Burbank, CA – Just hours after news broke that all 12 members of the Wild Boar soccer team, along with their coach, have been rescued from a cave in Thailand after two harrowing weeks, Legendary Entertainment has already secured the film rights to the story. Even more intriguing was a tweet from Matt Damon agent Patrick Whitesell revealing that the Goodwill Hunting star is currently in talks to play the four heroic navy seals lead the “Mission Impossible” style rescue.
“I can’t think of a more obvious choice to play four Asian heroes than Jason Bourne! #caverescue” user @emmastone_fan tweeted. But not everyone is so stoked about Damon taking another role that could have gone to four actors of Asian descent: “It’s just another example of Hollywood whitewashing,” author @nancywyuen tweeted Tuesday. “John Cho could have played at least one of the Navy Seals.”
The film’s director Zhang Yimou hasn’t confirmed the rumors but assured critics that he will not base his choice for the leading role on ethnicity. “The only color we see in Hollywood is green. We will go with someone who already has international pull at the box office as a leading man, someone with a strong background in martial arts, and someone who can believably play four rugged Asian men. Personally, my first choice would be Scarlet Johannson.”
