When I was backpacking in Morocco last summer, an incident
occurred which has been on my mind ever since. Being Asian, I was
usually greeted by the locals with the “Konnichiwa!”
perfected for Japanese tourists. But once, a young boy, correctly
guessing my Chinese origin, said to me, “Jackie
Chan!”
That was my first indication of how universal Jackie Chan, the
funnyman and action hero, has become. Even in the desert country of
Morocco, which seemed a haven free of outside influences, Jackie
Chan was known and loved as he is in Asia and America.
Recently I’ve become interested in the role foreign actors
play in Hollywood. So I’ve been dutifully watching lots of
Hong Kong films with Jet Li and Chow-Yun Fat and French films with
Gerard Depardieu and Vincent Perez.
The tie that binds them is that they are all superstars who have
been lured away from their native lands by Hollywood. But their
common fate has been a failure to cross over to an international
audience the way Jackie Chan has.
Hollywood is eager to cash in on actors who have enjoyed success
in America after successful careers overseas. But judging by some
of the recent American vehicles for these actors, it seems like
Hollywood doesn’t have a clue how to use this foreign
talent.
I’m sorry to report that Jet Li has been heinously wronged
in both of his Hollywood ventures. In “Lethal Weapon
4,” Li plays a bad guy who chokes people with his Buddhist
prayer beads. I won’t be petty and dwell on the mistake of
casting him as a villain (but really, Jet Li is good as a good
guy).
His other Hollywood movie, “Romeo Must Die,” equally
disappointed me. When I saw this film, I was struck by the fact
that Hollywood filmmakers seem to have trouble with actors who
don’t fit the American ideal of beauty.
I was chatting with film director Chi Muoi Lo (well, okay, I was
just interviewing him and the subject of Jet Li came up) and he
agreed that the filmmakers of “Romeo” had done Li a
great disservice. They hadn’t used a proper lens filter to
adjust for Li’s complexion, so everybody in the audience sat
there looking at Li’s pockmarks and wondering how a guy who
looked like that got to be such a huge deal in Asia.
But aside from his complexion, how they managed to make Jet Li
so unattractive is a mystery to me. Li is a guy who can look hot
even wearing a pigtail.
A similar crime was committed against Vincent Perez by the
makers of “I Dreamed of Africa.” Did they never see him
in”Indochine?” Was there nothing in the quasi-divinity
of his good looks and performance to study and replicate?
“Africa” certainly managed to nearly extinguish his
charm and reduce him to a balding and dusty pedestal for Kim
Basinger’s glowing beauty.
Personally, I like it when filmmakers hide the imperfect human
side of my onscreen idols and indulge my schoolgirl obsessions. For
Hollywood filmmakers who want to use popular foreign actors, I have
this piece of advice: Take half as much care filming them as you do
of your middle-aged actresses and our foreign men will hold their
own.
Action super-director John Woo knows how to make the best of his
actors. He said in a recent Premiere magazine interview,
“When I shoot Chow Yun-Fat, I know his specialty: His eyes
are very charming, very dramatic, so I focus always on his
eyes.” I wonder if Andy Tennant, director of “Anna and
the King,” spent any time figuring out how to specifically
shoot Chow, as opposed to any other actor.
But beyond this merely cosmetic concern is a worrisome lack of
understanding about how to make a foreign actor fit into a
Hollywood-style film. Just as Harrison Ford is good at playing a
certain type of character, these foreign actors also have certain
roles that help them shine. But no effort is made in Hollywood to
study their previous work and to learn what these roles are.
Jet Li, for one, is most charming as an innately noble
character, very skillful at whooping ass (but only in
self-defense), and totally clueless about his effect on the female
characters in the film. Hollywood has yet to make use of this
effective and highly entertaining type.
Another travesty of filmmaking is Hollywood’s treatment of
Gerard Depardieu. Most Americans know him as an oafish Frenchman
from roles such as the repulsive musketeer Porthos in “The
Man in the Iron Mask.” He’s a larger-than-life figure
in French cinema, but nobody in America likes him. That’s
primarily because, to get a job in Hollywood, he has to play up the
stereotype of the slimy French guy. Never mind that he has built a
career in France by portraying elegant and complex characters.
My biggest worry is that Americans who have only seen these
wonderful actors in their miscalculated Hollywood ventures will
wonder what all the hoopla is about. To these people, I urge and
plead with them to endure the subtitles, and to judge foreign
actors by some of their own countries’ films.
Get your hands on Jet Li’s “Once Upon a Time in
China,” Chow Yun-Fat’s “Shanghai Beach,”
Gerard Depardieu’s “The Last Metro” and Vincent
Perez’s “Indochine” unless, of course,
you’re afraid of agreeing with me.