By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Daniel Dae Kim
Actor Daniel Dae Kim confirmed last week that he’s joined the cast of the new “Hellboy” reboot by Lionsgate and Millennium.
“I’m excited to confirm that I’ve officially joined the cast of Hellboy,” said Kim in a Facebook post. “We start shooting [on Sept. 13] and I’ll be playing Ben Daimio, alongside our very talented cast, headed by David Harbour, and director, Neil Marshall.”
Daimio is Japanese American in Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy” comics and his heritage is central to his backstory. Daimio’s grandmother was a Japanese Imperial assassin in World War II.
Ed Skrein, who played the villain in “Deadpool,” claimed he wasn’t aware of the character’s ethnicity when he took the role. He gave it up after complaints of “whitewashing.”
“It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people,” Skrein said in a statement.
Kim applauded the film producers and, in particular, Skrein for championing the notion that Asian characters should be played by Asian or Asian American actors.
“He could not have addressed the issue more elegantly and I remain indebted to him for his strength of character,” said Kim.
Hellboy is set to hit theaters in January 2019.
Kim, along with fellow actor Grace Park, left CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0” this summer after failing to agree on salaries in new contracts.