Sessue Hayakawa

Anyone know if Sessue Hayakwawa was approached for the part of Wang Lung?

Probably most famous for his Oscar nominated Bridge on the River Kwai role but an icon in his own right in the silent era, with films like The Cheat to his credit, I'd think he'd have been the obvious choice for a prestigious film like this, easily being the most famous Asian male actor of the period. I guess he could have been living in Europe during that period, but that could hardly have been much of a problem if the studio was set on "him" and wanted to "court" him for the part (its not like he was trapped in Europe, as he would be in Vichy France during WWII).

If he wasn't at least approached, that's unfortunate, but either way its a real shame - because Hayakawa's signing on would probably then have given the green light to cast Anna May Wong in the role of O-Lan, as racial miscegenation restrictions would no longer be of any concern or problem. They had already co-starred together in the Daughter of the Dragon film, which was Sessue's "talkie" debut, and so they had already proved they could work together.

Of course, in that film, Sessue had apparently failed to gain traction in "talkies" due to his effeminate-sounding Japanese accent, which is understandable (Anna May was an assimilated Chinese woman by that time whose English was as good as her Mandarin Chinese, if not better) but that couldn't possibly have been an obstacle considering the fact that he would, in fact, be playing a rural Chinese farmer whose English was SUPPOSED to be mangled sounding.

Actually, I can't help but wonder if the Sessue choice would be seen as equally, if not more offensive, than a white actor playing the part, considering Japan's very active Imperial presence in the Chinese mainland during the making of the film.

A Japanese actor playing a Chinese Peasant in a pro-Chinese film? That might have been greeted with the same disgust, indignant outrage, and protest that greeted the pro-PLO Vanessa Redgrave wining the role of Auschwitz survivor, Fania Fenelon, in Playing for Time.

But, nothing a good PR campaign couldn't solve - especially considering Sessue's disassociation with the Imperial Japanese (indeed he would side with the Allied forces during WWII).

Its a shame because both would have been great... thoughts?