Pascal, seated next to Damon, laughed and jokingly said, “Don’t quote me!” We all know only the Chinese defended the wall against the monster attack.'” (laughs) There are far more nuanced versions of it and I do try to be sensitive to that, but Pedro Pascal called me and goes, ‘Yeah, we are guilty of whitewashing.
I was like, ‘Really, guys?’ To me whitewashing was when Chuck Connors played Geronimo. To get those charges levied against you… What bummed me out is I read The Atlantic religiously and there was an article in The Atlantic.
I was surprised, I guess because it was based on a teaser, it wasn’t even a full trailer let alone a movie. “Yeah, it was a f*ckin’ bummer,” Damon said of the whitewashing accusations. Damon addressed the concern frankly and passionately, and you can read his comments (along with those of his co-star Pedro Pascal) below. During the discussion, star Matt Damon was asked about the accusations in the press, based on an earlier teaser trailer, that his western hero in the film fell into an offensive “white savior” or “mighty whitey” stereotype. In fact, the credited actors are Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, and Andy Lau.Matt Damon Addresses The Great Wall’s White Savior Issueįollowing its panel at the New York Comic Con, Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures held a press conference for their Chinese epic The Great Wall and was there. While it’s unclear what the substance of the narrative is, what is clear is that Matt Damon gets top billing in the film. However, he also doesn’t quite address the substance of Wu’s argument, which is that the film is centered on a white hero protecting the Great Wall.
Zhang is deploying the patented “Wait and see!” argument, which isn’t entirely unfair. I hope when everyone sees the film and is armed with the facts they will agree. As the director of over 20 Chinese language films and the Beijing Olympics, I have not and will not cast a film in a way that was untrue to my artistic vision. The collective struggle and sacrifice of these heroes are the emotional heart of our film. There are five major heroes in our story and he is one of them - the other four are all Chinese. The arrival of his character in our story is an important plot point. Matt Damon is not playing a role that was originally conceived for a Chinese actor. Our film is not about the construction of the Great Wall. I believe that is a trend that should be embraced by our industry. For the first time, a film deeply rooted in Chinese culture, with one of the largest Chinese casts ever assembled, is being made at tent pole scale for a world audience. In many ways The Great Wall is the opposite of what is being suggested. Zhang, well known for directing epics like House of Flying Daggers and classic films like Raise the Red Lantern, argues that The Great Wall is “the opposite of what is being suggested” and that the film is “deeply rooted in Chinese culture.” Zhang released a full statement to Entertainment Weekly: Your big sister when she stood up for you to those bullies that one time.” “We have to stop perpetuating the racist myth that white man can save the world,” Wu wrote.
The most prominent critic was Fresh Off the Boat’s Constance Wu, who argued that the film continued a long history of white men saving Asia. The film caused considerable controversy with the release of its trailer, which featured, among other things, Matt Damon defending the Great Wall from dragons in ancient China. Zhang Yimou is dodging those flying daggers.ĭirector Zhang Yimou is leaping into the fray to defend his film The Great Wall, the most expensive Chinese production to date.