chainsaw_metal1
Member: Rank 8
True, but it wasn't as big a stretch, since the Ultimate version of Fury in the comics was black.
Controversial Political Correctness
- Thread starter Doctor Omega
- Start date
Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
Hollywood whitewashing: Is Ed Skrein's Hellboy exit a turning point?
Film fans have inundated Ed Skrein with love after the British actor turned down the role of Major Ben Daimio in the new Hellboy film because the character is of mixed Asian heritage (and he isn't).
Skrein's decision comes after years of controversy about Hollywood whitewashing. The rising star has been praised for his stance, especially since he's at a crucial point in his career, and won lots of new admirers.
Skip Twitter post by @rizmc
"); background-position: 16px 13px; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 4px; font-weight: initial; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; visibility: visible; display: block; position: static; transform: rotate(0deg); max-width: 100%; width: 500px; min-width: 220px;">
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Riz Ahmed
@rizmc
Respect to @edskrein for setting the example & reminding us progress requires sacrifice & representation is collective responsibility
https://twitter.com/edskrein/status/902244967296491520 …
7:24 AM - Aug 29, 2017
Follow
Foo / 胡 @AgentFoo
Replying to @edskrein
As a person of Asian descent: thank you for this. It's heartening to see someone do the right thing, though it has cost you personally.
8:19 PM - Aug 28, 2017
Follow
Kristen McHugh
@kristenmchugh22
Replying to @edskrein
You just set the example we've needed. Thank you. And I will be watching for your next project.
8:25 PM - Aug 28, 2017
Who is Ed Skrein?
Before becoming Hollywood's real-life hero, the Londoner was best-known for his movie breakthrough as the villain Ajax in Deadpool.
He also played the original Daario Naharis in season three of Game of Thrones.
Other films included The Transporter Refueled, replacing Jason Statham in the franchise, plus Ill Manors and Kill Your Friends.
Career suicide, or a good move?
Skrein's statement is "very brave" for someone who's an up-and-coming actor in Hollywood, according to Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Metro newspaper's chief film critic.
"Will he, by standing up for anti-whitewashing, be blacklisted as a troublemaker?" she asks.
"There is that threat. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes, and studios can be very closed ranks. They don't like people making them look bad or causing a fuss.
"But I don't think it will do his career too much harm. I hope."
Skrein is on the cusp of the big time, and perhaps the studios will bank on the fact that rather than being tainted by a whitewashing "scandal", he has instantly become just about the most beloved member of an industry that is often seen as mercenary and discriminatory.
Cultural consultant Harpreet Kaur says: "If he'd gone ahead and taken the role, it might not have looked so good for his future and his career, but I think he's now a role model for other people, and not just in film."
A turning point for Hollywood?
Skrein is the first actor to have publicly turned down a role because he's the wrong ethnicity. After his example, will other actors be able to play characters from a different ethnic group and hold their heads up ever again?
"This is a really unusual thing for someone to do," says Larushka Ivan-Zadeh. "It will become a reference point. This is making a stand because he is standing up for his convictions.
"I think it will definitely make other actors consider the parts that they play and take responsibility for it, because that's what he's doing."
As for the studios, Ivan-Zadeh thinks attitudes are changing - slowly.
"Things are starting to shift. And the fact that this conversation is not going away, that it keeps happening year after year, is something people can't ignore.
"These things keep happening, and having a statement like this keeps that conversation alive on a big scale. But every time you think it's changed, then it seems to go back."
A history of Hollywood whitewashing
Using white actors to play characters of a different ethnic origin has been going on for decades - egregious examples include Mickey Rooney as Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961 and Laurence Olivier blacking up for 1965's Othello.
The debate has intensified in recent years. Jake Gyllenhaal played the title role in 2010's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Johnny Depp was the Native American Tonto in 2013's The Lone Ranger.
In 2016's Gods of Egypt, stars like Gerard Butler played Egyptian deities. Earlier this year, an uproar met Scarlett Johansson's Ghost in the Shell, a live action remake of a Japanese manga comic, while Emma Stone played a woman of Hawaiian and Chinese heritage in Aloha in 2015.
The argument from studios and financiers has always been that they need a big name to attract enough fans to pay for the tickets - and some ethnic groups don't have many big names.
Director Ridley Scott was criticised for 2014's Exodus: Gods and Kings, in which white actors including Christian Bale played Biblical characters.
On the BBC's Film 2014, when it was suggested that he could have used Middle Eastern actors, a tetchy Scott replied: "Yeah, but can you tell me who? If they don't exist? To justify the budget? You wouldn't get it made, dude. You wouldn't get it made. You're dreaming. Dreaming."
