I maybe Old Fashioned, But personally I think A Caucasian Actor Should play CHARLIE CHAN. The best actors (Warner Oland & Sidney Tolar) that played Charlie Chan were not Asian. I would cast JACKIE CHAN or JET LI as Charlie's sons, maybe LUCY LIU as Charlie's Daughter, but Charlie himself should definately be a Caucasian Actor. Don't know who, However?
Great question, and one that has come up among Chan fans on occasion.
Of the list of possibilities given, I would also go with Cary-Hiroyuka Tagarwa. One possible "problem" here, is that Mr. Tagawara, as with the others, would need to consume a few calories before assuming the role! Physically, no one on the list remotely matches Earl Derr Biggers' description of Charlie Chan any more than did Kamiyama Sojin 80-plus years ago.
My actual choice would go to a gentlemen whom I saw a couple of years ago on a television commercial for a product long forgotten by Your Truly! He looked perfect to me, physically, and he had something of a kindly, "everyman" visage. Looking at the more well-known movie actors of Chinese (or Asian) heritage today, I am struck by the apparent dearth of variety. As mentioned above, many seem to be younger, handsome fellows caught up in the current tsunami of martial arts "exploitation" films.
I think that the best bet in finding the right actor to fill the role would require a broad search that would not necessarily focus on the bigger names. Also, if an actor who is known for martial arts/action-type films were to be chosen, we would almost certainly expect a martial arts/action-dominated "Charlie Chan" picture to result, yes?
The time period? The 1930s. We even have a great Biggers Chan story available for use: the only adventure by the author that never made it to the big screen, "Keeper of the Keys."
Rush,
Your post about fitting Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan made me realize about setting such a movie today: The current politically correct attitude on, for lack of a better term, the physical aesthetic movement towards getting people as overweight as Chan to get his weight down.
For his own good now!
So if he can't LOOK like Chan then he would HAVE to be a Martial Arts expert to have SOME kind of hook or be boring as all get out.
IMHO.
So setting Chan anywhere from the 30s through the 50s might be better than we might think.
