I’m sure most of you are already aware, but a couple of days ago some casting decisions regarding the movie adaptation of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han were released. Here are my thoughts:
John Corbett as Lara Jean’s dad
I LOVE THIS CASTING DECISION. Seriously. I haven’t seen John Corbett in a ton of things, but he’s the perfect guy to play the well-meaning but a little lost dad of three half-Korean girls. I LOVE THIS.
Janel Parrish as Margot, Lana Condor as Lara Jean, Anna Cathcart as Kitty
I really like Janel as Margot. She seems the appropriate age and definitely has that older sister vibe.
Lana was the first casting decision I saw and at the time I thought, “Alright, she looks like she’d fit”. Now that I see her with the other two sisters, though, she looks way more Asian than they do. Like…she doesn’t look like she’s half-white while the other two do (and I would know, since I’m only half-Asian and have half-Asian siblings). I just feel like that’s going to bug me the whole movie, but we’ll see.
Anna looks like a suitable Kitty, which is a big relief. Kitty is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTER and if they get her wrong, HEADS WILL ROLL.
Noah Centineo as Peter Kavinsky
Sure *shrugs*. This isn’t how I pictured Peter looking (for some reason I thought he had reddish hair?) but I can buy it.
Israel Broussard as Josh Sanderson
Pretty much the same reaction that I had for Peter. I guess he looks like the boy-next-door type, so I can buy it.
On a completely separate note, IMDB says that Will Smith is a producer? Random.
What's She Reading? 
Agreed, Condor looks more Asian then the other actresses, but I still think it’s awesome that this movie is being made and with Asian actresses. I think it’s awesome that Han is getting this movie on her terms and keeping the Song sisters Asian. My daughter is half Chinese, so I like seeing Asians represented on screen.
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Sure, I’m with you on that. Asians and Asian-Americans are sorely underrepresented in mainstream media. Maybe I’m getting too picky, but it still seems a little bit like lazy casting. I’m not sure how much say Han got in the casting process (I’m honestly thinking not much), but the message I’m receiving is that the casting directors think pretty much all Asians look alike, so they’ll just cast whoever for the part. When in reality, full-blooded Asians look very different from half-Asians.
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Fair enough. I doubt Han had any say either, but I know she was adamant that the actresses could not be white, which is what the studio wanted a few years back when she first talked about turning down the adaptation.
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Haha now THAT would have been ridiculous 😂
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I don’t know why but I envisioned Peter being more Harry Styles-esque. I’m excited about the sisters and will be seeing this movie! Great post!
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Thanks! I’m honestly really excited too!
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I think the girls are all adorable (except I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see Janel Parish as anything other than Mona from PLL), but I’m not really excited about the guys cast.
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Haha I definitely can see your point there. I guess for me, the guys are kind of both no names so we’ll have to see.
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I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s on my list for this year. Mom an I are going on a road trip soon, and I plan to take this along to read to her in the car. It’s totally something she would love too.
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I hope you guys have a fun road trip! I SO wish I could read in the car without getting carsick. I hope you guys enjoy it! It’s a nice, easy read 🙂
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I hope we do too.
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Thank you! I wish we had the audio books though at my library.
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I haven’t seen a picture of all three of the sisters together, but now that you mention it, Lara Jean doesn’t look part East Asian like the other two actresses. Hopefully that won’t matter when it comes down to it. I can’t wait to see it and all the pictures of Jenny Han on set are so cute!
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I agree with you there! And I’m very hopeful for the movie.
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