Broadway has recently been through a similar episode, when actor Mandy Patinkin withdrew from the Tony-winning musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 after being cast to replace Okieriete Onaodowan, who is black.
Patinkin is a bigger name than Onaodowan and was brought in to boost ticket sales - but the move didn't go down well. The show is now closing.
And there is a (whole other) debate about able-bodied actors playing disabled characters, and cisgender actors playing transgender characters.
Last year, Jeffrey Tambor, the star of Amazon's TV series Transparent, used his Emmy Awards speech to say: "I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a transgender character on television."
Film fans have inundated Ed Skrein with love after the British actor turned down the role of Major Ben Daimio in the new Hellboy film because the character is of mixed Asian heritage (and he isn't).
Skrein's decision comes after years of controversy about Hollywood whitewashing. The rising star has been praised for his stance, especially since he's at a crucial point in his career, and won lots of new admirers.
Skip Twitter post by @rizmc
"); background-position: 16px 13px; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 4px; font-weight: initial; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; visibility: visible; display: block; position: static; transform: rotate(0deg); max-width: 100%; width: 500px; min-width: 220px;">
Follow
Riz Ahmed @rizmcRespect to @edskrein for setting the example & reminding us progress requires sacrifice & representation is collective responsibility
7:24 AM - Aug 29, 2017
Follow
Foo / 胡 @AgentFooReplying to @edskrein
As a person of Asian descent: thank you for this. It's heartening to see someone do the right thing, though it has cost you personally.
8:19 PM - Aug 28, 2017
Follow
Kristen McHugh @kristenmchugh22Replying to @edskrein
You just set the example we've needed. Thank you. And I will be watching for your next project.
8:25 PM - Aug 28, 2017
Who is Ed Skrein?
Before becoming Hollywood's real-life hero, the Londoner was best-known for his movie breakthrough as the villain Ajax in Deadpool.
He also played the original Daario Naharis in season three of Game of Thrones.
Other films included The Transporter Refueled, replacing Jason Statham in the franchise, plus Ill Manors and Kill Your Friends.
Career suicide, or a good move?
Skrein's statement is "very brave" for someone who's an up-and-coming actor in Hollywood, according to Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Metro newspaper's chief film critic.
"Will he, by standing up for anti-whitewashing, be blacklisted as a troublemaker?" she asks.
"There is that threat. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes, and studios can be very closed ranks. They don't like people making them look bad or causing a fuss.
"But I don't think it will do his career too much harm. I hope."
Skrein is on the cusp of the big time, and perhaps the studios will bank on the fact that rather than being tainted by a whitewashing "scandal", he has instantly become just about the most beloved member of an industry that is often seen as mercenary and discriminatory.
Cultural consultant Harpreet Kaur says: "If he'd gone ahead and taken the role, it might not have looked so good for his future and his career, but I think he's now a role model for other people, and not just in film."
A turning point for Hollywood?
Skrein is the first actor to have publicly turned down a role because he's the wrong ethnicity. After his example, will other actors be able to play characters from a different ethnic group and hold their heads up ever again?
"This is a really unusual thing for someone to do," says Larushka Ivan-Zadeh. "It will become a reference point. This is making a stand because he is standing up for his convictions.
"I think it will definitely make other actors consider the parts that they play and take responsibility for it, because that's what he's doing."
As for the studios, Ivan-Zadeh thinks attitudes are changing - slowly.
"Things are starting to shift. And the fact that this conversation is not going away, that it keeps happening year after year, is something people can't ignore.
"These things keep happening, and having a statement like this keeps that conversation alive on a big scale. But every time you think it's changed, then it seems to go back."
A history of Hollywood whitewashing
Using white actors to play characters of a different ethnic origin has been going on for decades - egregious examples include Mickey Rooney as Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961 and Laurence Olivier blacking up for 1965's Othello.
The debate has intensified in recent years. Jake Gyllenhaal played the title role in 2010's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Johnny Depp was the Native American Tonto in 2013's The Lone Ranger.
In 2016's Gods of Egypt, stars like Gerard Butler played Egyptian deities. Earlier this year, an uproar met Scarlett Johansson's Ghost in the Shell, a live action remake of a Japanese manga comic, while Emma Stone played a woman of Hawaiian and Chinese heritage in Aloha in 2015.
The argument from studios and financiers has always been that they need a big name to attract enough fans to pay for the tickets - and some ethnic groups don't have many big names.
Director Ridley Scott was criticised for 2014's Exodus: Gods and Kings, in which white actors including Christian Bale played Biblical characters.
