Crazy Rich Asians Jon Chu proposes a Rose Tico series

The mini-revolt by Star Wars fans is still bubbling after the latest episode of the 9-movie space saga was released 10 days ago spilling into a huge PR problem for Disney Studios.

At the center of the controversy is the virtual disappearance of Rose Tico, played by Kelly Marie Tran. Tico was one of main heroes of the previous episode, The Last Jedi, but in the latest chapter, The Rise of Skywalker, she is onscreen only 1 minute and 16 seconds.

Tico's prominence in The Last Jedi was hailed by Asian Americans as the long-awaited arrival of Asians in "the galaxy far, far away," where the storyline takes place. 

Movie director Jon Chu has joined the fray by offering to direct a TV series featuring Rose Tico.

On Friday (Dec 27), the Crazy Rich Asians director took to Twitter to mamke his proposal: “Ok @disneyplus. Put me in coach. Let’s make this series happen. #RoseTicoDeservedBetter @starwars.”

It's ironic it took so long for the franchise to pay some recognition that the series owe so much of its lore and initial storyline to the popular samurai movies of the 1960s. Creator George Lucas admits that he was inspired by Jajpanese director Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortrress and the style of sword-fighting from the samurai in Kurosawa's period flicks.

Disney Plus is the studio's pay-for-view streaming network which already features a Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian and have plans for  a Rogue One prequel series and an Obi-Wan-centered series, both of which feature original Star Wars film actors returning to their roles.

Chu didn't offer any further details but an offer by one of Hollywood's in-demand directors should be taken seriously. Besides the groundbreaking Crazy Rich Asians, his latest project, In the Heights, looks to be another hit. Also among his credits are the moneymaking franchises, G.I. Joe Retaliation, Step up and Now You See Me.

Tico's character was heavily criticized by a small segment of Star War fans who didn't like an Asian woman playing such an important role in a franchise they somehow believe should be populated by strong, white men and princesses that need rescuing. They mounted an intense social media campaign infused with hate and racism forcing Tran to shut down her social media account at one point.

So when Tico's role was seriously reduced in the ninth and final chapter of the space saga, it appeared to fans that the producers and studio were caving to the unwarranted criticism.

In such a diverse universe, one would think there would be room for an Asian or two considering much of the lore for the initial Star Wars movies were co-opted from Japanese samurai movies, from the use of The Force, costumes and style of swordfighting. George Lucas, who created the Star Wars story, admitted that he stole from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and his Japanese period film The Hidden Fortress and other samurai films popular in the 1960s.

Chris Terrio, co-screenplay writer of The Rise of Skywalker, tried to temper the rising controversy by responding to the Rose Tico defenders in interviews with several publications. 

Well, first of all, J.J. and I adore Kelly Marie Tran. One of the reasons that Rose has a few less scenes than we would like her to have has to do with the difficulty of using Carrie’s footage in the way we wanted to. We wanted Rose to be the anchor at the rebel base who was with Leia. We thought we couldn’t leave Leia at the base without any of the principals who we love, so Leia and Rose were working together. As the process evolved, a few scenes we’d written with Rose and Leia turned out to not meet the standard of photorealism that we’d hoped for. Those scenes unfortunately fell out of the film. The last thing we were doing was deliberately trying to sideline Rose. We adore the character, and we adore Kelly – so much so that we anchored her with our favorite person in this galaxy, General Leia.

Terrio's explanation doesn't seem adequate enough considering the high level of special effects used in the movie, but it is the only explanation so far. If a studio can create  a universe where all kinds of aliens can co-exist and travel to distant planets in minutes, it seems that it could overcome this technical glitch.

Neither Disney Studios or J.J. Abrams, director for The Rise of Skywalker, has responded to all the hoopla surrounding the Rose Tico controversy. If Disney though the fanboys' trolling was intense, they would be wise to not anger the Asian American online army.

Star Wars: Kelly Marie Tran gets the last laugh against her critics

Kelly Marie Tran will reprise her role as Rose Tico in 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.'

