actor-networks on S Anand

How to find a Chinese actor to cast in Hollywood

Sun, 20 Feb 2022 07:08:21 +0000

Film actors mostly act within their own industry.

For example, Hollywood actors act outside Hollywood just 10% of the time. Chinese actors act with non-Chinese actors just 1% of the time.

So, if you’re a Hollywood producer trying to cast a Chinese actor, how would you find them?

One way is to list Chinese actors with the largest number of Hollywood co-stars. Let’s see who tops that list.

#5. Pei-Pei Cheng

You may know her as Jade Fox, the sly governess in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), or Golden Swallow, the skilled swordsman sister in Come Drink With Me (1966), or even as the voice of the matchmaker who disgraces Mulan in Mulan (2020).

She mainly acts in Chinese films, co-starring nearly 180 times with actors like Hua Yueh, Lieh Lo, and Chung-Hsin Huang. But she’s also co-starred over 20 times with Hollywood actors like Jamie King (of Sin City), Peter Bowles (of The Bank Job), and Sandra Oh (of Grey’s Anatomy).

#4. Jet Li

You may know him as Han Sing, the martial artist and ex-cop in Romeo Must Die (2000), or Gabe Law, the former MultiVerse Authority agent in The One (2001), or Yin Yang, the unarmed member of The Expendables (2010).

He has co-starred over 100 times with Chinese actors like Jackie Chan, Simon Yam, and Sammo Kam-Bo Hung. But he’s also co-starred 30 times with Hollywood actors like Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, and Sylvester Stallone.

#3. Joan Chen

She’s famous as Wanrong, the Chinese empress in The Last Emperor (1987), Josie Packard, the owner of the Twin Peaks mill in Twin Peaks (1989), or Dr Ilsa Hayden, assistant to the villain Rico Dredd in Judge Dredd (1995).

She’s co-starred over 80 times with Chinese actors like Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Leon Lai, and Tony Ka Fai Leung. But she’s co-starred over 40 times with Hollywood actors like Michael Caine, Peter O’Toole, and Christopher Walken.

#2. Jackie Chan

The most famous Chinese martial arts actor in the world, and one of the highest-paid actors in the world, is famous as Detective Inspector Lee in Rush Hour (1998), Mr Han in The Karate Kid (2010), and the voice of Monkey in Kung Fu Panda (2008).

He has co-starred nearly 200 times with Chinese actors like Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Maggie Cheung, and Kent Cheng. But he’s co-starred over 50 times with Hollywood actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Owen Wilson, and Chris Tucker.

#1. Michelle Yeoh

You may know her as Wai Lin, the Chinese spy and James Bond’s ally in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Yu Shu Lien, the warrior swordswoman in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), or as Eleanor Young, the domineering mother-in-law in Crazy Rich Asians (2018).

She’s an actress at the borderline of the Chinese - Hollywood clusters. She’s acted ~60 times with Chinese actors like Maggie Cheung, Chow Yun-Fat and Jet Li. But she’s acted almost as many times with Hollywood actors like Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington.

More actors

Here are half a dozen more Chinese actors that have acted with Hollywood actors often.

It’s interesting to see that 3 of the top 6 (Chow Yun-Fat, Pei-Pei Cheng, and Michelle Yeoh) had all acted in the blockbuster Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

So, perhaps the simple message to our Hollywood producer is to “look no further than the cast of the first foreign-language film to break the $100mn mark in the USA.”

How isolated is Bollywood from world cinema?

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 10:05:45 +0000

These are the major group actors based on who they act with most.

Language. Not country. For example, the Spanish / Mexican group is across countries. But Indian actors divide into North Indian and South Indian. It’s language, not country.
Time period. Old American actors are a separate group from Hollywood. (Naturally. Brad Pitt was born after Humphrey Bogart died. They couldn’t have acted together.)
Genre. Hollywood Porn actors don’t act with mainstream Hollywood. Same with Japanese Porn, Hollywood TV, and Hollywood Horror actors.

How are these groups themselves connected? Do Chinese actors act with Hollywood often? How isolated is Bollywood from world cinema?