On the BBC's Film 2014, when it was suggested that he could have used Middle Eastern actors, a tetchy Scott replied: "Yeah, but can you tell me who? If they don't exist? To justify the budget? You wouldn't get it made, dude. You wouldn't get it made. You're dreaming. Dreaming."
Broadway has recently been through a similar episode, when actor Mandy Patinkin withdrew from the Tony-winning musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 after being cast to replace Okieriete Onaodowan, who is black.
Patinkin is a bigger name than Onaodowan and was brought in to boost ticket sales - but the move didn't go down well. The show is now closing.
And there is a (whole other) debate about able-bodied actors playing disabled characters, and cisgender actors playing transgender characters.
Last year, Jeffrey Tambor, the star of Amazon's TV series Transparent, used his Emmy Awards speech to say: "I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a transgender character on television."
Last edited:
Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
“Lord of the Flies” Remake Switches Gender
Scott McGehee & David Siegel (“The Deep End,” “What Maisie Knew”) have signed on to write and direct a new adaptation of William Golding’s iconic novel “Lord of the Flies,” but this time with a key twist – an all-female cast.
The original 1954 novel focuses on a group of pre-adolescent British school boys fleeing the war who become marooned on an uninhabited Pacific island. So begins a disastrous attempt to govern themselves with things quickly falling into a chaotic frenzy of paranoia, torture and murder as the boys turn tribal and feral.
The property has been adapted to screen notably twice before – in 1963 by Peter Brook and in 1990 by Harry Hook. The new take switches out the boys for young girls, but otherwise is said to be a “very faithful but contemporized adaptation”.
Having just closed their deals with the studio and with rights issues now worked out with the author’s estate, they will begin writing immediately
Scott McGehee & David Siegel (“The Deep End,” “What Maisie Knew”) have signed on to write and direct a new adaptation of William Golding’s iconic novel “Lord of the Flies,” but this time with a key twist – an all-female cast.
The original 1954 novel focuses on a group of pre-adolescent British school boys fleeing the war who become marooned on an uninhabited Pacific island. So begins a disastrous attempt to govern themselves with things quickly falling into a chaotic frenzy of paranoia, torture and murder as the boys turn tribal and feral.
The property has been adapted to screen notably twice before – in 1963 by Peter Brook and in 1990 by Harry Hook. The new take switches out the boys for young girls, but otherwise is said to be a “very faithful but contemporized adaptation”.
Having just closed their deals with the studio and with rights issues now worked out with the author’s estate, they will begin writing immediately
chainsaw_metal1
Member: Rank 8
I replied in the remake thread about this.
I read about this yesterday. First off, it is being written by two men, so I fail to see how they can write from the female perspective. Second, while the book is an allegory for societal breakdown in crises, it also reflects how specifically males react to such a crisis. The testosterone-driven attempt to become the alpha in the situation, which is what drives the group of young men in this narrative. I feel like the writers failed to take in what the book was actually about, and are simply writing it in the attempt to garner the female audience. That's not writing for the demographic, that's being lazy.
I read about this yesterday. First off, it is being written by two men, so I fail to see how they can write from the female perspective. Second, while the book is an allegory for societal breakdown in crises, it also reflects how specifically males react to such a crisis. The testosterone-driven attempt to become the alpha in the situation, which is what drives the group of young men in this narrative. I feel like the writers failed to take in what the book was actually about, and are simply writing it in the attempt to garner the female audience. That's not writing for the demographic, that's being lazy.
Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
Two of the stars of Star Trek had strong views on the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness......
Writer Carey Wilber pitched "Space Seed" to Star Trek producers Roddenberry, Gene Coon, and Robert Justman with an 18-page outline dated August 29, 1966. In the outline,
Wilber envisioned the crew of Botany Bay as criminals sent on a 1,500-year journey to make room on Earth for others.
Khan was represented as a Nordic criminal with a "magnificent" body, Harald Ericsson.
The producers suggested changes to the outline in a series of memos; in memos dated September 7 and 9, Coon suggested significant changes to Ericsson. "I want to rather do more with him than you have indicated in the story outline,” he wrote.
Believing that Ericsson (misspelled as Erickson in the memo) could be a worthy adversary for Kirk, Coon suggested that the character be “in fact very similar to James Kirk, our captain, except that our captain has made an adjustment to this world and this culture [...] In other words, Carey, build us a giant of a man."
The first draft of the script introduced the character as John Ericssen—who is revealed to be a man involved in "The First World Tyranny", named Ragnar Thorwald.
The character of Thorwald was more brutal than Khan in the final version, killing guards using a phaser.
In the original script, Kirk forgives Ericssen and offers him and his people a chance at a fresh start—something that remained in the final episode—but the character committing murder would have precluded such an ending, as NBC censors would have necessitated the "bad guy" be punished for his actions.