ASAM NEWS

Kelly Marie Tran has been teasing fans and the media about her character Rose Tico’s role in the upcoming Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
According to Digital Spy, Tran says Rose will be more involved in the resistance than she was in The Last Jedi.

“Before, Rose was a new character who was in maintenance and she was not a huge part of the resistance,” Tran told Digital Spy. “But now she’s in the resistance in a big way and it’s very cool.”

Since character descriptions were released for The Rise of Skywalker in September, fans have speculated that Rose could play a bigger role.

According to Comic Book, the description reads: “Rose has risen through the ranks from lowly engineering support crew to military commander. She leads the Engineering Corps in making the necessary modifications to keep the Resistance’s gear operational, as well as countering new advancements in First Order technology.”

Tran told Digital Spy that she had to do more training for The Rise of Skywalker than she did in The Last Jedi.

“I had to learn everything that had to do with being in a war, like holding a gun,” Tran said. “I’ve never held a gun before. Things like that, that you don’t even think about when you’re watching this movie. We’re all real people living real lives.”

"We don't shoot arrows off horses normally, so we have to learn every little thing. There's so much detail and so much work that goes into everything."

After the release of The Last Jedi, Tran was bullied on social media because some Star Wars fans were unhappy with her character. Now, many fans who supported the character hope that Rose will be treated more respectfully after The Rise of Skywalker is released.

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Ming Na Wen wins role in new Star Wars series 'The Mandalorian'

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

Ming Na Wen was named a Disney Legend by studio head Bob Iger.

The veteran actress Ming Na Wen is jumping from the Marvel Universe to a universe far, far away.

During the D23 Expo Saturday, during which Disney previewed upcoming projects, it was announced that Ming Na Wen, Agent May of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is cast in The Mandalorian, a spinoff inspired by the Star Wars franchise.

The series will debut Nov. 12 on Disney's new streaming channel. (Yep, that disturbing trend of pay-to-watch).

The Mandalorian is described as a bounty hunter operating in the frontiers of the universe. Think wild west meets Sanjuro in the same time line as the Resistance vs. the Federation  iyears of the 9-movie sagacreated by George Lucas.

Pedro Pascal (best known for playing Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones) will take on the title role: a lone Mandalorian gunfighter operating in the outer reaches of the galaxy. Besides Wen, whose character went undescribed during the Expo, other cast members include Carl Weathers, Gina Carano, Nick Nolte and Giancarlo Esposito.

During the Expo, Wen was one of the honorees for the annual Disney Legends honors, which this year also went to Wing Chao, Robert Downey Jr., Jon Favreau, James Earl Jones, Bette Midler, Kenny Ortega, Barnette Ricci, Robin Roberts, Diane Sawyer and Hans Zimmer.

Wen will be wrapping up the seventh and last season of Agents of SHIELD before starting The Mandalorian, which already is slated for a second season.

Some of the series' directors include AAPI directors Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), and Deborah How, (Jessica Jones).

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Sunday Read: George Lucas on the legendary director Akira Kurosawa

On the occasion of the late director Akira Kurosawa's birthday, we present this video of George Lucas and the influence the cinema master had on his Star Wars.

Kurosawas was born March 23, 1910 and died in 1998. He is credited with bringing Japanese cinema to the attention of the Western world.

His first film, Drunken Angel (1948) was critically acclaimed introduced a young, up-andcoming actor, Toshiro Mifune, who went on to act in many more of Kurosawa's films.

RELATED: Rogue One was the 'most Asian' of the Star Wars films

Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) was screened at the Venice Film Festival, where it won a Golden Lion (the highest prize given to a film at the festival) in 1951. It has become a classic in film classes. Mifune's spectacular acting skills in the film, paired with the mesmerising portrayal of nature -- rain pouring in endless streams and sunlight escaping through the wooden canopy -- made it a work of art.

Nature and its role was a recurring element in Kurosawa's work. Amidst the violence depicted in some of his samurai movies, he included quiet scenes as a contrast to man's violence, o-- a bubbling brook  flowing through a garden, the click-clock of a bamboo mill, the wind rushing through the reeds -- would often precede a bloody fight.

