ACTOR ED SKREIN has pulled out of the upcoming Hellboy film after discovering the character he was set to play was of Asian heritage.

It follows a backlash to the casting of the British actor. There had been objections to the role not going to an actor of Asian heritage – and critics called it another example of Hollywood ‘whitewashing’ Asian characters.

The backlash followed previous controversies including the castings of Emma Stone as a half-Hawaiian, half-Chinese Air Force pilot in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha and Scarlett Johansson as the cyborg protagonist in the Japanese anime remake Ghost in the Shell.

Skrein said in a statement posted on Twitter that there had been “understandable upset” since the announcement of his casting last week.

He added:

It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the arts. I feel it is important to honour and respect that.

The Hellboy reboot Rise of the Blood Queen is to be the third film in the comic adaptation franchise previously helmed by Guillermo del Toro.

The character Skrein had been set to play, Ben Daimio, is Japanese-American in Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comics and his heritage is central to his backstory. Daimio’s grandmother was a Japanese Imperial assassin in World War II.

34-year-old Skrein is best known for his roles in Deadpool and Game of Thrones.

The producers of the film, Larry Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Millennium and Lionsgate released a statement saying they supported Skrein’s decision, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision.

It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.

- With reporting from Associated Press 

Read: ‘I’m seven years sober last week. That, for me, beats any Olympic medal’ – Kenneth Egan on his recovery >

Read: Swimming ban extended at Loughshinny due to ‘unacceptable levels of contamination’ >