My husband-in-the-next-life, Jeff Yang, argues that a new Charlie Chan movie should be made.  I agree.

So imagine a reinvented Charlie Chan — younger, leaner, rawer and primed for action; a Hawaiian Chinese cop shaped by the tradition and philosophy of his ancestors, but firmly embedded in American culture. Someone with humble beginnings (and the humility to remember them), who’s risen to his position as a top crimefighter through sheer wit, will and the ability to be tough when it counts and smooth when needed.

That’s a pretty fair description of the real-life “Charlie Chan” — Hawaiian police officer Chang Apana, whose career inspired Harvard-educated novelist Earl Derr Biggers to create his iconic P.I., although Biggers’s translation of Apana erased the original’s flamboyant personality and daredevil ways. 

I too noticed that Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes has a lot of Asian in him—and no I don’t mean the yellowface disguise.  Glad to know that director Wayne Wang is working with Chang Apana biographer, Yunte Huang, about the real life inspiration for Charlie Chan.

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5. kitteh-neon said: I didn’t know who he was and had to look him up, but cool! That would be fantastic if they did a new movie on him.
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