One of his most commercially successful films and what many critics call Kurosawa's masterpiece, Seven Samurai, drew inspiration from Hollywood westerns. The  3-hour and a half movie, in turn, inspired the Hollywood to make the western The Magnificent Seven.

SEVEN SAMURAI

The final battle in Seven Samurai was fought in a torrential rainstorm.

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Russians may have egged on the 'Last Jedi' fan backlash against Kelly Marie Tran

Some movie-goers were upset that a white male was not a central heroic figure in 'The Last Jedi.'

ASAM NEWS

THE SUPPOSED fan backlash that chased Kelly Marie Tran from social media may have been the work of Russian trolls and non-human bots in support of right wing and racist agendas, concluded a study from the University of Southern California.
Salon reports the study by researcher Morten Bay analyzed tweets aimed at ridiculing Kelly Marie Tran, the first women of color to be cast in a lead role in theStar Wars franchise.

“The study finds evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments,” Bay writes. “ The likely objective of these measures is increasing media coverage of the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society.”

According to the South China Morning Post more than half of the tweets analyzed came from non-human bots with a number being Russian trolls. Some 960 twitter accounts were analyzed by Bay.

Bay concluded only about 10 percent of the tweets he analyzed came from legitimate Twitter accounts.

In December 2017, AsAmNews reported a fan page was taken over by racists who posted bigoted messages about Tran.

The Russian cyberwarfare campaign that used some fans' criticism of The Last Jedi as a launching pad for more insidious motives. The online vitriol had a common thread with Russia’s earlier Facebook disinformation campaigns, initiated during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 

“Some [trolls] were less focused on politics of party or specific issues and more on identity politics, posting anti-feminist or anti-homosexuality messages, and tweets of a racist nature were also frequent among the accounts in this category,” the study explains in order to sow discord among Americans.

The Last Jedi’s director, Rian Johnson, retweeted the paper, writing “what the top-line describes is consistent with my experience online”.

He added: “And just to be totally clear: this is not about fans liking or not liking the movie – I’ve had tons of great talks with great fans online and off who liked and disliked stuff. That’s what fandom is all about. This is specifically about a virulent strain of online harassment.”

The best answer to fan criticism, Russian or otherwise, is to produce a sequel starring Kelly Marie Tran. She'll be back in the Star Wars: Episode IX when it hits theaters on December 20, 2019.

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

Trollers beware: Kelly Marie Tran is back!

INSTAGRAM / KELLY MARIE TRAN SOURCE

RACISTS and misogynists bullied her off Instagram and for the first time since she left that social media site, actress Kelly Marie Tran is speaking out.
“Their words seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of color already taught me: that I belonged in margins and spaces, only valid as a minor character in their lives and stories,” Tran wrote in an essay for The New York Times published Tuesday (Aug. 21).

“And those words awakened something deep inside me ― a feeling I thought I had grown out of,” she continued. “Their words reinforced a narrative I had heard my whole life: that I was ‘other,’ that I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t good enough, simply because I wasn’t like them. And that feeling, I realize now, was, and is, shame, a shame for the things that made me different, a shame for the culture from which I came from.”

Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico.

Tran, 29, who played the of Rose Tico in the latest The Last Jedi installment of the Star Wars franchise, was the first woman of color to play a lead role in the science fiction saga. However, despite the historic nature of the role for being "first," the negative comments attacking her appearance and her presence were clearly racist and proved to be too much. Tran closed down her Instagram account earlier this summer with no explanation.

Until now.

It wasn't any particular Instagram post that caused Tran to delete her account. Her moving and powerful opinion piece is a strong reminder of how far this country still has to go in race relations despite the lofty words of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The practice - intentional and unintentional -- of being made to feel "not good enough," because she's not white; being made fun of because she could speak a language other than English; of having to change one's name to one easier to pronounce' of being  "othered" because one is Asian American is insidious and pervasive throughout America's institutions and culture.

The Star Wars franchise has been hounded by angry fans who feel white males are losing their status in the galaxy far, far away. It started with John Boyega and Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: the Force AWakens and continued to target Tran.

