Claudia Kim Talks About Her Role In “Fantastic Beasts 2” And Casting Controversy

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Claudia Kim opened up about her role in upcoming film “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” and the previous controversy surrounding her casting.

The actress recently took part in a photo shoot with Elle, where she made a strong impression with her fierce expressions and brightly-colored clothing. In an accompanying interview, she talked about her excitement for the upcoming premiere of the film.

Claudia Kim shared, “It was a surprise even to me that my character was revealed through the trailer. I thought that it was going to be shown when the film premiered. I saw the trailer in a theater in New York, and I was excited when it was revealed.”

Previously, her casting as Nagini in the film raised controversy, as fans found it problematic to give the role of a white man’s passive and loyal pet to an Asian woman. J.K Rowling addressed this by pointing out that the character was based on an Indonesian myth, which brought up even more criticism as it was actually based on a Hindu myth and Claudia Kim is Korean.

In another interview, the actress brought up the controversy. She remarked, “To be honest, I had no idea that there would be such a controversy. As an Asian actress who does work abroad, I do feel responsibility. I like to think that when I hear of a story, I think about it before choosing to do it. Honestly, I was a fan who believed in [J.K] Rowling. She’s always shown that she’s interested in the marginalized. Since this is just the beginning of Nagini’s story, I think there will be more stories that will help forget these kinds of controversies.”

Claudia Kim continued, “When I first learned about Nagini, I thought that [J.K Rowling] was the queen of plot twists. There’s a lot of depth to each of the characters. I thought that that’s what fans loved so much. There are a lot of people who think Nagini is a pet snake. But as I read the books, I thought she was a powerful medium because she’s an animal who houses a part of Voldemort’s soul.”

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” will premiere on November 14 in Korea.




source: soompi, naver 1, 2, elle korea

Comments

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

I'm still really freaked out by the implication that Nagini - who, no matter how powerful she is, is a pet snake in Harry Potter books - is actually an Asian woman.
Especially in an environement hell bent on keeping a woman abuser on screen despite having an easier solution.
I can believe that JKR thought of this backstory ages ago (she wrote Veelas and Cho Chang after all) but some things aren't made to be shared. She got a lot of criticism over the years, but is NOT open to discussion and change, and it's close to ruining HP as a whole for me. I'm sick of it

[jaequeeragenda.livejournal.com]

and gets her head chopped off so we know she gets no positive closure too! so fucked up

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

It was fine to have her head chopped off (especially by Neville who long deserved his heroic moment) when she was JUST a pet snake with a piece of Voldemort's soul who killed and ate so many people
But now as a women cursed into being a snake? being chopped off to advance a male character gets super creepy

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

A woman who was used and abused too

[921227.livejournal.com]

I understand Asian actors (basically any actors who arent white guys) have to take what they can and while this is giving her exoosure, at what cost??

Im so sick of jkr tbh shes falling into the same garbage other female authors have & its a damn shame

[radowan.livejournal.com]

i'm happy she's getting exposure, but it's fucked up that this is basically yet again the case of a spare character used to pretend that production cares abt diversity.

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I was a fan who believed in [J.K] Rowling. She’s always shown that she’s interested in the marginalized.

People who say that haven't read the books in a long time or are choosing to ignore any red flags because JKR threw in one or two characters that were halfway related in such a huge series.

I feel for Claudia, honestly if the role itself was a standalone character in another film - a woman dealing with a blood curse that will trap her in the body of an animal forever - that'd be super cool and such an interesting thing to play both as a woman and as an asian actor who isn't given a breadth of characters to audition for but within the HP world knowing all the backstory we know it's a mess.

[ostsiberia.livejournal.com]

I think JKR is full of shit when she says she came up with it 20 years ago. JKR loved hinting at shit and why were there no hints that Nagini was more intelligent, not like another ordinary snake, etc?

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

i never saw this "Nagini is a gir" thing comming but i still wish her the best