buzzfeedau:

buzzfeedau:

BuzzFeed: At any point during the casting of Danny Rand, was there a discussion of casting an Asian of half-Asian actor? Especially considering Iron Fist was created in 1974, a time when we didn’t think about cultural appropriation the way we do now?

Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel TV: To answer that, just really flat out, the way the story is told and when people see the story, the importance of Danny as an outsider is something that is a theme that runs throughout the entire show, so I think once they see it, they’ll understand why the story is told the way it’s told.

Some other (nonspoilery) things I can tell you about Iron Fist from the panel:

• COLLEEN WING (played by Jessica Henwick) IS ABOUT TO BE YOUR NEW FAVE. One of two Asian leads in the show (the other is Lewis Tan as Zhou Cheng), the short clip we saw her in included her just absolutely DESTROYING two grown men who were over twice her size and then wiping their blood off on her white track suit. 
• COLLEEN ALSO TEACHES CLAIRE SOME SELF-DEFENSE. If you noticed at the end of Luke Cage, Claire grabs a number off of a flyer for a self-defense class taught by Colleen. There’s high hopes for strong female friendship in the series.
• The Meachums (all three of them) are a very fucked up family and there’s going to be an iconic new addition to Marvel’s Bad Dad Club.
• The Iron Fist effects look incredible, even though it is uncomfortable to watch someone as white as Finn Jones use it.
• There will be an iconic Marvel Netflix hallway fight scene – this time, it’s pretty well lit. (Though again, very uncomfortable to watch Finn Jones fight a bunch of Asian men who are portraying bad guys with martial arts.)
• Madame Gao and The Hand (from Daredevil) will tie back into this season of Iron Fist.

Personally, I’m not sure if the clips we saw at the panel have convinced me that there’s any good reason to cast a white man instead of a mixed race or second generation kid who is struggling with his Asian identity as Danny Rand, but for now I’ll take Jeph Loeb’s word for it and watch. At least I know that the Asian lead who WAS at the panel (Jessica, playing Colleen) will be a bright spot in an otherwise controversial season.

I have similar thoughts. I know this is true to the original story from 30 (?) years ago but there are a lot of things we did in the past that we realize now could be done better.

One idea: what about an Asian woman? Dani Rand?