For some reason, these small contingent of insecure fans think they have some ownership over the George Lucas-inspired mythology. (I would not be surprised if they blame Lucas' African American wife for this trend.) The anti-diversity fans could be seen as a reflection of the rise of white nationalists who voted for Trump out of fear that their America (and their privilege of being white males) is threatened as America becomes more diverse.

“It was then that I realized I had been lied to,” the Vietnamese American actress wrote, adding later: “This is what it is to grow up as a person of color in a white-dominated world. This is what it is to be a woman in a society that has taught its daughters that we are only worthy of love if we are deemed attractive by its sons. This is the world I grew up in, but not the world I want to leave behind.”

Her essay continued: “I want to live in a world where women are not subjected to scrutiny for their appearance, or their actions, or their general existence. I want to live in a world where people of all races, religions, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities are seen as what they have always been: human beings.”

Tran defiantly concludes: “You might know me as Kelly,” she said. “I am the first woman of color to have a leading role in a Star Wars movie. I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair. My real name is Loan. And I am just getting started.”

Tran's strongest message to her haters will come next year when the next episode of Star Wars will come out. She will reprise her role as Rose Tico.

READ Tran's entire letter by clicking here.

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'Rally for Rose' at Comic-Con answers Rose Tico haters

TWITTER / NERDS OF COLOR

ACTRESS KELLY MARIE TRAN and Rose Tico, the character she plays in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, have come under fire from white males posing as fans of the Star Wars blockbuster franchise.

Tran - and by extension, Rose Tico - have come to symbolize everything that is wrong about the push for diversity by what haters say are "social justice warriors."

Last weekend, fans of Rose rallied for their hero at the 2018 Comic-Con held in San Diego. The "Rally for Rose," was organized by the website Nerds of Color and attracted a number cosplayers dressed as Rose as well as others wearing t-shirts emblazoned with a portrait of Rose.

Rose, as played by Tran, is the first woman of color to play a significant role in the Star Wars movies. As a result, Tran was targeted on Instagram by white fanboys making fun of her appearance her weight and just for being in the same universe as Luke Skywalker, one of the original main characters in the first Star Wars.

The fanboys - a small but vocal portion of the franchise's fan base -- apparently saw Star Wars as one of their refuges from reality. So when Disney began including female leads and characters of color in the last three stories -- The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi -- they hit back the only way they knew, through social media, hiding behind the Internet's anonymity.

The latest movie in the franchise, Solo, saw the return of the white, male hero, but still managed to have strong female leads played by Westworld's Thandie Newton and Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke. 

The fanboys immature campaign aimed at Tran apparently caused the actress to drop her Instagram account, much to the consternation of director Rian Johnson and star Mark Hamill, both of whom enjoyed the idea of the rally.

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A 'Stars Wars' trailer trolling the trollers

LATE NIGHT HOST Steven Colbert, a self-professed fanboy of the Star Wars franchise, has come out in support of Kelly Marie Tran.

Tran, who starred in the most recent Star Wars: The Last Jedi installment as mechanic Rose Pico, is the first Asian American lead (man or woman) of one of the Star Wars movies.

Her groundbreaking role -- as a woman and as an Asian American -- was attacked by a small, but very vocal, racist and sexist fanboys who felt that the George Lucas-created galaxy far, far away, should be the peopled only by white, male heroes.

Actress Kelly Marie Tran portrays Rose Tico in 'The Last Jedi.'

The Internet bullies harassed Tran's Instagram site criticizing her appearance, her race and gender and the substance of the character that she portrayed. The harassment got so bad that last week, Tran deleted all her posts and left only the messsage: "Afraid, but doing it anyway."

Colbert introduced the trailer:

“They attacked this beautiful, talented young actress for her ethnicity, her appearance, and her sex. And may I remind you: Kelly Marie Tran is the first lead woman in a ‘Star Wars’ movie who is not white. So, just to teach these fanboys a lesson, we here at ‘The Late Show’ have partnered with Lucasfilm to create a new ‘Star Wars’ movie — and we’ve got the world premiere of the exclusive trailer right now.”

