Donnie Yen Called Out Asian Stereotypes in John Wick: Chapter 4 and Rogue One, Leading to Script Changes

Donnie Yen is joining the world of assassins in John Wick: Chapter 4 as Caine, an old friend of Keanu Reeves’ eponymous gun-fu action hero. However, the character had a different name when Yen was initially cast for the role. 

The actor told GQ that he criticized the John Wick: Chapter 4 script for featuring a character that perpetuates Asian stereotypes. 

“The name was Shang or Chang,” Yen said of his John Wick role. “Why does he always have to be called Shang or Chang? Why can’t he have a normal name? Why do you have to be so generic? Then the wardrobe again — oh, mandarin collars. Why is everything so generic? This is a John Wick movie. Everybody’s supposed to be cool and fashionable. Why can’t he look cool and fashionable?”

John Wick: Chapter 4 director Chad Stahelski agreed to change the name and appearance of Yen’s character, who Yen was able to re-design as “partly” an homage to Bruce Lee. The actor also shared in his GQ interview that he had a “very respectful experience working on John Wick.” 

This is not the first time Yen has dealt with typecasting in film. When he was approached by Disney to play Chirrut Îmwe in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Yen said the script positioned the part as a stereotypical martial arts warrior. 

“One thing I pointed out is he was a stereotype. Typical master. Doesn’t smile,” Yen said, adding that it was his idea to make Chirrut blind when expressing these concerns to the Rogue One creative team. Yen even had the opportunity to improvise jokes on set. 

John Wick: Chapter 4 premieres in theaters March 24.

Michaela Zee is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @michaelakzee.