Last week, another incident of Hollywood whitewashing occurred when English actor Ed Skrein, who appeared in "Game of Thrones" and "Deadpool," was cast in the upcoming "Hellboy" reboot. While the David Harbour-led reboot of the Guillermo del Toro films seems to be promising with the addition of Milla Jovovich as the Blood Queen, it was Skrein's role that had the public up in arms.
The problem was that Skrein was cast in the role of Ben Daimio, who in the original "Hellboy" comics is a half-Japanese, half-American man. The public (and actors of color) shared their thoughts on Twitter, and many had cried whitewashing.
This follows the casting of Scarlett Johansson as Major in "Ghost in the Shell," which failed to make money at the box office. "Doctor Strange" actress Tilda Swinton received the same backlash when she was cast in the role of The Ancient One, who in the comics was also of Asian descent.
Ed Skrein leaves the role of Ben Daimio
Just a week after he announced he was joining the "Hellboy" reboot as Ben Daimio, Ed Skrein took to Twitter to share a note about his decision to leave the role. In it, he wrote how important it was that Ben Daimio was represented in a "culturally accurate way" and that ignoring such issues would only "obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the Arts." He added that it was the "responsibility" of actors and producers and those involved in filmmaking to make such "moral decisions" to promote inclusivity.
Producers respond to Ed Skrein's statement
As per Deadline, "Hellboy" reboot producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin took Ed Skrein's departure well. The pair released a statement saying that "Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision." It was clear that the producers had a disregard for the original material when they cast Skrein, and they have also recognized their fault in the matters.
In their statement, the pair said, "It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material."
David Harbour and Milla Jovovich to star in reboot
Ed Skrein was the latest addition to the "Hellboy" reboot, which features "Stranger Things" star David Harbour in the titular role. Recently, "Resident Evil" star Milla Jovovich was also cast to play the Blood Queen in the previously subtitled reboot, which at the moment has no release date yet.
