Why Hollywood movie stars like Chris Pang and Remy Hii don’t get work in Australia
Actors Chris Pang and Remy Hii say despite their success in Hollywood, they don’t get leading roles in Australia.
Confidential
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Spider-Man: Far From Home, Crazy Rich Asians and Charlie’s Angels are just some of the Hollywood blockbusters that Chris Pang and Remy Hii have appeared in.
Yet the accomplished actors say they can’t find work at home in Australia.
While it’s common for promising actors to relocate to Tinseltown after cutting their teeth in their hometowns, various stars say non-white actors are forced overseas for a chance at leading roles.
“Australia’s always going to be home, I love the place and I want to come back sometime, but the opportunities aren’t here right now but we’re catching up,” Los Angeles-based Pang, 34, told Confidential.
“This is home and as a teenager when you’re trying to find your identity and find who you are, Australia sometimes didn’t necessarily feel like home.
“I never saw myself represented too much in pop culture and the media and it was a shame as it’s damaging and not healthy.”
The Melbourne-born actor, who is of Chinese descent, was recently named GQ Australia’s Breakthrough Actor of the Year and he said there has been slow progress.
“For me to receive an award from GQ Australia in particular is a great honour because I’m Australian,” he said.
“Also, coming from my background, to be recognised and visible as part of the AACTA Awards, it’s a big deal and it feels good.”
Hii, 33, said it was important for Aussie filmmakers to create non-stereotypical roles and storylines.
“We’re all waiting and welcoming more diverse talent behind the screens as well to make sure the stories being told are authentic and coming from a real (experience) place so that we can tell those stories not from the outside in, but you have people taking control of their narratives,” he said.
Hii, who is of Malaysian, Chinese and English descent, dismissed the idea that Aussie audiences may not be ready to see more diversity on TV screens.
“I think that argument is made out of fear and (producers) are clutching their wallets but, it’s like, just look at some of the box office successes that have been going on,” he said.
Alluding to Australia’s multicultural society, Pang added: “Have you had a look around us?”
Both Pang and Hii’s latest flicks have had tremendous box office success, with Spider-Man and Crazy Rich Asians each making more than $1 billion worldwide.
Ezekiel Simat, who was a 2017 finalist for the Heath Ledger Scholarship, said ethnic actors were often typecast, which only perpetuates stereotypes on-screen.
“Everything I go for in the US are leads and diverse in ethnicity and role type. Sometimes also ‘white’ roles,” The Lambs of God star said.
“Here in Australia I usually get supports that are racially motivated or foreign characters.
“I’ve gotten close to huge projects in the States but fight for scraps here … at virtually every turn in Australia I get urged to go to LA.
“I was born in Australia, I am in my eyes Australian, but there are very few precedents for my look on-screen here where as in the States they’re leagues ahead of us in that regards.”
New York casting director John Thomas, who has worked with some of the biggest names in show business over the past 20 years, said typecasting was quickly becoming a thing of the past and it’s time for Aussies to embrace inclusive casting.
“I used to be a firm believer in typecasting but now that I see the way things have developed over the years, things are changing,” he said.
“It seems like the rules have been expanding and there’s equal opportunity for a lot of people.”
Originally published as Why Hollywood movie stars like Chris Pang and Remy Hii don’t get work in Australia
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