Tao Okamoto chucked her name into the ongoing discussion surrounding diversity in Hollywood this week, by opening up about the difficulties facing Asian actors. The model turned Batman v Superman star had a chat with HuffPost Live, saying: “This time, people were talking about there’s no black people for the [Oscar] nominees and all that, but we’re not even in the game. People don’t even talk about us.”
Although Okamoto believes the industry is getting better at casting Asian actors, often in a fantasy setting, she’d prefer it if they could be cast in, you know, some actual lifelike films too. “So far, I’ve got these two superhero movies [Batman v Superman and The Wolverine], which I feel like [is] easier for us to fit as an Asian or Japanese actor and I think our goal is to be cast for more … realistic movies.” All of this comes, of course, off the back of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of the last few weeks (or, let’s be honest, years), which Okamoto puts down in part to the narrow range of people actually writing scripts. “We’re still the minority of the minorities in Hollywood or acting field, but we are here and we are trying to be out for the people,” she says. Listen up, Hollywood.
Credits
Text Matthew Whitehouse
Film still from Batman vs Superman