By the final draft, Khan is Indian; a character guesses that Khan is from Northern India, and "probably a Sikh."
Khan's full name was based on that of Kim Noonien Singh, a pilot Gene Roddenbery served with during the Second World War.
Roddenbery lost touch with his friend and had hoped that Khan's similar name might attract his attention and renew his old acquaintance.
GARRETT WANG
and GEORGE TAKEI (at 3:20)
Conan O Brien seems to change the subject though....?
Christian Blauvelt from website Hollywood.com criticized the casting of Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness as being "whitewashed into oblivion".
Star Trek: Voyager actor Garrett Wang tweeting, "The casting of Cumberbatch was a mistake on the part of the producers. I am not being critical of the actor or his talent, just the casting."
Co-producer and co-screenwriter Roberto Orci addressed the issue of the casting saying, "Basically, as we went through the casting process and we began honing in on the themes of the movie, it became uncomfortable for me to support demonising anyone of colour, particularly any one of Middle Eastern descent or anyone evoking that.
One of the points of the movie is that we must be careful about the villain within US, not some other race."
So, at the end of the day, who was in the right?
The critics of the casting?
Or the makers of Star Trek Into Darkness?
Writer Carey Wilber pitched "Space Seed" to Star Trek producers Roddenberry, Gene Coon, and Robert Justman with an 18-page outline dated August 29, 1966. In the outline,
Wilber envisioned the crew of Botany Bay as criminals sent on a 1,500-year journey to make room on Earth for others.
Khan was represented as a Nordic criminal with a "magnificent" body, Harald Ericsson.
The producers suggested changes to the outline in a series of memos; in memos dated September 7 and 9, Coon suggested significant changes to Ericsson. "I want to rather do more with him than you have indicated in the story outline,” he wrote.
Believing that Ericsson (misspelled as Erickson in the memo) could be a worthy adversary for Kirk, Coon suggested that the character be “in fact very similar to James Kirk, our captain, except that our captain has made an adjustment to this world and this culture [...] In other words, Carey, build us a giant of a man."
The first draft of the script introduced the character as John Ericssen—who is revealed to be a man involved in "The First World Tyranny", named Ragnar Thorwald.
The character of Thorwald was more brutal than Khan in the final version, killing guards using a phaser.
In the original script, Kirk forgives Ericssen and offers him and his people a chance at a fresh start—something that remained in the final episode—but the character committing murder would have precluded such an ending, as NBC censors would have necessitated the "bad guy" be punished for his actions.
By the final draft, Khan is Indian; a character guesses that Khan is from Northern India, and "probably a Sikh."
Khan's full name was based on that of Kim Noonien Singh, a pilot Gene Roddenbery served with during the Second World War.
Roddenbery lost touch with his friend and had hoped that Khan's similar name might attract his attention and renew his old acquaintance.
GARRETT WANG
and GEORGE TAKEI (at 3:20)
Conan O Brien seems to change the subject though....?
Christian Blauvelt from website Hollywood.com criticized the casting of Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness as being "whitewashed into oblivion".
Star Trek: Voyager actor Garrett Wang tweeting, "The casting of Cumberbatch was a mistake on the part of the producers. I am not being critical of the actor or his talent, just the casting."
Co-producer and co-screenwriter Roberto Orci addressed the issue of the casting saying, "Basically, as we went through the casting process and we began honing in on the themes of the movie, it became uncomfortable for me to support demonising anyone of colour, particularly any one of Middle Eastern descent or anyone evoking that.
One of the points of the movie is that we must be careful about the villain within US, not some other race."
So, at the end of the day, who was in the right?
The critics of the casting?
Or the makers of Star Trek Into Darkness?
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Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
THE BOOK'S AUTHOR ON WHY THERE'S NO 'LADY OF THE FLIES'
Author William Golding had the following to say about why The Lord of the Flies featured no female characters, much less an all-girl cast.
'Girls say to me, very reasonably, "Why isn't it a bunch of girls? Why did you write this about a bunch of boys?" Well, my reply is I was once a little boy - I have been a brother, a father, I am going to be a grandfather.
'I have never been a sister, or a mother, or a grandmother. That's one answer.
'Another answer is of course to say that if you, as it were, scaled down human beings, scaled down society, if you land with a group of little boys, they are more like a scaled-down version of society than a group of little girls would be.
'Don't ask me why, and this is a terrible thing to say because I'm going to be chased from hell to breakfast by all the women who talk about equality - this is nothing to do with equality at all.
'I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men, they are far superior and always have been.
