Now, I was never much of a fan of Ed Skrein. I thought his Daario came off like a smug surfer bro, his young TRANSPORTER as a Ken Doll knock-off, and his DEADPOOL villain as that film's weakest link. However, after today, I think I have grown a deep respect for the man as a man (even if I'm still iffy on him as a performer).
Thing is, he was recently cast as Major Ben Daimio in the recent HELLBOY reboot that's coming out soon. Now Daimio, for those who don't know, is a former marine who gets the power to turn into a jaguar spirit when hurt. However, another important distinction of his character is his Japanese-American identity…which Skrein is anything but. He's so white and British he probably still refers to America as "the colonies".
Anyway, Skrein has exited the HELLBOY reboot after the massive fan outcry of the blatant whitewashing casting (which, yes, is still a problem). Here's his full statement:
That couldn't have been easy for Skrein, as I imagine HELLBOY probably carried a decent paycheck. It's still disheartening that systemic whitewashing still exists in Hollywood, even moreso when there are many Asian actors that could easily have taken the role. However, with Skrein's statement, hopefully more white actors will feel compelled to do the same, so as not to add to that erasure, ala 21, THE LAST AIRBENDER, GHOST IN THE SHELL, and arguably DEATH NOTE. And while I'm still not a fan of Skrein's previous work, I'll definitely check out whatever he has coming up next. He's personally made an instant fan of me.
Meanwhile, HELLBOY will hit theaters 2018.