Asian-Americans: Rising Furor Over ‘Rising Sun’ : Movies: Two groups will stage ‘educational demonstrations’ in four cities. ‘The movie company clearly hasn’t tried to accommodate our concerns,’ says the director of UCLA’s Asian Studies Center.

In May, Lan Nguyen, a 30-year-old Vietnamese doctoral student at USC, responded to a flyer advertising a screening of “Rising Sun,” a movie based on Michael Crichton’s controversial best-selling murder-mystery, which illuminates the burgeoning Japanese economic and political influence on American shores. Too late, said the independent marketing company coordinating the event: The preview for the film--scheduled for release by 20th Century Fox on Friday--was closed. When Nguyen called back an hour later and gave an “Anglo” name, however, she was told where and when to show up.

An already skittish Japanese-American community responded with anger to the incident, which was widely reported in its press. No matter that Nguyen had also been turned down for a screening of “Another Stakeout” a few days before or that the quota for “Asian-Americans” at the demographically balanced screening may have legitimately been filled. Her experience fueled the feeling that the studio was keeping Asian-Americans at arm’s length--particularly since requests for a disclaimer at the beginning of the picture and early pre-release previews had previously been turned down. The disclaimer, it was hoped, would stress that the movie was purely entertainment not meant to encourage resentment or violence against the Asian-American community.

“It’s not our practice to screen an unfinished print for anybody except preview audiences--or in this case, to show a finished print to groups vocal in their opposition before they even see it,” explains Andrea Jaffe, president of domestic marketing for Fox. “And since this movie is a work of fiction, no disclaimer is necessary. Pre-censorship by special-interest groups is not something we support.”

After a year of apprehension and correspondence with the studio, frustrated Asian-American groups are mounting an offense.

Though no calls have gone out to boycott the movie, opening-night “educational demonstrations” in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Washington are being organized by the Japanese American Citizens League and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans. Questionnaires about the content of the movie (“Do you find the term ‘Jap’ and ‘Nip’ acceptable or offensive?”) will be distributed. Brochures outlining the escalation of hate crimes against Asian-Americans will also be handed out.

“Without question, there’s fear that the book, dramatized in a slick Hollywood movie, could feed the physical violence which is already out there,” notes Don Nakanishi, director of UCLA’s Asian Studies Center. “And the movie company clearly hasn’t tried to accommodate our concerns.”

Asian-Americans draw a contrast between Warner Bros., which forged a bond with the Korean community upset with “Falling Down” earlier this year, and the seeming intransigence of Fox. “What we’ve got is a tornado spinning on its own,” observes actor Stan Egi, who plays a driven corporate executive in the movie. “Each side has its own agenda, which bears little relation to the actual content of the film.”

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The $40-million “Rising Sun,” stars Sean Connery as a Japanophile detective and Wesley Snipes as his LAPD sidekick in pursuit of the murderer of a “party girl” at a Japanese corporate bash. Though director Philip Kaufman (“The Right Stuff) made an effort to tone down the novel’s political content in favor of character and plot, the extent to which he succeeded is a matter of debate.

“The movie is another twist on the Japanese Invaders/Yellow Peril genre that has been around Hollywood for awhile,” charges Karen Narasaki, Washington representative of the Japanese American Citizens League, who managed to get an early peek. “And because movies, particularly murder-mysteries, generally appeal to emotion rather than to intellect, the message is more heavy-handed than in the book.”

Jimmy Tokeshi, regional director for the organization, backs her up. “The movie plays to interracial tensions and stereotypes,” he observes. “We’re not here to defend Japanese business practices, but at a time of immigrant-bashing and heightening trade tensions, the film is potentially dangerous. Americans don’t make a distinction between Japanese nationals and Asian-Americans of any variety. And, in the wake of last year’s upheaval in Los Angeles, casting Snipes plays into the black-Asian conflict rather than defusing it.”

Others, such as Rebecca Mundy, public affairs director of the Japan-America Friendship Foundation, say he’s way off the mark. “The film went out of its way to present a cross-section of characters, both Asian and American,” she says. “It’s unrealistic to expect a politically correct view of Japan. That’s not what art is about.”

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Peter Kaufman, son of the director and producer of the film, agrees: “Watchdog groups are necessary,” he says. “But there’s always the danger they’ll turn into ‘thought police.’ ”

The film’s defenders maintain that moral ambiguity--not “Japan-bashing”--is the dominant tone. The character of playboy Eddie Sakamura (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), though no role model, counters some of the stereotypes (nerdy, violent, greedy, sexless) traditionally plaguing Asian males. The head of the Japanese conglomerate has a measure of dignity and honor. Connery and Snipes are shown to be fallible--the former accepting a costly membership at an exclusive club from some Japanese golfing buddies, the latter haunted by a major transgression in his past. And, in the end, they observe, racism loses out: The hostile police lieutenant played by Harvey Keitel comes off as foolish rather than admirable.

“Fox and the filmmakers took out some of the more strident and less defensible elements,” acknowledges Ron Wakabayashi, executive director of the L.A. City Human Relations Commission, who participated in two meetings that took place between the Asian-American community and the studio in July and September, 1992. “They made a good-faith effort to mitigate against a product that was racially tinged. Still, it was naive of Fox to haul out Asian-American cast and crew to testify on its behalf. As employees, they had a hammer over their heads. It wasn’t what you’d call a free and open discourse.”

Guy Aoki, president of the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans and the leader of the opposition, is critical of what he perceives as the studio’s attempt to pit Asian-Americans against each other. “We don’t take the actors to task for accepting these roles,” asserts Aoki who, only two days ago, managed to line up a ticket to a “Rising Sun” screening through a promotion at Tower Records. “Given the reality of Hollywood, they have a very difficult decision to make: choosing between bad parts and not-so-bad ones.”

“Jingo”--a half-black, half-Japanese technical whiz/love interest in “Rising Sun”--is a case in point. Though the character is never fully developed, Hawaiian-born actress Tia Carrere found her a cut above the “babe in red spandex” she portrayed in “Wayne’s World.” Any reservations about participating in the project were soon dispelled.

“Phil Kaufman is the most ‘Zen’ of directors, quiet and even-keeled, with a great respect for Japanese culture,” she says. “He listened to our concerns. We had our wrap party at a Japanese restaurant and, on the set, had brown rice and seaweed for snacks. Phil’s sensitivity, I believe, found its way into the film. The movie is essentially a ‘discovery process’ between the East and the West.”

Fox executives maintain that the Asian-American community is a major target audience for the movie. If so, says Tom Kagi, publisher-editor of the Malibu-based TransPacific Magazine, their actions belie their words. “Kaufman went all out to create a film that was fair,” he states. “But the studio hasn’t advertised in the Asian media as Columbia did with ‘The Last Emperor.’ I was shocked to see that the publicity poster, featuring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes, had no Asian face. Instead of operating defensively, Fox should have more confidence in its product.”

If Kagi also criticizes the “prima facie hostility” on the part of the Asian-American populace, actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa finds the protest a refreshing change.

“This is the first nationwide Asian-American mobilization since ‘Year of the Dragon,’ ” he says, alluding to Michael Cimino’s 1985 lurid portrayal of Chinese youth gangs. “And, in America--a country which worships James Dean and Clint Eastwood--if you’re not rebellious you don’t get noticed. Asian people have been self-contained and never made themselves visible. That becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”