In 30 seconds or a minute or whatever much they had-it’s not a full length trailer, it’s a teaser-and they’re trying to tease a.) the monster, right? They’re trying to say, ‘Look, it’s a visionary filmmaker that you probably don’t know.’ (They’re trying to speak to a bigger audience, not us.) ‘You probably don’t know who this director is in Middle America, but he’s the Steven Spielberg of China, right? Don’t worry. Okay, they’re trying to establish a number of things. “I thought about it from their perspective. “When you look at it from a marketing perspective, what’s the worst wipe-out for a marketing team then to have that happen, as the backlash against a teaser you put out?” Damon continued.
There’s a Chinese crew and stars that some of the Western world knows but not a lot.” It’s a big fantastical popcorn entertainment movie, but it has a visual style that is very much his and there are actors we haven’t met that are from China.
“We don’t want people to be kept from work that they wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise to see that is very specifically Chinese,” he said. I will think about that and try to learn from that." But he said he would be "genuinely shocked" if people had that reaction after watching the movie, and feels "you are undermining your own credibility when you attack something without seeing it.Pascal, best known from his roles in Game of Thrones and Narcos, jumped in with a few of his own thoughts. I hope when everyone sees the film and is armed with the facts they will agree."ĭamon added that, if people watch the movie in February and still think there was whitewashing involved, "then I will listen to that with my whole heart. As the director of over 20 Chinese language films and the Beijing Olympics, I have not and will not cast a film in a way that was untrue to my artistic vision. The collective struggle and sacrifice of these heroes are the emotional heart of our film. Director: Kevin Smith Stars: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Bud Cort. There are five major heroes in our story and he is one of them - the other four are all Chinese. An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is called upon to save the existence of humanity from being negated by two renegade angels trying to exploit a loop-hole and reenter Heaven. The arrival of his character in our story is an important plot point. Starring global superstar Matt Damon and directed by one of the most breathtaking visual stylists of our time, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the worlds most iconic structure.
Matt Damon is not playing a role that was originally conceived for a Chinese actor. Our film is not about the construction of the Great Wall. I believe that is a trend that should be embraced by our industry. "For the first time, a film deeply rooted in Chinese culture, with one of the largest Chinese casts ever assembled, is being made at tent pole scale for a world audience. He released a statement (via Entertainment Weekly) in response to the white savior/whitewashing controversy: "The Great Wall" is the largest film ever shot entirely in China, and it's Yimou's first English language film. It's a big, fantastical popcorn entertainment movie, but it has a visual style that is Zhang Yimou's and his only." We do take that seriously." Pascal said, "We don't want to be kept from work that they wouldn't have the opportunity otherwise to see that is very specifically Chinese. Pedro Pascal jumped in to joke, "Don't quote me!" Damon added, "Look, it was nice to react a little sarcastically because we were wounded by it. We all know only the Chinese defended the wall against the monster attack.'" There are far more nuanced versions of it and I do try to be sensitive to that, but Pedro Pascal called me and goes, 'Yeah, we are guilty of whitewashing. I was like, 'Really, guys?' To me whitewashing was when Chuck Connors played Geronimo. What bummed me out is I read The Atlantic religiously and there was an article in The Atlantic. Starring global superstar Matt Damon and directed by one of the most breathtaking visual stylists of our time, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world's most iconic structure. I was surprised, I guess because it was based on a teaser, it wasn't even a full trailer let alone a movie. "Yeah, it was a f*ckin' bummer," Damon said during a New York Comic Con press conference (via Coming Soon). But the "whitewashing" backlash the stars and director Zhang Yimou faced when the first teaser came out was 100 percent real.
A new trailer for "The Great Wall" just came out, starring Matt Damon as a member of an elite force fighting for humanity on the iconic wall in China.