If you were online last summer during the peak of a particular social media movement, you may have seen John Cho fantasy-cast as James Bond, Ethan Hunt, Steve Rogers, and even “Magic” Mike Lane. The #StarringJohnCho campaign made (and continues to make) a statement about representation by imagining a universe where Asian-American actors get the iconic roles almost always played by white men. But Cho’s actual latest role isn’t an internationally-renowned spy or an all-American superhero, as in the whisper-soft indie drama Columbus, the actor plays Jin, the son of a dying man. In talking about representation, conversations tend to revolves around blockbusters, but smaller-scale films like Cho’s Columbus help move the needle forward, too.

“This movie in particular, I will say, was unusual because it didn’t explicitly push against any stereotype,” Cho says, speaking over the phone in late July. “It was true freedom because it was confident to do its own thing. It didn’t repudiate any stereotypes, it just existed outside of that pool, and that to me is where we want to go.” [More at Source]