Hollywood is the core group

Take groups that act with other groups at least 5% of the time. Mainstream Hollywood acts with British and Hollywood TV/Horror actors. All other clusters are isolated.

Indian & Japanese clusters emerge

Let’s go more liberal. Take groups that act with other groups at least 2% of the time. Hollywood forms a big connected cluster. It includes most of Europe – British, German, French, Czech, Yugoslavian & Italian actors.

North & South Indian actors form the first non-Hollywood cross-language cluster.

The Japanese and Japanese porn actors form a cluster too. (Interestingly, it’s easy for a Japanese porn actor to act with mainstream Japanese actors. Hollywood porn actors find it far harder to act with Hollywood.)

Chinese & Korean cluster emerges

Chinese & South Korean actors form the first cross-country cross-language cluster.

Hollywood expands to act with Scandinavian, Spanish, Polish, Brazilian & Nigerian films.

Other film industries (Russian, Greek, Egyptian – even Hollywood Porn – are still isolated.)

World Cinema vs the rest

Among groups that act with other groups at least 0.5% of the time, we have:

Turkish & Iranian groups coming together
Indonesian actors acting with the Chinese
Hollywood expanding to cover Russian, Greek, Egyptian, and finally, Hollywood Porn. (It’s easier for Brazilian / Nigerian to act with Hollywood than to be a Hollywood Porn actor.)

At this point, there are 6 actor groups that act with each other at least 1 out of 200 times (0.5%).

World Cinema (Hollywood & friends)
Japanese (mainstream & porn)
Indian (North & South)
Chinese, South Korean & Indonesian
Turkish & Iranian
Filipino

One world of cinema

If we look at groups that act with other groups at least 0.5% of the time, we have a far more unified picture. Almost every actor group acts with another group at least 1 out of 400 times.

But even here, there’s an exception. Filipino actors – the most insular major actor group in the world.

So, how isolated is Bollywood from World Cinema? For its size, it’s one of the most isolated actor groups. (But not as much as Iranian/Turkish or Filipino.)

Comments

Dr Urmila 5 Jan 2022 7:36 pm: Hi Anand….i am not a technical person but I do use similar representations in my research as bibliometric, scientometrics etc…we use to understand the publication patterns… Any very interesting piece of information. I enjoyed reading
How to find a Chinese actor to cast in Hollywood - S Anand 20 Feb 2022 12:39 pm (pingback): […] For example, Hollywood actors act outside Hollywood just 10% of the time. Chinese actors act with non-Chinese actors just 1% of the time. […]

Can foreigners enter Hollywood?

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 13:25:46 +0000

An aspiring Malaysian actor posted on Reddit:

I am a 18-year old biracial Malaysian kid who wants to be an actor in Hollywood. I’m taking a diploma for performing arts in a college called Sunway University in 8 days and I’m considering pulling out of it because why do something that I like when my dreams might never be fulfilled and the price for taking this diploma is seriously expensive. I am starting to doubt my chances of making it to Hollywood and I suffer from extreme anxiety. Is it possible for someone like me to enter Hollywood? What are my chances?

Breaking into Hollywood is hard. As a foreigner, it would be even harder. So I asked myself:

Do Hollywood actors act with foreigners?

Let’s take Will Smith. He frequently acts with Martin Lawrence, Tommy Lee Jones, Jaden Smith, Jon Voight, and 84 other actors.

His every co-star is a Hollywood actor, except the Spanish actor Jordi Mollà in Bad Boys II, and the Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari in Aladdin. Will Smith acts with just 2% of foreign co-stars.

On the other hand, Jackie Chan is more cosmopolitan. He acts with:

Chinese actors like Yuen Siu-Tin in Drunken Master
Hollywood actors like Chris Tucker in Rush Hour
Japanese actors like Kumiko Goto in City Hunter – which is based on a Japanese Manga of the same name.
South Korean actors like Su-cheon Bae in Huo shao shao lin men – a Korean/Mandarin film
Indian actors like Disha Patani in Kung Fu Yoga - an Indo-Chinese film
Spanish actors like Eva Cobo in Operation Condor - shot in Spain
Danish actors like Pilou Asbæk in the upcoming film Snafu

Of his 224 co-stars, 70 are non-Chinese. Jackie Chan acts with over 30% foreign co-stars.

