Agents of SHIELD star Chloe Bennet has landed the lead role in the upcoming animated film Everest. For the past 5 seasons, Bennet has played Agent Daisy Johnson aka. Quake on the Marvel superhero TV show. She was set to make her feature film debut this summer in the remake of Valley Girl, but the film’s release was pulled due to a controversy surrounding Logan Paul (who costars in the movie).
In her time on Agents of SHIELD, Bennet has been tasked with playing vastly different sides of the same character. When we were first introduced to her, she was Skye, the mysterious hacker with no family and a tortured past. Over time she has become the Inhuman Quake, an agent of SHIELD who found a family with Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and the rest of his team. And after the shocking reveal in the show’s 100th episode, it looks like Bennet will have an even larger role in the future of the organization to come.
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According to THR, Bennet is the first to join the cast of Everest and will play the lead role of Yi. Everest will be the first film from Shanghai based Pearl Studios. It tells the story of a group of misfits who meet the titular yeti and embark on a journey to return him to his family in the highest point on earth in the Himalayas. The film is being directed by Jill Culton (Open Season) and co-directed by Todd Wilderman. Will Davies (How to Train Your Dragon) and Irena Brignull (The Little Prince) wrote the screenplay.
Bennet is half Chinese and half caucasian and began her career as a pop star and model in China. The actress is outspoken about issues of representation in Hollywood, especially for Asian actors. Combine her activism with her role playing the first Asian MCU superhero and she has become a real life role model to many fans. It will be nice for a slightly younger audience to get to see Bennet in an animate film like Everest, since Agents of SHIELD has veered slightly darker in the last few seasons.
Recently, Disney and Pixar have been making an effort to diversify their animated films with the release of Moana and Coco. Both films were praised for their portrayal of diverse cultures and characters, with input behind the scenes from creators from these cultures as well. While Everest is neither Disney nor Pixar, hopefully the new studio will take the same cues and use the fun adventure film as a way to explore yet another new culture, in addition to casting a diverse group of voice actors.
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Source: THR
