Mr. Yunioshi In "Breakfast At Tiffany's"

I never had an issue with this. To be honest, a lot of Asians I knew sounded like this. It was played by Mickey Rooney who portrays it as a buck toothed, broken English buffoon. In a nearly perfect movie, a lot of people griped about this broad comedy insert into the movie. The role is so tiny, if it were played by any Asian talent, would’ve been forgotten. In fact, some argue why that guy is even in the movie. Again, I have no problems with the role. I think it’s actually director Blake Edwards’ stance on him that irks me. He steadfastly believed, during the shoot, that this is humorous. Now, I don’t care about racists joke. I tell them myself, but this was truly sticking it to a specific race. And stubbornly doing so under the guise of artistic merit. That a book so cherished and a “classy” polish on a somewhat subversive story would include this was the bane of writer George Axelrod and producer Richard Shepherd’s existence. Both argued to have it excised from the movie. George, in fact, never spoke to Edwards after this. To see how much it effected the movie, this movie can never be spoken without the mention of a White guy doing a Asian imitation. Which is strange since it never seemed to change the trajectory of Rooney’s career. It all fell on Edwards. To which, 40+ years later he concluded that it was a mistake. Which, to him, meant admitting to a pockmark on the Mona Lisa (curiously, he’s also admitted casting George Peppard was a mistake as well…I wonder who he had in mind).

In today’s politically correct climate, it is hotly debated to the signs of those times. We were close to over two decade since Pearl Harbor when “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was released. So it’s not that hard to imagine the pain that still evokes. I can’t imagine I would put up too big of a hassle if  Muhammed whoever was portrayed as some bomb strapping bungler who trips on his own feet down a flight of stairs screaming “Allah is great” and blows himself up. I think it’s very similar to Yunioshi. In the movie, he’s actually given a purpose. He’s the building manager/maintenance guy/in house photographer. In fact, he’s amply employed photographer who uses most of Holly Golightly’s model friends for women’s magazines. It seems now, people cringe when they watch the Yunioshi scenes since…we are really in politically correct mode. Most would think this shit wouldn’t fly today. Especially since the real movie market isn’t even domestic box office anymore. Certainly this would be a barn burner in China (maybe not, since they can discern Japanese buffoonery to Chinese ones). When I was a kid, I’d see my Mom watching Chinese talk shows, and let me tell you…it’s not that far from Rooney’s portrayal of Yunioshi. If you even put them side by side, he was toning it down. Which brings up my last point. To get the role of Yunioshi, Rooney spent a week conjuring up some story to the studio about a Japanese guy who was the most famous Japanese actor in Japan. He spoke to the studio, claiming to not understand English and so would have to take weeks to learn it. Which held up production. Since his agency claimed he had a massive draw in Japan Paramount went with whatever this guy said (WAY before internet). Edwards played along. Then when the actor playing Yunioshi arrived he went into a fit about how he should be the star of the movie and that his name should be right next to Audrey Hepburn’s, as he was going to be the biggest draw overseas, and no one would know who Audrey Hepburn was anyway. All in character. The studio heads were confused. They saw a small Japanese guy screaming demands. Of course, it was Mickey Rooney fucking around.  To me, that is performance art to the max. In this case, it’s hard to argue that Rooney wasn’t the guy to do the role. He was willing to jeopardize any connection with a studio in order to get his ability across. Imagine it. It could’ve gone the complete opposite. To me, it may be an awful racist portrayal of an Asian in cinema history (which I don’t believe, there are worst…starting with anything Charlie Chan), but every time someone gets upset about the Yunioshi role, it makes me think of that story with the Mickster.