Are Chinese films be more foreigner-friendly? Should our Malaysian friend try there instead?

Is Hollywood less open to foreigners than other countries?

I took all movie actors across the world and broke them into groups using a community structure. Actors within the group act mostly within themselves, and less with other groups.

The largest group is Hollywood, with ~80,000 actors (mostly American). They act with each other 90% of the time and act with other groups only 10% of the time.

In comparison, the Chinese group has ~20,000 actors. They act with each other 98% of the time. When they do act outside the group, it’s mostly with Hollywood (0.5%), Japanese (0.3%), South Korean (0.3%), and Indonesian (0.1%)

Clearly, Jackie Chan is more the exception than the norm.

But among the large groups, there are 2 groups that are even more insular than Chinese actors.

The ~8,200 Turkish actors act only with each other 99.1% of the time, occasionally venturing to act with Iranian actors (0.2%).

Even more insular are the ~7,000 Filipino actors who act with each other 99.3% of the time. They occasionally venture out to act in Hollywood 0.2% of the time.

There are no other sizeable groups of actors that’re as insulated.

Hollywood is actually among the most cosmopolitan groups, along with the West European films. So, to our budding Malaysian actor, I’d say:

It’s hard to get an acting break. As a foreigner, it’s 10 times harder in Hollywood. But you’re better off in Hollwood or Western Europe than in any other country, where it would be 50 to 100 times as hard!

Comments

How isolated is Bollywood from world cinema? - S Anand 5 Jan 2022 3:35 pm (pingback): […] These are the major group actors based on who they act with most. […]
I tested the best ways to mail people - S Anand 6 Jan 2022 11:32 am (pingback): […] write more about did 100% worse at #4 than #2 (4.4% down to 0%) […]
Vidyasekar 21 Dec 2021 7:15 pm: I don’t know whether it has a business value or not. But it gives a hammer shot on the head and looks at the Cinema industry and its behaviors.
My Year in 2021 - S Anand 2 Jan 2022 1:36 pm (pingback): […] On learning, I discovered network clusters. My PyCon talk on movie networks is the start of a fascinating exploration of actors that I’ll write more about. […]
Vinu 1 Jan 2022 1:08 am: Interesting data driven view of comparing the level of tribalism (if I can use that term ) within the various film industries around the world. I wonder, though, If casting decisions are directly made by the actors or the initial production and directorial leadership. some stars will command more of a say in whom they will co-Star with and with whom they won’t… but I wonder if that’s relevant to but a small fraction. Its good mental gymnastics, but at the core, your advice is good ;)
How to find a Chinese actor to cast in Hollywood - S Anand 20 Feb 2022 12:38 pm (pingback): […] example, Hollywood actors act outside Hollywood just 10% of the time. Chinese actors act with non-Chinese actors just 1% of the […]

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 02:52:07 +0000

Jolie No. 1

There are more Bollywood actors in Hollywood. Some are even turning down Hollywood roles.

So we wondered: How easily can a Bollywood actor connect to a Hollywood actor?

As part of the Oct 2019 Gramener data story hackathon, Anand, Kishore, and Niyas created a Jolie No 1 — a data video where Govinda announces (in our imagination) that he will act with Angelina Jolie in Jolie No 1, but declines to comment on who introduced them.

Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/lcwMsPxPIjc

Read the full article at http://www.s-anand.net/blog/jolie-no-1/

Jolie No. 1

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 16:28:49 +0000

There are more Bollywood actors in Hollywood. Some are even turning down Hollywood roles.

So we wondered: How easily can a Bollywood actor connect to a Hollywood actor?

As part of the Oct 2019 Gramener data story hackathon, Anand, Kishore, and Niyas created a Jolie No 1 — a data video where [Govinda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govinda_(actor) announces (in our imagination) that he will act with Angelina Jolie in Jolie No 1, but declines to comment on who introduced them.

