It took just 40 days for Iyin Landre (pictured left) to raise more than $75,000 through Kickstarter to fund her movie, Me & You. It took less than two weeks for critics to tear Landre down for casting a White-Brazilian actor as her love interest.
In campaigning for her funding, she vowed her movie would shatter stereotypes of Asian Americans.
“In order to change stereotypes, we can’t just complain about it,” said Landre in her pitch. “We have to create new images and tell new stories to replace them with. We have to define ourselves, instead of letting others define us.”
But that’s not how her critics see it.
“Yea, nothings changed. This has nothing to do with helping the Asian image,” wrote one AsAmNews reader.
“I say she shafted the Asian community, took the money and flipped us all the bird,” said another.
“She did not create a new image, period.” wrote a third.
Below is her response as to why she decided to cast her character in a romantic relationship with a White Brazilian actor.
By Iyin Landre
Last year, I took a leap of faith and went to Brazil by myself for a month, so I could film a trailer for my movie and get to know this country that I had set my script in. It was one of the most terrifying and exhilarating times of my life, seeing as how I’d never been to South America, didn’t speak Portuguese and only had two email contacts in my pocket. For the 30 days I stayed in Rio de Janeiro, I location scouted like a madwoman trying to uncover the nooks and crannies of the majestic city that would best fit my storyline, and to my surprise, I only saw one Asian person the whole time. I would see this guy on my way to the metro station everyday because he worked in a restaurant on Rua Riachelo, right by my house; he looked at me funny as I did him because there was a dearth of Asians in Rio. In São Paulo, there is a huge (predominantly) Japanese-Brazilian population, but in Rio it was pretty much non-existent.
In addition to the lack of Asians in Rio on the whole, I also visited a favela because that is where a large part of my script is set. A friend I’d made took me to Cantagalo, the favela that sits right behind Ipanema. We walked around the whole favela, saw the local school/library they had built, the UPP (Pacification Police) that had set up shop a few years ago, and met lots of locals who lived there. I did not see one Asian person in the favela the whole time.
The reason I bring both of these things up is because while there is a huge Asian-Brazilian population in Brazil, it’s not in Rio. What this means in terms of casting an Asian-Brazilian in my film as ‘the drug dealer that lives in the favela in Rio,’ is that it’s not authentic. And as a huge part of my distribution will be in Brazil, Brazilians across all color lines including Asian-Brazilians will notice this falsity in an instant.
Secondly, if I defied the authenticity of my movie to please the small minority that is unhappy with my casting choice, and I cast an Asian-Brazilian as my love interest — I fear it will be the same small minority that will throw stones again — and ask me why I chose to portray an Asian man in such a bad light, as a drug dealer.
Moral of the story: You can’t please everyone.
RE: Asian American Filmmaker Defends Decision to cast White Actor as love interest of #AAPI lead: Lame…this is her weak explanation?…She just doesn’t get it. “No you can’t please everyone”, seriously that’s her conclusion? Are you kidding? The obvious real moral of the story is “Don’t Claim to be Something You’re Not”. That’s the biggest reason why this entire story is generating so much backlash.
She wants to tell a story about Rio – fine
There aren’t very many Asians in Rio, therefore she won’t cast an Asian male – fine whatever.
So she casts yet another white guy as the love interest – fine whatever. If she wants to make yet another redundant WMAF flick despite the fact Hollywood already has already been doing that for decades, whatever.
But she also claims her whole purpose is to shatter stereotypes. What stereotypes is she breaking? None, instead she’s only promoting them. WMAF is one the biggest stereotypes there is, and she’s promoting it. If you get on a soapbox and claim to be shattering stereotypes, then you better be doing just that. If not you’re a fraud and a liar, and that’s just not authentic at all.
RE: Asian American Filmmaker faces backlash for casting white actor as love interest for Asian American lead actress: Fraud and a Liar, she is.
RE: Asian American filmmaker defends decision to cast white actor as love interest for #AAPI lead: Sorry, but when you’ve used crowd scourged funds, your responsibility is not only to yourself, but rather the hundreds of Asian Americans who’s pockets you took from
From Matthew Hashigushi via Twitter: RE: Asian American Filmmaker Defends Decision to cast white actor as love interest of #AAPI lead: BigWoWo points out that the white male and Asian American woman is "the most common interracial pairing in movies AND in real life." Exactly. This is a movie. Filmmakers want movies to appeal to large audiences. Having an Asian/white couple is not only representative of modern times but it also appeals to an audience beyond the Asian American crowd. Asian American culture is not going to come the forefront of the Hollywood industry by limiting its cast and crew to only Asian members. It has to show that it can be accepted by the masses… white, black, Asian, latino, whatever, and it has to happen through gradual acceptance. MLB didn't open the flood gates to African American baseball players. It started with one and grew. Also, the Asian American experience is changing. Being a half-Japanese and half-white American, I relate more to the experience of a multiracial couple. Not only because my parents are different races, but because I'm in an interracial relationship with a white female and grew up around white kids, like many, many other Asian Americans.
RE: Asian American Filmmaker faces backlash for casting white actor as love interest for Asian American lead actress: I think this Matthew hashigushi isn’t aware of the larger issues facing the Asian American community in media.
Pairing an Asian woman with a non Asian man isn’t going to introduce us to the forefront of the industry like he is suggesting and open us to the masses because Asian Women paired with non Asian men is ALREADY widely seen on TV and film.