'But one thing you can't do with them is take a bunch of them and boil them down, so to speak, into a set of little girls who would then become a kind of image of civilization, of society.
'The other thing is - why aren't they little boys AND little girls? Well, if they'd been little boys and little girls, we being who we are, sex would have raised its lovely head, and I didn't want this to be about sex.
'Sex is too trivial a thing to get in with a story like this, which was about the problem of evil and the problem of how people are to live together in a society, not just as lovers or man and wife.'
But it isn't going down well, judging by the internet reaction......
http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/31/lord-...e-remake-and-it-isnt-going-down-well-6891994/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4840886/Lord-Flies-adaptation-GIRL-cast.html
http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...t/news-story/0aeab7f6e2d2a8d6066b626754e2688b
http://www.nme.com/news/film/all-female-lord-of-the-flies-announced-2132873
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...lord_of_the_flies_remake_is_in_the_works.html
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Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
Yes, those resignation letters have to be written - and quickly!
chainsaw_metal1
Member: Rank 8
*slow clap* Bravo.
I don't know of any of you have seen the 1995 movie version of "A Little Princess" (which I actually prefer over the book, having watched it as a kid), but that has a bit of politically correct casting.
The book takes place in the late 1800's, and Sarah and her father live in India (despite being British), and Sarah is sent to a boarding school in England. The movie changes the setting to the time of World War I, and, due to the fact that England would not be safe during this time, the boarding school is in New York instead of England (even though Sarah and her father are still British). But aside from this, there is also a race change for the character of Becky, the mistreated servant girl that Sarah befriends. While remaining part of the lower class, Becky is also made African American in order for the movie to moralize about the unfairness of racism in addition to the unfairness of the mistreatment of people off a lower class. As someone who saw the movie before reading the book, it was actually a plot element that I think worked in the movie's favor, and I was disappointed that it wasn't in the book.
The book takes place in the late 1800's, and Sarah and her father live in India (despite being British), and Sarah is sent to a boarding school in England. The movie changes the setting to the time of World War I, and, due to the fact that England would not be safe during this time, the boarding school is in New York instead of England (even though Sarah and her father are still British). But aside from this, there is also a race change for the character of Becky, the mistreated servant girl that Sarah befriends. While remaining part of the lower class, Becky is also made African American in order for the movie to moralize about the unfairness of racism in addition to the unfairness of the mistreatment of people off a lower class. As someone who saw the movie before reading the book, it was actually a plot element that I think worked in the movie's favor, and I was disappointed that it wasn't in the book.
Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
https://www.imdforums.com/threads/titans-in-pre-production.3234/
There has been some complaints about the casting of Brenton Thwaites as Nightwing/Dick Grayson (formerly Robin of Batman) in the new Titans tv series, with unhappiness being expressed at the Romani heritage of the character being ignored....
Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
“Greatest American Hero” Remake Tries Again
ABC has handed out a put pilot commitment for a half-hour single-camera re-imagining of Steven J. Cannell’s 1981 cult classic series “The Greatest American Hero”.
The key change with the new version is that the titular hero won’t be a curly haired blond white man named Ralph (William Katt), but rather a Cleveland-born 30-year-old Indian-American woman named Meera.
Like the original, aliens entrust her with a super suit to protect the planet, and the world has never been in more unreliable hands. Two previous attempts were made in recent years to revive the property, neither came to fruition.
20th Century Fox TV and ABC Studios are behind this version with “Fresh Off the Boat” writer-producer Rachna Fruchbom along with Cannell’s daughter Tawnia McKiernan, Mandy Summers and Nahnatchka Khan all set to executive produce.
ABC has handed out a put pilot commitment for a half-hour single-camera re-imagining of Steven J. Cannell’s 1981 cult classic series “The Greatest American Hero”.
The key change with the new version is that the titular hero won’t be a curly haired blond white man named Ralph (William Katt), but rather a Cleveland-born 30-year-old Indian-American woman named Meera.
Like the original, aliens entrust her with a super suit to protect the planet, and the world has never been in more unreliable hands. Two previous attempts were made in recent years to revive the property, neither came to fruition.
20th Century Fox TV and ABC Studios are behind this version with “Fresh Off the Boat” writer-producer Rachna Fruchbom along with Cannell’s daughter Tawnia McKiernan, Mandy Summers and Nahnatchka Khan all set to executive produce.
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Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
Guy Ritchie's Aladdin remake casts a white actor to play a new character
Guy Ritchie's Aladdin has barely begun production, but the live-action remake of the 1992 Disney classic continues to prove controversial.
The film, which is set in the Middle East, was landed with whitewashing claims in July after casting British-Indian actress Naomi Scott to play Princess Jasmine. But now a new role has been created that didn't exist in the original animated film, and a white American actor has been tasked with playing it.