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Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran deletes Instagram posts to shed online bullies

SCREEN CAPTURE

Kelly Marie Tran left Instagram because of the harassment by sexist and racist fans of Star Wars.

DAYS AFTER Kelly Marie Tran deleted all her Instagram posts in response to never-ending online harassment, her fans and supporters have come to her side to denounce the bullying by insecure fanboys who don't like movies with starring women and actors of color.
What is it with this small group of fanboys that they feel they have to attack an actress playing a fictional character by asserting their toxic masculinity and/or racism, on any attempt to reflect the diversity of our country?

Kelly Marie Tran, the first woman of color to have a significant role in  any of the Star War movies, was the latest victim of the small, but virtually vocal group of internet bullies. Tran had been the target of ongoing harassment and abuse ever since she became the first woman of color in a major role in the Star Wars franchise.

RELATED: Kelly Marie Tran in tears at 'The Last Jedi' premiere

Her Instagram account with 212,000 followers, is now empty except with this phrase: "Afraid, but doing it anyway." Tran, a 29-year-old Vietnamese-American born in California, has no Twitter or Facebook accounts.

In December, AsAmNews ran a story headlined Resistance Defeats Racists in a galaxy Not Far Away that reported hateful messages berating Tran's appearance had inundated social media and that someone even hacked into her Wookiepedia fan page to edit her biography and change her name to Ching Chong Wing Tong and her hometown to Ching Chong China.

Alt-right internet personality Paul Ray Ramsey in December tweeted harassing comments about Tran's appearance, with his post being retweeted 103 times and earning 442 likes.

Rian Johnson, who directed Tran in The Last Jedi, took to Twitter on Tuesday to call out the trolls who have hounded Tran.

That Tweet prompted a response from the Jedi master himself, costar Mark Hamil:

Johnson wasn't done. Clearly, he was angry at the way one of his stars was treated. He went off on one of responders:

Many in the entertainment community are showing support for actress Kelly Marie Tran, the "Star Wars" franchise's first woman of color in a major role, after she deleted all her Instagram posts following months of abusive trolling about her.

It's not the first time these trollers have made their displeasure known. They attacked John Boyega, a black man, for his leading presence on The Force Awakens and derisively called Daisy Ridley a Mary Sue because she was the central character in the same movie.

They believe the "social justice warriors" have soften the franchise in the efforts to diversify the cast. I mean, they can accept Huts, Wookies, Ortolons or any of the other 50 alien races inhabiting the Star Wars galaxy, but they can't stand it if a man of color or a woman has a prominent role in one of the Star War stories?

I would not be surprised if a lot of Tran's harassers are of the same ilk who like to carry around tiki torches, make Nazi salutes to teach other or parade around in white robes and a pointed hood.

Although they claim to be Star Wars fans, they evidently haven't learned the lessons . espoused in the movies - that tolerance matters, respect matters, decency matters. Or, quoting Rose Tico, the character played by Tran: "That's how we win. Not fighting what we hate, (but by) saving what we love." (The trollers hated that line. Too soft.)

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After meeting Rose Tico, where does Star Wars go from here?

Rose Tico is played by actress Kelly Marie Tran.

I FINALLY got to see the latest installment of the Star Wars saga, The Last Jedi. I was not disappointed. I love a good swashbuckler adventure story where the delineation between good and evil are clearly defined.

This is not a review. There are plenty of those lying around the Internet, just Google The Last Jedi. However, this is a warning, if you haven't seen it yet, STOP HERE. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Last Jedi introduces Rose Tico, the first Asian hero featured in an impactful lead role in the space saga. The role of Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) is a pivotal part of the plot. She's not a red shirt. She is not just someone in the background lending a thin air of diversity to a film product.

No. Rose is important and will likely continue to be critical to the storyline into, at least,  Episode 9, the final chapter in what was originally envisioned by creator George Lucas to be a nine-movie story.