Before Asian Americans can break down some media barriers, we need to be unified with common interests and goals. this is how African Americans originally broke through their type casting problems in the early years. If Asian women like Landre don’t want to share projects or screen time with Asian men, then not only is she simply perpetuating visual pairs that are already widely common on screen, her film will be nothing new and rather another typical AA filme about a “misplaced asian female falls in love with another culture” plotline. We already have plenty of those. This is not Asian American empowerment or stereotype breaking.
She claims she wants to be true to Rio, where there aren’t many Asians. She claims she didn’t see any other Asians in Rio. This is a very childish excuse to justify her casting. Simply because she personally didn’t see another Asian does not mean there literrally ISN’T any other Asian in the entirety of Rio. And even if there really aren’t, remember this is movie making. There have been films where two white people fall in love in space (where there literally aren’t any other people at all). The magic in the plot happens when the impossible becomes possible.
Re: Asian American filmmaker defends herself against backlash for casting white actor as love interest for Asian American lead actress: like what I wrote on the facebook thread:
sadly, Brazil’s film industry has its own strict hierarchies too: obviously with lighter skin on top of the pecking order. somebody said that it’s very unlikely for an Asian man to be in the slums for her to find and fall in love with – we can also add that it’s very unlikely for a light skinned Brasilian to be in the slums and for her to fall in love with. “a darker skinned Brasilian” would’ve been even more interesting with all the intersections of race and sex we’re arguing about…
RE: Asian American Filmmaker faces backlash for casting White actor as love interest for Asian American lead actress: Cast a Black guy. Done. All problems solved. You can take down the article now, guys.
Oh, but I guess Black guys don’t exist. Especially not in a country like BRAZIL.
RE: Asian American Filmmaker faces backlash for casting white actor as love interest for Asian American lead actress: When it comes to interracial relationships in the United States, there are two stereotypical norms that are demonstrated as being true in everyday life.
1. Black Men with White Women, especially upper socially mobile Black Men. This is for many reasons dating back to slavery and the significance of white women being a status symbol in our society.
2. Asian Women with White Men. This is something because I am not Asian American that I can speak about. But when you see very attractive Asian Women such as Natashay Yi and Lucy Liu with less than White male partners it makes you think.
I think in a film like this, the lead should have been another Asian, to destroy negative stereotypes and demonstrate the strength in intraracial relationships. To show that an Asian woman can find fulfillment with an Asian Man.
Re: Asian American Filmmaker faces backlash for casting white actor as love interest for Asian American lead actress: Here's a blog from another Asian American artist who has also faced the same sort of backlash Iyin Landre has felt. It's a different perspective from what has dominated the comments. http://j.mp/19WXVrD
RE: Asian American Filmmaker Defends her decision to cast white actor as love interest for #AAPI lead actress: What a cop out . Why would movie geared breaking Asian AMERICAN typical roles matter in Brazil ?
Remember movie Red doors ? 3 Asian female directors decided cast 3 white boys as love interest ?
^
RE: Asian American filmmaker defends casting white actor as love interest for AAPI leading actress: exactly Ric. Red Doors, Face, Tie a Yellow Ribbon, Double Happiness, Joy Luck Club, the list goes on and on and on.
It’s quite sad that one of the rarest sights seen in Asian American films is an Asian Woman with a man of her own race. It’s ironic how all these films feature “Identity” as the centerpiece of their plot lines. Yet they seem to be consistently running away from it when it comes to love.
RE: Asian American filmmaker defends her decision to cast White actor as her love interest: As an Asian male, I watched this kickstarter video pitch before it reached its funding goal and I didn’t feel she clearly articulated how she was shattering stereotypes. (I also wondered why she didn’t seek out Asian American theater as an alternative (isn’t there any of those in NYC?), rather than make the jump from actress to director of an indie film.) It was clear to me from the trailer what her story was about… An AF traveling to Rio who falls in love with a white Brazilian. It was not a mainstream storyline, but it did not necessarily “shatter stereotypes” in my opinion (though I can see how some would disagree: WMAF might be a common pairing, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen White Brazilian-AF. And I’m sure the AF character in this movie had more depth and was not a stereotypical AF character–e.g. submissive, etc..). That said, I don’t this she misled anyone about what her project was about. And I can certainly agree that supporting her script is a way to support alternative stories, unique stories written by Asian American voices that you would not see in mainstream media (even critics must recognize that a story about an AF traveling to brazil and falling in love with a drug dealer is not going to get mainstream studio funding, right?). If you feel misled, you probably should pay more attention to the whole pitch, including the trailer video before you donate money. (If you are complaining, you DID donate money, didn’t you? If not, do you really think others donated without reviewing the whole trailer video themselves and deciding for themselves whether they felt the project was worth their money?) For those complaining about misleading or “screwing” Asian American donors, I think anyone who donates to a kick starter campaign should be responsible enough to screen the materials provided and make their own intelligent assessment. In that light, I don’t feel this artist misled anyone about what her project would be about. But, I didn’t find it groundbreaking to the point that I donated. I do defend her right to make an appeal to fund her project, though I think given the claim she is shattering stereotypes in the pitch, she could have done a bit more to articulate what stereotypes she is shattering.
RE: Film maker defends how she cast white actor as her love interest: I don’t trust Asian American media at all especially anything born from the mind of Asian women. As a group their stories are almost exclusively focused on cultural and racial assimilation. My only wish is that you keep your influence out of Asian media. I do love how this women has failed to see how she’s contributed to the stereotypes.