Looking from their point of view I think they want a "sure thing" so they go for proven actors. So the list of available known actors of middle eastern descent is very short. So they figured just go for the ones that look close enough with makeup. The same with asian actors.
Sometimes they don't even try to cast people of ethnic decent. Remember the Scorpion king? The bad guy was white with a kingdom in the middle of the desert? Come on! On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 9:55 PM, Keith Johnson <[email protected]>wrote: > > > Agreed. I remember the guy playing Soka in "Airbender" joked in an > interview, "They're going to have to use a lot of makeup to darken > everyone's skin". It was apalling and frustrating how casually he could toss > out a statement whose import is obviously way beyond him. Even then the > casing is still...odd. They have the young Indian actor from "Slumdog > Millionaire" playing Zuko, when the latter was clearly of a culture based on > Japanese culture. > > What pisses me off is that they always find genuine ethnic actors to play > all the support and background roles. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mr. Worf" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Thursday, June 3, 2010 5:37:35 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Hollywood Whitewash? Persia, Airbender casting > angers fans > > > > It reminds me of when John Wayne played Ghengis Khan. That was one of the > most horrible train wrecks in the history of moviemakingdom. :) It is so > "hollywood" to pick whomever is on the top 20 list of stars to do a movie > that its a cliche. The way that they do business it is the equivalent of > picking a white guy to play MLK. There is very little difference in how they > cast movies now versus 30 years ago. > > On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 2:07 PM, Keith Johnson > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> >> This will never become an issue unless and until people of color start >> playing/rewriting roles based on historical characters that were white. >> Westerns are replete with characters that were black in real life, who were >> played by the likes of Clint Eastwood and others. Or maybe if movies made >> in other countries made as much bank as Hollywood flicks, and those >> countries always got locals to play white Americans in stereotyped ways, >> people here would get it. I can think of no reason why the likes of Angelina >> Jolie, Gyllenhaal, the major cast of "Last Airbender", etc, are played by >> Caucasian actors. I find it offensive. >> >> But then, I also get irritated when characters that are supposed to be >> Russian, Caribbean, etc., are played by Americans who then have to fake an >> accent. There are plenty of talented actors from other countries who can do >> these roles, and you can't always excuse it by saying you need the big >> megastars to pull in the crowds. >> In these cases, for example, the target audience of young men aren't going >> to see "Prince of Persia" because of Gyllenhaal or Sir Kingsley, so their >> casting isn't really crucial. >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Mr. Worf" <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Sent: Thursday, June 3, 2010 4:50:22 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern >> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Hollywood Whitewash? Persia, Airbender casting >> angers fans >> >> >> >> I say boycott them both and any other film that does the same. >> >> On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 8:04 AM, Kelwyn <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/05/racebending.html >>> >>> And playing Dastan, the hero and titular heir to the Persian throne in >>> the $200-million tent-pole film, is none other than Hancock Park's own >>> Swedish-Jewish-American prince, Jake Gyllenhaal. >>> >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------------ >>> >>> Post your SciFiNoir Profile at >>> >>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=mapYahoo! >>> Groups Links >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! >> Mahogany at: >> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ >> >> >> >> > > > -- > Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! > Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ > > > > > -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