That doesn't mean the end of the story in a "galaxy far, far away." Disney is already developing another trilogy that takes place in the same galaxy but not necessarily part of this story line.

The story of The Last Jedi's Rose Tico (and her sister Paige) is the culmination of what began as an innocent question from an Asian/American fan at Comic Con 2015.

During a Q&A for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a couple of young Asian/Americans asked producer J.J. Abrams if there would be any Asians in the upcoming blockbuster. He responded with a joke, "Go Asians! If I had my way, the cast would be all Asians," (nervous laughter from the audience). What he said sounds a bit patronizing. But he continued: 

“I think you’ll be happy to see when you see this film, there are Asians in this film…. We wanted the movie to look the way the world looks. And I think it is important that people see themselves represented in film. I think it is not a small thing. So I completely understand and think your question is hugely important. And it was a big consideration.”

He was referring to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, where three Asian characters were introduced as members of the 5-person crew of the space ship Rogue One. Maybe he had already had an inkling of what could be done in The Last Jedi since these projects are years in the making. In the casting call for Rose Tico, she is described as "any race."

RELATED: Rogue One is the most Asian of Star Wars stories

I'm almost sure the question asked by the fans is something that stuck in the back of Abrams' mind as he helped guide the storylines of the final Lucas-inspired trilogy.

The characters introduced in 'Rogue One' as portrayed by, from left,  Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen and Rez Ahmed could star in their own Star Wars movies to come.

Who knows, maybe the all-Asian cast is a still a possibility for some creative screenplay writer. Here's a couple of storylines that might be developed:

How did Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) from Rogue One become such good friends? Their closeness and care to each other conveyed in silent, knowing looks at each other, hint at a relationship deeper than just being Butch Cassidy-and-Sundance Kid buddies? What planet are they from? In the Star Wars universe, there must be a planet inhabited Asians?

It would be fitting if one of upcoming episodes of the Star Wars depict a planet of an Asian-like civilization and people since the very first Star Wars was inspired by the samurai classic, The Hidden Fortress, directed by Akira Kurosawa, according to George Lucas.

Many of the trappings of the Jedi Knights - The Force, the sword fighting with two hands, the use of the staff (or Bo), fighting with a blade or stick in both hands, all the martial arts moves - are inspired by the Asian martial arts, particularly kendo and eskrima.

In the ending of The Last Jedi, one of the fathiers (the racing creatures) stable boys is telling the legend of Luke Skywalker when the kids' story session is broken up by a supervisor. The stable boy breaks off and "wills" a broom to move into his hands showing that he has the power of The Force. The last thing we see before the credits is the stable boy turning the broom into a light saber. Is Rose capable of harnessing The Force?

And who is Rose? Where did she come from? In Rose's back story, she and her sister were brought up in the pleasure world of Canto Bight as "slaves." I found it interesting when Rose enters the stable, all the fathiers arose to look at the newcomer, as if they could  sense a connection with the seemingly normal mechanic. Does taking care of the fathiers require the use of The Force? Will a new army of Jedi Knights arise from the stables of Canto Bight? 

In a galaxy where anything can happen, Asians can have a presence without the stereotypes we've come to know on this planet.
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Rogue One is the most Asian of the Star War episodes

From left, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen and Rez Ahmed.

ROGUE ONE: A Star Wars Story, the latest incarnation from the Star Wars universe, is the most Asian of all the episodes produced so far.

I'm excited that the Disney production sees fit to include Asians in prominent roles in the universe.

Star Wars takes place in a universe a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, but George Lucas, the Star Wars creator, has drawn heavily from our Earth, specifically Asia: From the Samurai-like appearance of villain Darth Vader, to the style of sword-fighting that (at the time) was new to western audiences more attuned to the fencing style of Europe; to the existence of The Force, what martial artists refer to as the "chi" or "ki," the inner spirit, or force, that can be focused into a powerful punch or mind-over-matter state.

The 1959 Kurosawa samurai classic, The Hidden Fortress, was the inspiration for the original trio of the Star Wars saga, which actually started in episode 4 of the nine-film outline.

