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In the film, set in the 11th century, William joins native warriors in battling supernatural monsters. But his casting raised a different kind of whitewashing issue. The role of William Garin was never meant to be played by an Asian actor. The situation surrounding Damon’s role in “The Great Wall” is different. Coming hot on the heels of #oscarsowhite, the casting stood out as two more examples of how little Hollywood had changed since Luise Rainier played freed Chinese slave and farm wife O-Lan in “The Good Earth” (1937), for which she was rewarded with an Oscar, and John Wayne played Mongol leader Genghis Khan in “The Conqueror” (1956). The ruckus erupted in the wake of decisions to cast Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in “Doctor Strange” and Scarlett Johansson as the Major in “Ghost in the Shell,” characters that were originally Asian (and in the case of the Ancient One, male).
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“A f- bummer,” Matt Damon told a crowd at a New York Comic-Con press conference, his reaction to the “whitewashing” controversy that erupted over his role as an Irish mercenary in his latest film, Zhang Yimou’s fantasy action adventure “The Great Wall.” Photo by Jasin Boland, courtesy of Universal Studios. Comments L-R: Jing Tian as Commander Lin Mae, Matt Damon as William Garin, Andy Lau as Strategist Wang and Cheney Chen as Imperial Guard in Legendary's "The Great Wall," opening at Bay Area theaters on Friday, February 17.