You could totally tell that Catrall and Pai were wearing contact lenses... There was even a close-up of their eyes and you could see their natural brown color behind it. Why couldn't they find actresses with naturally green eyes?
shareMany reasons. They didn't look the part. They couldn't act the part. They weren't available. They didn't want the part.
Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead.
If the whole idea was to have Chinese women with green eyes why not have that? I'm not sure what background the actress who played Miao Yin but she didn't look very Chinese. Why Cattrall had green eyes and was suitable to marry Lo Pan when he specifically said Chinese women is a whole other dumb plothole that made no sense. Yeah I know there was a deleted scene where Gracie mentions she grew up in China but...so what? That still doesn't make her Chinese just an insider to the culture.
shareLike I said, there were many reasons they didn't couldn't get someone with actual green eyes: They didn't look the part. They couldn't act the part. They weren't available. They didn't want the part.
I'm not sure what background the actress who played Miao Yin but she didn't look very Chinese.
Why Cattrall had green eyes and was suitable to marry Lo Pan when he specifically said Chinese women is a whole other dumb plothole that made no sense.
Correct. Lo Pan never says she must be Chinese in fact he says several times "a girl/woman with green eyes". It's only Jack who adds the "Chinese girl with green eyes" part. I always took this as part of the plot, for a woman, any woman, with green eyes, who survives the burning blade, would appease the god, Shing Dai - as Lo Pan states. And he's then able to live out his earthly pleasures with Miao Yin, a Chinese woman with green eyes, just for the hell of it. According to the plot as it played out, he could have sacrificed/chosen either woman, as they both had green eyes and both survived the burning blade.
shareTwo things negate the whole "any woman will do" theory. When going to pick up Miao Yin at the airport, Wang mentions to Jack that she has green eyes and how rare that is among Chinese women. Second, when Jack and Wang are wheeled into to speak with Old Lo Pan, he makes a thing about Miao Yin's lineage, I think the line is "Her father must have been a holy man" again harping on the green eyes. The idea being that the early scenes set up Miao Yin to be something uncanny, i.e. a rare woman who can break Lo Pan's curse. So this rare set up is then subverted by run of the mill Gracie. From a story screenplay point its odd that they drop these hints that she is supposed to be something special and then it goes nowhere. Miao Yin is essentially the MacGuffin in the movie. She has no character to speak of. So it weird then you sideline your main heroine to be play second fiddle to the MacGuffin.
shareSuzee Pai (actress who plays Miao Yin) is half-Chinese and half-White, but yes, you're right, she naturally does have brown eyes.
She wore green contacts for this movie and blue contacts in Sharky's Machine. I do agree that since Miao Yin is assumed to be 100% Chinese (as no one mentions in the movie that she is Eurasian), they perhaps could've chosen a 100% Chinese actress who looks Chinese and put green eyes on her.
But then again, they probably chose Suzee just to get people to do a double-take on her ethnicity...as she does indeed look memorable and striking.