Iron Man

[Shane]

At a recent comic convention, director John Favreau announced that the villain in the new Iron Man movie would be none other than the Mandarin (a man who wears 10 powerful rings, each which gives him a different power).

This sounds like it might be pretty cool.

[Randy]

Hell yeah it's cool. The Mandarin rocks.

[Cliff]

They chose the most unique villain. Most of the others have power armor, which wouldn't have made much of a contrast to Iron Man.

Who will they get to play The Mandarin?

[Randy]

Bill Murray is the rumor that I heard.

[Shane]

Originally Posted by Randy

Bill Murray is the rumor that I heard.

I hope to God that you're kidding.

I just wonder if they'll get an Asian actor to play the Mandarin, since he's supposed to be from China and all? Not a lot of recognizable Asian actors these days (at least not in the U.S.).

[Randy]

No, dude. They're casting Bill Murray. He is not Asian.

Murray's got the range to handle this role. I'll be interested to see what he does with it.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by Randy

No, dude. They're casting Bill Murray. He is not Asian

Bill Murray isn't Asian? That's a newsflash.

[Shane]

Well, Lost in Translation took place in Japan, so I guess that sort of makes him Asian, right?

I've also heard that they're looking at Chevy Chase to play Iron Man. The movie is going to be a guy movie aimed at white males over 50.

[Crazy '88]

I find that offensive. According to the 2000 census, there are 4,800,000 Asian-Americans in California alone. Could the producers find one to play a rare Asian role? I will boycott if this is true.

[Shane]

I'm pretty sure that Randy was joking about Bill Murray being cast.

The problem I see is that they're going to be looking for someone with star power to play the villain. Just look at a few other comic book movies and their villains:

Daredevil - Kingpin - Michael Clarke Duncan

Daredevil - Bullseye - Colin Farrell

X-Men - Magneto - Ian McKellen

Superman Returns- Lex Luthor - Kevin Spacey

Spider-Man - The Green Goblin - Willem Dafoe

Batman Begins - Ra's Al Ghul - Liam Neeson

And there are plenty of other examples. Granted, these guys aren't as big as Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise, but people recognize their name (or at least recognize their faces).

The sad fact is that there are very few roles in Hollywood for Asians or Asian-Americans. Most people know who Lucy Liu is, and that's about it (while hardcore film fans could also identify Jet Li and Chow Yun-Fat). But let's take a moment and examine the most viable candidates who would both stay true to the character of the Mandarin and might also be recognized by the viewing public.

1. Jason Scott Lee - portrayed Bruce Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

2. Jet Li - all around badass from a number of martial arts movies.

3. Robin Shou - stars in the upcoming DOA, and portrayed Liu Kang in the Mortal Combat films.

4. B.D. Wong - Has acted in movies such as The Salton Sea, Stay, and a whole bunch of television episodes.

5. Daniel Dae Kim - portrays Jin on the TV series Lost.

6. Will Yun Lee - Named as one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People, he has also had roles in Die Another Day and Electra.

7. Phillip Rhee - starred in the Best of the Best series.

8. Chow Yun-Fat - International superstar most famous for his roles in John Woo films. He would be my pick, by the way. This guy just oozes coolness.

9. Ken Watanabe - starred in The Last Samurai and played the "fake" Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins.

In my opinion, these are the best choices out there. They've all been around and might be recognized. Yun-Fat and Jet Li would certainly be recognized around the world. Let me know if I'm leaving out any good choices.