Billy Magnussen, who played a prince in Disney ensemble musical Into the Woods, has been cast as Prince Anders, thought to be a love rival to Aladdin, a street rat, in his pursual of Princess Jasmine. Nasim Pedrad, a former cast member of Saturday Night Live, has also joined the cast list as another new character, Mara, handmaiden and friend to Jasmine.
No white characters have ever existed in the Aladdin narrative, which has a historic Arabian setting, and is based on the story Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk stories.
It isn't the first time Magnussen has been involved in a cinematic race row. He drew controversy to last year's The Birth of the Dragon, which told the supposedly true story of how a young Bruce Lee challenged kung fu master Wong Jack Man in the Sixties. Magnussen played Steve McKee, a fictional go-between who set up the fight.
Critics of the new addition to the Aladdin cast shared their confusion about Prince Anders on Twitter.
Vanessa ⚘
@dametokillfor
I'm glad they added a white man though. As a white person, I was just so confused by the idea POC have stories I'm not involved in. #Aladdin
7:54 AM - Sep 6, 2017
Follow
jelean @jeonvgue_
a whole new world
a new fantastic point of view - aladdin 2018
1:02 PM - Sep 5, 2017
View image on Twitter
Follow
Jovanny Evans @jobonito
Why did they add a white prince to #Aladdin? This is going to be a disaster
4:45 AM - Sep 6, 2017
Follow
ferdosa @ TIFF @atomicwick
Don't forget that after "auditioning" thousands of ME actresses they cast a British-Indian actress, who has worked w Disney before. #Aladdin
4:36 AM - Sep 6, 2017
Follow
ferdosa @ TIFF @atomicwick
Disney can make a frame by frame remake of Beauty and the Beast, but Aladdin needs to be altered?! The animated film was perfect wtf!
1:24 AM - Sep 6, 2017
Guy Ritchie's Aladdin has barely begun production, but the live-action remake of the 1992 Disney classic continues to prove controversial.
The film, which is set in the Middle East, was landed with whitewashing claims in July after casting British-Indian actress Naomi Scott to play Princess Jasmine. But now a new role has been created that didn't exist in the original animated film, and a white American actor has been tasked with playing it.
Billy Magnussen, who played a prince in Disney ensemble musical Into the Woods, has been cast as Prince Anders, thought to be a love rival to Aladdin, a street rat, in his pursual of Princess Jasmine. Nasim Pedrad, a former cast member of Saturday Night Live, has also joined the cast list as another new character, Mara, handmaiden and friend to Jasmine.
No white characters have ever existed in the Aladdin narrative, which has a historic Arabian setting, and is based on the story Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk stories.
It isn't the first time Magnussen has been involved in a cinematic race row. He drew controversy to last year's The Birth of the Dragon, which told the supposedly true story of how a young Bruce Lee challenged kung fu master Wong Jack Man in the Sixties. Magnussen played Steve McKee, a fictional go-between who set up the fight.
Critics of the new addition to the Aladdin cast shared their confusion about Prince Anders on Twitter.
Vanessa ⚘ @dametokillforI'm glad they added a white man though. As a white person, I was just so confused by the idea POC have stories I'm not involved in. #Aladdin
7:54 AM - Sep 6, 2017
Follow
jelean @jeonvgue_a whole new world
a new fantastic point of view - aladdin 2018
1:02 PM - Sep 5, 2017
View image on Twitter
Follow
Jovanny Evans @jobonitoWhy did they add a white prince to #Aladdin? This is going to be a disaster
4:45 AM - Sep 6, 2017
Follow
ferdosa @ TIFF @atomicwickDon't forget that after "auditioning" thousands of ME actresses they cast a British-Indian actress, who has worked w Disney before. #Aladdin
4:36 AM - Sep 6, 2017
Follow
ferdosa @ TIFF @atomicwickDisney can make a frame by frame remake of Beauty and the Beast, but Aladdin needs to be altered?! The animated film was perfect wtf!
1:24 AM - Sep 6, 2017
chainsaw_metal1
Member: Rank 8
This one doesn't bother me so much. William Katt worked so well in the original because he had that everyman look, and mannerisms. You believed he could be a teacher who would be so absent-minded that he would lose the instructions for the super pajamas. Honestly, race or sex doesn't matter in this situation, you just need someone who fits the bill of "run of the mill average person", and it can work.
My problem came in when they started talking about a big screen adaptation a few years back with Will Smith. He wouldn't have worked, because he's Will Smith, and not an average guy.