We picked a theme first

The hackathon theme was “movies”. We explored 5 themes:

Who acts most in cameo roles, and what’s the impact on revenue? (Based on The Numbers)
Which actors acted often together? (Based on IMDb data)
Which movies become hits on TV? (Based on BARC TV data)
What is the social network of actors in individual movies (https://www.xkcd.com/657/)
Correlation of TV series actors and their revenues

We explored insights next

We picked the first two themes because we liked them.

1. Cameo appearances

Some observations were:

Stan Lee starred in 45 cameo roles. No one even comes close. Some roles are:
- A school bus driver in Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- A strip club DJ in Deadpool (2016)
- A hot-dog vendor in X-Men (1995)
Jay Leno (25) and Larry King (21) follow, mostly starring as themselves
Alfred Hitchcock (16) has famous cameo appearances in most of his films, such as:
- Man mailing letter in Suspicion (1941)
- Man winding the clock in Rear Window (1954)
- Man walking the docs in The Birds (1963)

We didn’t have inflation-adjusted box-office revenues, so we couldn’t compare the revenues.

2. Which actors acted often together

Some observations were:

Top hero-heroine combo:
- Overall: Prem Nazir & Jayabharati
- Hollywood: Billy Dee & Mike Horner (pornstars)
- Tollywood: Krishna Ghattamaneni & Jaya Prada
- Bollywood: Jeetendra & Rekha
Top male combo: Sivaji Ganesan & Nagesh (more recently, Senthil & Goundamani)
Top female combination: Lalitha & Padmini
Top pair of:
- Shah Rukh Khan: Rani Mukherji
- Amitabh Bachchan: Hema Malini
- Kamal Haasan: Sridevi
- Rajinikanth: Sridevi
- Sridevi: Krishna Ghattamaneni
- Chiranjeevi: Vijayshanti
- Dev Anand: Madhubala

The observations focus on Bollywood and Hollywood (because of our familiarity) – but there are number of insights on Japanese and French films too.

We decided to go with this theme because it offered multiple storylines:

Some actors pair up with each other, e.g. Gemini - Savithri
Some actors have a big “following” e.g. Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, Jitendra have acted most with Sridevi
Some actors form cliques – working only with each other
Often, comedians are the bridge between cliques
It’s interesting to see how actors from one clique can connect to another

Creating the storyline

When exploring of actors’ connections, we found a clearly delineated network structure.

The group of densely clustered actors is the Bollywood-Tollywood-Mollywood-Kollywood nexus. It appears disconnected from the Hollywood cluster. (We excluded anyone who hadn’t acted together in at least 4 films.)

The data was created using this Jupyter notebook.

We realized that it’s tough for someone in Bollywood to connect to Hollywood. Maybe that could be the plot? For example, what if Amitabh Bachchan wants to act with Metryl Streep?

But this isn’t an interesting story. So we asked:

Who is the most desirable heroine in Hollywood? Our guess was Angelina Jolie
Who would make funny co-actor? We toggled between Rajanikanth, Brahmanandam, and finally picked Govinda.

The plot summary was: Govinda wants to act with Angelina Jolie. Who can connect them?

The analysis is in this Jupyter notebook.

Write the screenplay

The morning of the hackathon was spent finalizing the screenplay and dialogues, written on Dropbox Paper.

CUT TO:
    - Video of Govinda "declining James Cameron's Avatar" on Aap Ki Adalat
    - Niyas: On July 29, 2019, Govinda announces he declined a role in Avatar.
    - Video: https://youtu.be/NyFF18a7e-Y
    - Picture: https://twitter.com/mohan_rajkeshav/status/1156148768049262592

CUT TO:
    - Visual: Show an interview video of Govinda and of Angelina
    - Niyas: Today, he announced his next film with Angelina Jolie.
             A “close friend” connected them, but didn't say who.
    - Kishore: Who is this close friend? Why is he not naming them?
    - Video: https://youtu.be/NyFF18a7e-Y (Govinda)
    - Video: https://youtu.be/JNrH1W7aKc8 (Angelina)

CUT TO:
    - Visual: Show the top 8 heroines Govinda has acted with.
              Visualize this data with animation.
              One option is to have Govinda’s pic in the center,
              and have each of these 9 heroine’s images appear around him
              as a circle, with the number of pictures in a link.
              Or as the inverse link distance (e.g. 11 is closest)

    11 Neelam Kothari
    10 Kimi Katkar
    10 Karisma Kapoor
     9 Raveena Tandon
     9 Farha Naaz
     8 Juhi Chawla
     6 Anita Raj
     6 Mandakini
     5 Shilpa Shetty Kundra

    - Niyas: Maybe it’s because it’s one of his heroines?
             He’s mostly acted with Neelam, Kimi and Karishma.
             But none of them has acted with any Hollywood actor.

