It looked like a pretty perfect matchup. Back in April actor Thomas Jane let spill on a JoBlo podcast that he had been cast opposite Sylvester Stallone in the Walter Hill directed Headshot. Fans were happy, Jane was happy, Stallone and Hill were reportedly happy so nothing could go wrong, right?
Well, it looks like something has and that something is the color of Jane's skin.
The first sign that something was up was the simple fact that although Jane talked about being on board there was never an official announcement. Just silence. And then producer Joel Silver came out talking about how he wanted to make the core partnership in the film some sort of mixed-race affair to broaden out the film's appeal as wide as possible. And it would appear he's done just that.
Though nobody is saying for sure what the character being played will be, it has just been announced that Fast And Furious franchise star Sung Kang has joined the film and the widespread belief is that Kang now has the co-lead part originally offered to Jane.
Now, don't get me wrong here, the lack of decent roles available to minorities in Hollywood - and I would say especially to Asians in Hollywood - is shocking and completely misrepresents the actual cultural makeup of the country. There are a lot of talented people out there who deserve a shot and a lot of stories that really deserve to be told. So I certainly don't begrudge Kang the opportunity to star in a major film like this. It's good for him and good for the industry as a whole. It just kind of stings that it appears to be coming at the expense of Jane, who is a great actor who has been stuck doing work well below his potential for a good long time now. I had hoped this would be a break out part for him but apparently not. Sigh.
Well, it looks like something has and that something is the color of Jane's skin.
The first sign that something was up was the simple fact that although Jane talked about being on board there was never an official announcement. Just silence. And then producer Joel Silver came out talking about how he wanted to make the core partnership in the film some sort of mixed-race affair to broaden out the film's appeal as wide as possible. And it would appear he's done just that.
Though nobody is saying for sure what the character being played will be, it has just been announced that Fast And Furious franchise star Sung Kang has joined the film and the widespread belief is that Kang now has the co-lead part originally offered to Jane.
Now, don't get me wrong here, the lack of decent roles available to minorities in Hollywood - and I would say especially to Asians in Hollywood - is shocking and completely misrepresents the actual cultural makeup of the country. There are a lot of talented people out there who deserve a shot and a lot of stories that really deserve to be told. So I certainly don't begrudge Kang the opportunity to star in a major film like this. It's good for him and good for the industry as a whole. It just kind of stings that it appears to be coming at the expense of Jane, who is a great actor who has been stuck doing work well below his potential for a good long time now. I had hoped this would be a break out part for him but apparently not. Sigh.