Iron Man Official Mandarin Casting Thread

[NinjaTurtleFan]

Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun-Fat, or Hiroyuki Sanada are my picks for The Mandarin.

 

[Weadazoid]

If favreau had any balls at all or wanted to pay some homage he would go with the ICON..of all asian ICONS...

Sonny CHiba http://www.poster.net/chiba-sonny/chiba-sonny-photo-sonny-chiba-6206814.jpg

http://www.bodyweapon.com/images/Sonny_Chiba.jpg


tell me he aint got Mandarin all over him


http://www.ninjadojo.com/video1/chiba.jpg

He even has the stash...and it looks good on him His english is pretty damn good in Kill Bill as well... he was the swordsmith

 

[KingOfDreams]

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0846480/

 

[Weadazoid]

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0846480/

Meh he has the look thats for sure but he has been in to many B movies the only role I take him seriously in is in Rising Sun 1993, but he is working with SNipes and Connery, so he gets some ups
has the looks just not sure if he has the chops

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

Takeshi Kitano

 

[Ironman24]

I like Ken Watanabe or Chow Yun-Fat, but I was also thinking Jet Li as well.

 

[Philly Phanboy]

I could see Donnie Yen or Roger Yuan too.

 

[Silvermoth]

My vote goes to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

 

[DarthDaveBanner]

Watanabe.

 

[terry78]

The Mandarin isn't an old decrepit asian guy, he's about middle age. So these dudes in their late 50's and 60's aren't gonna cut it.

 

[Iceburgeruk]

It seems like the list is getting better but just to make sure could we please stop suggesting non-chinese actors please.

He is THE MANDARIN. He cannot be played by a non-chinese actor.

Remember we live in the age of globalized dvd and film distribution. How much revenue/box office could be lost in oriental countries who quite rightfully would percieve non-chinese mandarin as essentially being a neon sign saying "chinese-korean-japanese its all the same."

Its like having paul hogan playing captain america with thick australian accent. Or Samual l jackson playing joseph stalin.

I agree the australian captain america would be hilarious ("You call that a shield? THIS is a shield!" LOL "Crikey this red skull fella is angry, i`ll just stick my thunb in his butt-hole...gawd he`s really p***ed off now!" LOL) but the point is that the mandarin is most definitly a chinese character (the name is a big clue) and as such he should only be played by a chinese actor.

Its not a matter of a quibble over whether a canadian could play a british character or something. There are clear racial differences between the various asian groups, when you are making mainstream films you especially have to keep this firmly in mind, if you cast a film with average samurai characters in it then you have to make sure the principal actors are japanese.

So can we just have a list of the chinese and/or part chinese actors who could play the part.

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

Andy Lau (Tak Wah Lau) from "Infernal Affairs" and "House of Flying Daggers"

 

[Iceburgeruk]

Andy Lau (Tak Wah Lau) from "Infernal Affairs" and "House of Flying Daggers"

Checked up on them on wikipedia. Seems like a solid choice. Big fan base, solid acting career....correct nationality.lol. I think they would work well as the mandarin.

 

[Ironfan72]

It seems like the list is getting better but just to make sure could we please stop suggesting non-chinese actors please.

He is THE MANDARIN. He cannot be played by a non-chinese actor.

Remember we live in the age of globalized dvd and film distribution. How much revenue/box office could be lost in oriental countries who quite rightfully would percieve non-chinese mandarin as essentially being a neon sign saying "chinese-korean-japanese its all the same."

Its like having paul hogan playing captain america with thick australian accent. Or Samual l jackson playing joseph stalin.

I agree the australian captain america would be hilarious ("You call that a shield? THIS is a shield!" LOL "Crikey this red skull fella is angry, i`ll just stick my thunb in his butt-hole...gawd he`s really p***ed off now!" LOL) but the point is that the mandarin is most definitly a chinese character (the name is a big clue) and as such he should only be played by a chinese actor.

Its not a matter of a quibble over whether a canadian could play a british character or something. There are clear racial differences between the various asian groups, when you are making mainstream films you especially have to keep this firmly in mind, if you cast a film with average samurai characters in it then you have to make sure the principal actors are japanese.

So can we just have a list of the chinese and/or part chinese actors who could play the part.

Why not, do you know how many British actors play American roles and actually do a better American then we do, just watch Blackhawk Down, most of the major roles were played by Brits, so if the guy can act and looks the part, it doesn't matter what nationality he or she is, it's who's right for the role.

