Iron Man Official Mandarin Casting Thread

[Walks Unseen]

Remember, you probabaly want someone around RDJnr's age so a younger asian actor like the ones mentioned above would probabaly not fit in with the film.

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

Remember, you probabaly want someone around RDJnr's age so a younger asian actor like the ones mentioned above would probabaly not fit in with the film.

Andy Lau is 45. Too bad he's starting a new movie with Jet Li in a few weeks.

 

[Son Of Logan]

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

Thank you for seeing that as well.

 

[The Ski Mask]

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.

That individual must be High when he posted...

 

[Retroman]

It's been a long time since Favreau confirmed Mandarin as the main villain in Iron Man. Now as they enter the first day of principal photography there still have been no annoucements and not even rumors about candiates for the role (not to my knowledge at least). Is it possible that the role has been ditched from the script or perhaps they hired an unknown actor to don the rings?

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

It's been a long time since Favreau confirmed Mandarin as the main villain in Iron Man. Now as they enter the first day of principal photography there still have been no annoucements and not even rumors about candiates for the role (not to my knowledge at least). Is it possible that the role has been ditched from the script or perhaps they hired an unknown actor to don the rings?

Maybe the Mandarin scenes are scheduled for later in the shooting, so there was no hurry to cast the role. The part was in the cast search announcement, so we'll probably here something in the next few days. We still don't know who's Happy Hogan.
And according to Millar, for Wanted they won't disclose a big name working on the movie up 'till the ending of the shooting.

 

[Retroman]

Maybe the Mandarin scenes are scheduled for later in the shooting, so there was no hurry to cast the role. The part was in the cast search announcement, so we'll probably here something in the next few days. We still don't know who's Happy Hogan.
And according to Millar, for Wanted they won't disclose a big name working on the movie up 'till the ending of the shooting.

Thats sounds plausible. Whoever they're after they've done a good job of keeping it secret.

 

[Chris B]

It's been a long time since Favreau confirmed Mandarin as the main villain in Iron Man. Now as they enter the first day of principal photography there still have been no annoucements and not even rumors about candiates for the role (not to my knowledge at least). Is it possible that the role has been ditched from the script or perhaps they hired an unknown actor to don the rings?

Based on that casting call and assuming that the Mandarin's real name will be Gene Kahn in the film, I think that they are probably aiming for an unknown. It seems to me that if they wanted Chow Yun Fat or Ken Watanabe, they would approach them first.

 

[terry78]

^Not to mention someone of that caliber would be announced along with the rest of the A-listers. All they really need to do is find a decent Hong Kong actor that can emote, do action, and can speak english. It would fare better than "hey, that's Chow Yun Fat playing the Mandarin!"

 

[Chris B]

^ Taking into consideration that possibility, I like the suggestion of Tony Leung that a few other people have made.

 

[vader519]

I know Tagawa may be too old, but I think he is the best choice to play Mandarin. Just the other day on tv, I saw the movie The Phantom, where he is in it and plays a chinese pirate. He had the long and facial hair, and I swear he looked like Mandarin. I will try and find a pic.

 

[Retroman]

Based on that casting call and assuming that the Mandarin's real name will be Gene Kahn in the film, I think that they are probably aiming for an unknown. It seems to me that if they wanted Chow Yun Fat or Ken Watanabe, they would approach them first.

Yeah and it'd probably have leaked already too. I'm sure there are enough capable 'unknown' asian actors out there who could play the role perfectly.

 

[CAH]

I think The Mandarin will be a very interesting villain, and definately cool on screen. His real name is going to be Gene Kahn?! Interesting...

...I was hoping they would go for another big name (seeing as all this film is is star power, nothing bad about that though) but it doesn't matter to me if they go for an unknown. I just can't wait for the conformation on the actor...

CAH

 

[FlawlessVictory]

An unknown works fine for Gene Khan aka the Mandarin. Besides, he will not be the true villain behind everything in this series, Obadiah will be.

 

[FVD]

I just hope this movie doesn't turn out to be similar to Batman Begins with Mandarin pulling the strings over Stane. That would spell major copout. But that's my opinion.

 

[tamron]

I think it could either go that way, or something like The Usual Suspects, with the Mandarin being some sort of myth orchestrated by Stane so that he can manipulate Tony while seemingly being his ally.

 

[FVD]

Hmm that ain't too much a bad idea I suppose.

 

[Chris B]

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.

While that's not true, it raises an interesting point. I recall that in the casting call, Gene Kahn was refered to as a Central Asian character. That makes me wonder if they changes the Mandarin's race for the film. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but it does make you wonder.

 

[Weadazoid]

While that's not true, it raises an interesting point. I recall that in the casting call, Gene Kahn was refered to as a Central Asian character. That makes me wonder if they changes the Mandarin's race for the film. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but it does make you wonder.

China is about as Center asian as you can get...Mongolian as well.....

but I would think..in terms of business...a Japanease nemesis would make more sense...technology and all......probubly would have HAD to have been a Japanease character 10 years ago...

but now..I don't think its that big a deal...CHina is the new hot spot for business

 

[kpjoon]

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.

Memoirs of a Geisha had Chinese actresses playing Japanese women. Tokyo drift had Korean and Chinese playing Japanese characters.
Majority of Hollywood movies have Europeans playing American roles and vice versa. And I'm pretty sure we have different African-Americans of different countries playing people from other African countries.
Welcome to Hollywood, rookie.

 

[Atomicchuck3k]

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

 

[Octoberist]

I think The Mandarin will be a very interesting villain, and definately cool on screen. His real name is going to be Gene Kahn?! Interesting...

...I was hoping they would go for another big name (seeing as all this film is is star power, nothing bad about that though) but it doesn't matter to me if they go for an unknown. I just can't wait for the conformation on the actor...

CAH

Funny enough, 'gene khan' was Manarian's former aliases, according to this site. MInd you the profile was made was before the casting announcing for the movie.

http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/m/mandarin.htm

 

[Advanced Dark]

It's weird Favreau and Marvel haven't said a word about "the mandarin". LOL Watch "The Mandarin" be some computer program that helps Obidiah take over Stark Enterprises. LOL

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

It's weird Favreau and Marvel haven't said a word about "the mandarin". LOL Watch "The Mandarin" be some computer program that helps Obidiah take over Stark Enterprises. LOL

I heard that they found the perfect Mandarin.