HMONG ACTORS in GRAN TORINO

plain_jane

sarNie Hatchling
something fishy is going on. as much as i wanna believe that eastwood is as geniunely down to earth guy, i personally think that he is an oscar hungry man. on the girl whitney's myspace, i was reading one of her comments (yes i'm nosy) and she said that its all a lie. she did not get the role and she was telling her friend who asked her, to not believe it because its all a lie. something is definately fishy. is eastwood trying to do a coverup?
I'm wondering if they're just telling them to hush about it, since they got the roles. Or like you said, Eastwood maybe trying to cover it up! Opps! Double posted.
 

xxmiss_maixx

sarNie Adult
^everything sounds so fishy now. first it was like "oh so and so got this role" and now we're not even sure. i checked online mainstream resources. and NOTHING. there's nothing no news following this movie progress. its so fishy. i'm sorry to say this but imo i dont think this movie will make the chart for the oscars nomination. eastwood considers to be a "risk". a risk would be something like doing a high buget rambo war epic about the hmong involvement in the secret CIA army during the vietnam war not some cheezy coming-of-age storyline that has already been recycle how many times.
 

mly

sarNie Hatchling
not trying to be a hater, but just because it's about a hmong family doesn't mean all the characters have to be hmong. if any hmong out there wants to be a movie star, gotta take classes and keep trying. one day they will make it big. look at brenda song, she may not be worth millions of dollars per movie, but at least she's getting somewhere. the actors does make a big different in a movie. i rather see someone who can act play any parts in the movie.
 

xxmiss_maixx

sarNie Adult
the movie is about a traditional hmong family. acting is a bonus but the real factor is its authenticity. for example, i was totally fine with non-hmong ppl portraying hmong ppl on grey's anatomy but we dont wear thousand dollars suit. our last name is Chu or watever it was. shamans dont perform in hospital! where's the goddamn pig/cow/chicken? and besides gran torino is a hmong movie. hmong ppl arent a large group of ppl where tons of ppl know about us. who else can portray us as good as our own kind?
 

plain_jane

sarNie Hatchling
No worries! It's OFFICIAL! All characters are played by Hmong actors and actresses. You can check pictures of them on the Hmong in Gran Torino website on the first post I made!!!
 

aZn_FrEaK

*~JUNSU'S DORK~*
anybody know where theyre shooting the film in detroit?
i may run over to see kehehe
that's if people are even allowed there o_O
 

xxmiss_maixx

sarNie Adult
^dont get your hopes up high for the asian johnny depp. i was very VERY VERY disappointed
i am so overly disappointed in the casting. they (producers) got me stuck in this image that Tao was gonna be this good looking asian johnny depp but ewwwwwwwww i was so disappointed in the cast.
Smokie the lead gangster is a chubby wannbe gangster who can not be taken seriously. like if i was to see him walking down the street threatening i would take on look at him and be like "are you freaken sh*ting me?"
 

nkaujhmooblauj

sarNie Adult
^dont get your hopes up high for the asian johnny depp. i was very VERY VERY disappointed
i am so overly disappointed in the casting. they (producers) got me stuck in this image that Tao was gonna be this good looking asian johnny depp but ewwwwwwwww i was so disappointed in the cast.
Smokie the lead gangster is a chubby wannbe gangster who can not be taken seriously. like if i was to see him walking down the street threatening i would take on look at him and be like "are you freaken sh*ting me?"
i don't even know who is johnny depp.
lol.
so i don't really care...
i did look up his photos though.
get real now.. a hmong guy that looks like johnny depp
ahaha
 

xxmiss_maixx

sarNie Adult
u dont know johnny depp? prirates of the caribbean sea? lol
anyways, i seen how Tao looks like and he is nowhere as close as Johnny Depp. btw, Takeshi kaneshiro is considered to be the asian johnny depp.
 

haezel

sarNie Egg
first off, that is what the hollywood people wanted - a hmong johnny depp, without considering acting skills. obviously no hmong johnny depp had the acting skills that is why you have the lead as he is. yes, we can all agree that he is no johnny depp, but he isn't ugly and is far from it. support your fellow hmong people and go see him on the screen, if his acting is bad then you can criticize him on that, but there is no need to be all crazily disappointed by the casting right now. they're all working hard to put out a good film, appreciate that.
 