MORPH TO:
    - Visual: Add these actors with pics to the same visual,
              but clearly differentiated by gender. Also add their names.

    22 Shakti Kapoor
    18 Kader Khan
    13 Gulshan Grover
     9 Anupam Kher
     8 Dharmendra
     7 Johnny Lever
     6 Sadashiv Amrapurkar
     6 Vikas Anand
     6 Sanjay Dutt
     6 Prem Chopra
     6 Asrani

    - Kishore: So maybe this “close friend” is a male actor?
    - Niyas: He’s acted with Gulshan Grover, Kader Khan and Shakti Kapoor a lot.
    - Kishore: Shakti Kapoor is practically his boyfriend!

MORPH TO:
    - Visual: Zoom into Gulshan Grover and Anupam Kher.
              Build a network of film posters around them
              with their Hollywood films (max 2-4)
        - Anupam Kher
            - Bend It Like Beckham
            - Lust & Caution
            - Silver Linings Playbook
            - A Family Man
        - Gulshan Grover
            - Prisoners of the Sun
            - The Second Jungle Book
            - Marigold
            - Monsoon
    - Niyas: Gulshan Grover and Anupam Kher have acted in a number of Hollywood films
    - Kishore: But have they acted with Angelina Jolie?
    - Niyas: No, never with Angelina Jolie.
    - Kishore: But what if any of them connected him to someone who connected him to Angelina?

CUT TO:
    - Visual: Show Angelina Jolie with ~100 actors around her. Highlight the following:
        - Jack Black, 3
        - Dustin Hoffman, 3
        - Giovanni Ribisi, 2
        - Robert De Niro, 2
        - Brad Pitt, 2
        - Elle Fanning, 2
        - Bryan Cranston, 2
        - 92 other actors with only 1 film each
        - Highlight Irrfan Khan — A Mighty Heart
    - Niyas: Angelina Jolie has acted with less than 100 actors.
             Dustin Hoffman and Jack Black, mostly.
             Only one of them is an Indian actor: Irrfan Khan

MORPH TO:
    - Visual: Expand the connection between Angelina and Irrfan
    - Kishore: So, Govinda needs to connect to Irrfan Khan somehow.

MORPH TO:
    - Visual: Connect Govinda to Irrfan Khan via
        - Gulshan Grover via Knock Out
        - Sanjay Dutt via Knock Out
        - Tabu via Saajan Chale Sasural, Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya (and 2 others)   \
    - Niyas: That should be easy.
             Gulshan Grover and Irrfan Khan have acted together in Knock Out.
             So has Sanjay Dutt.
             But Tabu will be a better option. Govinda and Irrfan Khan have acted with her in 4 movies each.

MORPH TO:
    - Visual: Show path from Govinda to Tabu to Irrfan to Angelina.
    - Kishore: Then, Govinda must have connected to Tabu
               who introduced him to Irrfan Khan,
               who in turn connected him with Angelina Jolie.

Create the video

Anand and Niyas created the visuals on PowerPoint, collaborating on Dropbox.

This is the first version of the presentation. It uses morph transitions extensively.

Niyas and Kishore recorded the audio in two parts on their phone, shared it with Anand via WhatsApp.

We integrated these using the Windows 10 video editor. It’s simple, but now powerful. For our use, simplicity was more important.

The process took 6 hours (from 8 am to 2 pm).

Writing the screenplay and dialogues: 1.5 hours
Creating the presentation: 2 hours
Recording the audio: 1 hour
Integrating into the video: 1.5 hours

At the last minute, we picked the title “Jolie No. 1” as a parody of Govinda’s No. 1 film series.

We published this on Google Drive, and then on YouTube.