“I remember the one thing that really struck me about The Hidden Fortress,” said Lucas, “the one thing I was really intrigued by, was the fact that the story was told from the two lowest characters. I decided that would be a nice way to tell the Star Wars story. Take the two lowliest characters, as Kurosawa did, and tell the story from their point of view. Which, in the Star Wars case is the two droids, and that was the strongest influence."

The influence comes from watching hours upon hours of martial arts films from Hong Kong and Japan that made Lucas such a fan of Japanese legendary director Akira Kurosawa. You can see his influence in Lucas' work that he is best known for from the battle scenes to the wipes from scene to scene.

Even the idea of the Jedi, mystical warriors who have mastered The Force, remind you of the 47 Ronin (the Japanese original, not the remake with Keanu Reeves), who remain loyal to their clan even in the face of overwhelming odds. In the Japanese martial arts, mastering ki (The Force) is the goal of master practitioners.

But back to Rogue One, which is being released Dec. 16 in the the U.S. It takes place before the original trilogy. The heroic core group is a Trump supporter's nightmare. There's not a white male among them. 

The central character Jyn Ersois (British actress Felicity Jones), a badass woman who leads a band of rebels whose mission is steal the plans of the Empire's newest weapon, the Death Star. 

Diego Luna, a Latino actor, plays Cassian Andor of the Rebel Alliance. 

Three Asians make up the rest of the team. THREE! And they are not red shirts, nor are they given a token one or two lines to recite. Their characters are critical to the plot.

Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen)
Pronounced chi-RUT, he’s no Jedi, but he’s devoted to their ways and has used his spirituality to overcome his blindness and become a formidable warrior. “Chirrut falls into the category of being a warrior monk,” says Kennedy. “He very much still believes in everything the Jedi were about.” He maintains that belief even though the Jedi are no longer there to protect the galaxy. As director Gareth Edwards puts it: "This idea that magical beings are going to come and save us is going away, and it’s up to normal, everyday people to take a stand to stop evil from dominating the world.”

Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen)
Heavily armored, Baze prefers a blaster to hokey religions and ancient weapons, but he is devoted to protecting his friend Chirrut at all costs. “He understands Chirrut’s spiritual centeredness, but he doesn’t necessarily support it,” say producer Kathleen Kennedy. Baze goes along with this Force business because “it’s what his friend deeply believes,” she adds. Think of them as a little like the galactic version of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed)
Bodhi is this Rebel squad’s lead pilot. He tends to be hot-headed, but any abrasiveness is overshadowed by his skills in the air — and the void of space. “He flies a lot of cargo, one of his key jobs,” Kennedy says. “And he tends to be a little tense, a little volatile, but everybody in the group really relies on his technical skills.”

The casting is not all altruistic. I'm sure the choice of Asian stars Wen and Yen is a nod to the huge Chinese market that is predicted to become the No. 1 movie-going market, surpassing the United States.

But that shouldn't take anything away from having Asian faces up on the big screen. Somewhere, there's an Asian/American kid out there who will come to the realization that we belong, that we exist, that we matter -- even if it's in a galaxy far, far away.

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TGIF FEATURE: A heartwarming story inspired by Star Wars

In a classroom, far, far away.

TIRED OF all the hate stirred up by the last election cycle? This video might give you a brief breather from the news generated by the incoming administration. 

A partnership between Filipino telecom giant, Globe, and Disney Southeast Asia has produced one of the most touching promos that you'll see this time of year. 

The ad features a shy girl who wears a Stormtrooper helmet to school. You'll discover why she hides behind the helmet but I won't spoil it for you.

The ad is part of Globe's #Create campaign intended to promote and protect the rights of Filipino girls and young women — and this time using the magic of a galaxy far, far away.

With the latest chapter of the Star Wars saga - Rogue One - ready to premiere this weekend in the United States, the timing couldn't be more perfect.

Globe is also offering a chance to win a trip to Florida for Star Wars events, movie tickets, and oodles of merch, ahead of the film's Philippines premire on Dec. 15.

It's OK to say "Awww," or even shed a tear. Go ahead.