Japan too is becoming more metropolitan, particularly in big cities. Their industry is just not trying enough, same as how Hollywood is sometimes lazy with minorities.

Going to get flamed for this probably, but Hollywood has a huge history of yellowfacing and stereotyping us Asians as 'foreign' (even if we are American-Born, they still do that to us), not to mention despite that there are plenty of us that they could hire for movies, they choose not to. They believe that we are not 'marketable' to them at all, yet they only hire us Asian women to fill in the roles, but not the guys.

ScrambleBuster wrote:

Going to get flamed for this probably, but Hollywood has a huge history of yellowfacing and stereotyping us Asians as 'foreign' (even if we are American-Born, they still do that to us), not to mention despite that there are plenty of us that they could hire for movies, they choose not to. They believe that we are not 'marketable' to them at all, yet they only hire us Asian women to fill in the roles, but not the guys.

Ah, the "Perpetual Foreigner" syndrome. . . I hate to sound bitter and appear pro-Asian but what you say is quite true. There's a lack of Asian[-American] male icons in the movie industry in the U.S. and the ones we have causes a lot of stereotypes; with Jackie Chan and Jet Li as the prominent figures, I often -- and many of my male Asian friends/kin -- get remarks about whether we know martial arts or not. When I answer no, I get replies such as "Oh, but Jackie Chan/Jet Li/Bruce LI know martial arts. Surely you do, too." It's frustrating but I manage to ignore those comments.

There are other negative Asian/Asian-American stereotypes in Western movies such as the "Fu Manchu" and for women, the biggest are the "Dragon Lady" and "China Doll (Lotus Blossom)". Lucy Liu plays many Dragon Lady roles and the Asian community are unsure as to whether her role is blessing or a curse; there's a lack of Asian figures in the Western movie industry but Lucy Liu's roles are questionable.

I've got a good idea for this. Why don't the Japanese go into production with the Brits? It's a good idea. The Japanese can work behind the scenes while the British actors do their thing. I also think that David Tennant would make a good Sebastian Michaels. A Japanese-UK co-production of "Black Butler" would be a fine idea. I think it could work.

Think it could be safely said, that Japan does the same thing as Hollywood for much the same reasons.

In the end the only deciding factor is money. If Hollywood thought they could make more money using Asian-American actors they would.
And if Japan thought they could make more money using British actors they would. We can complain all we want but the final calculus is profit.

The best hope to change thinking like this is the Indies, where profit is still important, but the producers and creators have a bit more freedom in what they put out.

Personally, I don't think it is Hollywood that has to change, but rather the audience. If the audience thought this is an important issue, then there would be a corresponding paradigm shift in what actually makes more money.

As to Asian actors playing roles considered stereotypical. Actors have to make a living too, and just like other industries, sometimes you have to do jobs you don't like.

TarsTarkas wrote:

Think it could be safely said, that Japan does the same thing as Hollywood for much the same reasons. In the end the only deciding factor is money. If Hollywood thought they could make more money using Asian-American actors they would. And if Japan thought they could make more money using British actors they would. We can complain all we want but the final calculus is profit. The best hope to change thinking like this is the Indies, where profit is still important, but the producers and creators have a bit more freedom in what they put out. Personally, I don't think it is Hollywood that has to change, but rather the audience. If the audience thought this is an important issue, then there would be a corresponding paradigm shift in what actually makes more money. As to Asian actors playing roles considered stereotypical. Actors have to make a living too, and just like other industries, sometimes you have to do jobs you don't like.

Exactly, that's how I like to put it. Also my only complaint is hypocrisy, people attack Hollywood for whitewash and not casting Asian American actors, but not complaint when other countries does something similar like Japan did it for Black Butler and Thermae Romae, nobody in US that bash Hollywood for whitewash has ever attack Japan for doing something similar, Japan has done this before. After reading this, now I laugh at the people that called casting white people in Akira whitewash have not went after this.

mdo7 wrote:

TarsTarkas wrote: Think it could be safely said, that Japan does the same thing as Hollywood for much the same reasons. In the end the only deciding factor is money. If Hollywood thought they could make more money using Asian-American actors they would. And if Japan thought they could make more money using British actors they would. We can complain all we want but the final calculus is profit. The best hope to change thinking like this is the Indies, where profit is still important, but the producers and creators have a bit more freedom in what they put out. Personally, I don't think it is Hollywood that has to change, but rather the audience. If the audience thought this is an important issue, then there would be a corresponding paradigm shift in what actually makes more money. As to Asian actors playing roles considered stereotypical. Actors have to make a living too, and just like other industries, sometimes you have to do jobs you don't like. Exactly, that's how I like to put it. Also my only complaint is hypocrisy, people attack Hollywood for whitewash and not casting Asian American actors, but not complaint when other countries does something similar like Japan did it for Black Butler and Thermae Romae, nobody in US that bash Hollywood for whitewash has ever attack Japan for doing something similar, Japan has done this before. After reading this, now I laugh at the people that called casting white people in Akira whitewash have not went after this.

You're actually half right you know. It's just as bad as Heimdall being a black man in Thor, despite being the "whitest of all Gods" which is an obvious contradiction. Then again, Heimdall isn't exactly a human, so anyone with competency in acting can do him well. Same with Goku from DB, even though Goku lacks a specific ethnic origin and it doesn't actually matter if Goku is white, as long as the actor who played him could act worth a darn. It's too bad Chatwin did not know how to do that. Also, you have to keep in mind Japan is 98%+ ethnically homogeneous. When I was a child in Japan, I never saw a black person, white person or Arab once. Not ONCE. You'd be lucky to see visible minorities like Chinese and Koreans, if you're in many parts of Japan. I don't really care about how Asian-Americans are treated by Hollywood or America general, since I'm not an Asian-American, but a lot claiming Hollywood is "racist" because of things like DBE, even though Goku's not even a human and that movie with Mr. Yunioshi is pretty stupid. Americans of Asian descent need to stop being so sensitive. Even though American stereotypes of Asians isn't particularly praised in Japan, they didn't whine over Mr. Yunioshi did they? It's not offensive, but it's funny and is NOT meant to be quote unquote offensive. Maybe I feel like this, because I wasn't born in the USA or even the west and was raised by my parents not to be so sensitive and be hardy, but goddamn it, I was still raised in the West and you don't see me crying over it. Why do most Asians of Western Nationality get so upset, when people mock Asians, even for a joke? This is why political correctness is wrong!

This isn't the first time Mizushima Hiro's played a butler. Live-Action Mei's Butler (Mei no Shitsuji) anyone? http://asianwiki.com/Mei's_Butler .