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Who will be next to portray Charlie Chan at the Box Office?

Regarding Michael's post (below): "I Can't Believe It, the first of the six Chan novels is now in the public domain. Will we see a return to the big screen of Detective Chan, as we did with Sherlock Holmes? I'm talking about a Chan with one of today's Asian actors in the part, and without a chauffer, or son's no. 1, 2, or 3--more aligned to the novels?

That's the topic of my January 1st post, "Who's your pick to next portray Charlie Chan at the box office." at:

https://thepostmanonholiday.com/2021/01/01/whos-your-pick-to-next-portray-charlie-chan-at-the-box-office/

I think British Actor Benedict Wong (The Martian, Doctor Strange, Avengers: End Game,) is a serious likeness to how Biggers envisioned Chan in the novels. And his portrayal might be an acceptable version of what it would have been like if an Asian actor (not possible at the time) had seriously portrayed the Detective. After all--he was a real life person, Chang Apana, who faced many similar challenges in a predominantly Caucasian police force in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Time will tell!



Re: Who will be next to portray Charlie Chan at the Box Office?

Dear Lou,

I agree that Benedict Wong would be a great choice! There is another gentleman whom I would submit, although he is of Japanese heritage, Aaron Takahashi.



Whomever the choice would be, definitely to be avoided would be the temptation to cast a typically "handsome," "buff" actor in the role in an effort to reach a younger audience. Also, a "classic" Charlie Chan movie would NEED to be placed into the proper time period without the all-too-often inclusion of anacronistic PC or "preachy" elements into the plot!

Great subject, Lou!

Sincerely,
Rush

Re: Who will be next to portray Charlie Chan at the Box Office?

Rush, yes I agree--another great choice! And also agree, no buff "karate-choppers." A period piece specific with all the prejudice, inequities, and xenophopic attitudes of the time to be believable; and as a matter of pointing out their injustice.

Personally, I'd like to see either "Behind That Curtain" or "Charlie Chan Carries On" redone.

Re: Who will be next to portray Charlie Chan at the Box Office?

Many interesting possibilities. If a movie studio wished to rekindle the Chan character someday, I would like to see remakes of the four "lost" Chan films. Producing these films would attract older Chan fans like me, who have wanted to see these films for many years, and may also interest a new crop of younger Chan fans. I agree that turning the Charlie Chan character into a well-built athletic man would be a mistake, and remaking the four "lost" films from the original scripts might help avoid this scenario.

Re: Who will be next to portray Charlie Chan at the Box Office?

I totally agree, John! I also think that a British production would offer the best chance of a quality presentation of the Biggers stories in a proper historical context. A great story to bring to the screen, I feel, would be "Keeper of the Keys," which has never been the basis of a movie, though a Broadway stage version ran 23 performances in 1933!

Re: Who will be next to portray Charlie Chan at the Box Office?

The odds are high that the first outing will turn the character into a chopsocky action hero, in the mold of a Bruce Lee film. As the thinking will no doubt be that in order to remedy Charlie's 'stereotypical' characterization, he must be turned into a different stereotype (though I doubt that will occur to the producers).

Either that, or someone will find it witty to turn the IP on its head and make it Charlene Chan, a crime fighting woman on the mean streets of San Francisco (because, again, that's a much more acceptable stereotype than Honolulu...).

I suspect that it'll be left up to indy films to give us a more 'true' version of the character.

Re: Who will be next to portray Charlie Chan at the Box Office?

MM, yes the chances for a Chan film (especially in todays culture)( grown further and further away. However, with the books entering into the public domain each year, there is the hope for another story or two!