I recently came across an advertisement for the movie adaptation of the bestseller "Memoirs of a Geisha".
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808405115
It looks interesting and like it will be a good movie, but I noticed that while all the male leads will be played by Japanese actors, all the female leads will be played by Chinese????? Granted the movie will be in English and will cater to a Western audience, but I couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't find any Japanese actresses, surely that would make the movie more authentic? It's something I can't help but take notice of, it seems that they almost always use Chinese or Koreans to portray Japanese or Japanese that were obviously raised overseas. Aich, remember that Samurai with the Aussie accent?
Maybe Japanese women aren't as talented or versatile??? Or maybe they just can't find any Japanese women who speak enough English? The closest I can think of to a Japanese actress in Hollywood is Devon Sawa, but she's only half and she's more of a model than an actress. There are several Korean and Chinese actresses who have managed to break into movies, but no Japanese, at least that I've noticed.
I suppose most people wouldn't notice the difference between Japanese and other Asians, but to those who do, it can be very annoying. That was one reason why I was so impressed with the movie "The Last Samurai", they used Japanese actors and you could tell that Tom Cruise actually had some idea of what his Japanese lines meant, whereas most actors simply rattle off strings of syllables that were obviously memorised sound by sound.
