Casting Fu Manchu is a digital film that revisits the fictional character Dr Fu Manchu, long associated with the racist “Yellow Peril” stereotype in Western popular culture. Despite appearing in films for over ninety years, the role has historically been portrayed by white actors using “yellowface.”

The project challenges this legacy by inviting actors of East and Southeast Asian heritage to audition for the role and reinterpret the character in their own ways. Drawing on self-recorded audition tapes from over fifty performers, the film assembles a series of reimagined portrayals that reflect on representation, identity and the persistence of anti-Asian stereotypes in contemporary culture.