xxmiss_maixx

sarNie Adult
haezel, first of all, i am deeply concerned that you may be angry at my dislikes in the casting. i also felt that you are probably one of those loyal patriotic hmong people who is rooting this movie eventhough it will certainly butchered our image in the media.
second, i am entitled to my own opinion and thoughts and feelings. it is already bad enough that they were giving us false of an asian johnny depp. when i read the character description, we all had envision an handsome hmong johnny depp. i applauded bee vang who was able to snatch the throne but is also disappointed.
third, i support my hmong ppl who is representing us in the film but i do not support the makers of this film. they did not put enough hard effort into this movie. even from the audition sides, there were alot of flaws. a true traditional hmong girl does not get into their nieghbor's car and to make things even worse, her neighbor was a old white man, that is a big NO NO. hmong ppl do not chew betel nuts and shamans are not mind readers or character readers or fortune tellers.
if you wanna support false information of the hmong people, my fellow hmong, be my guest and buy $10 for this movie to watch them butchered us. after all its only making them much richer, as we may go down the drain.
 

xxmiss_maixx

sarNie Adult
i felt that they could have put in extra work to actually research and listen to me. i call the office of clint eastwood's office, talked to his personal assistant but they're so freaken ignorant. eastwood is an oscar-power hungry man end of story.
 

haezel

sarNie Egg
i'm not angry at all. i was just merely replying back to your post of being severely disappointed in the casting. and your suspicions are wrong. i am not one of those "loyal hmong people" who support my people just because they are hmong and just because it is a movie about hmong people. i am just as skeptical as you are about the movie (but in a different sense), but being that i know what is going on with the shooting i am that much more appreciative about the hard work the hmong actors are putting in. and for your information, they did have a hmong consultant on the shoot but i heard that she did a lot of things wrong and wouldn't listen to a lot of the cast members who knew more about the shaman rituals and other hmong traditions than her...so if the movie comes out with stereotypes, you can blame the consultant. when i heard about what she did, i was severely disappointed because these people went to odd lengths to get a consultant and yet she still managed to screw up her own hmong people's image. you can say that a lot of people are embarrassed for her as a hmong person.

as for sue's character...her character description fits a lot of traditional hmong americans. maybe your experience may be different, but i find it perfectly normal. and then you also have to take into consideration that this screen play was written from a caucasian american point of view so i wouldn't go into the theatre expecting it to be genuinely a hmong movie at heart. not to mention that this is hollywood...there are bound to be stereotypes, not that that is an excuse either but that's the real world. that goes the same for the wardrobe choice...even if the hmong cast wanted to voice their opinion, it is not as simple as it seems and it goes the same for everything else. this is the dirty world of the film industry...because you have so many other people who make the decisions.

also, i honestly don't think you care for this movie to be a genuine portrayal of hmong people seeing that you are so hung up on the image of a hmong johnny depp. get over it. i don't think anyone else cares and if they do, it is because they are a.) just jealous their son or they did not get the part, b.) they are shallow and hung up on the character description of a hmong johnny depp because they want the first hmong people on hollywood screens to look extremely handsome with no talent, c.) everything else not mentioned for and all of the above. ---like i said, get over it! stop being so shallow. there are more important things to worry about than your hmong johnny depp.

do i think that eastwood and his people are genuinely trying to portray hmong people? well, i can't answer that. we'll just have to wait and see the film, not to mention ask the people who were apart of the experience that. i don't mind shelling out the $12 (in nyc) to go see the film. i know how hard they've worked and i support them even if the film bombs. only those who don't open their mind to understand the situation would openly criticize without thinking.

i don't care for hmong people to go watch it just because it has hmong actors or is a movie about hmong people. but if you want to criticize about it, please talk to the cast about their experiences first and watch the movie, then you can at least say something. but i just can't understand or acknowledge opinions from people who have yet to understand the situation.

also, before you make assumptions about people and try to read emotions of people over the net or through my writing, you might want to think again. but just in case you make assumptions again. i am very happy and do not get easily moved by other people :)

kk, thx la~
 
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