Question: Why does the Asian contestant have a Caucasian name, "Brandon Aftergood", while the Caucasian contestant has an Asian name, "Eric Tai?" Do you think that was done on purpose by the writers or director?
Chosen answer:Jason Bateman talks about it in an interview. They didn't intentionally do it. When Bateman was casting kids for those parts, he picked based on talent or who he liked, not based on ethnicity. The parts and names were already written, but casting just didn't happen to match. Bateman also talked about how they were having trouble finding an Indian boy for the role of Chopra and wondered if the kid had to be Indian, although ultimately after reviewing Chand's audition tape, he decided to cast him.
Chosen answer: Jason Bateman talks about it in an interview. They didn't intentionally do it. When Bateman was casting kids for those parts, he picked based on talent or who he liked, not based on ethnicity. The parts and names were already written, but casting just didn't happen to match. Bateman also talked about how they were having trouble finding an Indian boy for the role of Chopra and wondered if the kid had to be Indian, although ultimately after reviewing Chand's audition tape, he decided to cast him.
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