 

[Iceburgeruk]

Why not, do you know how many British actors play American roles and actually do a better American then we do, just watch Blackhawk Down, most of the major roles were played by Brits, so if the guy can act and looks the part, it doesn't matter what nationality he or she is, it's who's right for the role.

Yeha but this is an issue of race. And we aren`t talking about an issue of race as in "should kingpin be a white guy". Brits and americans are pyhsically the same so you can interchange with just a change of accents, japanese and chinese people simply have several subtle differences in both culture and appearance.

The most important thing is that the guy is called the MANDARIN. Type in mandarin on wikipedia and waht are the two frist bits which ping up?

Mandarin (linguistics), a group of dialects of spoken Chinese, or more specifically, its standardized version, which is the most common form of Chinese language spoken today, Standard Mandarin
Mandarin (bureaucrat), a bureaucrat of Imperial China, and in the United Kingdom and Canada, by analogy, any government bureaucrat

He isn`t just a character who may or might not have a link to china. He is named after the spoken chinese language! To not make him chinese just seems like an insult.

You could say a character called English could be played by an american and so on but mandarin is a language limited pretty much completly to china. A person of japanese or thai decent simply wouldn`t call themselves the mandarin as they woulkd ahve no links or connections to either the language or to a chinese government system.

China and japan have never been good buddies. It will only come across as a kick in the face if you cast a japanese actor as a character who was originally chinese and who is named after their primary language. Its kind of like cleaning your u-bend with the us constitution. Its just gonna make people at least a little miffed. And thats not even touching on the "you all look the same" insult that would underline the whole thing.

He is named after the chinese language. He was chinese in the comics. He was largely a hideously over the top chinese steriotype. So in the end it seems a no brainer that a chinese actor should play them. If that isn`t possible then maybe a korean actor could do the part (korea is on the border with china so there is probable mixing of the cultures and they have a better relationship historically)

 

[kytrigger]

I still like Mark Dacascos for the role. And he's in his early 40's now which is perfect age for Mandarin IMO.

 

[Iceburgeruk]

I still like Mark Dacascos for the role. And he's in his early 40's now which is perfect age for Mandarin IMO.

He seems a good candidate as well. I know he is both part japanese and part chinese but in the end the important thing is that the actor should be at least part chinese to justify them portraying the mandarin.

I mean seeing how many chinese people and people with chinese ancestry there are, it should not be an issue that one might have to use a japanese or american actor with no chinese ancestry in the role. Surely there are enough very good korean, chinese or part-chinese actors for the role.

 

[Brian Braddock]

As much as a fan that I am of Decascos, I really can't see him as the Mandarin. Andy Lau is a good pick too but I'd much prefer Byron Mann (coincidentally seen here with Decascos in the background):-

He'd be my pick. A solid actor and Chinese to boot (I agree with Iceburgeruk, the actors gotta be Chinese for the reasons he mentioned).

 

[TheVileOne]

Iceburg seems to get it.

 

[Savage]

Mann...Wasn't he Ryu in Street Fighter?
I like him but...Something about him puts me off. Mandarin has an older look to him. I like the Andy Lau choice much more.

 

[Brian Braddock]

Hehe - Yeah, he was Ryu in 'Street Fighter' - but we won't hold that against him, eh? lol.

That was 12 year ago though andthe pic's I posted from 'Crying Freeman' are 11 years old, so I imagine he's looking a little older now.

Here's one from 'The Corruptor' where he looks a little more weathered, and that was in '99!

He's a decent actor with a large body of work behind him.


They could do worse.

 

[Savage]

The Corruptor. Oh yeah, I remember him...Hmm. Yeah. I can see him as Mandarin. Just not the best choice.

...I can see him as Shang Chi or The Cat but not Mandarin. Mandarin to me should have this...grizzled, almost wrinkled look to him. He is very similar to Shang Tsung. They were both obviously based on Fu Manchu.

 

[Advanced Dark]

Someone is now claiming on Favreu's site that Oded Fehr has been signed to play the Mandarin. He also sort of challenged Favreau to say it's not so. No comments yet but...uh yeah that makes alot of sense. LOL Unless he's gonna be in the background the entire film and we only see his arm petting a cat and we assume he's Chinese...then near the end reveal it's just his code-name. LOL I would have been happy with Oded as Iron Man but not as happy as I am with RDJ.

 

[Walks Unseen]

Ken Watanbe would be great but doubtfull due to him being Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins. Andy Lau and Cary Hiroyoki Tagawa are also great choices.

 

[ChinoXL]

hands down Donnie Yen - he could offer so much to the set - so far he's the best option i see in this thread