As for the Aladdin issue, A) Don't add a white prince, it doesn't make sense, and B) Quit with the remakes of all of your classic animated films, Disney, you money grubbing bastards! It's bad enough you flooded us with those crappy direct-to-video "sequels", we don't need these!
Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
Chris Addison to direct gender-swap Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake
The Thick of It actor to make big-screen directorial debut with Nasty Women, which stars Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson as con artists
The Thick of It actor Chris Addison is to direct the film Nasty Women, the gender-swapped remake of the 1980s comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
According to Variety, Addison will make his big-screen directorial debut with the film, which stars Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson as two con artists who plot to swindle a tech prodigy out of his fortune. TiMER director Jac Schaeffer will write the screenplay.
In the original Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Steve Martin and Michael Caine attempt to defraud a heiress out of $50,000. That 1988 film was a remake of the Marlon Brando and David Niven comedy Bedtime Story, which was originally written, according to David Bowie, for Bowie and Mick Jagger.
The update continues a recent Hollywood trend for gender-swapped remakes, including last year’s all-female version of Ghostbusters, starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. This year brings the release of Ocean’s Eight, an all-female reboot of the heist movie Ocean’s Eleven. Also in production are gender-swapped versions of the action film Road House, starring the mixed martial arts athlete Ronda Rousey in the role first played by Patrick Swayze, and the fantasy-comedy Splash, with Channing Tatum as the mermaid, played in the original by Daryl Hannah.
British actor Addison came to prominence playing Ollie Reeder in The Thick of It, a political TV satire created by Armando Iannucci, and later featured in spin-off film In the Loop. He also had a recurring role in Doctor Who, and was a regular panelist on Mock the Week. In recent years, Addison has primarily worked behind the camera, directing episodes of Iannucci’s US political sitcom Veep.
Nasty Women isn’t the only recent adaptation of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. A stage musical version opened on Broadway in 2005 and transferred to the West End in 2014.
The original Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.....
And the original version before that...... Bedtime Story.....
The Thick of It actor to make big-screen directorial debut with Nasty Women, which stars Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson as con artists
The Thick of It actor Chris Addison is to direct the film Nasty Women, the gender-swapped remake of the 1980s comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
According to Variety, Addison will make his big-screen directorial debut with the film, which stars Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson as two con artists who plot to swindle a tech prodigy out of his fortune. TiMER director Jac Schaeffer will write the screenplay.
In the original Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Steve Martin and Michael Caine attempt to defraud a heiress out of $50,000. That 1988 film was a remake of the Marlon Brando and David Niven comedy Bedtime Story, which was originally written, according to David Bowie, for Bowie and Mick Jagger.
The update continues a recent Hollywood trend for gender-swapped remakes, including last year’s all-female version of Ghostbusters, starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. This year brings the release of Ocean’s Eight, an all-female reboot of the heist movie Ocean’s Eleven. Also in production are gender-swapped versions of the action film Road House, starring the mixed martial arts athlete Ronda Rousey in the role first played by Patrick Swayze, and the fantasy-comedy Splash, with Channing Tatum as the mermaid, played in the original by Daryl Hannah.
British actor Addison came to prominence playing Ollie Reeder in The Thick of It, a political TV satire created by Armando Iannucci, and later featured in spin-off film In the Loop. He also had a recurring role in Doctor Who, and was a regular panelist on Mock the Week. In recent years, Addison has primarily worked behind the camera, directing episodes of Iannucci’s US political sitcom Veep.
Nasty Women isn’t the only recent adaptation of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. A stage musical version opened on Broadway in 2005 and transferred to the West End in 2014.
The original Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.....
And the original version before that...... Bedtime Story.....
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Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
Jake Gyllenhaal film slated over amputee casting
A new film starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a man who lost both legs in the Boston Marathon bombings is under fire for not casting a disabled actor in the role.
The Ruderman Family Foundation, which supports people with disabilities, said his casting was proof of "Hollywood's ongoing systemic discrimination."
"We wouldn't accept a white actor play[ing] a black character," said its president Jay Ruderman.
They recently slated a film with Alec Baldwin as a man who loses his sight.
In Stronger, released in the UK in December, Gyllenhaal plays Jeff Bauman, who was severely injured in the 2013 bombings and who now uses prosthetic legs.
Speaking at the Toronto Film Festival last weekend, the actor said Bauman was a "total inspiration" and "one of the strongest people I know."
Earlier this year. director David Gordon Green told Entertainment Tonight that Gyllenhaal was "the only actor I spoke to" about the project.
Speaking in March, though, the 36-year-old admitted he found it difficult to appreciate the magnitude of Bauman's life-changing experience.
"No matter how far you push yourself, to understand even the idea of that is almost close to impossible," he told The Guardian.
