Actor Donnie Yen is all set to step foot into the extremely popular and entertaining John Wick franchise with John Wick: Chapter 4 alongside Keanu Reeves. He will be playing John Wick’s old friend and there are speculations that his character, Caine, will be an important aspect to the main character’s story. The John Wick franchise has received a lot of praise from both critics and the audience who are now waiting to see what the fourth installment has to offer.
However, even a huge franchise like John Wick could not help but play into the usual stereotypes a bit. While Donnie Yen’s character is called Caine in the film, he was initially going to be named either Shang or Chang. The actor was not having it and thanks to his influence, the film’s director decided to go against the typecasting and redesigned the character.
How Donnie Yen Challenged Stereotypes
Even though we are well into 2023 and the entertainment industry has evolved to support inclusivity in projects, many can still fall into the crime of typecasting, knowingly or unknowingly. Donnie Yen sure agrees with us on this one. Talking to GQ about his upcoming film, John Wick: Chapter Four, Yen revealed that his character was going to be named Shang or Chang, once again playing into the Asian stereotypes. However, Yen was not going to go through with it and asked why he couldn’t have a normal name.
“The name was Shang or Chang,” Yen says. “Why does he always have to be called Shang or Chang? Why can’t he have a normal name? Why do you have to be so generic?”
His problem was not just with his character’s name but also with his wardrobe. He continued his question about everything having to be generic when the rest of the cast looked “cool and fashionable.”
“Then the wardrobe again—oh, mandarin collars. Why is everything so generic? This is a John Wick movie. Everybody’s supposed to be cool and fashionable. Why can’t he look cool and fashionable?”
Thanks to Yen’s little protest, director Chad Stahelski decided to change both his character’s name and wardrobe. This just goes on to say that things will change, slowly but surely, if you manage to raise your voice for it!
This Wasn’t the First Time Donnie Yen was Typecast
Unfortunately, John Wick: Chapter Four is not the only film that wanted to use stereotypes for Yen. The actor played yet another iconic character in one of the best franchises out there – Star Wars. Yen played the role of Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He revealed that in the earlier drafts of the film, Chirrut was just your usual martial arts warrior.
However, thanks to Yen’s talents and improvisation, Chirrut became more than just another addition to the franchise. Fans of Star Wars loved Chirrut who made a separate fan base for himself and Yen might have had something to do with that. The Ip Man actor was not going to let Chirrut fall into stereotypes as he stated, “One thing I pointed out is he was a stereotype. Typical master. Doesn’t smile.”
It was Yen who decided that his character was going to be blind and gave him a sense of humor as he improvised jokes for Chirrut. Needless to say, Yen is pretty hands-on when it comes to his characters and John Wick was not going to be any different.
John Wick: Chapter 4 will release on March 24, 2023.
Source: GQ
