Justin Interview

The LA Asian American Movie Examiner has an article and interview with Justin Chon. They talk about his career and of course his character in Twilight.
Read the interview here.
Here is an excerpt:
In “Twilight” you play Eric Yorkie who was not written specifically as an Asian American character. Tell us about the role.
He’s supposed to be white but Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the first film, went to the producers and studio and convinced them to hire me for the part. There’s never any mention of my character being Asian or any talk of his ethnicity.

Do you think that’s a good thing?
I think it’s great. It does matter but at the same time I have nothing against playing ethnic specific parts. It’s wonderful to get those opportunities. It’s needed and there definitely is a place for it.
But just the fact that “Twilight” is such a pop culture phenomenon made this a huge movie that a lot of people are seeing. I think it’s very important that people watch this movie and go “Hey, that guy goes to my high school.”
I mean why do we have to see this character as a certain type of person when it could be anybody. He could be Black, White, Mexican, Asian. I think high school is a good example of that. “Twilight” is reaching so many people and I think it’s a really good step in the right direction for diversity and opening up doors.