"By his own admission, David Gordon Green never even considered any other actors in a role in which Gyllenhaal plays a character who is a double amputee," said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation.
"By not even giving actors who are amputees the chance to audition for the role awarded to Gyllenhaal, Green effectively denied actors with disabilities to even be considered for the role.
"Gyllenhaal may have been the best actor for the part, but if actors with disabilities are never given a chance to audition, they will never have the opportunity to reach the success that someone like Gyllenhaal has achieved," he continued.
The issue is one likely to be raised again in the coming months, which will also see the able-bodied Bryan Cranston play a quadriplegic in The Upside.
The film is a remake of the 2011 French film Intouchables, which also cast an able-bodied actor - France's Francois Cluzet - as its wheelchair-using protagonist.
The Boston Marathon bombings were also the subject of 2016's Patriots Day, in which Bauman was portrayed by Dan Whelton - another able-bodied actor.
A new film starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a man who lost both legs in the Boston Marathon bombings is under fire for not casting a disabled actor in the role.
The Ruderman Family Foundation, which supports people with disabilities, said his casting was proof of "Hollywood's ongoing systemic discrimination."
"We wouldn't accept a white actor play[ing] a black character," said its president Jay Ruderman.
They recently slated a film with Alec Baldwin as a man who loses his sight.
In Stronger, released in the UK in December, Gyllenhaal plays Jeff Bauman, who was severely injured in the 2013 bombings and who now uses prosthetic legs.
Speaking at the Toronto Film Festival last weekend, the actor said Bauman was a "total inspiration" and "one of the strongest people I know."
Earlier this year. director David Gordon Green told Entertainment Tonight that Gyllenhaal was "the only actor I spoke to" about the project.
Speaking in March, though, the 36-year-old admitted he found it difficult to appreciate the magnitude of Bauman's life-changing experience.
"No matter how far you push yourself, to understand even the idea of that is almost close to impossible," he told The Guardian.
"By his own admission, David Gordon Green never even considered any other actors in a role in which Gyllenhaal plays a character who is a double amputee," said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation.
"By not even giving actors who are amputees the chance to audition for the role awarded to Gyllenhaal, Green effectively denied actors with disabilities to even be considered for the role.
"Gyllenhaal may have been the best actor for the part, but if actors with disabilities are never given a chance to audition, they will never have the opportunity to reach the success that someone like Gyllenhaal has achieved," he continued.
The issue is one likely to be raised again in the coming months, which will also see the able-bodied Bryan Cranston play a quadriplegic in The Upside.
The film is a remake of the 2011 French film Intouchables, which also cast an able-bodied actor - France's Francois Cluzet - as its wheelchair-using protagonist.
The Boston Marathon bombings were also the subject of 2016's Patriots Day, in which Bauman was portrayed by Dan Whelton - another able-bodied actor.
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ant-mac
Member: Rank 9
I started losing interest in DOCTOR WHO around 2005...
New Who has been killing it for me.
Doctor Omega
Member: Rank 10
It seems to me that Hollywood is being as lazy and unimaginative as ever regarding remakes, but they now have the excuse of gender changes etc, to justify their laziness as they can now crow that their lazy reproduction puts both a new spin on an old idea and they can claim politically correct credit/kudos at the same time.
But, at the end of the day, it will still be just yet another lazy remake.
And I find it difficult to shake the feeling that the Doctor Who gender change is more a case of Chibnall wanting to ensure his place in the WHO history book as "The producer that cast the first ever female Doctor" (since he knew he definitely wanted a female Doctor, going in) rather than out of consideration for the quality and drama of the show and casting the best actor, regardless of gender etc.
There is the claim that Jodie "aced it" in her audition, but having watched the following clip where she is facing off against a former Doctor....
I don't know....
I just have a bad feeling......
Perhaps she has a versatility and range beyond this stage performance - and opinions are totally subjective of course - so I hope to be proved wrong, come late next year..........
But, at the end of the day, it will still be just yet another lazy remake.
And I find it difficult to shake the feeling that the Doctor Who gender change is more a case of Chibnall wanting to ensure his place in the WHO history book as "The producer that cast the first ever female Doctor" (since he knew he definitely wanted a female Doctor, going in) rather than out of consideration for the quality and drama of the show and casting the best actor, regardless of gender etc.
There is the claim that Jodie "aced it" in her audition, but having watched the following clip where she is facing off against a former Doctor....
I don't know....
I just have a bad feeling......
Perhaps she has a versatility and range beyond this stage performance - and opinions are totally subjective of course - so I hope to be proved wrong, come late next year..........
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The Seeker
Member: Rank 6
It seems to me she's working with the script she was given.