Rebel Wilson is Making a K-Pop Movie and Asian Twitter is Livid
By Carl Samson
Australian actress Rebel Wilson has written a K-pop movie in which she will also appear — and Asian Twitter has mixed feelings about it.
“Seoul Girls,” to be released by Lionsgate, follows a Korean American high school girl and her friends who enter a worldwide talent competition, which seeks the opening act for the world’s biggest K-pop boy band, according to Deadline.
The girls will get help from “an ex-member of a British girl group and a former K-pop trainee” — presumably Wilson’s role — to “find their voices on the world’s biggest stage.”
The “Pitch Perfect” star will also serve as a producer via her Camp Sugar banner, along with Alison Owen and Debra Hayward of Monumental Pictures, one of the producers behind her upcoming “Cats” movie adaptation.
According to Deadline, Wilson’s script has been revised by Young-il Kim, whose credits include the Showtime series “Billions” (2016) and Hillary Clinton biopic “Rodham” (which Lionsgate dropped in 2015).
Kim joked about his involvement on Twitter, saying “This K-Pop project is gonna get me at least a 10% discount in K-town restaurants!”
At a time when calls for better representation in Hollywood are high, the news of a K-pop-centric film coming from a White actress understandably stirred mixed reactions, especially in the Asian community.
In an Instagram post, Wilson shared that she has been “working really hard” on the film and wanted it to feature “a diverse range of actors.”
“I really wanted it to star a diverse range of actors, so really proud about putting this together with an amazing team,” Wilson wrote.
The news has since sparked discussions on Asian Twitter, with many expressing disappointment:
On the other hand, some highlighted the fact that an Asian writer has revised the script:
Still, others wondered whether “Seoul Girls” would have an all-Asian lead cast:
Feature Image via @rebelwilson
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